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| image credit - photo by melaniekaren -part of the cover taken from my copy |
Yes! For All Faiths, and what a beautiful notion that is.
If you're looking to bring positive, uplifting change into your life through beautiful pictorial imagery and positive affirmations, this book is for you.
A few weeks ago I traveled to Salem, Massachusetts. As many of you know the area is steeped in history. After all, it is the place within the United States where "The Burning Times" took place. Today, the town has so much to offer for everyone. It's very diverse and openly friendly to all walks of life. I enjoy the town immensely, and I love all of the unique shops.
While I was visiting one of the shops, this book jumped out at me. It's titled, "Tarot Spells." The title was intriguing. I'm familiar with the tarot, and I'm also familiar with spell-crafting. However, I had never thought to put the two together. I was completely drawn to the beauty of the cover image. Isn't it gorgeous? The delicate beauty, symbolism, and imagery of just the cover and title were enough for me to purchase this book. I know. "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover," went down the drain with this book. The whole book is so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, I couldn't help it.
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| click on pic to see on AMAZON |
After observing the visual beauty of the book, I saw that the book was by the respected and well-known author, Janine Renee and that it was published by Llewellyn Publications, a favorite publisher of mine, I knew I was in for a treat and had found my next book.
It's a highly liked book with over 140,000 copies sold. It's been a big hit for Llewellyn because it appeals to and is for those of all religions and faiths. Tarot is mostly associated with pagan religions, modern day Wiccan religion, and new age spirituality. Many don't know that the first tarot decks were actually designed by those of the Christian faith in 14th century, Rome. At least, that is as far back as we can trace the first deck with certainty. For me, this has always been obvious, as there is much Christian symbolism throughout tarot decks. More and more tarot decks today are filled with all kinds of symbols relating to many religious and spiritual paths.
The book is a very easy, comfortable read. There is no feeling of "Oh goodness! I need to study tarot before I can even begin to use this book" feeling. Janina Renee takes you step by step through easy instruction of how to perform each tarot spell, and there are a lot of them. The book has over 70 tarot spells meant to help you live a happy, more productive love-filled life.
I'm eager for others to read this book. It's beautiful. I can't emphasize that enough. The pages are filled from front to back with beautiful visualization exercises and positive affirmations. Janina Renee has really captured the essence of life and understands what we all need to be happy. Her book is wonderfully positive, and I believe can it be life-changing for many.
Now, I will take you on a journey of one of the Tarot Spells:
I'll give you the imagery and explain how I set the tarot spell up for myself. Then I'll give you a sampling of the spell and the affirmation associated with it. If you are curious about the whole spell and all that Ms. Renee has to explain and offer, you'll have to get a hold of a copy of the book for yourself, as I cannot give it fully here for obvious copyright infringement.
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| image credit - photo by melaniekaren |
A Tarot Spell for Self-improvement and Self-transformation
Tarot Spells utilize the symbolism and imagery of tarot cards along with positive affirmations for specific things we all need help with from time to time. For example, in the photo I have here, I have taken my own Robin Wood tarot deck and laid out the cards for the "Self-Improvement" spell found on page 255. The imagery shows a wheel with 7 of the major arcana cards. Starting with the top and then clockwise and finishing in the middle, we have Judgement, The World, Temperance, The Chariot, Strength, The High Priestess, and finally, The Magician. You don't even have had to study tarot to begin to understand how these words, or rather the title and the meaning of each card, are connected to self-improvement and self-transformation.
So, in the photo I've laid the cards as illustrated within the book. Notice also that I have placed some things around the cards. These items are meant to strengthen my imagery and my spell. You may do the same, or you may choose not to. It's up to you, and this is also the beauty of the book. You do what's right for you. For me, I've added a small chalice of water with a yellow flower. Flowers are pretty, and the color yellow is associated with cheerfulness. It simply makes me feel better. I've also added a cloth with lots of butterflies. Butterflies are associated with transformation, and the color blue is calming. I've spread out a handful of quartz crystals, 5 based on sacred geometry and one crystal skull that symbolizes death and rebirth. I have one larger white candle for purity and several small candles in a variety of colors to symbolize a rainbow as close to it as I could get with the colors of candles I have. Again, you may do whatever you wish. I'm simply sharing what I've done as an example. As you can see, the lay-out is very visually pleasing. It's all positive and already gets one in a self-improvement mode.
Next, I light the candles and begin a meditation and visualization as outlined by Ms. Renee. After I have performed the meditation and visualization, I say aloud the written affirmation with book in hand. Know that it is not necessary to memorize anything. You may have your book with you as a reference at all times. After the affirmation is said aloud, I take the time to think about all I've just completed and quietly extinguish the candles.
Here is part of the affirmation: It begins with, " I am the best person that I can be! I take control of the circumstances that affect me." It ends with, "I live in balance with the world around me And my world reflects my inner harmony."
You see, it's not difficult and the words are easy.
Lastly, I leave you with another part of the book I find helpful, the Appendices. Within the appendices you are taught on how to choose a Significator for the spells. This is immensely helpful because the significator is a card that represents either the situation or you personally. It is not as easy as one might think. Janina Renee shows you how over 50 individual cards of a standard 78 deck can be Significators. This is more than helpful since most books on tarot only have you choose from the 16 court cards.
The appendices also have descriptions and charts for colors and their meaning in color therapy, how to prepare for spells and the rituals associated with spells, a thorough look at spell accessories. These are things like candles, cloths, flowers, crystals, herbs, incense among others. There's an appendix for crystal and gemstone meanings as well as one for responses to commonly asked questions. It's a very well organized, thorough book.
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| click on pic to see on AMAZON |
The Robin Wood Tarot
* Janina Renee uses this Robin Wood Tarot deck throughout her Tarot Spell book.* It's an excellent choice. The artwork by Robin Wood is gorgeous. You can see examples of some of the cards in the photo gallery below.
* It's not necessary to use Robin Woods deck in order to work with this book. You may use one of your favorite decks if you'd like. I started to do this, but the beauty of the cards got to me after reading through the book. So, I therefore ended up purchasing this deck. I'm glad I did. It surely makes a nice addition to my collection.
I know many of you don't see how a Tarot Spell book may fit into all Faiths. It may seem as a complete conflict with what various Faiths and religions teach. However, if you open your mind and browse through this book, you will see immediately that it is all positive with only beauty within. Again, this is the author's intention, and she accomplishes it wonderfully.
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