Introduction to

Tarot Affirmations

About the Author

James Ricklef is a Tarot reader, lecturer, and writer. He

has been a frequent workshop presenter at Tarot

conferences and symposia from Los Angeles to New York.

His writing has been praised for being clear, insightful and

easy to read, and he is the author of Tarot Reading

Explained (the revised edition of the award-winning book,

Tarot Tells the Tale) and its sequel, Tarot: Get the Whole

Story. His deck, Tarot of the Masters, which has been

praised by many a Tarot luminary including Rachel

Pollack, is available directly from him.

Introduction to

Tarot Affirmations

James Ricklef

2013

A KnightHawk Books Production

Introduction to Tarot Affirmations

© 2013 by James Ricklef

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or

reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet

usage, without written permission from James Ricklef

except in the case of brief quotations used for reviews or

critical articles.

Contact the author at:

knighthawk111@hotmail.com

http://jamesricklef.wordpress.com/

Book design and all illustrations by James Ricklef

Also by James Ricklef

KnightHawk's Tarot Readings

(Writers Club Press)

Tarot Tells the Tale

(Llewellyn Publications)

First runner-up: General Interest category,

2004 COVR awards

Tarot: Get the Whole Story

(Llewellyn Publications)

Tarot of the Masters deck

(Self-published)

Tarot Affirmations

(CreateSpace.com)

Uncovering the Tarot of the Masters

(CreateSpace.com)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................1

WHAT ARE AFFIRMATIONS? ...........................3

USING AFFIRMATIONS .....................................4

SAMPLE CHAPTER: THE FOOL .................... 10

END NOTES ...................................................... 12

REFERENCES .................................................. 13

James Ricklef

Page 1

Introduction

"I'm not a teacher, only a fellow traveler of

whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead—

ahead of myself as well as you."

— George Bernard Shaw

This booklet is an introduction to affirmations and how

to use them with Tarot cards. The complete book, Tarot

Affirmations,1 includes seventy-eight chapters (one per

card) which are filled with affirmations that can be used

with the relevant card. (This introductory booklet includes

one of those chapters, the one for the Fool card, which

serves as an example.) Tarot Affirmations also includes

explanations of each card, how you might use the given

affirmations with it, and how you can create your own

affirmations for it.

Affirmations can be used in conjunction with the

seventy-eight Tarot cards to help you in your journey of

self-empowerment, self-improvement, and spiritual

enlightenment. To explain how I first became interested in

using affirmations with Tarot cards, I have to go back a

decade or two to a time when I was buying and exploring

many new decks. There are a variety of ways to become

familiar with a new deck, and writing in a journal about the

1 Tarot Affirmations is available on Amazon.com (as either a print

edition or a kindle edition) and directly from the publisher at

https://www.createspace.com/3398140.

Tarot Affirmations

Page 2

meaning and relevance to your life of one card per day is

one of the best.

There are several ways that you can access your

intuitive impressions of a card when you write in your

Tarot journal. One is to brainstorm, writing down whatever

words or phrases come to mind when you look at the card,

and sometimes I used a variant of this brainstorming

technique. I would meditate upon the card, and then write

several short statements based upon whatever messages it

brought to mind. Next, still in a meditative state, I thought

of a few affirmations that might exemplify some of the

positive aspects of those statements about the card. Then

throughout the day, I used those affirmations, often while

viewing or visualizing the card.

Sometimes the affirmations I created were based upon

the promise or encouragement of the card, and at other

times they were based upon the advice or warnings that I

saw there. In any case, this process gave me a variety of

affirmations to use with every one of the Tarot cards, and it

is a process that you can use too.

James Ricklef

Page 3

What are Affirmations?

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." — James Allen

Some people say that affirmations are lies we tell

ourselves until they become true, but I think of them as

truths we tell ourselves until we manifest them. In any case,

affirmations are positive and generally pithy statements that

you already have some specific thing or quality that you

want to manifest in your life. In addition, since our

unconscious minds take what we tell them rather literally, I

believe that affirmations should also be practical and easy

to understand and assimilate or else they may confuse the

unconscious mind.

