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:

As I look at the card I see two shields combined in image by a plant with delicate white flowers, giving the impression of a infinity sign tipped to one side. I feel like it’s summer. There is a small stone circle and a mound of rocks in the distance. It feels comfortable and familiar to me.

I walk into the card.

I see the two shields in front of me that are slowly spinning and also the image balances one way then the other – like a see saw. I ask what they are meaning here and they say: “We are in a delicate state of balance changing each minute in response to the flow of energy in this area. It is right we move this way yielding to the forces of the time, but our fulcrum is indeed stable; we merely show the state of play of the energies at the time. Those who come to this place can use our position to show them how to work within the current energies where to adjust and where to keep the same. For all we change we are in tune with the constant flow of life. There are the rocks in the background who have watched us motionless for millennia and they are stable, changing only very little at a time. Their balance is on a larger scale and so seems constant. If you get far enough away from something you can always see the balancing forces at work in the universe and how these changes actually make for a stable universe. Where major changes are needed this is often done slowly and little by little – there is no hurry. We say in this card accept the changes that are around you at this time, they may make you feel out of balance but know that even in each reaction you have to the changes now, you can still have your focus, and your core stability, deep within yourself. There is no need to allow these micro eddies to knock you off balance as a person. Accept the times as they are, things are always adjusting adapting and changing – focusing on the long term, the big picture will give you the strength and security that you long for.”

“Thank you oh shields, you have some good points here. You seem so delicate and new and shiny as you balance there and yet sound as if you have always existed.”

“We have always existed; it is in flowing and allowing our external parts to move that we stay new and shiny with no stagnation to desensitise us to the surrounding forces, we do not rust in the rain but keep moving, expressing and being as we are. This is a message from us to you in your life too when you take this card as your focus.

I thank the discs again and move forward into the card and see the small stones in a ring in front of me. I feel this circle is sacred and has been for many many years. I step towards it and ask its purpose and meaning in this card. I feel the answer is given within me, that this circle is in celebration of the cycles of the stars and of life itself. That it is there to show the turning of each month and each season and that these changes are what keeps the world in balance. Each cycle having a time for rest, action, growth, and harvest and in this way we too need to honour our own cycles – to know each follows another and that if we are to truly be in balance we are not motionless and always staying the same, but are honouring our true natures at each phase of our being. Resting when we need to rest; getting things moving when it is time to start up; growing in ourselves at the poignant moments, and reaping and appreciating when we have gained, and sharing this with others, so in balance there is no stagnation. The voice continues:

“Do not fear being ‘trapped in one cycle’ know always another is on its way in its own time. Do not fear the change from one to the other, know each is right for its time and that it is being in your own truth that makes you both sensitive to these changes and also accepting. Many have come here in times gone past to celebrate the cycles of nature and of the seasons and stars and as they did so they accepted the cycles in themselves. Seek out places of power from old times such as these to rebalance your own awareness of your cycles and the fittingness of each phase in your life. For both nature and the energies of your ancestors will help you with this.

“Thank you so much oh wise ones. This message means a lot to me personally as well as being very useful for understanding this card. I am deeply grateful.”

I bow and go to walk away but feel I am asked to step into the centre so I do so and feel a peace and lightness come upon me as I reach the centre point, the point of stillness above the eddies of physical life. I feel the stones are sending me light and showing me the peace within the stillness within, that comes with the acceptance of the energies that move in the more physical parts of my life. I allow myself to receive their gifts humbly.

I know it is the time to leave and walk towards the mound of rocks or small crag in the distance. As I climb up the rock I feel its support of me, the weight it carries of me effortlessly, and I feel grateful for its wise and strong support. I stand at the top and look back to the circle and the discs. I feel I have a higher perspective, very like the one the discs spoke of, just standing here – not so far as to be removed from this environment but far enough away to get an overview of how it all works. As I stand here I hear a voice say to me:

“It is in the standing and observing of ourselves and our lives that we often receive the most guidance. Allow yourself to come to this place when your life feels out of balance and you can see the larger picture; whether there is a balance to be addressed or whether actually you are merely experiencing a cycle in your life and this too will pass. As you observe without judgement, you will find the answers you seek to your own situations and problems.”

“Thank you, stones and rocks beneath me, for your support and your guidance here; for holding me up high enough to view the world with new eyes.”

I walk down the sloping side of the mound and back towards the doorway I entered the card through. I feel the peace inwardly as I experience the energies of change that I walk through, and I understand ‘fluctuation’ much more deeply thanks to this journey. As I go to leave I take one look around the card and almost feel it smiling at me in pleasure as I leave to return to my energy world.

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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 extended to 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.