Tarot Kings and Fathers

Written by Avia Venefica on June 19th, 2009

By their very design, the kings of the Tarot resonate with the father archetype. We can feel that resonance through these attributes represented in the Tarot kings:

• Wise
• Strong
• Protective
• Authoritative
• Experienced
• Provisionary
• Masculine
• Stable

These are only a few keywords pertaining to the kings in the Tarot, but they all fall-in line with the father archetype.

Working with the father archetype in the Tarot:

Through the kings, our fathers can speak to us.

1) Pull all four Tarot kings from your favorite deck.

2) Now contemplate the traits, qualities, habits and behaviors of your own father and relate them to the kings set before you. Begin to draw correlations to the kings and your own experiences with your father.

3) You'll begin to gravitate to one king in specific as you consider your dad while observing the cards.

4) Pull the king that most resembles your father. Healing and Communicating with Dad through the Tarot:

After you've pulled the king that most reminds you of your own dad, you can open up communication with him. This is possible because each card in the Tarot is a gateway into an energetic world where the physical presence is not required in order to communicate.

Ask your higher self to open this gateway of communication with the intent for healing, love and divine communication with your dad.

If you're father is deceased: Contemplation and meditation on this card will open up psychic channels, allowing you to communicate with your father from the other side. Signs of his presence will come either during meditation or afterwards. Watch and observe.

If you're father is alive: You may experience enhanced communications or closer connection with your dad after this exercise.

If you have a tumultuous relationship with your father: Meditate upon the good qualities in the Tarot king that resembles your father. Focus on the potential this father archetype represents. Ask for the highest healing between you both, and begin to visualize a healing energy surrounding you.

If you feel a healing is not required or wanted: You can conduct a dissolving intention. Visualize your father through the Tarot king and simply turn the card over. While doing so, release your father energetically. See yourself averting your attention away from him and any negative influence he may have on you. Separating the ties is a simple as flipping over the card.

If you want a more prominent father figure in your life: You can use a Tarot king that most appeals to you and request the archetype to come into your life. This practice is based on the law of attraction. Focus on the father traits you want in your life - use the Tarot king as a visual/energetic cornerstone. In time, you'll begin to see these traits you're contemplating show up in your life.

This also works if you are the mother of a child and want to enhance certain father-figure traits in his/her life. Likewise, if you are a father, you can focus on higher attributes in the Tarot king to unveil this traits within yourself too.

Bear in mind, this is a loose summary of tips on how to work with the father archetype through the Tarot kings.

My personal experience: I partook in this exercise (my dad and I were not close until about 10 years ago) and had really good results. My dad is the King of Wands (and, at the time, I rather thought I was the tiny lizard in the Waite rendition, overshadowed by his royal countenance).

After a few months of working with this card in conjunction with my dad's energy (he's alive, but lives 2000 miles away), I began to see significant healing take place. I focused on the positive attributes shown in the card (and find these were also evident in my dad).

As a gateway to new understanding, the Tarot king revealed that being a dad was a pretty crappy and certainly thankless job. His burdens of responsibility were overwhelming. This gave me newfound respect for my father.

Today, I'm happy to report my dad and I have an outstanding relationship. But it wasn't all from working with the Tarot. There was a lot of growth and development involved - but the Tarot work certainly helped the process.

Also, this isn't going to work unless you first want communication, healing, betterment to take place - and that takes effort. You've got to want it in order to get it.

I hope this article on fathers and Tarot Kings helps you in your understanding of this endlessly fascinating archetype.

Related articles on this site:

• Meaning of Tarot Kings (general)
• King of Cups
• King of Swords
• King of Wands
• King of Pentacles

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Image of King of Wands from Rider-Waite deck, permission for use granted from US Games. All rights reserved

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