WRITTEN BY: Emma Sunerton-Burl
Continuing her series, Emma Sunerton-Burl looks into the cards of The Sacred Circle Tarot, by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason, published by Llewellyn:
I look at the card and notice how green the steep sided hills are and see the castle on the top of the distant hill. There are 3 rooks circling overhead and the sky is cloudy.
I walk into the card.
I immediately am faced with the pyramid of the discs themselves, gleaming and seeming to point the way forwards and upwards, yet also seem to be a barrier before I can progress as has been with many of the discs cards. I step back a little and ask them for their meaning in the card and any message they may have for me.
“We are not the block you envisage, however we are the drawing ranks of traditional ways. We represent the strengths of family bonds that pull together against outside difficult forces. We are the strength gained from traditions passed on through many generations. The old ways often have power in themselves, as the thought forms created on the astral are almost tangible through repeated use. Though at times it is necessary to break from tradition, when this card appears it is not that time, quite the reverse. You need to follow traditional plans and pathways. They will give you certainty and strength and sure reward in the physical world. Recognise what you have gained from the past, carry it with you and develop it. Call upon your ancestors for guidance for they draw near you as helping hands at this time. Build upon the foundations of strength you came into this world with. Even if your background is one of pain and difficulty, these difficulties gave you strengths and abilities you now can draw upon and gain reward from.
Remember we reflect your own shining ability, and your own unshakable self. We are that which is core in you, which has grown, and also can never be knocked down. Respect yourself and your strengths, and don’t view them as weaknesses to be overcome, but foundations from which you can soar in self-security and safety.”
“Thank you,” I say. “that is very enlightening for me.”
I realise now that this structure is not in my way – it is something I can climb onto and it will support me. I climb to its top and can see the valley before me and the huge imposing, yet vibrantly alive, cliffs at either side. Far off in the distance I can see the river that carved this valley. I am already high up and can see the valley floor hundreds of feet beneath me. I know I am in the area of the Page of Swords and that his thinking place is somewhere behind me and slightly above me. It is interesting for me to see this connection. Almost as I ask myself why this is the case, then I understand, he is a sign of what my foundations are built upon – the reliable structures from my own history were first formed in the intellect, thought and logic. These were the first elements I explored in my first 18 years in this incarnation. I understand how my journey began, and that honouring the rational is as important for me as the respect of the intuitive. I feel he is behind me, supporting me, as I move forward now into this card.
I ask the hillsides at the left and right of me for their message for me and their meaning in this card.
“We are carved from the river that flowed between us when it was a frozen mass moving, only slowly, it carved out this passage way. We were strong against its force though and allowed it to take only small parts of our mass away. We endured its erosive force and allowed it to go deeply into the earth.”
They continue.
“In you, this is the erosion of emotional trouble and the inflexibility of the boundaries around you in the past. That inflexibility led you deep into yourself for there was nowhere else to go. You too have made beautifully intricate inner valleys as your emotions showed you the way that would flow for you in your life, your intellect looked and understood and soon you would flow into wide U-shaped valleys where vision became more apparent. You are moulded by your restrictions in life and by your difficulties, and it is also what brings beauty to you, for nothing is right or wrong, there is only the flow of your life over time. Carving out a unique valley of vision and splendour. Each of us separate and unique – yet joined in the process of our creation.”
“Thank you.” I say – it feels like a powerful message for me again here. My words seem too little in thanks.
I find I am able to soar in the air and I am carried by the eddies of the wind to fly alongside the crows. Though I know I am going to the castle, I stop a while to fly with the others for the joy of it all. We dip and dive and fly high again on the wind, being part of it, allowing it to affect us, yielding to its force and also then using it to decide how best to move to enjoy more of its turbulent energy.
“What meaning do you have for me here?” I ask.
