Passing Down the Art

I grew up with a mother that read Tarot (and still does), and I'm enjoying the process of passing this art down to my kids. Every once in a while my oldest daughter (newly 14 years old) will pick up her phone and shortly thereafter I'll hear a shuffling sound emanating from it. "What are you doing?" I ask.... "My card of the day draw," she says. I think that through Tarot apps she's been studying on her own, under my radar.

Last night she was inspired to cook us all dinner based on recipes from a colonial American cookbook she received as a gift years ago. While she was cooking meatballs and potatoes and green beans I started to throw out card names and see what associations she could make with them. Knight of Wands, Strength, no problem. I thought I'd try and throw her a curve ball and I gave her the Lovers. I figured she'd say "love and romance" but her very first comment: "Choices." Awesome!

I asked her to tell me about the Chariot, thinking it was unlikely to be one she's familiar with, but she came at me with "focus, determination, moving forward." Okay I was feeling very proud at this point. We chatted about some further aspects of this card, and she nodded knowingly.

So I suggested we move to the Minor cards, and she said that she felt she understood the suit of Cups pretty well, so I had her go through them, starting at the Ace, and she killed it. It was fun to listen to her process. She would start talking about the card imagery she was seeing in her mind's eye, and drawing meaning from that: "The Three of Cups...well I know there are three people having a good time, there's food and drink, and they look happy. It's about celebration and having fun with people."
The only card she felt stuck on was the 5 of Cups, so I helped her to remember traditional images of the person staring down at three spilt cups, and she took it from there. "He's sad about what he lost but if he turns around he'll see that he still has some good things in his life." Did I mention that I'm a proud mama?? :-)

I asked how she felt about the other suits, and this was her answer, which made me laugh quite a bit: "Wands I'm sort of okay with, Pentacles I don't know very well, and Swords....bad things happen. 9 of Swords...ugh!"

So needless to say, she surprised me with how much she's been absorbing, and it was really moving to hear her talk about the cards so comfortably and naturally. I can't wait to see what kind of reader she'll be, and to see how the legacy of divination continues to be part of our family line as time goes on!