The Contemplative Tarot

Measurements: 2.6 x 4.72 inches, or 66 x 120 mm.

Back of card: There are five different backs in this deck. One for each of the suits, and one for the major arcana. They are pastels. Pastel blue for swords, pastel orange/red for wands, pastel yellow for pentacles, pastel green for cups, pastel gray/yellow for the majors. Each back features a large image of its implement, in the center of the card. They are framed by big heavy boxes with big solid squares in each corner. For the suits, there are astrological planets & zodiacal signs associated with each of the suits. For the majors, there is a cherub in the center, surrounded by sigils & Hebrew letters. The deck is not intended for traditional divination.

Booklet included: Yes, 64 pages, 2.55 x 4.66 inches, or 65 x 118 mm. Instructions in English, Italian, Spanish, French & German.

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo. Printed in Italy, imported by Llewellyn Worldwide.

Comments: This deck is based on the writings of P.D. Ouspensky. There seem few references to his mentor, Georges Gurdjieff, for which I am thankful, as Gurjieff's & Ouspensky's work are not one & the same. Nowhere in the deck did I find Ouspensky's or Gurdjieff's face, nor any mention of the Enneagram, for which I am even more thankful.

Ouspensky is famous for his teaching that we must be constantly "aware", of ourselves, of our thoughts, minute by minute, day by day. This is quite hard to do. We, all of us, tend to drift in focus, drift our attention & not actually see how our lives pass in front of us. I once heard the story that as his death grew near (he sensed it coming), Ouspensky became more frantic that he should "remember himself", that he should be eternally aware. Right to the very end.

And I was struck by that, the juxtaposition of awareness with death. I've dealt extensively with discarnates, that is to say, humans who have died but somehow gotten stuck near the earth plane, and I have thought a lot about their state of consciousness. I have come to the conclusion the dead are in a certain sort of stupor - as if they were stoned on pot, perhaps. People in such a state very often get stuck in places that are not so nice, but, in a stupor, they are unable to get out of it without assistance. Which, it seems, only the living, with their greater range of consciousness, can provide. It seems to me that Ouspensky's "awareness" is the key to maintaining full consciousness when on the other side, the means of avoiding mindless stupor.

Once freed from earthly entanglements (everyone gets free eventually), most people drift along pleasantly until suddenly they find themselves falling into their next birth (it is a falling process). The reason this always happens, the reason for eternal rebirth, is that discarnates are so unaware, so much in a stupor, that they cannot avoid the fate of rebirth, ie, the ultimate stumble. So if you want to avoid rebirth, or at the very least, have a planned birth, you must have full consciousness as a discarnate. Ouspensky's mindfulness is a method whereby you may get that result.

So to use this deck, you pick a card and meditate on it. How you pick the card, what series of cards you use, is another matter. You could pick randomly (which is valid), or you could start with the Fool & work your way thorugh the deck, which is also valid. When you get to the end, you will not have "achieved" Ouspensky's work, you will not have "achieved" anything, for you could have as easily contemplated the walls of your room, or the events of your fourth birthday. That Ouspensky himself struggled to the end of his life gives me pause. This is not easy work, but it is essential.

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