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What happens to you when you pull a scary looking card? Do you cringe? Perhaps you pretend you didn't see that card and
put it back in the deck. I know someone who continually picks a card until he pulls one that he likes. I don't particularly like seeing a negative card before me either but over time I have learned to accept its
message more gracefully.
The word negative tends to bring up fear, denial, and defensivenss. It makes people feel unworthy, like something is bad
with them and therefore often feels invalidating
I prefer to think of negative energies as being less evolved or undeveloped. These are just aspects of us that are still in the dark. They just don't know any better. They are often connected to parts of us that are trying to protect us from what once seemed like harm. In order to grow and evolve they need our acknowledgement, acceptance, love, compassion, and understanding.
The following exercise can help you to work with these energies, to break limiting habit patterns and change negative
behavior. It is from The Motherpeace Playbook by Vickie Noble.
Part 1
Go through the Ace through 10 of the Minor Arcana and pick out the ones that seem "negative" to you. Choose freely. Select
any card that strikes you as even being a little bit on the negative side. Even if you think that someone else might like the card, if it looks negative to you chose it.
Next mix up all the cards you chose and lay them out face down. When you are ready, ask to be shown cards that represent
your limiting habit patterns at the present time. You can be specific and ask a question like, "How am I repeating mistakes from the past in my current behavior? Or "What unconscious patterns are dominating my life
right now?"
Focus on the issue that concerns you the most. Ask the cards to answer your question with images. Next chose two or three
cards. Study them in terms of the negative qualites of the elements discussed above. Allow the colors and forms to influence you. Get a sense or feeling from each image and think about the tendencies of each suit.
Part 2
Spend time meditating on the cards you have drawn. Then chose cards to represent positive "helpers" from the remaining
Minor Arcana. These helping cards will indicate behaviors that might best replace the outworn negative patterns. You can select a "helper" to go with each negative image you have worked with. Place them next to each
other and look at them. Use your imagination to see how the one behavior might replace the other. Next make a list of things you can do that will move you towards a more positive appoach. Be concrete. It's a good
idea to check your list everyday for a week to see how you are doing. You may even want to leave the cards by your bed when you go to sleep at night so that they may affect you in your dream state.
Since the theme of Tarot is about reaching wholeness, integration, and balance, this exercise may help you work with
negative cards in a more healing way. Next time you pull a negative looking card and find yourself cringing, take a deep breath, look deeper and see how you might turn this energy around.
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