Discover your Soul's Purpose through Tarot

Today I'm going to take you through the process of discovering your soul's purpose through choosing 3 tarot cards. This sounds simple but there are a number of tips I can give you that will help to make this a more enjoyable and meaningful experience. You might also find it helpful to read last weeks post: What is a Soul Purpose?

Firstly it really helps to be in a calm and peaceful place inside yourself. This is not something to be doing when feeling overwhelmed with life's challenges, or in deep grief or despair or any agitated state. Why? Because in order to connect to your guidance, to your intuition or divine team you need to be in a high vibration state - one that is receptive to the higher vibration of Spirit.

In a busy mind state or an emotionally activated state, we are far more likely to be connecting to our fears and the defenses or compulsions of our egos.

Some easy ways to raise your vibrational state are:

1) Ten minutes of slow deep breathing - breathing right down into your belly - put your hand on your belly so you can feel it moving outwards - breathe in slowly and deeply - pause - then purse your lips as if you were breathing out through a straw - and breathe out as slowly as you can. Repeat until you are feeling completely chilled out.

2) Take a walk in nature, preferably by yourself, or, if with another person then not talking. Instead notice the details of the natural world around you, the colours and textures, the sounds and smells, the movement of small creatures, allow yourself to sink into the vibration of nature.

3) Another of my favourites is to use a Binaural Beats meditation. I always do this before I read the cards for others in my Tarot for Your Soul readings - I find it quietens any anxiety or doubt or interference from my own life and allows me to clearly hear the guidance coming through for my client. This meditation is an audio download and I've written more about it here.

4) Do something that you know makes you feel calm and tunes you to your internal world. Perhaps gardening or going for a bike ride or something creative. I've recently begun to create portraits of friends using coloured pencil. It is a slow process of layering and I've found that just 30 minutes of colouring takes me to a very peaceful place - neuroscientists have discovered that doing something creative like this actually dampens down the critical, judgemental, negative self-talk part of the brain. 

Create a Ritual and Set your Intention

You certainly don't have to do this, but it can help to slow everything down, create a sense of inner spaciousness and honour that this is not an everyday event, but a special occasion. It could be as simple as lighting a candle or putting a flower in a vase in front of you or playing soothing background music.

Rituals help us to transition from our everyday lives to a sense of sacredness, of awe, of connecting to something bigger than ourselves - a universal divine love - whatever name we may choose to call this by.

Some form of request, a statement of our intention or a prayer helps to direct our focus and opens the way for guidance to be given. It could be simply:

I ask for the Grace of clear guidance and high vibration loving assistance as I choose three tarot cards to help me understand my soul's purpose for this life-time. 

Shuffle your Cards

Firstly, make sure you are using a deck that resonates very strongly for you. My own preference is the Universal Waite tarot deck. I like this one for several reasons. It is rich in symbolic detail which is very clearly shown on the cards. There is a clear distinction between the four suits. The images on the cards tend to be neutral and don't express either a positive or negative bias.

Personally I don't use reversed cards - it tends to induce panic and with 78 cards I feel there is enough nuance of meaning available. So my suggestion for this reading at least is to make sure all the cards are upright.

Next shuffle your cards. For a big reading like this I use the seven hand shuffle. Deal the cards out into seven piles in a random fashion. 

Straighten the cards up and put the piles together using your intuition for the order.

Cut the deck into three piles. Take the top card of each pile. These are the three cards that convey something of the essence of your Soul Purpose.

Working with your Soul Purpose cards

You won't get all the information about your soul's purpose in one sitting. It is something you feel your way into over time with flashes of insight and understanding. Knowing which are your cards helps you to link certain life experiences and choices to your soul purpose.

You might like to work deeply with each card, one at a time, or dip a toe in the water of all three to get the bigger picture and see how they connect, perhaps coming back to work separately on them at a later time.  

Work with the cards you get - even if they are not the ones you hoped you would be given - even if you previously had negative associations to those cards. 

Spend some time just examining your card, notice the details; the attitude and posture of the character; the colours. What stands out most strongly to you? If you let your eyes go soft and slide them over the card where are they drawn to?

What feelings does the card bring up in you? 

Write down some words that come into your mind as you contemplate the card.

Is there anything in your current life that springs to mind as you look at your card? 

Is there anything from your past?

Close your eyes and imagine you are the character in the card, find yourself in that landscape or setting. How do you feel? What do you do? Allow this to develop into a little story - a kind of deliberate daydream. 

How does that connect to your current life? 

Notice the number, the suit or the court role of the card - what information does this give you? If you are new to the tarot you can always research this later.

Put your hand on your heart, take a breath, and ask for one phrase or one image or one sensation that sums up the essence of your soul's purpose for each card.  

My Soul Purpose cards

The High Priestess: To be a student and a teacher of the mysteries of the inner world. (This was the easiest card to understand as I had already been doing my own inner work and working with clients for many years. And this is still unfolding - if I get this card when I've had an inspiration about doing something new it gives me the green-light to go ahead.)

King of Wands: To gain mastery over the sphere of action. (This has been the most difficult card for me to grasp - perhaps because action does not come easily. Not surprisingly the Page of Wands is my guiding light - action, courage, confidence, going out into the world - this is all something I am learning - and my soul purpose is to persist in this study until I master this sphere.)

The Star: To be authentically myself with no disguise or pretense, to find peace in being my true self and shining with my gifts to inspire others. (This is a great card that guides me to live from the inside out, to let go of any concerns around what others are thinking or doing and instead to trust my own path. )