I’ve been reading Tarot cards for more than a decade and it never fails to impress upon me the significance of the relationship between the message and the messenger, further heightened by the illusion of chance; the mind never fails to reveals itself in its need to believe. Even the most doubtful personality invariably comes around; the fears of witchcraft and hokum immediately dissolves as a sense of wonder and faith in a higher power is restored.
.
But, to be perfectly honest, it’s clear that it’s not a matter of fortune or fate; it is simply a matter of speaking to the mind in its own language, crossing the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Here’s how it works: all the messages are true. You cannot choose the wrong card. But what the cards reveal is the message is not strong enough on its own: logical insight does not compel us to action.
.
The physical object of the card and its selection creates the mystique, playing into the ego’s desire for singularity and acknowledgement of this. It becomes the perfect messenger: a lifeless object with no ulterior motive or thing to gain. It can speak, in both image and word, acting as the perfect medium. Suddenly, the message registers. Now, it will be heard and connected with a deeper, unresolved conflict within the soul. But it was all true, anyway: what has happened is people have still themselves to listen and receive the word.
.
I am reminded of this truth as a I peruse the Art Oracles: Creative & Life Inspiration from the Great Artists (Laurence King) a beautiful new deck of cards not affiliated with the Tarot but speaking truth to those who wish to listen. Writer Katya Tylevich and illustrator Mikkel Sommer have created a deck featuring renderings of 50 artists from Michelangelo to Louise Bourgeois, Caravaggio to Yves Klein, Francisco Goya to Diane Arbus, offering bits of basic advice of life, work, and creative inspiration.
.
The deck is a touch campy, grounding itself in the reminder that it is helpful to maintain an ongoing balance between the serious and the playful. Growth can be painful as progress challenges us to forgo false paradigms in search of truth, flailing in the void until a sense of patience envelops us in the release of not-knowingness. It is here, many people lash out, desperate for quick fixes and instant gratification, unable to come to terms with the trials of self-mastery. This is where well timed advice can be of greatest use, presenting a new perspective by which to consider the situation.
.
“Discipline is a both a noun and a verb,” is the work advice from the Marina Abramović card, a wise reminder that every single artist in the deck has put nose to grindstone in order to surmount both personal and professional conflicts writ large.
.
But how to get to where you want to go? “There’s more than one way to read a map,” Alighiero Boetti advises, providing inspirational advice – channeling the spirit of the old proverb, “There are many paths to the same place.” The best, most effective path is the one that is authentic to us, rooted in integrity and nourished with kindness and love.
.
Because, ultimately, we’re all out here making it up as we go along. The thing to remember is solutions are neither black nor white, but an ever-changing shade of grey. That ain’t easy, but nothing worthwhile in life ever came without transcendence, particularly for those who need to overcome that which holds them back on the path to greatness.
.
The best part about being great is that it is entirely determined by one’s own aims: some of the great successes have never been told. While art out lives its creator, it also reminds us that more significant than fame and fortune is inner peace. Too many in this deck have lived tragic lives. “Look directly at whatever you’re avoiding” is the life advice of Diane Arbus. The life you save might be your own.
.
Artwork: From Art Oracles: Creative & Life Inspiration from the Great Artists by Katya Tylevich and Mikkel Sommer Christensen (Laurence King Publishing, 2017).