If you like playing with energy and your intuition, or with divination tools, and you’re interested in tarot archetypes, then you might like to have a go at this energy medicine exercise below.
By connecting with your inner being and tuning into the energy of two archetypal cards from the tarot deck you can experience surprisingly transformative effects as you draw in their specific frequencies, messages and gifts into your own energy field.
Connecting with the resonance of tarot archetypes
One of the things that I’ve been playing with lately is tuning into the frequency of tarot cards to get into resonance with an archetype that has the qualities I feel would support me for what’s going on in life.
Tarot cards, first thought to originate in the fifteenth century, were transformed into a divination tool in the 1700s, illustrating humanity’s path to enlightenment through the 22 cards of the Major Arcana.
Every card has a different meaning or attributes that reflect the journey of being human. While some cards are mirrors for the denser human traits, emotional states, thinking patterns and experiences, other cards reflect traits of power, innocence, love, strength, joy, creativity, leadership, and abundance, to name a few.
The Major Arcana cards represent situations we all meet through life, and each carries specific messages of perspective and guidance to help you in times of need. They can reveal messages about the bigger picture of your life, possible karmic lessons you’re here to integrate and where you are going long-term. You could think of them as life pivot points.
They differ from the 56 cards of the Minor Arcana, which are more like passing energies to pay attention to and everyday actions and decisions you need to make.
Because they’ve been used for such a long time, the meanings we’ve attributed to the cards have imbued them with strong energetic frequencies. So when we focus our attention on them and connect with them, those energies touch our deep unconscious, affect our own energy field and can have a transformative effect.
So here’s a little exercise for you to test this out for yourself with the Empress and Emperor cards below.
First of all, close your eyes, take a few centering breaths, empty your mind as best you can to get present, and when you’re ready, open your eyes and let your gaze fall on the Empress card.
Take in the colours, shapes, symbolism, composition, facial expression and body language of the character, any meaning you can glean from the card and the overall feeling of it in a really open, passive way, like you’re absorbing the energies of the card into yourself through your eyes.
Really pause and take some time to do this – a couple of minutes or more should do it. It reveals more gifts as you sink deeper into contemplation of the card.
Notice how you feel.
Does it make you feel more open, expanded or lighter… maybe the opposite, or something else?
Be aware of your breath and how your whole body feels as you sit with the image. Notice any thoughts, emotions or memories that come up for you or sensations in the body. Is this an energy that you would like more of, or does it already feel quite full in you at the moment so extra isn’t required just now?
Then repeat the process with the Emperor card and notice the difference between these two energies and how they change your energy when you connect to them.
Which do you most resonate with and why do you feel that is?
Is one easier to connect to than the other?
I’ve written below what my experience was – which was a real eye-opener for me and something I needed to know! – but before you read that, tune in with your own senses first because this is a process to connect with YOUR inner being and YOUR experience, no one else’s. If it helps to add depth and clarity after, then read on!
What I get when I tune into the cards
The Empress
When I connect to the Empress I see her easy, undefended, open posture, there is a softness, a nurturing motherliness, caring and contentment. I pick up on a sense of abundance that flows from Source into the physical expression of nature represented by the ripe wheat, the luxurious cushions, her clothing, jewellery and the stars on her crown. I feel her deep connection to nature and her strong feminine energy. She seems to feel wholly worthy of having all the abundance and natural beauty surrounding her. It is her birthright. She doesn’t have to try or do anything for it. She just is.
As I connect like this I feel something relaxing in my heart and it’s bringing some pain to the surface to be healed from something that happened earlier in the week that I have been too busy to process. It feels nurturing and good to feel, to honour what transpired, to fill up with love and healing and send it out.
I can feel myself drawing in her sense of worthiness; of not having to try hard to prove herself to receive the abundance all around her. As I’ve been putting more energy into marketing my business lately, which is much more masculine, outward-going energy, connecting to her energy is helping me settle back into a receptive mode, rebalance and her message seems to be to remember that I am worthy simply for existing, not for what I do or give.
The Emperor
When I tune into the Emperor, I can feel his focus and determination to grow, achieve or do well at something. He has a strong masculine energy exuding self-leadership, self-respect, clear strategic thinking and decision-making ability and wisdom from age and experience. He has a strict fatherliness, power, authority and discipline. He’s in control and he carries a responsibility that he willingly takes on for the greater good.
Also, although he is richly clothed, he is not sitting relaxed in a soft, comfortable seat like the Empress. He seems perfectly okay with things not being comfortable and is poised for action like there’s a job to be done and he isn’t going to be sitting around waiting for anyone else to do it for him. He is a doer, puts a lot of energy out and makes things happen.
The Emperor mirrors to me how I have been living and working lately. I can feel lots of his qualities inside myself, which is really reassuring – we can only fully recognise something in another that we carry within ourselves – so it feels good to know I have this quality to draw on when I need it. I have been in that place of not settling comfortably because there has been a lot to do, and it’s been for the greater good. It feels like I’ve been growing a lot.
But it also reminds me that I can’t sustain this all the time, and that I need to balance this energy with that of the Empress in order to replenish, receive back from the universe and be in balance and inner harmony.
I found that really insightful. All that awareness from just two cards!
I’d love to know what you experience!
Let me know what you discover in the comments below, and if you enjoyed this post, do please share it!
Get unstuck and clear the clutter of unmade decisions with tarot…
Are you interested to explore further how to use tarot in an empowering way that connects with your heart, your body’s wisdom, the unconscious mind and Source Consciousness to get unstuck and move your life forward in a more aligned, enjoyable and purposeful way?
If so, you might like to gift yourself a ‘Transformational Tarot’ session.
And if you want to participate in a new inner exploration journey with tarot, maybe you’d like to join my beta-test 121 transformation programme that will be running in August and September 2022. As it’s 121, there are very limited places to participate in this rare opportunity, so if you’re feeling the call, don’t dally!
Email me at connect@cathyballard.com to register your interest or if you have any questions, or if you’d like to arrange a brief chat about the programme, then click here to book a time for us to talk via my online scheduling service.
Read the testimonials below to get an idea of how powerfully transformational it can be when you work with tarot in this way.
Much love,
