tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75943388420489666292012-01-20T16:05:46.423-08:00Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness is a new exquisitly painted Tarot deck of 78 cards plus a heavily illustrated book by Barbara Bruch. This deck is an exploration of the symbolic relationships of Tarot to Astrology, the Qabbalah and Sacred Geometry. It is meant to inspire the seeker to create on'e self-directed spiritual path.Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14835735998765742393noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-72295568654580380692012-01-20T15:54:00.000-08:002012-01-20T16:05:46.438-08:00

Look to the starsWhen you look up to the stars on a dark night what do you wonder about the universe? Twinkling lights cover the entire heavens. Planets orbit in gigantic galaxies of whirling gas clouds among masses of stars. Black holes suck up matter. Obviously, we are looking at a vast cosmos far surpassing our comprehension. This brings up a cosmic question: Why is there a Star card in the

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-32066519308298086842011-12-05T12:42:00.000-08:002011-12-22T15:44:10.609-08:00

The Tower: Wake up! Wham! A bolt of lightning strikes “The Tower” from out of the blue. Shock! Dismay! Are you feeling shattered and burnt out? Are you fleeing from chaos and disaster? A lot has been written lately about the “The Tower” card of Tarot, especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 collapse of the twin towers in New York City. The commentaries range from endless discussions in

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-84417229895098508342011-10-24T14:57:00.000-07:002011-10-24T15:00:09.723-07:00

The Devil: Good versus Evil It’s time to deal with the “nitty gritty” source of some of the world’s most complex problems. What better place to start a deeper examination then with The Devil,” ‘Da’ evil,’ in the Tarot. In the discussion of what is good and what is evil; keep in mind that the difference may not seem so black and white—we might see a lot of gray in between. The problem of defining

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-71833044043392358692011-07-17T13:51:00.000-07:002011-07-17T13:51:18.845-07:00

The alchemy of mixing, blending, cooking Hints of symbolic alchemical processes are visible in the Temperance card of Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness. A luminous figure appears to be “cooking” in a kind of transparent retort. Here the symbols of alchemy are not about making gold, but of distilling the spiritual “Gold” of ourselves—the Golden Elixir of Life.  Two historical concepts are

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-59070496266654969632011-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:002011-06-06T14:47:26.630-07:00

The End…or is it? Seeing the Death card in Tarot immediately starts a controversy. Horrific images of death and dying come to mind. In certain older Tarot decks, the Grim Reaper swipes away at people with a scythe, and some cards even employ the Biblical image of death riding a pale horse. (Rev. 6:7) Scary “doom and gloom” topics may come up in conversation during a reading when you get this

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-33863307350603743162011-05-15T12:29:00.000-07:002011-05-15T12:36:41.723-07:00

Are you “hung up?” How many of us have been “hung up” on something, or to use the expression, “have your hands tied?” Have you ever been “left hanging?” There seems to be two concepts to examine here about the man hanging upside-down. The first is a warning to stop whatever you are doing and take a “time-out.” It is obvious The Hanged Man is not dead. Taking time to pause in one’s daily life

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-60957132777769453782011-03-27T16:53:00.000-07:002011-03-27T17:01:19.507-07:00

Justice: Truth versus Lies “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”Martin Luther King 1963 For a fuller sense of meaning in the Justice card of Tarot, let’s start with the implications of what injustice means. What are our moral obligations to expose crimes against humanity? Our laws condemn murder, robbery, extortion, mayhem, prejudice and oppression, and so-called “ethnic

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-63829806428963383182011-02-27T14:30:00.000-08:002011-02-27T14:30:13.970-08:00

The Wheel of Fortune: Destiny and Fate “Round and round it goes and where it stops nobody knows.” When we think about the symbolic meaning of The Wheel of Fortune card in the Tarot, the question comes up: Are events in our lives inevitable and providential subject to the randomly turning wheel of fate? With the passage of time, who or what determines your fate? You’ve probably asked, “Why am I

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-55947111286103898382011-01-17T17:03:00.000-08:002011-01-17T17:07:41.999-08:00

The Hermit/Crone: Path to Enlightenment After her Grandfather’s funeral, a little girl called up her Grandmother and said: “Grandma, are you dead yet?”      I’ve chosen to paint The Hermit card of Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness with a sense of peacefulness and hope seen in the Newgrange tomb in Ireland. Yes, in reality it was formerly an ancient burial chamber, but symbolically, it is full of

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-31782494690793694772010-11-15T12:34:00.000-08:002010-11-15T12:34:47.992-08:00

Strength: The Chakras “Know thyself.” The essential meaning of the Strength card is in knowing who you are spiritually and physically. It implies a lot more than just mastery of the mind and the body. A lot of people go to a yoga class for health reasons: to fine tune spiritual consciousness and improve bodily functions. The Strength card in “Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness,” consists of seven

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-87548382207408863772010-10-10T12:29:00.000-07:002010-10-10T12:34:54.327-07:00

The Chariot: Chariots of Fire Be ready to stretch your imagination in this discussion of “The Chariot” card of Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness. Here you can fantasize about all the heroes/heroines and superstars in your life as we explore a realm that resembles science fiction. In examining the meaning of Chariot cards in older Tarot decks, we encounter a mythology where stories of heroes and the

