Mary Greer. TACRA Tarot & Angel Card Readers Alliance

mary k greer
my life with the tarot court

Mary K Greer has been kind enough to supply TACRA with some of her own, personal writing. We hope you find it interesting.

Mary K Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the tarot world, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and reviews.

Mary K. Greer is a revolutionary, breaking all the rules regarding methods of learning and using tarot cards. She has forty years tarot experience and, as an author and teacher, emphasizes personal insight and creativity. As a tarot reader, she works as a ‘midwife of the soul,’ using techniques that are interactive, transformational and empowering.

Mary is a member of numerous tarot organizations and is featured at tarot conferences and symposia around the world. She is the proud recipient of the 2007 International Tarot Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2006 Mercury Award from the Mary Redman Foundation for “excellence in communication in the metaphysical field.”

The author of eight books on tarot and a biography of four female magicians, her latest book is Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card (Llewellyn, 2006), which won the COVR award for best divination book. Three of her books placed in the “Top Five Tarot books” survey by the American Tarot Association, which polled members of the major tarot discussion lists, while two of her books are in the top five of Aeclectic Tarot’s 2005 poll.

A two-time Ph.D. drop-out, Mary has an M.A. in English literature and was a faculty member and administrator of a college in San Francisco for eleven years. She is an Arch-Priestess/Hierophant in the Fellowship of Isis. As a world traveler, she has lived in Japan, Germany, England, Mexico, six states in the U.S., and currently resides in Northern California.

My Life with the Tarot Court
by Mary K Greer

Agatha Christie’s elderly detective, Miss Marple, solves crimes by recognizing, in the suspects, personality characteristics like those of people in her village whose quirks and foibles she knows so well. It was a tremendous breakthrough when I realized that if I was to know the cards of the Tarot court, they must become, for me, the well-known inhabitants of my own small village. I needed to know what kinds of car each of the knights drives, what the pages are studying, what the queens desire, and what the kings dictate. Some drink too much, some are avaricious, others jealous, and each has their own kindnesses. When I walked into a sitting room or a beach party I needed to know who I wanted to spend time with and who I wanted to avoid. I worked out who was attracted to whom and in what way. I explored their talents and their weaknesses. I ferreted out their family/suit dynamics, recognizing where the families were disfunctional and where they were strong. Eventually, I met with those I had formerly avoided and got to know their stories and what they had to teach me.

When writing The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals I discovered that, when reversed, the court cards didn’t become evil or malicious as the old books claimed. Instead, I found that they turned up in situations where their natural talents were not being nurtured and supported but, rather, were denied and thwarted, or unrecognized and unappreciated. Thus, they were either acting out or languishing. The person who makes my work environment unpleasant may be totally different if, instead, she were able to work in her garden all day.

I’ve come to fondly appreciate all the manifestations of the court cards, both for their variety (even within a single court figure) and for what they have to teach me. Just as for Agatha Christi, the mystery writer, the village has to exist first and foremost within each of us.

The book, Understanding the Tarot Court, emerged out of a short-lived but exciting email discussion group moderated by Tom Little. We began by exploring the court cards of what’s known as the antique tarot decks, decks based on French and Italian models from the 15th to 19th centuries. One of our first tasks was to describe the families depicted in each suit, and we were amazed at how rich with detail these became. We intimately knew these “people” and how they related to each other, even though our stories differed.

In 1981 I spoke at one of the first Tarot conferences before several hundred people gathered at the Unitarian Church in San Francisco. Wanting to challenge myself, I picked

the court cards as my topic. I approached them as roles, masks and subpersonalities of the self. Instead of a single significator, I asked, ‘what if we have sixteen cards that signify us?’ From this viewpoint, everyone we encounter, when depicted in a Tarot reading, can be seen as a projection of some aspect of ourselves. According to Jungian psychology, whether in the guise of child, wise elder, flamboyant showoff, belligerent antagonist, or artistic dreamer, a projected quality (be it bright or dark) is unconsciously attributed to someone else, while denying it in oneself. One of our tasks is to reclaim these powers. By owning these powers within ourselves, we simultaneously make room for the other person to express the full range of themselves.

Most of us have not only a personal significator, but we know which card signifies those closest to us. But, if we see them this way all the time, then we only see a piece of who they are. As I got to know my then-husband, he began appearing as more than one court card. Upon first meeting, he was an intellectual Knight of Swords (a Gemini) but rapidly grew into the King. Over the years he manifested as a wide variety of court cards (including page and queen), and I discovered I could often predict his mood, attitude, and how specifically to relate to him from court cards appearing in reading situations involving him. In our shifting dynamics, we became the whole village—mother, father, child, lover, and challenger to each other. I also came to recognize my own parents in many different guises and could see how and where these parts of themselves influenced me.

Most of all, I now know that when several court cards appear in a reading they represent different parts of myself—each with a different agenda, different styles and needs, and a will to make me their own. Sometimes I have to leave an old self behind, other times I have to balance the needs of many, making deals, negotiating benefits, and, hopefully, turning them into a team. All-in-all, I’ve found that if I listen respectfully to their advice, they only have my good in mind. They are wise advisors (if each limited to their own sphere of expertise), these members of my village, and I am grateful for having found a way, through the Tarot, to get to know them better.

Courtesy of Mary K Greer

We really hope you enjoyed this article by Mary K Greer.

For more writings and her personal TAROT BLOG please visit her website :

http://marygreer.wordpress.com

books and major publications
by Mary K Greer

Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways to Read A Tarot Card
Llewellyn Publications, 2006

Understanding the Tarot Court (with Tom Little)
Llewellyn Publications, 2004

The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals
Llewellyn Publications, 2002

Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation
1984; revised New Page Books, 2002

The T.A.R.O.T. Newsletter
an annual publication from 1986-2001

The Chronology of the Golden Dawn (with Darcy Küntz)
Holmes Publishing, 1999

Aromatherapy: Healing for the Body and Soul (with Kathi Keville)
Publications International. 1998

Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses
Park Street Press. 1995

The Essence of Magic: Tarot, Ritual and Aromatherapy
Newcastle Publishing. 1993

New Thoughts on Tarot: An Anthology, edited (with Rachel Pollack)
Newcastle Publishing. 1989

Tarot Mirrors: Reflections of Personal Meaning
Newcastle Publishing. 1988

Tarot Constellations: Patterns of Personal Destiny
Newcastle Publishing. 1987