Repeating an affirmation while you visualize or

meditate upon an associated Tarot card helps to "transport"

it into your unconscious mind, which communicates using

images and symbols, just like Tarot cards do. Perhaps an

example will help to illustrate how this process can help

you. Once when I was struggling to stick to a diet, I

decided that the Seven of Wands might help me, and I

came up with this affirmation to use with it:

I resist the temptation to eat things I should not.

After I had worked with this card and its associated

affirmation for a while, I found that whenever temptation

struck I could visualize the card and my resistance would

be fortified as a result. The image itself had been invested

with the meaning of the affirmation, so it was able to

remind my unconscious mind of my resolve, effectively

circumventing this bad habit.

Tarot Affirmations

Page 4

Using Affirmations

"What the mind of man can conceive and

believe, it can achieve." – Napoleon Hill

When and How

The best times to repeat affirmations are right before

going to sleep and immediately upon awakening, since the

separation between the conscious and unconscious minds is

most tenuous then. To help you do this, you may want to

post the relevant Tarot card in a place where you will see it

at those times, such as on the headboard of your bed or on

your bathroom mirror. Of course, repeating an affirmation

at other times during the day is helpful as well.

Most importantly, whenever you repeat an affirmation,

say it with conviction. Even if you don't believe it yet,

pretend you do. Act as if you do. Don't just go through the

motions of saying the words because your unconscious

mind will recognize your lack of conviction and pick up on

that uncertainty, and this will undermine your efforts.

A technique that powerfully channels your passion and

sincerity when you repeat an affirmation uses your own

reflection in a mirror. As you look at yourself in the mirror,

gaze deep into your own eyes and repeat the affirmation

several times. It is said that your eyes are the window to the

soul, and this technique makes use of that window.

In his famous book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon

Hill suggests that you write your affirmation on a blank

card and carry it with you during the day, looking at it often

to remind yourself to repeat the affirmation. An obvious

variation is to carry around the associated Tarot card

instead.

James Ricklef

Page 5

Besides repeating your affirmation out loud, you can

also write it over and over on a piece of paper. This is much

like the classic punishment for children wherein they are

required to write something like "I will not pull Mary's

pigtails" one hundred times. Just as saying your affirmation

out loud impresses it on your unconscious mind through the

acts of speaking and hearing, putting it on paper utilizes

both reading and writing. So, when you write an

affirmation as well as speak it, it becomes impressed upon

your unconscious mind using a variety of methods.

Another technique that I have found to be quite

valuable is to create an electronic image of the relevant

Tarot card along with a few associated affirmations. Then

set this image as the wallpaper on your computer so that

you see it often. Here is an example of such an image using

the Three of Wands from my deck, Tarot of the Masters:

Create your own affirmations

While you will find the affirmations created by others

(such as the ones in my book, Tarot Affirmations) to be

valuable, sometimes you may want to create one of your

Tarot Affirmations

Page 6

own to suit a specific need (as I did in the example in the

previous chapter). So let me briefly discuss a way to do

this.

First pick a card based on what type of affirmation you

want. In the example noted, I chose the Seven of Wands

since it seemed to illustrate the power to resist temptations.

Next, write down several positive qualities that it suggests,

and choose one or two that are relevant to your situation.

Then create an affirmation stating that you possess those

qualities. You can make this affirmation as specific to your

situation as you want. In the case of my affirmation for the

Seven of Wands, I presented a rather general example. A

more specific one could have been:

I resist the temptation to eat candy between meals.

Feel free to experiment and to be adventurous with

this. Just remember that an affirmation expresses a positive

statement that you already have something or some quality

that you desire.

As noted above, if you want to create an affirmation

for a specific issue, it is important that you pick a Tarot

card based on the type of affirmation you want. But how

can you do that? There are three basic ways.

