THE LITTLE BLACK AND WHITE BOOK 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Once Upon a Panda 5 Once Upon a Tarot 7 Beginning Your Tarot Journey 10 How to Use This Book 12 The Major Arcana 15 The Minor Arcana 28 Suit of Wands 30 Suit of Swords 39 Suit of Cups 48 Suit of Pentacles 57 How to Use the Wild Cards 66 Panda Spreads 68 3 4 Once Upon a Panda "Way of the Panda Tarot" is 78 cards of pure panda pawsomeness. It is born out of hours of me binge-watching panda videos on YouTube my rigorous research of panda temperament and behavior, as well as my life-long adoration for pandas and the panda archetype. With the help of my artist, Celia, the world of the pandas came alive – a whimsical and dreamy watercolor world where adorable black and white bears tug at your heartstrings with their cute paws. I know most people generally see pandas as the token animal for introverted couch potatoes – with their glorified laziness and all. But if you take the time to get to know them, you will learn that they have a lot of wisdom to offer us, in a way that is so carefree, so endearing, and so easy to receive. Most of the time, it won’t seem like they’re consciously trying to teach us anything. In most cases, they probably aren’t. They’re just busy being pandas. Personally, I find pandas aren’t very preachy when it comes to giving humans advice. Instead, they have a way of letting down our guards and entering our heart-space. Their cuteness overload aura sheds all our pretense 5 and burden. By being their lighthearted and unworrying selves, these bears return us to our core and our simple nature: joyous, spacious, and at peace. The pandas work their magic on us when we allow ourselves to flow into the ease and simplicity of a moment – and embrace the sweet, sweet serenity that follows when we allow ourselves to be who we are. Welcome to the Way of the Panda. I sincerely hope that this deck inspires you to be the best panda that you can be. The pandas are waiting for you – they’ve always been waiting for you. And now that you have arrived, they are more excited than ever. 6 Once Upon a tarot WHAT IS TAROT? Tarot is a system of cartomancy that consists of 78 cards, which breaks down into the Major Arcana (22 cards) and the Minor Arcana (56 cards). There are 4 suits in the Minor Arcana (Wands, Swords, Cups & Pentacles). Each suit breaks down into the Numbered Cards (Ace - 10) and the Court Cards (Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings.) The Major Arcana. Each Major Arcana card carries a powerful lesson or universal truth that humans experience on a collective level. They typically represent the life-changing and worldview-altering moments that enter our lives – forces, events, and/or opportunities that challenge us, transform us, and push us to cultivate our inner wisdom and growth. The Minor Arcana. There are 4 Minor Arcana Suits, and each suit seeks to capture an aspect of the human experience: Wands for courage, passion and creativity; Swords for logic, communication and ideas; Cups for love, connection and intuition; and Pentacles for resources, structures, sustainability and productivity. The suits also correspond to specific elements. In this deck, wands correspond to fire, swords 7 to air, cups to water, and pentacles to earth. The elemental associations may differ from source to source, so it is up to you to choose what resonates with you the most. Each Minor Arcana suit has 10 numbered cards, detailing the common, everyday lessons that we experience within the context of the suit – sort of like 10 slices of life or 10 chapters of a story. For example, if you look at Suit of Wands, the numbered cards will detail the story of one’s creative and passionate pursuits – from the initial spark (Ace of Wands) to complete and utter overwhelm (10 of Wands). Similarly, the Ace to 10 from Suit of Swords will tell the story of how ideas originate, interact, clash and evolve. The Suit of Cups tells the story of the heart and how we connect and engage the world through the way we intuit and feel. Lastly, the Suit of Pentacles tells the story of practical action and physical manifestation – of how we accumulate, manage and grow the resources that we have. The Court Cards. Namely the Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings. Unlike the rest of the cards, Court Cards are different in that they do not seek to capture a universal truth (Majors) or depict everyday lessons / episodic events (Ace – 10). Instead, each Court Card represents a unique persona or a character type that has a specific way of thinking and behaving. You can look at them as modes of behavior or “roles” 8 that you step into depending on who you’re with and what the situation calls for. Altogether, the Majors, the numbered cards and the Court Cards make up the 78 cards of tarot. 9 Your tarot journey TIPS ON BEGINNING YOUR TAROT JOURNEY Always follow your heart. If you are just starting out, you may be a little unsure where you should head next. The pandas want you to know that it doesn't really matter where you go or where you end up. You are free to pause, to sprint, to tumble down a hill, to move at your own pace. You get to do it your own way, in whatever way that works for you. It's your journey. Go wherever you want to go. Stay curious and find your own tarot path. Doing a tarot reading. There is no wrong way to shuffle the cards or conduct a tarot reading. But if you have no idea how to begin – here’s what you can do to get started. First, think of a question - or an answer that you want the pandas to help you find. Hold that question in your mind - and most importantly, hold the intention of finding the answer. Shuffle the cards to the beat of your favourite song, or whatever rhythm that calls to you. Stop shuffling when you feel as if the paw of a panda is gently resting on your hand, or when a card jumps out, or when you feel like the moment is right and straight as a bamboo. Flip over the 10 card on the top of the deck. That particular panda has a hug, then a message for you. Storing your tarot deck. The pandas don’t mind where you put them as long as it is safe, clean, and away from oily fingers and zealous pets that have the ability to chew through cardstock. Some ideas: a spotlighted corner on your bookshelf next to a heap of rose quartz, inside a warm tarot pouch or a silky scarf, or by your bedside next to your snorts and marshmallow dreams. Leveling up your tarot skills in general. A tarot journal is a good idea, or you can start a blog. Draw a card every day and spend the entire day with that card. Stalk a cardslinging Youtuber and listen to what they have to say. Read voraciously, online or in print. Find a study buddy. Join an online community. Have fun. 11 How to use this book Panda Message. The pandas insisted on a personal message for each card, so I had to oblige. The panda message will either try to convey the card’s essence, offer words of comfort and encouragement, or utter an adorable expression to echo the scene depicted on each card. Light Attributes. The light attributes reflect the positive archetypal forces within the card, and they are present when the card is in its ideal and balanced state. To simplify things, you can use the keywords here as the upright definitions for each card. Shadow Attributes. You can use this section as a simple and quick reference to a card’s reversed meanings. For more nuanced readings, consider how the light attributes of the card may be lacking, blocked, challenged, or overflowing in some way – causing it to fall into its “shadow side”. What can you do as the hero of your own story to turn those energies around so they are serving you with their light attributes instead of being stuck in their shadow state? 12 Unlocking Your Panda Powers. The pandas want to see you happy and well on your way to ultimate pandahood. When you look at the light attributes of each card, think about how you can use the keywords to gain more awareness of your situation as well as discover helpful perspectives and potential solutions to your problems. During each reading, think about how each card can serve as an opportunity or as a source of power to help you level up and become the legendary Kung Fu Panda. Battling Your Panda Shadows. Don’t be afraid of getting a reversed card or seeing a card fall to its shadow side. A shadowy panda card or message either calls on us to exercise the panda powers that we already have, or it presents us with an opportunity to help us level up on the powers that we currently lack and may need in the future. Either way, an army of ferocious and cuddly pandas will always stand by you to help you paw your way through the challenges you face in life. (Are they even challenges anymore? I mean, you’ve got an army of pandas.