Quitting Smoking; my Tarot Reading / Therapy Session

Giving myself this tarot card reading was like having a very intense Therapy session with my Spirit Guides and Healer Guides! It was very insightful and awakening, and I share it with you so you can join me on my journey of quitting smoking (whether by supporting me, or deciding to quit smoking yourself!) and to give you an example of how this tarot spread can be used to overcome any addiction!!!

As I write this blog post, I have been quit for 3 Days, 22 hours, 22 minutes and 6 seconds (3 days). I have saved $12.97 by not smoking 47 cigarettes. I have saved 3 hours and 55 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 11/14/2010 11:06 PM

Part 1; Cards 1 -7 - The Roots of the Addiction

Card 1 - The Root - 8 of Pentacles - The belief that life is hard and full of hard work. The desire to break away from the daily grind. The comfort of repetition and habit. Relief from daily stresses. Putting off productivity and progress. Affirmation - “I work patiently and persistently to achieve good results.”

Card 2 - Mind Root - Knight of Swords - Smoking is a time to think things through, gather my thoughts, make a plan. When I smoke I am being arrogant. Recklessly endangering myself and others. Retreating from reality. Being defensive, trying to fight a battle - be it the wrong way. Cutting off my emotions instead of facing them. Affirmation - “I defend the right of all to truth and justice”

Card 3 - Body Root- Queen of Wands - Spontaneous behavior. Seeking personal power. In response to an over bearing mother. Justified as a compensation for putting my own needs aside. I often associate this card with my mother (A Leo -manipulative Fire Sign). I think I originally started smoking as a way to secretly assert my power over my body in a way that my mother could not control. I am not a child anymore and I HAVE control over my body… without needing to rebel or assert myself over my mother’s control. Affirmation - “I recognize my self-potential and my ability to manifest my desires.”

Card 4 - Spirit Root - Justice - Smoking used as a way to suspend action until a decision is made. Taking time to deliberate on which action to make, or procrastinating on action. Punishing myself for past actions. Not believing I am worthy of health and happiness - giving myself a punishment. Trying to find balance… self medicating to compensate for lack of balance (ironically creating more imbalance) Indecision and Inaction. Rebelling against social standards. Affirmation; “I am willing to be true to myself in all my decisions.”

Card 5 - How Mind and Body feed into each other - The Queen of Cups (How the Knight of Swords and Queen of wands feed into each other) - Using my time smoking to try and channel my feelings and emotions, spending time outdoors. In truth the smoking has clouded my intuition and has been a block to my emotion. It has been a retreat into fantasy and addiction - self medicating the withdrawal from emotions. False feelings of satisfaction, delusions. Avoiding my own moods and emotions rather than dealing with them. Affirmation; “I recognize the depth of my emotions and my ability to attract and enchant those around me.” Knight of Swords vs. Queen of Wands - running away from dealing with my “mother issues” and refusing to face my own personal power. Afraid of embracing my personal power. Also, the Knight-Queen pair identifies the imbalance between being an adult and a teenager - I have been clinging to my youth and rebelling against “growing up”. Challenging establishment…. Seeking risk… imbalance between Caution and Adventure; stability vs. instability.

Card 6 - How Body and Spirit play into each other - 6 of Wands ( How the Queen of Wands and Justice feed into each other) The combination of rebelling against my mother and punishing myself for my past has created a false sense of victory. Short-lived gains and underlying feelings of treachery and betrayal. Bracing myself for a fall - smoking as a “smoke screen” and surrounding myself with other smokers who “understand” me. Attempting to “take charge” of my life by doing something that is out of the control of others. Flaunting my “independence”. Affirmation - “My confidence in my ability to achieve goals inspires others with whom I work.” Queen of Swords vs. Justice - desire to atone for my lack of confidence. Judging myself in the same way that my mother judges me. Seeing myself through her eyes rather than thinking about how *I* actually feel about myself and my choices… “What would my mother think?” syndrome.

