The pillared cards in tarot are among the most fascinating. They act as gateways or portals to elsewhere...but where do they lead? What lies beyond their veil? In what way should we approach them? And how may we be granted access?

When we first decided we would write about the pillared cards in tarot, we did so with the intention of producing one article with our speculations and explorations. But we've realized that there is more to say than can be contained in a single post and so this will be at least a 5 part series, starting with this one, an introduction to the whole scheme.

What are the pillared cards in tarot? Simply put, they are the Major Arcana cards which feature a central figure sitting between 2 pillars. There are 3 which are obvious - The High Priestess, The Hierophant, and Justice. But examining these 3 cards, the set feels incomplete. A reliable structure, after all, is typically defined by its 4 posts. As well, we have only 3 of the 4 elements represented, so it stands to reason we’re missing a fourth. The elements so far accounted for are water, earth, and air - so, where’s the fire?

Last week I shared a new collaborative project I’ve been working on with my partner Tim and my dad, combining tarot and meditation. The purpose of the tracks we are creating is to bring the listener into alignment with the Major Arcana card they are wishing to focus upon. Last week we shared our piece for The Magician, and today we bring you The High Priestess!

While you may opt to simply enjoy the track on its own, we have also provided some suggestions should you want to incorporate it into a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks. Feel free to follow along - we’ll likely use the space for other content as well. I also plan on storing all meditations on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with The High Priestess.

This is the fourth edition of our series “Reading In The Flow: Cards in Combination”. If you’re new to the series (can be found via Resources), “Reading In The Flow” is a term I use to describe taking a bird’s eye view of a spread in order to observe all the ways in which the cards interact.

Similar to the last combination, I will be working with my partner Tim to break down the possibilities within a set of 3 cards. We will explore elemental distribution, note-worthy observations, how the cards Qabalistically correlate, and what the message may be with all things considered.

The three cards we’ll be using for today’s exercise came about through “random” shuffle. They are the 7 of Swords, 5 of Cups, and The Hierophant. I have arranged them sequentially in a horizontal manner and have not ascribed a question or positional meanings. This is a general reading where the cards are meant to be read in tandem.

Similar to the last time, I am asking readers to take a step back and observe the landscape at large. Consider what is similar about the cards, what is different, how they interact, what the figures are posturing, the colours, repeated imagery or anything else that stands out! There are no right or wrongs in this approach. Bring in any elements you personally work with (numbers, astrology etc.) whether I’ve mentioned them or not. This isn’t about guessing what I’m going to see, it’s about expanding your own unique vision. So, take a look at the image below, and using the prompts above, note what you observe!

Tarot and music (or sound/vibration) share an inextricable link. In a sort of subtle manner, the language of music is well fused into the cards. We refer to them as keys; we divide the deck into a Major and Minor arcana. When approaching the principles that tarot preaches, we are confronted with more along the musical lines - ideas of balance, harmony, vibration etc. In addition, many systems apply musical attributions (notes) to the major arcana - further alluding to the connection.

So is this just metaphorical, or is there a more literal implication? Many spiritual and philosophical systems will tell you that the study of sound will reveal greater mysteries of the universe. Pythagoras said “there is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres”. Hazrat Inayat Khan is quoted as saying “He who knows the secret of sound, knows the mystery of the whole universe”. These are just two examples.

With this in mind, my partner Tim and I have been exploring this connection for some time, and recently we approached my dad to get a musical perspective because my dad is a musician. Coincidentally, he was in the midst of his own meditation project, and being a lifelong pursuer of the strange and occult, he was quite excited to see just what could be done with a single note attribution and a vision.

I’m adding to my existing “Reading In The Flow” series to include what I consider to be other subtle influences potentially impacting a card’s meaning. In the Cards in Combination portion of the series, we’ve been reading cards in tandem to come up with possible interpretations. Here, I’ll be covering connecting themes in the deck to provide additional layers through which to view your draws. Today, we’ll be observing the relationship between time and direction. Central figures in the cards can provide many clues as to the card’s underlying influence, just by observing the way in which they face. While this isn’t conclusive, or totally comprehensive, one easy way to understand this influence is to think about things along the lines of time tenses. There are other ways to contemplate directions, but for the purpose of this post we’re going to keep it simple and focused just on the following - past, present and future.

