Showing Your True Path: Intuitive Guide

By Jessica Brook Adams

This book doubles as a Tarot Guide and a Journal. There is a lot of information to help you build a strong foundation in your training. The book encourages you to find yourself and awaken your intuition. It addresses not allowing yourself to be defined by rules and rituals. You alone determine your path and your readings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LLJA Adventures Publishing
• Release date: Oct 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088069448

Jessica Brook Adams

Adams' mission is to empower others to take control of their healing journey and embrace their true path. She participates in local shelter donations and causes.

Book preview

Showing Your True Path

Showing Your True Path

Showing Your True Path

Intuitive Guide

Jessica Brook Adams

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LLJA Adventures Publishing

Showing Your True Path Intuitive Guide Copyright © 2022 Jessica Brook Adams

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.

Published by LLJA Adventures Publishing 

Graphics by Jessica Brook Adams

Contents

Introduction

1 Chapter 1 A Brief History

2 Chapter 2 Materials and Getting Ready

3 Connecting with Yourself and Your Journey

4 Chapter 4 Tarot Basics

5 Decide Your Intention and Practice

Journal and Notes

6 Creating a Foundation

The Minor Arcana

The Court Cards

The Major Arcana

7 Spreads

8 Additional Resources

Journal and Notes

About The Author

Introduction

I have designed this book to not only discuss the meanings of the cards but to give you a strong foundation to start your journey. I started my Tarot business after getting stuck in my healing journey for many years. I was told to do all these things after my car accident and trauma with medicine and treatments. I am proudly a Domestic Violence survivor. If you are a fellow survivor, you know how important it is to reclaim your power. Dealing with traditional medicine and the medical field left me feeling very frustrated. At this point in my journey of life, I stopped defining my religion as I was told to do growing up and developed my own path with God. I believe there is a difference between believing in something and being bound by the regulations of religion instead of what is in your heart. The intention of this book is to encourage you to reveal your own true path, not mine or anyone else's. I finally decided to create my own way and go down my own path. During this process, I have felt called to share with others and help them discover their own path to healing and purpose on their own terms. The Tarot cards offered a way for me to discover myself and reclaim my power. I hope to one-day change lives in the same way, no matter what war they are battling.

I hope this journey changes your life just as it changed mine.

1

Chapter 1 A Brief History

I want to start by giving a brief history behind the cards. I know this will unlock even more questions for you if you are new to the cards. However, don't fear we will get further into things in the coming Chapters.

I have found that a lot of people don’t know the true history of the cards and I think it is very important to know how they began. Some people on the internet do use the cards as a psychic or a witch. I, however, do not use them in this way. My methods are quite different and I will go into that in Chapter 3. 

The cards were initially created as a card game, handmade for wealthy families including Kings and Queens in Europe. Take note that the Minor Arcana is very similar to Poker decks. You will understand once you get to Chapter 6. The traditional playing card deck first appeared around the 1370s. The hand-painted Tarot cards, which added triumph cards, started to surface in the 15th century. The cards are said to be invented in 1430 in Italy. The Visconti-Sforza deck is the oldest deck still surviving. It is said to have been created for the Duke of Milan around 1440. If you look on YouTube you will find some interesting videos of the French Tarot. One video, in particular, is How to Play French Tarot by the channel Gather Together Games. I have included the URL at the end of the chapter for you. The name Tarot is said to come from the translation meaning cards of triumph. They were referred to as carte da trionfi, or cards of triumphs. The best way to describe a trump card is that it beats other cards. Maybe you have heard the saying I trump you. It reminds me of Euchre or Rook, which also uses trump cards. I loved playing Rook with my Granny when I was younger. Cards were one of the only ways we found entertainment when I was a child.

Divination with the cards only gained momentum in the 1700s. Jean-Baptise Alliette is credited with creating the first deck in 1791. Divination as some may know is seen as sinful. This is why the cards later began to be known as evil or sorcery. I myself do not claim to know nor tell the future, but I can not speak for all. It is clear that the intention of the card game has been changed and reshaped in several different ways over the years. To the point that not everyone knows that it actually originated as just a fun card game for the wealthy. 

Then, the Rider Waite Deck was created. When the cards were first given meanings, you needed knowledge of the meaning of The Minor Arcana. The reason is that you only had an image of the different suits (Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles), which is similar to a Poker Deck. For example, there were only six cups pictured on The Six of Cups card. This means when you see The Six of Cups you would need to know what it means. This is why the creation of The Rider Waite Deck was so impactful. This deck has guided images on the cards that can aid a beginner in reading the cards. In Chapter 6, I will have images of the traditional Rider Waite Deck and explain what some of the images symbolize. Everything about the images reminds you of the meaning of the card from the colors, animals, and even the clothing. This is the main reason I suggest having The Rider Waite Deck to clarify with, especially as a beginner. It will be helpful in remembering the meaning until you are better versed. 

If this brief history was not enough for you, check out the following articles. While I did not read these articles before writing this chapter, you may enjoy diving into them. The authors seem to have come across some similar information as I have over the years. Christine mentions that Tarot has been reshaped and redesigned over the years depending on the reader. This reminds me very much of the concept I am describing in Chapter 3. Christine really dove deep into her research and presented some interesting findings in her article History of Tarot on Tarot.com. Another interesting article that includes many pictures of old cards is Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards, by Hunter Oatman-Stanford.

You can use these URLs to find these articles and the video of French Tarot.

Articles:

https://www.tarot.com/tarot/christine-payne-towler/history-of-tarot.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-surprising-origins-of-tarot-most-misunderstood-cards/

French Tarot Video:

https://youtu.be/_rnbKvUwtn0

2

Chapter 2 Materials and Getting Ready

Decks

I recommend having two 78-card tarot decks. There are 78 cards in a traditional deck. I suggest the second deck for clarification. When you are unsure what the first deck is saying you can ask for clarification of a card by drawing one from a second deck. I have two decks designated as clarification decks. 

An important part of this journey will be for you to pick a deck that you are passionate about and connected to. My favorite deck at this time is the Mystic Dreamer tarot by Heidi Darras. That is because I love the medieval art on these cards. As a result, I feel a connection to the images. They are beautiful and enjoyable for me to look at. As another example, if you love dragons you may really connect with a deck that has a dragon theme. 

For the second deck, I recommend a traditional Rider Waite Deck. I love my mini decks because they are easy to shuffle. You may notice eventually some decks are huge and you can not always shuffle them like