Card 7 - How Spirit and Mind feed into each other - Ace of Pentacles (How the Knight of Swords and Justice feed into each other) I have used smoking as a way to Center and Ground my energy. Taking a time out. A “reward” for the fruits of my labor… I often smoke after a project or before starting a new project. Attempting to conserve or regenerate my energy. Giving myself a “transition” between actions, events, and decisions. Affirmation - “ I recognize this opportunity to materialize my ideas.” Knight of Swords vs. Justice - Choice vs. action. Balance vs. going to the extreme. Judging my own actions harshly. Cutting away emotions from my actions and decisions. Balancing the energy of the Knight of Swords (defensiveness) with Justice (balanced action)

Part 2; Healing the Addiction

Card 8 - How to Heal your Mind - The Moon (The Moon covers and Heals the Knight of Swords) - Facing my fears instead of running away from them. Listening to and trusting my intuition and instincts rather than arrogantly turning away from these emotions. Introspection and self-understanding. Working with psychic abilities and intuition; he realm of the subconscious, visions. Trusting my inner self Embracing the ebb and flow of events and the cycles of emotions in their natural form. Form new habits and cycles. Affirmation - “I am impelled to evolve beyond my fears and insecurities. I am willing to walk the path to self knowledge through the unknown inner realms of myself.”

Card 9 - How the Heal your Body - King of Cups ( The King of Cups covers and Heals the Queen of Wands) - Being in touch with my emotions but being in control of those emotions. Be Wise, Calm, Diplomatic, Caring, and Tolerant, especially when dealing with my mother or other oppressive ad judgmental people. Be in control of my emotions and treat myself and others with Love and Care at all times. Understand that “The only one who can make you feel inferior is yourself.” Control my emotions but don’t smother them… feel them, process them, and let them go. Affirmation; I acknowledge my inner values, feelings, and intuitions.”

Card 10 - How to Heal Your Spirit - The Fool (The Fool covers and heals Justice)- Experience life in the Here and Now. Don’t dwell on the past… but live in the present. Trust in my choices and trust in the Universe. Be carefree, spontaneous. Embrace my inner child and innocence. Be optimistic, don’t be a fatalist. Mistakes do not need punishment, only correction. Trust that balance will be found. Don’t procrastinate on making choices but take steps in faith and trust. Affirmation - “ All possibilities are open to me as I boundlessly experience the Here and Now.”

Card 11 - How to Heal your Root - Seven of Cups (7 of Cups covers and heals 8 of Pentacles) Embrace my dreams, intuition, and visions. See life as an abundance of choices on many levels rather than a series of hard tasks. Set priorities and avoid distraction, but be free spirited and open minded. Be open to new experiences. Be careful of temptations and indulgence. Be aware that I have an addictive personality and find ways to indulge myself that do not involve indulgence in drugs or destructive substances. Find creative expressions… write, draw, crafts, art, etc. Be more intuitive and work on trusting my intuition and developing my psychic powers.

Underlying Energy Card - What is the underlying message about Quitting Smoking - The card on the bottom of the deck - The High Priestess - I think that this card is telling me that not only do I have the power within me to overcome this addiction, but that once I have my system cleansed and this addiction cleared out of my system, I will open up my access to a higher power. I can already feel my vibration getting higher and my chakras becoming more balanced as I cleanse myself from smoking.

Sum of the Digits Card - Overall Advice / Supporting Card - The Emperor (Also my Soul Purpose Card) - I have the power to quit smoking for good. Nothing has power over me if I don't choose to let it have power over me. And from the other lessons within this reading I can see that this step of quitting smoking is just another step towards embracing my own empowerment and strength; something that I have put off doing for a long time. The presence of The Emperor is significant because this is my Soul Purpose card through numerology... so quitting smoking and overcoming addiction is probably one of my Soul's core lessons... shaking this off will do more for me that just physically free me from an unhealthy addiction... but help my Soul take steps forward in it's growth and path. I have a lot of thinking and healing to do....


For more on this spread, see my previous post; Healing An Addiction Tarot Spread. See also the Archangel Oracle Card reading I gave myself prior to quitting smoking; Angelic Guidance -Time To Quit!