It may help to go through your deck (I’m specifically working with and referencing the Rider Waite Smith for this post) and begin by separating the obvious ones out. You can place the ones which feature a figure clearly facing left in one pile, a figure clearing looking straight on in another pile, and a figure clearing facing right in a third pile. There are some cards which will be more ambiguous (5 of Wands, 6 of Pentacles, 3 of Cups etc.) and for those, you can just set them aside for later discussion. For now, let’s focus on just three possibilities and see what we may discover.

I have never, in all my years of reading tarot, been a daily drawer. To me, it felt too burdensome to commit to, but another part of me just disliked the idea of starting the day off with some kind of definition. It’s all fun and games when you’re pulling The Sun, but for a morning to begin with The Tower just felt like a bunch of unnecessary anxiety.

I realize there are lots of ways to approach the daily draw that could have circumvented these concerns, but I also hadn’t been inspired to seek alternatives. That is until I finished T. Susan Chang’s 36 Secrets at the beginning of April. While the book is intended to illuminate the decan associations in tarot, it included many of her own daily card reflections and this got my wheels turning. Maybe I didn’t have to make this so personal. Maybe instead of approaching daily pulls as a “what can I expect today?” I would be better suited to approach them as a “what card am I bound to learn more about today?”. In this way, the teaching can take any form! Maybe it’s a stray thought, a conversation I overhear, a movie I watch, something in the news. And of course, it could also be something more direct, but it doesn’t HAVE to be and that’s an important distinction. So essentially, when I’m doing these draws now it’s like this: Don’t tell me something about me - tell me something about YOU!

This is the third edition of our series “Reading In The Flow: Cards in Combination”. If you missed the first two posts (can be found via Resources), “Reading In The Flow” is a term I use to describe taking a bird’s eye view of a spread in order to observe all the ways in which the cards interact.

Similar to the last combination, I will be working with my partner Tim to break down the possibilities within a set of 3 cards. We will explore elemental distribution, note-worthy observations, how the cards Qabalistically correlate, and what the message may be with all things considered.

The three cards we’ll be using for today’s exercise came about through “random” shuffle. They are The Emperor, the 8 of Cups, and the 2 of Cups (again!). I have arranged them sequentially in a horizontal manner and have not ascribed a question or positional meanings. This is a general reading where the cards are meant to be read in tandem.

Similar to the last time, I am asking readers to take a step back and observe the landscape at large. Consider what is similar about the cards, what is different, how they interact, what the figures are posturing, the colours, repeated imagery or anything else that stands out! There are no right or wrongs about this approach. Bring in any elements you personally work with (numbers, astrology etc.) whether I’ve mentioned them or not. This isn’t about guessing what I’m going to see, it’s about expanding your own unique vision. So, take a look at the image below, and using the prompts above, note what you observe!

This subject is so dear to me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve written about it formally. I think the reason is I could sense I was experiencing a shift in terms of what these concepts meant to me, and out of respect for it and out of respect for my own growth too, I needed to just sit with it.

As a little historical overview, I became interested in the subject of spirit guides in 2014 when I had, what I consider to be, the first of many wake-up calls. I read books, practiced communication, had lots of personal experiences, and even explored workshops on the topic. In 2016, I was working heavily with tarot and had this epiphany that the two elements would go beautifully together. That was when I devised a system to connect with guides with the aid of tarot. I went as far as to designate certain cards to represent different guide types, and then I took that concept and created an online challenge, inviting others to participate and get to know their spiritual teams too.

Following that, I continued to share my learnings with others, provide resources, and even ran a second version of the challenge at the beginning of 2019. Even at that time, I found it more and more difficult to put my understanding of these ideas into words. I became very aware of the inclination to “over-form” these connections and I began to consider that communication with “the unseen” may be more vast than what I’d so far been able to conceptualize.

So I began to reconsider what it all meant and how I’d describe it now, which is the culmination of lots of contemplation, direct experience, inspired insights, the work I do in conjunction with my partner, and other such things. One night as I was considering this specific post, I set the intention to receive some information in my dreams that could help me. That night I woke up around 2 am from a dream that, while technically fuzzy, left me with a more fulsome understanding of the spectrum I will soon describe, and even gave me the title for this article. It conveyed that rather than referring to this phenomena as “Spirit Guides” in sum, it would be clearer to separate the words. In this way, we are dealing with Spirit as a whole, messages or entities we perceive as being guiding forces, and then the “beyond” (that which remains ineffable and intangible).

