In the Spring 2009, The Empress Bridge Kinesiology College provided the following article which appeared in Feeling Good magazine:

If anyone had told me twenty years ago that one day I would be teaching the Tarot to women on a journey of personal and spiritual growth, I would have considered them to be out of their minds! It would have been a natural response to what I would have thought to have been a ludicrous prediction. However, what we might not be able to envision ourselves doing at one stage of our life, can certainly change when we reach a different stage. This has proven to be the case for me.

I’ll take you back in time to 1988 when I was at the beginning of a new trend amongst many pioneering women of my age – the ‘Alternative Health Movement’. I was right in there with the best of them learning reflexology and kinesiology. I was also in training to become a massage therapist. It was around that time that massage was beginning to become much more recognized as a credible profession. I had already started up my own private practice doing reflexology and was working at a centre on Whyte Avenue with other like-minded bodyworkers. I had a small but very cozy office to work out of with a recliner, a massage table, a lamp, a two-shelf bookcase and a very small desk up against the wall. I was there a few days a week whenever I had clients. Life was good. Then came the day when I went into work one morning and saw that a new name had been added to one of the vacant office doors. On inquiring who this new person was, I was told a woman would be joining our group and she was going to be doing Tarot!. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could someone doing Tarot be brought into our ‘respectable little group of ‘professionals’? Let me tell you - I learned a very valuable lesson from this experience, in how judgmental we can sometimes be when we react from our own limited knowledge of a subject. This lesson in ‘humility’ has kept me from ever making the same mistake again.

I have always been quite introspective and interested in understanding the workings of the subconscious mind. I even went as far as to take a 2-year correspondence course in handwriting analysis before I was 20 because I enjoyed learning about what makes people tick. But it wasn’t until 1993 that I ended up buying my first Tarot deck. This one ‘act’ on my part turned into a personal journey of my own that nothing I have experienced up to this point in my life could ever come close to matching.

Learning the Tarot was a path that led me into the depths of the very essence of who I am at a ‘soul’ level. It was like having a ‘spiritual mentor’ living with me who I could turn to for guidance and direction on any area of my life. If I was having difficulty with work, I would be shown things I might consider doing differently. If I was concerned about a person in my family or other relationship, I would be shown the truth of whatever I was perhaps not seeing clearly. Often the message from the cards would point out where I needed to change my attitude and look at things from a different perspective. Sometimes the messages I’d receive from the cards were quite gentle. At other times, the messages were quite direct and to the point – even blunt. But no matter what concern or particular question I had, I could always count on the message having my highest and best interests at heart. It was as if a kind and loving, compassionate being was gently guiding me through my life.

After working with the cards for several years, my questions began to change. I became much more interested in asking more spiritual and esoteric questions about my own soul’s path in this lifetime and how to move closer to doing my life’s work. My list of questions still keeps growing to this day and I have added many decks to my expanding personal collection.

There are probably several hundred different decks a person can now purchase according to their particular style and interest but it’s really not the type of deck that counts. It’s much more about the time and effort a person is willing to devote to getting to truly ‘know themselves’ – which is the key to being able to create a more joyful and meaningful life. The symbolism on the cards can be learned fairly easily but being able to intuitively understand each card’s personal meaning and significance in the context of the question being asked does involve a certain amount of practice and time. It’s because of this dedication to the Tarot over the last fifteen years that I have been able to form a very special rapport with my cards. I now teach other women how to do this for themselves as well as provide guidance and direction by providing personal consultations.

The Tarot has been a true ‘gift’ in my life and has shown me how to connect to my Higher Self – something many of us could do with during these chaotic times in which we live. Who knows, as more and more of us women begin to live from the perspective and guidance of our Higher Selves, we just might be able to return true value and meaning to the world around us!

Marilyn Buan is the founder of The Empress Bridge Kinesiology College and School of Metaphysical Studies and an instructor in Edmonton who teaches a variety of holistic and metaphysical workshops designed to bring out the potential of the human spirit. Call (780) 434-8079, email marilyn@empressbridge.com or see her website www.empressbridge.com