Is it in your DNA?

I don't know what possessed me but, one day I woke up with a major need to get my hands on some Tarot cards. I don't think I'd ever even seen a deck up close and yet I felt like I needed to have one, now. Not really knowing where to go, I decided to start with the Barnes & Noble down the hill from my house. It seemed as good a place to start as any other and oddly enough, they had some. It seemed odd to me anyway, that such a commercial place would have metaphysical anything. And, it gave me a giggle that they even had two different kinds of Tarot decks. Whatever this sudden urge to own Tarot cards was about, one of the available options seemed to suitably quell the need. The cards felt good in my hands and, strangely familiar.

I took them home to begin studying. I opened the cards, touching and examining each one, and felt like I’d done this a thousand times before. I read the guidebook from cover to cover, with the same thought continuing to echo in my head... "You already know all of this, trust yourself." It felt more like I was remembering something long forgotten, rather than learning something new. Then I understood. I actually had done all of this before! But when?

Perhaps "when" wasn't the right question. At least not as it pertained to this lifetime. Was there a life where I used Tarot cards? Who, where, when? And more importantly, can you really "remember" in this life, knowledge gained in other lifetimes?

Most, if not all regression therapists (or psychiatrists who use regression therapy) would say, absolutely!

So, I enrolled in the first tarot class I could find, to continue testing this theory. Taking that class felt like coming home after being in another country for a while, where you don't speak the language. I fell in love with the instructor and, found I understood Tarot perfectly. I could speak fluently and lost myself in the language of the cards. I heard them speak to me as if we'd been having a conversation. I couldn't explain it; I just knew what they were saying.

I remained captivated by the idea that this was all familiar to me because I'd done it before, in another lifetime. So, I decided to spend some time in a regression meditation looking for information on who I was, when I was a person who regularly used Tarot cards. It was a truly fascinating glimpse at myself, both positive and negative. I'd met Minerva before, in another past life regression I'd done a few years earlier. She was beautiful and kind and seemed to help the people who came to her so, everyone thought she was good. She wasn't. She was a witch who used her beauty and power for manipulation and control. This wasn't such good news for me, though we all have lives where we've been less than stellar people, trust me.

I asked her to tell me about Tarot cards and she pointed to some shelves on one wall of her small house. There were many items I recognized. There were runes and bones and gazing balls, nestled among many other things which I could not name. There were also several wooden boxes, some plain, some more ornate. She took one of them down and handed it to me. It was filled with a large stack of cards. Well worn, with tattered corners and the curvature that comes from use meant they could no longer lay straight in their pile. Covered with hand drawn images, these were the cards she used if she deemed the person to be "good."

Then she handed me another box. It was delicately carved with painted accents and it held the cards she used if she decided a person was "bad," evil or power hungry in some way. They were more finely drawn, and I watched in fascination as she casually flipped through them, sharing her secrets. In the end, she was condemned as a witch and hanged. She went to her death with zero remorse for the things she had done. And, even though I knew we were different people, I could still somehow see myself in her.

It was an enlightening experience. Meeting another part of your own self always is. And now, I certainly had a better understanding of the cards and why they felt so familiar to me. I make sure to bless mine with light and love and to only use them for the highest good. I've used them hundreds of times through the years and it never ceases to amaze me, the cards are always right. Even when they say things we don't want to hear, they're still right. These days I generally prefer working with Oracle cards over Tarot cards. The information they share tends to be more easily understood by most people and that's important to me in the work I do. They too, felt oddly familiar when I began using them. Perhaps there's a lifetime of memories in there for me as well...