From the back description:
There are 5 chapters to this book, the first being a short introduction to pathworking, the author's pathworking styles, and how to choose a deck for this process. Being only 8 pages, it's a bit more ... concise in its explanation of what pathworking is in general than I had expected. The next three chapters give a brief introduction to each card, then for the Majors, each card gets 3 pathworking excercises, as outlined in the quote above. The courts and minors get their own chairs, and get a set of 3 pathworking excercises per rank (all the 2s share the excercises, for example.) The final chapter is all of three pages talking about how to use pathworking in a spread, with a 3 card pull used as an example.Enhance Your Tarot Skills and Expand Your Spirituality by Delving Deeper into Each Card's Story
Just as using a tarot deck is a journey through a story, so is pathworking a journey through an inner landscape to find higher awareness and spiritual growth. This practical book's approach to pathworking will deepen your connection to the cards and encourage you to evolve spiritually. As you pathwork through the deck, you'll learn how to meditate on your readings and uncover so much more than you thought you could.
Leeza Robertson introduces you to three pathworking styles: intentional (intentionally selecting cards based on theme), intuitive (letting the cards guide you), and wandering (combining a little of both the intentional and intuitive styles). Using straightforward techniques and hands-on exercises, she guides you through the seventy-eight cards and the stories they tell. This remarkable book inspires you to go further, deeper, and wider with your tarot practice and find spiritual enlightenment through new experiences with your deck.
At this point, I've read the first and last chapters, and plan to go through the pathworking excercises in my draws as I do them. Today, I pulled Judgement, and wrote up my own thoughts as usual - This card is coming through for me again. I asked "What do I need to know?" and she volleyed back "What do you need to release?" without skipping a beat.
Right now, it's a lot about not being good enough, about fucking up, about doing things wrong, about my best just not being enough. "What would it feel like to release all that?" she asks softly.
And I don't know. What would it feel like to hold myself with gentleness and compassion, with the knowledge that I am always enough, even when I feel shattered and small? I can only find out by trying.
I release to you, Universe, my fears, my sorrows. My tears. I release it to you, because I know you are vast enough to hold all of that, and all of me, securely.
Following this, I went to the Pathworking book to see what was there. The opening paragraph to Judgement was so on point that I laughed.
It goes on for about a page talking about how letting go, releasing, forgiving are our path to rebirth on the way to The World. It then gives about a page for each pathwork excercise surrounding Judgement. The Intentional path asks you to spend a few minutes a couple times a week taking time to forgive yourself, for little things, working up to bigger things - or sticking with the little things. I went through this process, until I got stuck on one random thing and had a huge bubbled feeling of "I don't need to be forgiving myself for this. It's not a wrongdoing, so why is forgiveness needed?" And then got sucked into a rabbit hole about what forgiveness is (I didn't find the book's definition satisfying - "The act of forgiveness is an intentional act of self-love." Not a lot of meat there!) Anyway that resistance is something I'm going to explore...If there really is a higher divine power that could rid you of your sins, would you want that? Would you want be rid of all your guilt, shame, and regret, and if so, would you truly be able to let go?
The Intuitive exercise felt pretty similar. It basically is offering a form of stepping into the card meditation, asking you to visualize archangel Gabriel's horn blowing away all your pain, anger, perceived failures and "drawing Gabriel's energy into your heart center." I'm personally not comfortable working with archangels, but I will give this a shot with removing that aspect!
The Wandering portion felt insanely on point for a conversation that I had while ... well, wandering, yesterday. A snippet says Find places that no longer look or feel the same to you as they did three months, twelve months, or two years ago. Even the way you navigate the through the world around you is different, but have you really aken the time to notice this? Why, yes! I have, in a conscious conversation within the past 24 hours! Synchronicities, right? <3
Overall, I think that I'm going to really like this book. The one card drawn definitely aligned with how I was working with the card and expanded upon my own work. I'm looking forward to sinking into the modified meditation to go a bit deeper, and to seeing how further pulls are enhanced with this book.
