Tarot and healing

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Welcome to the Tarot Blog Hop, Imbolic 2014 edition. Today's subject is Tarot, creativity and healing. In light of that I thought that I would talk a little about a healing effort going on in the ceremonial magic community.

Simple layout for Tarot healing spells.

A few weeks ago, the ceremonial magic community learned that Donald Michael Kraig, best known as the author of Modern Magick, was suffering from stage four pancreatic cancer. Upon learning this news, several members of the ceremonial magic community started to post rituals to magically help Kraig survive this illness.

Donald Michael Kraig--author of Modern Magick.

I will admit that I find it interesting that I have yet to see anyone suggest that we need to do a divination before warming up our cauldrons and circles. One of the things that Kraig writes about in Modern Magick is that one should always perform a divination before doing magic. Basically, his position (to the best of my understanding) is that good intentions are not enough to prevent a spell from going dark--rather it is the eventual outcome of the spell that determines whether you were doing white, black, or grey magic.

No, I am not suggesting it either. While I might be using Tarot cards in my spellwork, they are for focusing purposes. My personal opinion is that this is one working that it is probably safe to skip the divination on.

(For the record, healing magic can turn negative...let's say you save the life of the next Adolf Hitler, that's probably dark mojo there. Or a child abuser. Or a drug kingpin. Or a serial killer. You get the idea. But in general, most healing spells can be assumed to be white magic, or grey at worst. Generally, most of us don't sweat the idea that a healing spell can lead to bad things.)

The idea behind using Tarot cards in spell work is that just like we use the symbols of Tarot to communicate with the universe about events, we can also use them to communicate with the universe about what we want to happen. In practice, it is like playing a game where you present a situation and guess what cards (forces and events) would come up in a reading that would be read as representing that situation.

(Practical hint--if you have never done this before, buy a separate Tarot deck for your spell work. It has been my experience that spell work with a deck hinders its use in divination.)

The first card of the spread represents the client to be healed. In this case, I chose the Magician because Kraig is a ceremonial magician and a writer.

The second card of the layout represents the illness to be healed. This does not have to be a physical illness; this layout can also be used for emotional, mental, and spiritual illnesses. In this case, I was undecided what card to use, so I looked up the astrological ruler of cancer in Rex E. Bills' The Rulership Book. According to Bills, cancer is ruled by the Moon and zodical sign of Cancer. D'oh! He also suggests looking up the organ in question, which in this case is the pancreas, which is also ruled by Cancer. Being someone who still uses the Golden Dawn attributions for the Tarot cards, that means it would be represented by the Chariot.

(Interestingly, I understand cancer to be a set of cells that are growing out of control--therefore, the symbolism of the Chariot does seem to fit the issue at hand.)

The third card represents the healing force to be activated and used in the curing of the illness. Honestly, I am not sure what force to use (while I have Reiki, I only have the first level of it). In general, healers (including doctors of modern medicine) are ruled by Virgo. (Except for faith healers, who are ruled by Neptune--they pull power from above, aka God.) So I figure using the Hermit (Virgo in GD terms) would be the proper card to use. Kraig will be undergoing procedures with doctors, so hopefully it helps the procedures to take and put the cancer in remission.

The final card of the spread is the hoped for outcome. In this case, it is a personal choice. I feel like I owe Kraig a drink or three, and hope to someday be able to buy him a drink or three.

(This involves me also overcoming my own health issue of moving vehicles being one of my migraine triggers, as well as my budget problems--gee, this spell has two layers to it...scary, isn't it? Yes, I just realized that.)

The reason I feel like I owe Kraig a drink or three is the fact that I was reading his book, Modern Magick, when my Golden Dawn sponsor first spotted me. If it wasn't for that book, my sponsor and mentor wouldn't have spotted me, and I might have ended up being a self-initiate, rather than being a Vaulted member of one of the many branches of the Golden Dawn system of magic. So I figure that if I ever meet Kraig that I should buy him a drink or three, just for getting me entry into the Temple.

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Hanuman Pow Wow Migraine Mantra

Last night I ran across the following mantra for curing migraines while reading Philip Lutgendorf' Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey. It reminds me of some of the Pow Wow (Pennslyvania Dutch) and the Runic magic that I have seen for the same health issue.

[To be recited seven times while blowing the ash of burned cow dung in the afflicated person's face]

Om salutaions! Born in the forest, monkeys climb trees, leap from branch to branch and eat raw, wild fruits. Half they tear, half they split, half they let fall. When Hanuman-ji roars, migraine goes away!

QoD Frater BT on Healing Others

In a post about whether it is possible to use Golden Dawn healing techniques of cats, Frater BT said the following statement:

"Basically the first thing is that we can only elevate others up to where we are – and we can only heal others as much as we can heal ourselves. The cool thing is, though, that the desire to heal another is often a stronger motivation to become healed than the desire to be healed alone."

Of course, I think I might have done more healing work with cats than people---heavens knows that I practice my Reiki on cats more than people.


As for his statement, I am still kicking it around...I am not sure that I agree with it. I have seen healers who can heal others and not themselves. Therefore, this statement sounds more like religious (and Order-related) dogma than it does actual reality.

And I would have posted a comment to that effect on his blog, but there seems to be no way to comment on that blog directly.

Pope tells the Priesthood to blog for God

Yesterday, I read a couple of articles about Pope Benedict XVI telling priests to use the new media of blogs and video podcasting to spread the word of God.

And I laughed. I know that it was wrong to laugh, but I am still not sure that the Pope understands the internet and how it works.

For instance, Pope Benedict XVI said that "Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart."

I can make a prediction here. Any Priest that succeeds at following that advice is only going to spread the word to those who already believe. I am sorry if I offend, but those in spiritual traditions need to be as media-saavy as the hucksters on the internet.

I understand what the Pope was trying to say. He wants the Priesthood to focus on being spiritual healers first and foremost; but if they want to make any headway against those they feel are in error, they need to be as media-saavy as the hucksters are, if not better.

Recently, I have spent some time on trying to figure out the tricks of successful bloggers. It is something that I think all leaders of the younger esoteric groups are doing. Wicca and the newer Golden Dawn groups embraced the internet wholeheartedly years ago. We do not need to be told that this is were we need to reach people if we want our traditions to grow.

What the Pope said is an ideal, one that I wish would actually result in those groups that were working in the Light could use. But I know too much about history and how the new media works to believe that it is useful advice if a group wants to spread its message and increase its membership.

Aid to Haiti (Red Cross)

Given the number of requests to get aid to Haiti, both healing energy and monetary, I would like to mention that I feel that the best way to get money and supplies to victims is to do it though the Red Cross.

I have personally dealt with the Red Cross during one of my own emergencies.

The Red Cross actually had fifteen people in Haiti when the disaster happened (they were doing shot clinics), so they had eyes on the ground to help the incoming voluteers get oriented. The Red Cross is also used to dealing with government red tape, and corrupt political systems; they actually know ways to make sure the aid gets to the victims while avoiding lining the pockets of corrupt politicans.

You can learn more about the Red Cross though the Red Cross website.