First, there is the logical method. With this technique,

you consciously choose a card that seems well suited to

your needs. For example, if you want to know how to find a

relationship, you might want to use either the Two of Cups

or the Lovers card.

Another way to choose a card is to use an intuitive

process. To do this, look quickly through your deck with

the cards face-up while considering the issue at hand until

you find a card that feels right for your situation. This may

be a card that resonates with how you are feeling about

your problem, or it may be one that somehow appeals to

you or beguiles you. Try to thumb through your cards as

James Ricklef

Page 7

fast as you can, relying on your instincts and your gut

reaction.

The last alternative is the divinatory method. In this

case, shuffle your deck and deal yourself a card at random,

trusting that the Universe will give you the card you need.

The good, the bad, and the totally random

Besides addressing specific problems, you can use

affirmations to produce general improvements in your life.

The following technique is a three-week exercise to

enhance your strengths, mitigate or diminish your

weaknesses, and improve your life in general.

First, choose a card that, in some way, represents what

you perceive to be one of your strengths or virtues. To do

so, use the intuitive method described above and stop when

you come to a card that calls to you. Once you have

selected a card, create an affirmation for it (as explained

above) or look it up in Tarot Affirmations to find

affirmations that will reinforce your positive qualities. Then

for the first week, use these affirmations with any of the

methods suggested previously.

For the next week, you are going to move into more

challenging territory: your shortcomings. Start by finding a

card that suggests a flaw in your character, a weakness you

want to overcome, or a bad habit you want to break. Again,

use the intuitive method and stop once you come to a card

that resonates for you. Then create or find affirmations that

will provide you with compensating strengths and use them

over the course of the week.

Finally, deal yourself a card at random for the last

week of this exercise. Create or find an affirmation for that

card that calls to you. One may jump out at you, or it may

take a bit of reflection before the importance or relevance

of one of the affirmations becomes apparent. It may address

Tarot Affirmations

Page 8

a specific problem you have been facing or it might help

you along your spiritual path. In any case, use this

affirmation for the third week.

Daily Tarot affirmations

Here is another Tarot affirmations exercise that will

effect general improvements in your life. This exercise

begins with dealing one card at the start of each day. (You

can make this a weekly exercise instead of daily if you

prefer.) Next, create or find one or more affirmations, and

use them during that day.

It will help to keep a "Tarot Affirmations" journal

where you can record the card and affirmation(s) you use,

including comments on the results of your practice. If you

already keep a daily Tarot journal, you can include these

discussions about your affirmations there.

Affirmations and Tarot readings

You can use the affirmations in my book, Tarot

Affirmations, to give your Tarot readings an added

dimension. If a card seems problematic, find an

affirmation or two for it to help the seeker overcome the

indicated obstacle. Or you can use affirmations associated

with a "good" card—one that indicates blessings—in order

to reinforce or accentuate its helpful message.

Caveats about using affirmations

A study published in the July 2009 issue of a journal

called Psychological Science reported that a group of

people with low self-esteem actually felt worse after using

the affirmation "I am a lovable person." On the other hand,

this same affirmation made people with high self-esteem

feel better. The implication is that for some people,

unbelievably positive affirmations may provoke an

James Ricklef

Page 9

unconscious negative reaction that eclipses the constructive

results intended.

Consequently, I generally create affirmations for

people that are practical, attainable, and actionable, such as

"I am staying focused on achieving my goals," rather than

simple feel-good ones, which might elicit a subconscious

negative reaction in people with low self-esteem. After all,

nothing destroys the positive effects of an affirmation like

"I am a terrific person" faster than a little voice inside your

head sneering back, "Oh, no you're not!"

For some people, however, feel-good affirmations

work quite well, so it is up to you to judge what is effective

for you and what is not. If you find that you are reacting

badly to an affirmation, by all means, stop using it. Find

another one that works better for you.

For example, instead of "I am lovable" you might use

"I am improving my relationship skills," which is more

actionable than feel-good. Or you might use an affirmation

that accentuates positive relationship skills that you already

have or that are attainable for you, such as "I am generous

and nurturing in my relationships."

