Reading Past Lives with the Tarot

For those among us who believe in reincarnation, our past lives hold the key to a number of lessons in this lifetime that we need to learn. It isn't important whether you were a pauper or a prince, a prisoner or a prima donna, what's critical is why the image or the memory has returned this lifetime, what common lesson is being carried forward into this life that you may need to take note of. And over the years, I've discovered that the Tarot does indeed give a glimpse of those lessons that have been carried across the centuries - but only if your intent is clear and the lesson significant enough to mention.

Recently a young woman came to see me.  Badly hurt by an older man who had not only two timed her but literally robbed her of her life savings, she looked across the table and just asked why. She admitted to feeling rage and spent her time planning her revenge, which deep down she knew wouldn't really help. The issue she felt was something more.

We turned to the Tarot for answers. And sure enough, it was a past life theme that was recurring in her life. In one lifetime they were business partners and she had betrayed him by murdering him. In another they were warriors on the battleground and in another they were father and son, where she as the son let her father down when he needed his son the most. Every lifetime carried painful memories, and the card of heartbreak kept repeating itself over spread after spread.

Now that we had managed to uncover when and in what form this man had appeared in earlier lifetimes, we then tried to find out the most important thing. Why was he back. Why was she hurt again. And what did she need to learn?

And strangely she pulled out the card of forgiveness. Somewhere he had returned in this lifetime to teach her this difficult yet critical lesson. And seemed to point that she would find peace after forgiving him and rising above the recent events, and her soul would evolve to greater things when she learnt how to forgive herself.. A tough lesson indeed and one in which I learnt from as well as the interpreter of her cards.

We discussed the concept of forgiveness for a while, and what was beautiful was her willingness to understand the importance of it in our lives. The longer we hold on to our resentment and rage, the more painful it becomes for us. The more we realize that some heartaches owe their roots to hundreds of years ago, the sooner we realize that in the big picture this lifetime is simply a promotion in the school of life and if we want to graduate or move on to the next class or grade we need to past some tests. Easy to theorize about but tough to implement, lessons like forgiveness are things we all know about, but sometimes just shrug off, finding it too simplistic. But it's the simplest things that are the hardest to learn.

Somewhere in the session, the cards had unlocked issues she needed to address and now it was up to her. The cards could only point in a certain direction, the rest was up to her. She walked away a little relieved and returned the next week with her friend who wanted to know about a past life connection to some man she had met, just for fun. And just that day, her cards decided to have a bit of fun themselves. As she pulled out her cards from the deck, they remained totally silent about her past life. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled and read her Significator card as her message. "Enjoy the present moment" it said.

Mita Bhan