Entering Eden

I mentioned in my working decks post that I’m starting to use the Tarot of Eden. Now that I have experimented with the first of two methods that I want to try with this deck, I would like to explain the technique in detail and share my initial attempt.

In this first technique the cards are arranged in a mandala shape. Cards closer to the center of the mandala represent influences that are more immediate, while distant cards have a lesser influence. The mandala can be divided into as many sections as you want (though I think 2 or 4 is ideal). Each section is assigned a meaning according to the reading’s subject. For example, a section can be assigned to emotional aspects of a situation, another can represent the practical aspects, and a third can illustrate how the matter influences your mental health. Another option is to assign the top section to represent the conscious mind and the bottom section to represent the subconscious mind – there are a lot of possibilities. The spread and concept work for both the practical and the psychological, though I do think the latter is probably a more comfortable fit.

Once the section meanings are assigned, it’s time to shuffle and draw. You can make the mandala as large or small as you choose, and the shape can have very defined sections, or they can blend into one another. The spread is then appraised for groupings of color and mood. A lot of information can be gathered from this without looking at specific card meanings. The idea is that sections with patterns or chaos that stand out to you are the ones that you focus on and evaluate more deeply. You probably won’t read every card that you lay out. Although it is important to be aware of the big picture, which is represented by the whole mandala, not every situation requires each aspect to be picked apart. Sometimes it’s just a matter of isolating a piece or two and seeing it in relation to the big picture. The Eden deck is excellent for this technique because even most of the trump cards are strongly color coded, so any patterns, or a lack of patterning, are discerned easily.

If you are familiar with the common elemental and color associations of modern decks, you will likely note the deviations from the norm in the Eden deck. I discuss these differences in my Approaching Eden post and have decided to utilize the standard Golden Dawn derived associations, at least for the time being, primarily because no occult correspondences are given and the visual cues are a bit mixed.

So, with my introductory blathering concluded, let’s get to the cards in my mandala and how this technique worked in practice. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with a massive number of cards, but I also wanted to utilize enough cards for true patterns to be able to emerge. I decided to keep this first time reading very simple by separating the mandala into the two hemispheres mentioned previously – the top for conscious thoughts and the bottom for subconscious thoughts.

My First Mandala
I could probably write a novel on all the different things I could see in this spread of cards. Therefore, the first thing I made note of with this technique is that there are so many interactions it can be very time consuming to address everything that’s going on, even if you don’t intend to work with every part of the spread in great detail. This is probably the largest mandala I would feel comfortable doing well at this point. More cards would probably be doable down the road, but this was plenty for an initial effort, especially since there seemed to be so many interesting things to look at in every area of the spread, not just in one or two areas as I had anticipated. Although I assigned the top half of the mandala to conscious thoughts and the bottom half to the subconscious, the card groupings led me to work with my interpretations in quarters after my initial assessment.

Here is a list of key things I noticed:
~ The 3 of Wands is the center card. It is the subject of the spread and it shows what the conscious and subconscious thoughts are referring to. In this reading it represents settling in to a new location and getting established.
~ Overall the conscious hemisphere is dominated by active suits (wands and swords), and the subconscious has more passive suits (cups and coins). All elements are present, but they do seem to appear in clusters.
~ The ring of immediate influence to the subject (3 of Wands) is dominated by coins and swords. The conscious and subconscious hemispheres mirror each other in this ring.
~ The conscious hemisphere seems to “seep” into the subconscious, which is certainly logical. The deeper subconscious becomes more diverse, featuring the cup cards and two additional trump cards, The Fool and the Wheel of Fortune, at opposite ends of the ring. Though the Fool is traditionally associated with air, its coloration associates it seamlessly with the coin cards surrounding it.
~ When looking at the spread, the left half has primarily  wand and coin cards, while swords and wands dominate the right half, save for the cup cards in the lower right quadrant. The right half appears to have more conflict.
~ There is a “pocket” of isolated emotion in the right quadrant of the subconscious and none in the conscious. (Being in the outer ring could indicate that it is suppressed for good or ill)
~ The sword cards in the upper right quadrant appear to be framing or surrounding the two wand cards. Interestingly, one sword card is the king, and both wand cards are courts (king and page). It almost looks like the Wand cards are being mobbed.
~ The Queen of Swords is in the first ring of the subconscious, and the Queen of Cups is below her. Are the queens mediating something, or are they in conflict?
~ 3 of the 4 kings were drawn, and all three appear in the conscious hemisphere. Both queens and the knight appear in the subconscious, and the page is at the top with the kings. There are numerous courts in this spread.