Finally, I must point out that affirmations are not

intended to be a panacea, especially not for serious mental

or physical health problems. If you have such issues, please

consult an appropriate professional, and then perhaps you

can use affirmations as an adjunct after consulting him or

her.

Tarot Affirmations

Page 10

Sample Chapter:

The Fool 2

A strong indication of our intrinsically divine spirit lies

at the core of this card. It also depicts a trusting nature and

a sense of joyful wonder. These considerations imply the

following affirmations.

I am willing to take a leap of faith.

I trust the Universe and know that when I leap, a net

will appear to catch me.

I am always excited to try new things.

There is great promise and vast potential in my life

ready to break through.

My life is a wonderful and divine adventure.

I realize that the first two of these affirmations are

based upon a saying that may seem somewhat clichéd:

"Leap and the net will appear." Nevertheless, they will

serve you well when you are facing a major new phase in

your life, especially when the outcome is unknown or

unknowable. On the other hand, whenever you are just

feeling tired of life's niggling little problems, the last two

affirmations will remind you of both the wondrous

potential and the spark of the divine within you. This will

help you face life with a renewed sense of innocent wonder

and excitement.

2 This chapter for the Fool card is an example of what you will

find for the other seventy-seven Tarot cards in my book, Tarot

Affirmations.

James Ricklef

Page 11

The leap of faith that is typically associated with this

card can seem brave and daring to some, while others may

think it reckless and foolish. In either case, we see that the

Fool marches to the proverbial beat of a different drummer.

These characteristics of the Fool card can lead us to a

variety of affirmations. See the following for some

examples and for inspiration to create some of your own.

I have a great deal of fun in my life.

I enjoy every experience and all the wonders that life

offers me.

I keep an open mind, which empowers me to be

original and authentic, creative and innovative.

More and more, I am releasing myself from the

constraints of social conventions.

I am living my life in fulfillment of my dreams and

aspirations, and I am unconcerned what anyone else thinks

about that.

These affirmations may be used in specific situations

in your life. For example, the first two will help when you

feel weighed down by responsibilities, but they are also

quite valuable for your wellbeing in general. You will find

them useful any (or every) day of your life to bring you

continued joy and fulfillment, and to help you travel along

the true path of your soulful purpose.

Tarot Affirmations

Page 12

End Notes

As I was writing my Tarot Affirmations book, I saw

the affirmations I created fitting together neatly like threads

in a tapestry. At the same time, I noticed some exquisite

themes emerge in their underlying messages, themes that

were repeated often in a variety of ways. The first, as we

might expect, is that of love—love of others, love of self,

and love of the Divine. Another message says that we can

find peace in our lives by releasing our judgments about

ourselves, the conditions of our lives, and the people

around us. There is also a frequent expression of the

complementary virtues of forgiveness and atonement,

whose value cannot be emphasized enough. Finally, many

of the affirmations urge us to realize our connection to the

Divine and to trust in the Universe to support us and

provide for our well being. Thus, when we consider all of

these underlying themes together, we discover a set of basic

guidelines about how to live our lives joyfully and in a

spiritual way.

And so, perhaps, this booklet will be the start of a

wonderful journey for you. You may want to go out now

and develop your own affirmations to use with the Tarot

cards to help you create the life you are meant to live, one

that is filled with joy and fulfillment.

James Ricklef

Page 13

References

Allen, James (2005—original publication: 1902). As a

Man Thinketh. Neeland Media LLC, Lawrence, KS

Gawain, Shakti (1995). Creative Visualization. New

World Library, Novato, CA

Hill, Napoleon; Cornwell, Ross (1937). Think and

Grow Rich. The Ralston Society, Meriden, CT

Peale, Norman Vincent (1978). The Power of Positive

Thinking; Fawcett, New York, NY

Ricklef, James (2009). Tarot Affirmations.

CreateSpace, https://www.createspace.com