The Tarot is an ancient Intuitive Art and some of its terminology reflects the attitudes and beliefs of its antiquity.  Some of the terms and phrases used in describing energy seem to specifically refer to gender in such a way that, today, they’d be considered demeaning, inappropriate and/or incorrect.  Phrases like:

Positive-negative

Masculine-feminine

Light-dark

Strong-weak  

Active-passive

Final outcome

In olden times, words like positive, masculine, light, strong and active were used to describe a conscious, activating, obvious, outgoing or intellectual energy.  These words were used to describe what was considered a superior use of energy in a male-dominated society with a narrow world view.

Words like negative, feminine, dark, weak or passive were used to describe a subconscious, generating, subtle, introspective or intuitive energy.  These words were used to describe what was considered an inferior use of energy in a male-dominated society with a narrow world view.

Today, we have a more expansive view of the world and have an opportunity to see things from a more balanced, neutral perspective.  The Eastern symbol for balance, Yin-Yang, is a perfect visual explanation of the strength of darkness within light and lightness within the dark.  Neither is stronger than the other, they work together to produce harmony.

Many Tarot spreads have a card that represents the ‘final’ outcome.  Final means the absolute, concluding end.  I feel it’s misleading in a spread because life and we are organic, everything morphs into something else—there really is no ‘final’ end.  The word, final, lulls you into thinking that nothing more will happen.  I prefer to just use the word, ‘outcome’ or the phrase, ‘probable outcome’ because they imply that there is room for the ‘outcome’ to do what all outcomes do in life, transform into its next stage of development.     

If, in studying the Tarot, you find that certain words or phrases bother you, please feel free to take out your thesaurus and find words or phrases with the same meaning that don’t offend you.

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This excerpt is from my book, The Infinite Tarot, the Essential Guide for Connecting to the All-Knowing Source. I invite you to discover your own liberating Tarot terminology and learn more about developing and using your intuition with the Tarot by purchasing my book.  Just click on the Store tab on the navigation bar at the top of this page and you’ll be directed to the Store page.