Tarot is no longer a hidden, mysterious method of divination which old ladies were consulted for in the back room of their homes.

Tarot has moved from the realm of the mysterious to the mainstream. Just flip open the pages of any magazine or newspaper and you will find pages of advertisements for tarot, psychic or clairvoyant readings. Or walk into any popular bookstore and you will encounter many types of tarot cards and books on tarot openly displayed on the shelves.

Different Tarot Decks

With the re-emergence of tarot, a bewildering number of tarot decks have become available, including medicine cards, Egyptian cards, alien cards, mother-earth cards plus many more.
This can be confusing to the newcomer when faced with so many choices. In the rapidly changing times of today, when choosing a tarot deck it is important to choose a deck that reflects the complexity of our society, and the choices we are able to make. It is a time where we have encompassed technology, but also, it is a time when we need to awaken ourselves to a deeper spiritual purpose and empowerment.

Traditional Decks and the Voyager Deck

The tarot is a visual medium which uses picture symbols. These symbols are easily understood by our minds, both consciously and subconsciously. Where many traditional decks use outdated images such as Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages, the Voyager Deck is different, because it has replaced these medieval figures with images which are found in modern society. For example, the Royalty cards of older decks have been replaced with Family cards: man, woman, child and Sage.

The Voyager cards have been designed for our modern world, and all of its complexities. The Voyager gives us an effective psychological portrait of individuals, while also integrating symbols taken from ancient history, shamanism, Buddhism, numerology and astrology.

The Voyager deck is the only one that I know of which is multi-cultural and modern and also incorporates levels of symbolism to create a dynamic portrait of the world around us. Instead of violent images such as knives and swords as portrayed in some tarot decks, the Voyager uses crystals to represent the mind, flowers and nature to represent the emotions, and a variety of deep to muted colours to graphically display intensity of action, mind or emotion.

Tarot as a Counseling Tool

Traditionally, most tarot decks have been used as a tool for prediction. Although it is possible to use the tarot for this purpose, it is doing an injustice to yourself and others to view the tarot in this limited way. Tarot cards should serve a greater purpose; to tap into our subconscious minds and give us answers about ourselves and the world around us. Therefore, when one is consulted for a reading it is essential that the reader communicate to the person having the reading that the tarot is a vehicle or a pathway intended to show us our inner journey.

The Voyager tarot is used as a tool of action, placing power and responsibility back onto the individual, to aid understanding of other peoples' motivations and behaviour and in turn, allow us to understand others on a deeper level.

The Voyager tarot will help put into perspective emotions a person is feeling and help an individual understand factors which are internal - thoughts and emotions, and factors that are external, namely other people's thoughts, feelings, motivations and, what positive action can be taken to nurture and support others.

The Voyager Tarot is an important tarot deck to consider, because it is designed to work as a vehicle of self discovery, to guide and transform.

Course Presenter: Eleni Bourozikas

Eleni is an accredited Voyager consultant and has trained with James Wanless (the originator of the Voyager) and runs Voyager tarot courses focusing on intuition and counseling.