Did you know that one of the most potent ways to work with the cards, to truly understand their essence beyond the books, is to sit in contemplation/meditation with them? Not only does this open a portal or gateway into the caves of that archetype, it also takes us deeper into ourselves.

A year ago we began producing meditation music to accompany each of the Major Arcana. We publish these on a semi-regular basis on YouTube and are nearing the completion of that series. But, it occurs to me that we haven’t talked much about how one can simply and practically work with that material. Or, how to just meditate with the cards in general!

We know the Major Arcana cards often represent the bigger concepts in life; the energy that transcends the day-to-day. These greater topics often touch on spirituality, self-development, growth of consciousness, the nature of reality, and so on. Because of this, tarot can be an excellent tool not just for divination but also for exploration. Although, by that same token, sometimes in readings, we can be thrown when we draw a Major as it isn’t always easy to see how it fits into our daily lives.

Part of understanding tarot for me, is taking the cards and looking at them through different lenses. Whether that be various correspondences, associations or just applying their energy through another form altogether - music, for example.

The process of doing this inevitably expands my personal understanding of the card and also helps to find real examples of it in everyday life. King Billy and the Royal Road, written by RC Ajuonuma and published by Silverwood Books is a piece of creative art that does just that. It is this beautiful and unique translation of the Major Arcana, in a way you've not seen it yet. 

It never ceases to amaze me the projects that pop up on Kickstarter, and it seems that this really is the go to method to get an indie deck published these days. I can certainly see the appeal of wanting to test a market before putting something to print. In addition, raising extra money in theory will help you up the quality and features of said product, so that's a nice added bonus for the campaigns that get that far. 

The Lost Tarot is another such deck that's hit my radar and that really instantly appealed to my sense of aesthetics. It is both rich in design and story and appears to leave no detail unturned. To give you an idea, after the cut is the image of the world and the card backs which I absolutely love - look at that gold!