All of our accumulated knowledge is never more than a candle’s glow in the darkness of the mystery that surrounds us. What drew us to Tarot in the first place keeps us fascinated.
Even Tarot experts feel the delicious presence of the unknown just outside the door of what they know.
Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone, Lesson Eight, The Tarot Birth Cards
As many of you know, the Birth Cards of the Tarot have been a passion of mine for nearly 25 years. Ever since the mid-90s, I have shared Tarot birthday year and Birth Card overviews with my clients. I have taught countless workshops, including both beginner and advanced classes.
I delight in this aspect of Tarot so much that I created and administered my Birthday Club for five years, in which participants received their Birth Card combination overview, their current Tarot year, and a monthly packet of meditations and exercises to celebrate the entire year. (Alas, I had to suspend it when I became ill).
I still offer my Soul Card kits, which include my unique blend of magical botanicals and herbs that are aligned with your single-digit Birth Card, as well as a brief introduction to your card.
I even see the Birth Cards as a kind of “gateway drug” to Tarot, because in my lectures to various non-Tarot audiences over the years, I have found that interest soars when people discover they have an easy to learn, personal Major Arcana combination: much like discovering your Sun sign for the first time!
So, yeah. I love the Birth Cards.
That’s why for the last several months, it has been my enormous privilege to work behind the scenes, assisting with today’s unveiling of what, in my estimation, is one of the most important Tarot courses available — anywhere.
On any subject. And absolutely, regarding the Birth Cards of the Tarot.
While I may continue to use the Angeles Arrien/Mary Greer methodology* for determining them (old habits die hard), this past Winter, my entire perspective of the richness and nuance of the Birth Cards was completely transformed!
This morning, the doors opened to the Tarot School’s brand new,
15-lesson course on the Birth Cards.
After six years of research, writing, and fine-tuning, and based on their combined eighty-plus years of experience, Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone of the famed Tarot School are offering what I consider the most comprehensive, essential examination of this powerful, sometimes underestimated aspect of the Tarot ever offered. Ever.
Delivered to you wherever you are.
Opening the Doors of Perception
When they asked me to help with their project, I was excited and honored to assist. I adore both of them, and supporting their work is a true pleasure.
But as far as the content went, while I am always inspired by the Amberstones’ work, I was not sure their approach to the Birth Cards would offer much new territory for me, personally.
I could not have been more wrong!
I was not expecting this course to trigger a mind-boggling evolutionary leap for me, but that is exactly what happened over the course of working through this self-paced program.
One minute, I would be mulling over their beautiful insights about the relationship between, say, the The Hermit and the The Moon. Then, without even realizing it, I would find myself immersed in a multi-dimensional symphony of infinite variations, leaving me profoundly changed – as a reader, and as a human being.
They were showing me things in the cards I had never seen, and offering a detailed tour through landscapes of consciousness completely new to this Sun-Wheel-Magician (my combination).
What Do the Tarot Superstars Think?
Maybe the legendary Rachel Pollack says it best:
I have long admired Wald Amberstone for his deep knowledge of the Tarot and its complex esoteric traditions. Even more impressive than his direct teaching that I’ve been lucky enough to experience has been seeing and hearing the students who’ve studied with him and Ruth Ann Amberstone at The Tarot School in New York.
Their thorough knowledge and ease with the mysteries of the cards is the best tribute to their teachers.
Now, reading the lessons of this course awakens something else in me, a kind of awe at the beauty and depth of the writing.
Speaking with the awareness of a philosopher and the voice of a poet, Wald gives us the Splendor of not just the Tarot, but of this strange life we live, half in the struggles of the body and half in the mysteries of spirit.
And Mary K. Greer, who developed the system I have used all these years, and who has written a number of indispensable books on the topic agrees that this is a stunning achievement for all Tarot people. She writes:
The Tarot Psychology Course: Birth Cards is like no other. It focuses on the tarot cards corresponding to your birthday yet goes far beyond that. You will recognize a whole spectrum of evolutionary possibilities, which reveal a potential unfolding of your personal destiny.
Each lesson introduces and builds on priceless techniques and methods for experiencing the energies of the cards and for making them your own. Ultimately, it teaches you to have faith in the natural equilibrium that each Birth Card set represents.
Big Magic Is Calling
If, like me, you are a seasoned practitioner, you know that one of the greatest gifts of the Tarot is how it can open doors to a universal understanding and empathy for the human condition.
The Birth Cards are the Tarot’s front door, with the welcome lights blazing.
This course is a masterpiece from two of modern Tarot’s greatest treasures. It is brilliant and indispensable for all serious readers.
And you can download it to enjoy and savor at home, at your own pace. Starting now.
Here are the details.
ps: Although I receive daily requests from all over to recommend this or that book, deck, class, etc. it is not my practice to do so. (By the way — the Amberstones did not ask me to do this). In fact, I can count on one hand the products or services I have ever personally endorsed. But this one? Yes. Yes. Yes. With all my heart. Yes!
* The Arrien/Greer method simply totals up the birth day, month, and year number in a way that may include a third card — the “shadow” or “teacher” card. The Amberstones developed their own calculation method (long before they knew about the other) in a more streamlined way that reduces all of the Birth Card combinations into pairs, except for the Sun/Wheel/Magician combination. In both techniques, one’s Soul card — or the single-digit card — is the same.
This post first appeared on Beth Owl’s Daughter — Inspiring Enchantment & Illumination With Tarot & Intuitive Guidance, please read the originial post: here