I think words and precision are important when it comes to these concepts. This is also why I have removed older pieces, taken down resources, and added addendums to that which remains. I simply found myself in a situation where I believed in something so deeply, but no longer knew how to adequately talk about it.

I am hoping this explanation will prove helpful or at least interesting to those who come across it. The remainder of this post will be formatted as follows: A list of general principles that I uphold as it relates to my understanding of this subject, an overview of the “spectrum of spirit communication”, and then responses to the FAQs I receive on this topic.

When it comes to numbers, there are endless ways to approach their significance as it relates back to tarot. The first layer involves having a basic understanding of the spiritual significance of numbers as a way to further understand each card. The second layer involves various calculations to make better sense of your landscape at large i.e. adding up all the numbers and reducing to a single frequency.

But how else can numbers play a role (even intentionally) in the way we approach our practice? Below, I will share 3 techniques to help you incorporate the power of numbers into your work. Please note that at the end of this article I have shared a quick reference chart that addresses number meanings.

This is the second edition of what I hope to be a regular feature on this site - Reading In The Flow: Cards in Combination. If you missed the first post, “Reading In The Flow” is a term I use to describe taking a bird’s eye view of a spread to observe all the ways in which the cards interact.

Earlier in the week, I shared the first post in this series which looked at The Tower, the 8 of Swords, and the 10 of Pentacles in combination. Today, with the help of my partner Tim, we will be breaking down another 3 cards in combination. I’m pulling Tim into this because a) we love to look at this stuff together and b) he brings a depth of knowledge that will allow for some advanced exploration and another layer of understanding.

The three cards we’ll be using for today’s exercise came by way of a suggestion on Instagram. They are The Hierophant, The High Priestess, and the 2 of Cups. I have arranged them in triangle formation like last time and have not ascribed a question or positional meanings. This is a general reading where the cards are meant to be read in tandem.

When it comes to reading cards, I get most excited by taking a step back and assessing the landscape as a whole. I’ve typically called this technique “Reading In The Flow” as it allows one to get out of the details of a singular image and instead, observe how the cards interact with one another. I have taught courses on these techniques in the past, shared plenty of resources and written in depth about how I apply this method in my own practice.

Recently, I disassembled one of my free resources to give myself an opportunity to reflect on my reading style and update the approaches detailed in the document.

One way I want to bring this back though, is to start writing more on the blog about the practical application of this style of reading - a style I of course did not invent, but which has become a staple to my practice.

So here is the first of what I hope to be many segments to feature the Reading In The Flow style. In these short posts, I will share three cards and then detail how I may read them in tandem. The cards I will be working with were selected at random by way of my standard shuffling method. I will share the picture first, allow readers to make their own assessments, and then highlight all of the pieces of the landscape that jumped out and what I think it may all mean.

For today’s exercise, we will be working with The Tower, the 8 of Swords and the 10 of Pentacles..

Dreams are one of the most interesting things to me. I’ve written about sleep states here in the past and it’s a theme that comes up over and over again on my Instagram as well.

Today, my partner and I did some brainstorming and came up with a few tarot spreads to assist with dream interpretation, which we hope will enable seekers to explore their dreams in different ways. One is very general, one focuses on symbols and one explores our complexes and patterns. We felt this covered a broad enough range of approaches for most dreamers. I would encourage you to use your intuition or understanding of the dream to determine which spread makes the most sense to use. Or try a couple!

Exploring the cards that are visible in our spreads is the obvious way to approach any reading. But what about the cards that didn’t make an appearance? Could they also lend some insight into the bigger picture?

I’ve talked a lot about the concept of “reading in the flow”, which is essentially looking at any reading from multiple angles and perspectives. It is a way of observing how the cards interact with each other, where they connect, and also where they repel. Using this method, which examines many variables, we combine intuition with what is visible and ultimately walk away with a much broader understanding of the message.

One aspect of this approach is noting the cards that didn’t show up and considering what implication if any, that may have to the interpretation of the reading.

Let me highlight exactly what I mean with some scenarios below and then we can play around with two visual examples!

2020 was a collective year 4, which we arrive at by adding the digits of the year together and reducing until we have a single one. In this case, 2+0+2+0 equals 4, which is associated with The Emperor among other things. There is much that can be said about what The Emperor meant for our year and how we could apply its lessons. I wrote a good chunk about this in my 2021 Personal Year Guide which you can still grab if you want to know more about the collective and personal energies for the coming year.

