The HIgh Priestess from the Tarot Illuminati Deck
“When we study the imagery and symbols on the cards in a tarot spread, we activate our imagination. That imagination then activates our intuition, which is often the only instrument we have that channels a clear path for us to the truth of the matter. That truth is often found in the unconscious.” Benebell Wen. Holistic Tarot
Recently, I came across two very simple, very powerful techniques for reading tarot cards that also work really well in helping people amp up or strengthen their intuitive skills; pinpointing and bridging.
Both of these skills are best developed using a tarot deck with cards that have classic Tarot/Mystical/Alchemical symbols embedded in them – like Rider-Waite Decks, or the Aquarius Tarot Deck. Decks like these have had many ancient symbols embedded in the designs of the cards and these symbols do an amazing job of connecting with our subconscious mind, which includes our intuition (and creativity and visualization and other right-brain skills). Newer decks, although beautiful, don’t necessarily have any of these ancient symbols embedded in the cards so don’t necessarily work as well at amping up intuition as these older, more traditional tarot decks do. However, personal preference and using decks that you are drawn to is always a good thing!!
Pinpointing
With pinpointing, the objective of this skill is for the reader to zero in on specific symbols or images on a specific card that has been pulled or drawn from the deck. Basically, the reader locates, or identifies the symbols or images that their eyes are drawn to, then intuitively interprets what those symbols or images mean to them.
When reading tarot cards to answer a specific question, the interpretation of the symbol or image is usually made within the context of answering a question that is being asked. For example, lets look at the High Priestess card, shown above. Supposing I had asked the question “What is the next step I need to take on my path to authentic self expression?” and pulled the High Priestess card. First, I would start by relaxing and letting my mind wander. Then, without thinking about anything in particular, I would look at the card and notice one image that my eyes are drawn to.
For me, in answer to the question posed above, my eyes were drawn to the scroll that the High Priestess holds in her hands. The words on the scroll face outward, as if they were being shown to someone. I would intuitively interpret this as meaning that the next step on my path to authentic self expression would be to teach or mentor, to pass on knowledge somehow. For someone else, their eyes might be drawn to the High Priestess’ decorative belt, and for them the answer to their question could have something to do with beauty or craftsmanship or complexity. Someone else might have been drawn to the High Priestess’ wings and might intuitively interpret these as a sign that they needed more spiritual enlightenment, or they needed to notice Angels.
If I was practicing pinpointing as a means of improving my intuition rather that using pinpointing to perform a reading, I would interpret the sign or signs I was drawn to in terms of what they might mean to me in general – so the scroll could be a message from my intuition that I need to look for some specific information or that I am wanting to learn more about something, and because the card was the High Priestess card, that ‘something’ I might want to learn about would likely be something spiritual.
So what has this got to do with amping up intuition?
Although we are constantly being bombarded by massive amounts of information through every minute of every day, we can only focus on a very, very small amount of that information at any given time. So when your eyes are drawn to one specific thing, or you find yourself focusing or ‘pinpointing’ on one ‘thing’ out of a large number of ‘things’, you are generally focussing for a reason. And often that ‘reason’ is your intuition trying to tell you something, something that you need to be aware of, something that could be missing in your life, or something that you are particularly looking for as part of your transformation. The more we practice pinpointing, either with tarot cards or outside in the real world on walks through areas we are not familiar with, the more we learn to trust our intuition and how our intuition works for us.
The other skill, bridging, allows you to move deeper into intuition – and also provides a pretty good tarot reading!!
With bridging, you start by pulling two or three cards from a highly illustrated tarot deck. It doesn’t matter which three cards you pull or select from the tarot deck. All will work fine with this skill. What you do with bridging is use the pinpointing skill to select one symbol from each of the three cards you have drawn. Once you intuit what each symbol means to you, you then connect how each of the three symbols affect each other.
Bridging
So from the three cards above, the High Priestess, the Empress and the Alchemist, let’s say I focused on the scroll from the High Priestess, the gold heart shaped shield from the Empress, and the gold pentacle from the Alchemist. When I relax and listen to my intuition, it would be telling me that teaching (the scroll) something from the heart (with love and passion) could produce resources (money, etc).
If I had been drawn to the gold cup in the Alchemist card, instead of the pentacle, my intuition would be telling me that teaching from the heart would have a strong emotional impact on me.
If I had been drawn to the Angel wings in the High Priestess, the red skirt in the Empress, and the infinity symbol that floats above the Alchemist’s head, I would have received a very different intuitive message from this bridging exercise.
While these are my interpretations of what these symbols mean and how they relate, the amazing thing about the tarot is that your intuition could be telling you something very different about these symbols and how they relate to each other and to you.
The more you use either the pinpointing or the bridging exercises, or both, the deeper into the meanings of the symbols you can go, and the deeper into connecting with your intuition, your inner wisdom you can go.
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If you enjoyed reading this article and are interested in learning more about Clarity, Tarot and Intuition, come join me on my website Anne Bolender, Clarity Strategist or sign up for my newsletter at Anne Bolender, Clarity Strategist Newsletter
