What I love about Tarot is that although it can be waffly at times (You're laughing at me right now aren't you? Cause you think I'm stating the obvious, huh?) it also says some things very clearly. And one of its clearest and most powerful lessons is about what it takes to be successful. Not in the worldly materialistic sense of owning houses and rolling in cash but in the Tarot sense of being who you want to be in the world. And it's not money or friends or titles or degrees that gets you there (although they can help), it's something very surprising. Ready, for it? You've been waiting all your life to hear this haven't you? It's.....(drum roll): Listening. (You weren't expecting that, eh!)
The clue for this secret is given in Life Lessons Tarot (that's the Major Arcana for those of you who've just joined us) which starts officially with The Magician card and ends with The World. The second card is the key.
Card one, The Magician, shows us who we want to be. But it is card two, The High Priestess, which tells us how to get there. She reminds us to listen to our instincts, to our inner voice.
In order to be successful, to reach The World card...
First you have to listen to yourself.
Then you have to listen to others. Listen to what life is trying to tell you through them.
That's it. It's that simple and that hard.
I try to tune into my inner voice before I write on this blog each night, letting go any preconceived notion and seeing what my subconscious suggests. I'm constantly blown away by what comes up. All this stuff has floated to the surface. Stuff I didn't even realize I knew. Stuff I have obviously accumulated over 20 years of card reading but never really processed. Like that blog I did the other day about the relationship who's who of cups. I'd never thought about that before. But when my subconscious insisted I write on that topic, forcing me to focus on it, all these ideas I never even knew I had came tumbling out. It's amazing what you discover when you stop and reflect.
I didn't know that Tarot gave a definite secret to success either until I went through this process today. And even now I can't trace the roots that led me to this conclusion. But now that my eyes have been opened I can see it written clearly in the cards. And it also sounds right. Makes sense. The best television interviewers are those who frame their questions to suit the responses of their interviewees. The most successful politicians are those who pick up on the fears and hopes of their constituents. The best teachers are those who find out where their students are at before beginning to teach.
You'd think listening would be easy, right? We should all be successful. But daily life is so rush rush rush chatter chatter chatter there's not much room for silence or contemplation. Not much listening going on. Who has the time to stop and really take in what someone else is saying?
Yet listening is one of the most powerful acts you can perform for another human being. It's an affirmation of their existence. When I've tried to totally focus on what someone is saying I have at times experienced a deep moment of connection with that person and felt them warm towards me. And it's in that moment of warmth that the seeds for success are sown. Because with other people on your side you can do anything, don't you reckon?
I've hit this mark occasionally but not often enough and am resolving here and now to work harder on my listening skills. What about you?
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