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Why tarot?
All my life I’ve loved to read and see other worlds through my imagination. Picturing the characters, their lives, the intricacies of their environments is so rewarding. I’m a very visual person, and reading made me fascinated with history and other realms.
It took until I was a junior in college for me to put it all together and take my first art history class. It was the edge of a cliff, a precipice I have never looked back on. I leapt into studying how other people have lived and what they have created since the dawn of man. That flight is still in progress. I have yet to land.
Of particular interest were usable things, transactional things. Everyday objects of such quality that using them was transcendental and elevated devotional, meditative states into conditions of communication. They are the beautiful, delicate, substantial things. The ordinary extraordinary.
Playing cards in the late 18th century were such things. Tarot isn’t as old as some might think. It is the product of our last 250 year cycle. Resources say it was occultists transcribing esoteric knowledge to a deck of playing cards commonly used by the elite of society. Later the triumph cards were added and illustrations became more and more elaborate.
Initially, some church leaders used the imagery to start religious and philosophical discussions. Later the Holy Roman Church cracked down on it as contra to doctrine.
I’m a picture person and on a visual level, tarot cards are windows into other worlds that hold information and guidance.
How are they used and why do they speak to me as an urban mystic?
They are a tool of divination. That word used to hold a lot of weight for me. I had my Akashic records read once and I was one of those suspected witches burned at the stake in 1500 Switzerland—by my family and my lover in particular. The first time I heard the word was in an African art history class and the diviner is a very respected individual in society and has divining tools he uses for his work. I came to understand divination is a fancy word for tuning into your highest self and the support of God in order to receive his guidance either for myself or on behalf of another.
It didn’t scare me anymore to hear that word. I no longer shied away from learning about this tool and how to use it with valor and grace.
Recently, I did a Google search for my name, Esther Star. It can be challenging to launch a pen name if it’s also used by a major felon or pornstar.
Thankfully, this was all that came up. It feels like a blessing.
https://www.playingcards.net/Limited-Edition-Esther-Star-Playing-Card_p_3343.html
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