I am a lucky woman. I have recently bought four Tarot books and found them all fascinating. I am going back and forth between two of them. I plan to write reviews as soon as I am done with them. They are both hands on with lots of interesting exercises.

The one I am going to write about is called “Turning Point exercise 1”. It is on page 49 of “Psychic Tarot” by Mary Antenucci with Melanie Howard.

I tried the exercise this morning and I found it very powerful.

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HOW TO DO IT.

Use only the Major Arcana.

Think back to 15 memorable moments in your life. Experiences or decisions that helped you become who you are now.

Write them down, possibly in chronological order.

Spread all the Major Arcana in front of you.

Choose one card to identify each moment.

You can select the same card as many time as necessary.

When you are finished, look at the cards and see if you notice any pattern.

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I am in my late forties and so it was easy to recall 15 turning moments in my life. If anything, I had to be selective.

To respect my own privacy I will not go into details. Let’s just say that I started with a card to represent the kind of family I grew up with, followed by high and low points in my life. I addressed important decisions I made, as well as experiences that life threw at me and with which I dealt the best way I could at the time.

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HOW THE PROCESS WORKED FOR ME.

As I thought back, cards came to mind. For some events the choice of card was obvious to me, for other not so much. For a few of those memories I had to look at the cards in front of me for inspiration, the cards that answered my call were true surprises. Other times I had a couple of candidates in mind. To narrow the choice, I listed all the reason why each card was the best to express the feelings and the energy of the time. Soon the clear winner would stand out.

I am proud to say that I was able to select a single card for 14 of the special turning points of my life. For one, I had to select two card and I make no apologies for it. It turns out to be one of those moments that starts one way and ends in another, just like a TV episode that has to be continued.

When all was said and done, I found the exercise extremely valuable. It showed me how the events were in someway connected. I could also see the ebb and flow of the energy in my life. How a very structured, responsible phase of my life had to be followed by a crazy, rebellious one and so on.

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The author of the book suggests to look at each card as a teacher. What were you learning in each pivotal time of your life? I was amazed by all that I learned about each card that way. I had so many Eureka moments. Some came simply by thought process, others were totally visual.

The Moon card has always been a bit of a challenge for me. It turns out I associate it deeply with a very difficult experience in my life. One that I do not normally associate as a meaning of The Moon. Yet, reflecting on the experience. Remembering the feelings, I was able to identify without hesitations all the conflicting emotions and forces at work at the time with the images in the card.

I recommend this exercise to everyone. Personally, I will follow it with the BIT method to delve deeper into some of those pivotal times. Great book. I can hardly wait to see what comes next.