Archangel Tarot Spread

I’ve been reading The Rituals & Practices of a Jewish Life: A Handbook for Personal Spiritual Renewal and found that it spurred more than a few interesting ideas.  I’ll write more on the book later, but one of the ideas that the section on the Kriat Shema, or bedtime shema, was a new tarot spread.  The original text is:

In the name of the G!(d)dess of Yisrael, on my right Michael and on my left Gabriel, in front of me Uriel and behind me Raphael, and over my head God’s Shekhinah

In the chapter that discussed this prayer, one commentator said:

“I see each angel as a metaphor that describes what I need emotionally and spiritually: strength, courage, insight, and health.”

That was the line that really got my attention.  I immediately thought it might make an interesting oracle deck with minor suites based on the archangels and using the concepts of strength, courage, insight, and health.   Then I started thinking that my ability to bring that to fruition was minimal — but a tarot spread — that I could do.    In my head this spread would work really well with The Transparent Tarot, which I don’t have yet but is very much on my wish list.  The querent would ask her/his question and then you would draw a card for each of the angels, interpreting them as strength, courage, insight, and health.  The Shekhinah part would be when you blend (using the Transparent Tarot) the four cards together to make a single message.  With a regular deck I think it would simply be another card that provides an overarching theme, outcome or message.

In my head this works really well, but I haven’t tried it yet.  Anyone want a reading?

More on the archangels in Judaism:

• JHOM: Angels in the Talmud
• JHOM: The Bedtime Prayer
  
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Michael
• Chabad: What are Angels?

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