After making these notes I started to evaluate these characteristics of the spread specifically to discern their practical meanings. Because my full analysis of this spread is very lengthy and somewhat personal, I am providing an abridged version of my interpretations that takes a closer look at each quadrant, but doesn’t delve into the intricate details and my final conclusions.

The upper left (conscious) quadrant is composed of a cluster of four cards – The 4 and 6 of Wands, The Lovers, and the King of Coins. (The neighboring sword cards seem to be a part of the upper left quadrant grouping.) Three out of the four elements are present, which creates a sense of balance. Even without sharing the details of the situation, I think this grouping of cards expresses its positivity visually with the interplay of purple and yellow and the soft warmth of the Lovers card. I know that earth and air (The Lovers) are seen as antagonistic to one another, but the King of Coins represents a specific person in this context, and he is the root of the positive aspects signified by the Lovers and both Wand cards. As one of the inner ring cards framing the subject, his influence is immediate and powerful, and it serves to ground and direct the three active cards above him. This part of the spread made the most sense to me, and it didn’t seem to illustrate any problems, so it’s the one I spent the least time on.

The upper right (conscious) quadrant is all fire and air. The King, Ace, 2, and 8 of Swords frame the King and Page of Wands. Fire and air are friendly to one another, but in this level of abundance they are absolutely explosive. Things are aggressive here, whereas the fire and air dominated upper left quadrant feels benevolent in its activity because it is moderated by the King of Coins. This split in mood illustrates the division in my conscious thinking about my current situation. The left side shows the positive things that I’m aware of and grateful for, and the right side shows problems in my thought patterns that I need to work on. The King of Swords dictates how he wants the new venture, represented by the Ace, to develop. Sadly, the 2 and 8 of Swords indicate that anxiety and other factors are creating and impasse. The sword cards seem to be surrounding the wand cards, almost as if they wish to drive them away or intimidate them. Interestingly, the wand cards are the Page and King. I interpret this grouping as my attempts to force things to happen on my timetable. This sense of urgency is creating stress and disrupting the way that things need to naturally grow and develop. (The Page matures into the King).

The lower left (subconscious) quadrant has the most variety of any of the quadrants. Here we see the Fool, the Knight and 7 of Coins, the Ace of Wands, Justice, and the 4 of Cups. Like the upper left, this area feels balanced and benevolent to me. Every element is present (Justice and the Fool are typically associated with air). Appraising the cards yielded some tidbits of wisdom that I have been struggling to accept, hence their appearance in the subconscious. The contrary elements of earth and air combine to illustrate a need for patience and acceptance of the current scenario rather than the active rush toward change that I have been consciously seeking. The Ace of Wands and 4 of Cups are also contrary, reiterating the idea that a sense of stability and equilibrium (further highlighted by Justice) needs to be established before the Ace can be used to its full potential. This relates to the upper right quadrant where Wands energy is being pushed into developing even more quickly than this firey suit already operates.

The lower right (subconscious) quadrant contains Justice, the 4, 2, and Queen of Cups, the Queen of Swords, and the Wheel of Fortune. This arrangement features three women. I see Justice as a mediator between the contrasting roles represented by the queens. Both roles are important, but I have been downplaying the importance and validity of my “Queen of Cups role.” This is probably why all of the cup cards appear at the bottom of the subconscious hemisphere. The Wheel of Fortune likely indicates that a shift from the present hierarchy would be desirable and beneficial. The abundance of sword energy seems to be a bit overzealous at this time and could use some tempering.

Even without divulging intricate details or looking at specific cards too deeply, it’s easy to see that a lot of information has been brought forward with this technique.

The Tarot of Eden is a great deck for the exercise outlined above. I will probably gravitate toward using it in this manner in the future. It’s a deck that flows and the cards interact well when evaluated as small groups. If I used this deck with a more traditional spread, I think I would select a small layout and draw two or three cards for each position. The large cards make an impressive layout that is exciting to spend time evaluating. Though the pips are simple, they are very elegant, especially the wands.

If you are interested in trying this method, a deck with a definite color scheme is ideal for conducting that initial appraisal, but you can use any deck and simply search for an abundance of suits, numbers, trumps, etc. You don’t need to go out and buy something special. However, if you are in the market for a new deck and would like to get something especially appropriate for this method, I’ve linked a few options below.

The Eden Tarot is out of print, so finding an inexpensive copy may be challenging at this time. These are a few other decks with “color coded” suits that should work well without straining your budget:
Lo Scarabeo’s Manga Tarot
The Night Sun Tarot