The Tarot Muse
Carolyn R. Guss
Certified Professional Tarot Reader and Teacher
610-658-3252
tarotmuse@earthlink.net
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It’s in the Cards
She has been interpreting the cards and
teaching the technique professionally since 1990 (at Main Line School Night and
elsewhere) and while she doesn’t consider herself a renowned collector, she
has nonetheless accumulated 30 decks of Tarot cards, some of which are rare and
unusual. An accomplished artist, the images of the Tarot have also served as
inspiration for Guss’ powerful surrealistic collages.
For Guss, the journey to enlightenment began
when she was 15 and her sister gave her a deck of Tarot cards. “It was the
hippie era and she was sharing some of it with me,” she said with a laugh.
Although Guss was immediately intrigued by the imagery on the cards, it wasn’t
until 1982, when she enrolled in a Tarot class, that her natural inclination to
read the cards surfaced. The instructor encouraged her to continue her study and
she began a private apprenticeship under his tutelage. “The study of Tarot
opened a huge door in my life,” she said. “I loved the cards, not only for
their beauty but also for [their] intuitive power.”
According to Guss, Tarot tells the seeker
what they already know. “There are some who use Tarot to predict the
future,” she said. “I am not one of them. I see it more as a tool to access
one’s intuition. I believe that consulting the Tarot is a way of allowing the
subconscious to speak.” Guss believes that all are born with incredible
intuitive capacities which are put aside during maturity. Tapping into the Tarot
is a means through which people can restore their innate intuitive abilities.
According to Guss, “Tarot is a word
without an etymology. No one really knows what it means or where it comes
from.” The first documented deck was given in the 1500s as an Italian wedding
gift. There has always been an aura of mystery surrounding the cards, yet Guss
emphasizes that the cards themselves are not magical. The pictures on the Tarot
deck speak to the mind’s primary language of symbols and somehow trigger
connections that are buried deep within the subconscious.
A Tarot deck generally contains 78 cards, 52
of which correspond to a traditional playing card deck and 22 of which represent
are what are known as the major arcana, or archetypal energies of the Tarot. “They are the
heavy hitters,” Guss said. The 52 cards are arranged in four suits, with 10
cards in a suit, much like a traditional deck of cards. [However, Tarot contains
16 face or “court cards,” as opposed to the 12 in a regular card deck.]
“The suit of clubs corresponds in Tarot to wands, hearts to cups, spades to
swords, and diamonds to pentacles,” Guss said. “In fact the four suits of
Tarot are the same as those found in an Italian playing card deck.”
While the history of Tarot itself is a bit
clouded, according to Guss, the medium contains elements of the medieval Italian
and French traditions as well as the influences of the Near and Far East.
“Some believe that as Christianity took hold in Europe, elements of pagan
religions were recorded on cards that were literally passed from one traveler to
another,” Guss explained. “Thus the mélange of influences.”
The Tarot deck that Guss’ sister gave her
is what is known as the classic Rider-Waite Tarot deck, first published in 1909.
Since then, there has been a plethora of decks to hit the market, ranging from
the surreal (Guss has a first edition Universal Dalí Tarot, created by the
artist in memory of his wife, Gala, who was a Tarot reader) to the post-modern.
Among the decks in her collection is a recent addition called the Po-Mo Tarot,
in which the classical figure of the Empress is interpreted as Mom. “Literally
anyone can create a Tarot deck, but not everyone can get it published,” Guss
said, laughing. As long as the deck consists of the proper number of cards,
divided into the prescribed categories, an artist is free to interpret the image
associated with each card.
For example, Guss’ collection includes an
Aquarian Tarot deck, in which the pictures are very stylized 70s Art Deco
images; a feminist Tarot consisting of round cards on which the images are
predominantly female; the Voyager Tarot, using collaged images; and the William
Blake Tarot, based on Blake’s art and poetry. “There are literally hundreds
of Tarot decks on the market,” Guss explained, “I offer my clients a choice
of decks for personal readings because each deck speaks to a person in a
different manner. It is helpful to forge a connection with a deck for a
meaningful reading. A good reading resembles a ‘conversation’ between the
reader’s and the querent’s psyches,” Guss elaborated. “It can be like
the dream state made tangible.”
Many Tarot readers make their own decks, a
practice which Guss has not pursued. “I don’t want to be locked into
creating a deck” she explained. “I am more interested in creating art work
based on Tarot.” Guss’ mostly
surrealistic collages are based on her interpretations of various Tarot cards. I
truly am passionate about Tarot,” Guss said with a laugh. “It inspires
almost everything I do.”
Guss
teaches a course, “Tuning into the Tarot,” at Main Line School Night each
autumn. In addition, she is available for private and group readings at
610-658-3252.