The Emperor, besides its obvious implications around building foundations, enforcing stability, creating boundaries and understanding authority - harbors another auspicious aspect, and that is its relationship to vision. The Hebrew letter associated with The Emperor is heh, which translates to window, and the physical sense associated with this key is that of sight. The year 2020 (as in, 2020 vision) may be interpreted as one where we had the opportunity, even through challenge and chaos, to see with more clarity. Yes, there were many distractions and a lot of the outside vying for our attention - but beyond this, what else were you able to glimpse? In the comfort (or discomfort) of our personal homes (houses as well as bodies) maybe we had the chance to look out and witness things about ourselves or our worlds that we haven’t noticed before.

Did you know that 2021 is a Collective Year 5 (corresponding to the The Hierophant) and that each of us, based on our month+day of birth, enter into a new personal number each year? If you want to find out where you are for this coming year, simply add your birth month + birth day + 2021. Keep adding and reducing until you get a single digit!

For example, if you were born on Dec. 22, like myself, the formula would look like this:

1+2+2+2+2+0+2+1 = 12
1+2= 3

What does this mean though? Below I will provide a VERY brief overview of the themes for each year, but for a comprehensive outlook you’ll need to grab the guide!

I have written a bit on tips and tricks to learning the tarot, but I’ve been having so much discussion around the idea of other aspects of life influencing our ability to read the cards well, so I wanted to add to those posts.

It is my perspective that our spiritual growth moves in tandem with our development in all other areas of life. I also believe that tarot is a tool that works through us as much as we work with it. This is why, for as many books as we read or people we consult, we can only go as far as our inner guide is able to take us.

For example, I can learn what the cards mean, but I also recognize that there is much more happening in these scenes than just the basic definitions that we find floating around. To see how the cards play off each other, to grasp the symbolic and visual significance, to be confident in your intuition to know which bits are relevant…well, that’s more an art that evolves over time.

With that in mind, I wanted to present a few ideas with the following concept in mind: It is one thing to read a definition and it is another to have lived it. In this way, I am placing emphasis on integration over memorization (though both are important) and Inner Guide over “must-do” advice.

Elphias Levi once stated, regarding tarot - “As an erudite Kabalistic book, all combinations of which reveal the harmonies preexisting between signs, letters and numbers, the practical value of the tarot is truly and above all marvelous. A prisoner devoid of books, had he only a tarot of which he knew how to make use, could in a few years acquire a universal science, and converse with an unequalled doctrine and inexhaustible eloquence.”

We have come to regard tarot as one gateway to the beyond - not unlike other methods such as meditation, trance, ouija, runes, dreams, hallucinogenic drugs or even contemplation. Could it be though that tarot holds not just the means, but the map itself? Somewhere along our discovery in the months leading up to second contact, we began to explore something we refer to as “the gates”. It would be difficult to reverse engineer this process because a lot of it was stray thought or unexplained guidance, so I’ll just provide some of what we came to and omit the ramble.

The last time we talked to Frank in an organized fashion was last Saturday, November 7th. Our first formal introduction to Frank was on May 24th, 2020.

The two entries that precede this one cover the timeline of January 1, 2020 - sometime in March.

Because stories rarely unfold in a perfect line, we will aptly allow this one to function more like a spiral. With that being said, I’d like to start this post with a piece of music titled O Radiant Dawn by James MacMillan and Apollo5. It was given to us last week via our communication channel with the still undisclosed Frank. It will serve as an appropriate introduction to access the vibration of this update and also remind us, no matter where this goes, music remains an important theme.

For the days following the purchase of Becoming Supernatural, we spent some time searching online and through our own resources trying to uncover what the word gamma meant for us.

In this frenzied discovery process, we uncovered a handful of interesting leads and connections which I will highlight below.

How do I begin a story that hasn’t concluded? How can I express personal events in a way that will capture the attention of those who haven't experienced them? There are so many “we don’t knows” when it comes to the discovery of Frank, but we are hoping it is still possible to convey the essence of this journey and its significance. And who knows, perhaps some of what we discover will resonate with the reader. Maybe you even hold a key that will help shed some light on what we uncover. Or perhaps you too will find yourself stumbling through a sea of bizarre synchronicities and occurrences wondering what the heck it all means.