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-51384155769640987892010-09-12T12:25:00.000-07:002010-09-12T12:25:12.832-07:00

The Lovers: Merging or Separating Let’s start where all relationships begin: “I love you” or “I hate you.” I was sitting at my desk at work one day and suddenly a little boy, about three years old that I had never seen before, appeared in the doorway. I looked at him and he looked at me and he said, “I don’t like you.” I work in a home office and some people were guests upstairs that I didn’t

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-60242063758295987352010-08-16T14:31:00.000-07:002010-08-16T14:31:09.510-07:00

The Hierophant: The Golden Rectangle and Nature’s Mysteries When analyzing the meaning of The Hierophant we enter the realm of Nature’s complex mysteries. In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, The Hierophant reminds us to become aware of the creative impulsion that activates the blueprints behind all life forms. Therefore, we think of cellular organization and processes of growth. Now we are

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The Emperor and numeral 4 Who or what do we think of as The Emperor in Tarot? While The Empress is the Formator, The Emperor is the Motivator. In what way? Again, in referring to the past, in early civilizations there were emperors that we retain in memory and still talk about. Some are known for being courageous leaders setting up well-ordered societies, with laws, rules, and other civilizing

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The Empress: going back even farther in time Of the old adage, “There’s nothing sacred any more,” we ask, “What was sacred?” In a long past era, it was the magic of viewing the earth as sacred, with sacred places, sacred waters, stones, and sacred forests. The earth itself was the immanent Mother Goddess—Mother Earth, Gaia. The Empress card in early decks, emphasize her fecundity, illustrated

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-12356129191336783312010-05-24T15:55:00.000-07:002010-05-24T15:55:00.584-07:00

THE HIGH PRIESTESS: going back in time In considering the role of the High Priestess in Tarot—let’s go back to basics—back in time to an age when a High Priestess performed sacred rituals in the temples of early religions. Her most popular appearance today is based on what scholars have uncovered in papyri and tomb painting of the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom. We can see her on the walls of the

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-20076138431089688692010-04-04T12:09:00.000-07:002010-04-04T12:39:21.868-07:00

The Magician: And then there was Moses… According to Corinne Heline, author of The Bible and Tarot, (Devorss, 1969) we can associate the symbolism of certain biblical characters, such as Moses, with the Tarot Major Arcana. Although she discusses the symbolic essence of Moses in The Chariot card, I find his story also fits the role of mage in The Magician card. For instance, in the search for

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-42248155332676586662010-03-13T13:33:00.000-08:002010-03-13T13:33:51.845-08:00

When considering the role of The Magician in the Tarot, what’s the first thing we think of? Right away we think about The Magician’s tools: paintings of enigmatic art on cards representing the four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles or Coins. What magical association and function do we assign to these symbolic accoutrements? The Wands indicate the element Fire, symbolizing growth, power,

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-30719566222590320112010-02-15T10:44:00.000-08:002010-03-13T13:28:17.703-08:00

     In the early Roman festival of Saturnalia, The Fool played the role of a mock king who presided over a merry festival of pranksters. He was the "Lord of Misrule"performing in a wild masquerade party. Does this sound like Mardi Gras? All the rules of order and morality were put aside at that time. Eventually the dark side of all that burlesque frivolity may have ended in a crescendo with the

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-23231019797029600142010-01-10T12:17:00.000-08:002010-03-13T13:27:36.350-08:00

     In the 14th century, Renaissance artists were painting religious scenes influenced by the dogma of the church. It seems that vestiges of their visual images began to appear in early Tarot decks, at least in underlying meaning if not in exact replication. The power of the intended meaning may be hidden in the early Tarot Major Arcana cards such as the Visconti-Sforza deck of the 1400's. In

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-21145793560234902682009-10-17T14:41:00.000-07:002010-03-13T13:25:57.927-08:00

The best place I like to begin in studying Tarot is with The Fool card. So you might ask why The Fool is the best place to start. It's like staring at a blank piece of paper and wondering what to put on it. The Fool represents nothing! It is a lack of awareness. We all start with nothing - zero - nada - zilch. From a physical perspective, most babies come into the world with nothing - just their

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Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness challenges the reader to enter a quest to find and connect to one’s unique inner spiritual self. This exquisitely painted deck of 78 cards is an exploration of symbolic relationships of the Tarot to Astrology, the Qabbalah, and Sacred Geometry. These geometric, abstract, vividly colored paintings are meant to inspire the seeker to create one’s own self-directed

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-24153372322938868922009-09-21T14:01:00.000-07:002009-09-21T18:54:32.822-07:00

EducationMFA Printmaking/painting University of WashingtonExtensive work with the late Glen Alps/Collagraph Much of my artwork is based on an interest in metaphysics, archaeology, and the physical sciences: representing spatial concepts, underlying structures, healing, transformation, and cycles of existence. This work consists of paintings and prints symbolic of cycles of life in portals,

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554997345458884096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7594338842048966629.post-11976939935920258532009-08-31T14:08:00.001-07:002009-11-16T16:33:26.424-08:00

This site is now ongoing Watch for more information and pictures forthcoming about a beautiful new contemporary Tarot deck and book that I have designed: Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness. It has just arrived from the printers. There are instructions here for ordering it and I will be telling you a lot more about it.

Barbara Bruchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14835735998765742393noreply@blogger.com0