“We are your ability to be free from your upbringing, to be your spirit and who you truly are as a spiritual being. In this card there is the cumulation of all the past and all your possibilities. It is a fully successful and self–realised being incarnated in full on the Earth plane, not all airy-fairy and half here, nor in denial of the spiritual planes, but fully incarnated and balanced in all of the elements, spirit included. We are the spiritual sight; the ability to see the bigger picture from a loving and playful position. There is no struggle, but enjoyment of the power of life and creation. From here you will know where next to go, what actions to take if action is needed. You find your visions of the future through being with us in playful time. Feeling the energy flows and knowing how to respond to them to co–create the life you enjoy and love.”
“Wonderful!” I say and can totally feel the exciting energy of being in this area of the card, I am also aware of how practical their advice is; it is how to bring to earth my heart’s desire.
I bid them farewell and thanks, then fly to the castle hidden in camouflage on the far hill top. I land on a turret and become human again, and ask of it:
“What do you signify?”
“I am strength and courage, the boundaries you set in your present life. I am the sanctuary you retreat to, to rest and regain your strength. I am your inner protector and I know how to hold off the elements, the weathers and people who would invade. I am your home, and I am the family unit you build in the present day that is your sanctuary. None can penetrate my walls. I am strong and sturdy and will protect your inner vulnerable self from attack. In a reading I can be the house you have always wanted, the place where your heart sings as you feel safe and secure. I am also money coming to your from your ancestors, inheritances and family businesses. That which has been built to last over time resides in my energy. All that is passed to you of a practical nature, and all that you leave behind you as your legacy when you leave this plane.”
It continues:
“Sometimes you can not see what wealth there is within you, or within your family, and this is my camouflage. I am hidden until needed and as you played with the crows before arriving here, so too to many have to travel the traditional route to gain the strengths for their foundations, before soaring to the heights of their spirituality, and finally then they can claim their birthright and inheritance. They can create that which they are to leave for their ancestors that will follow. This is the natural order of things, when you are working in your castle you are safe and all your actions are bringing qualities and progress to those who come after you.”
“Thank you.” I say. This card has been quite different from my expectations. I stand upon the tower and look over the card and ask:
“What if you are reversed?”
“Then we will have wobbly foundations.” say the discs and I see an image of them standing on their point, unstable and unsustainable. “You are building on something without the core of you being involved. You would be trying to make money for money’s sake rather than for following your truth – the core of who you are; it feels uncomfortable and difficult.”
“We are the valley of your destruction,” chip in the cliffs. “reversed you need to carve yourself a new way forward. It is as if you are denying your past and insisting that what you have created is a valley, when it crumbles so easily and has no inherent strength. To right the card, understand that your actions are not in tune with your deeper self and that there is a need to adjust things – the best way of doing this is to act traditionally, in ways your culture might expect, until you feel more stable and can assess your personal direction and abilities from a stable core you. As you let go of the denial so the truth becomes clear. Our past does not have to be perfect or agreed with, but the experience is ours and it brings us to where we need to be in life if we take the opportunities it offers us. Reversed we tell you to heal your past. See it, express it and so create the valley through your emotional experience, so the way forward will become clear and you will be able to grasp the gold from all difficulties.”
“Thank you.” I say. I can see how emotionally being true to one’s Self is the start of the making of our own valleys and the finding of our castles too, however well hidden we might think they are.
I breathe in the cards energy and fly to the start of the card I embrace the discs of the structure and feel great love for my own foundations, in gratitude and thankfulness I leave the card.
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Emma welcomes any comments on this article or the visualisations you do following this method. Email her on emma@tarot-training.co.uk.
Emma works as an intuitive psychic tarot reader and runs one to one online training courses on reading with the Thoth tarot deck using a unique blend of intuition and psychological techniques. This has now been extendedto working intuitively with RWS style decks too. She also mentors other professional and non-professional tarot readers. She offers visualisation MP3 downloads for intuition development, tarot readings F2F, telephone or distance, and healing – see her website for details: http://seeds-of-light.co.uk/
Emma has a Bsc in Psychology and is a trained counsellor, counselling supervisor and trainer. She integrates this experience in her Tarot work, and in her self-written training courses for personal development, Tarot, and Tarot mentoring.
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