I am not the biggest fan of concept tarot cards. These are tarot cards that are totally redesigned to fit some niche category. They can be fun and really interesting, but I don’t use them for readings. I suppose I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to my tarot cards. I imagine there is a higher wisdom in the original designs, which can get lost in translation to other formats. Then again, what really matters is how we respond to the cards since they spark our intuition.
A concept deck I own is the Da Vinci Enigma Tarot. These tarot cards are based on the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci, which I enjoy. Do they translate well as tarot cards? Some do, most don’t. I see the deck to be enjoyed as a Da Vinci fan and not for divination. After all, Da Vinci himself was not a superstitious man, but a humanist.
Da Vinci was a true genius, both as a scientist and an artist. What makes Da Vinci unique was the variety of his interests. There are different types of intellect. There is the standard IQ, which measure reasoning ability. In addition there are intelligences that are not measured by tests. Outside of math smarts, there are many other types of intelligence…artistic and creative intelligence, social intelligence, and even athletic intelligence. Few people have all types. The socially inept professor or the artist who can’t handle math are examples. This may be related to the differences between the left side and right side of our brain. Each side has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Da Vinci seemed to have both sides of his brain working at full capacity. He was an artist and scientist, an engineer and inventor, mathematician, sculptor, musician and whatever else he put his mind to. Do we have such mental giants around today? I think so, but today, fame does not go to the brightest, but the flashiest. Or the richest. We have short attention spans.
If there are different types of intelligence, is there such a thing as spiritual intelligence? How would we even begin to classify that? Spiritual perception is neither science nor art. How can anyone have a special intelligence with something that is not visible? Would this only be skill at speculation?
I think some people are born with a “spiritual intelligence”. I think this skill is like a heightened intuition or insight, the ability to understand things, to see deeper. The Buddha had this, Jesus had this. Some are able to perceive things most people cannot. This might also include what is called psychic ability, or second sight, or witchery. Shamans were said to have this talent. It seems to include the ability to straddle both the physical and spiritual dimensions.
Where are today’s spiritual giants? Do Da Vinci’s of spiritual intelligence walk the world? Or do they exist only in the past? Who would you classify as your own personal spiritual giant?
April 18th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I think some people do have more of different parts of their brain active than others including intuition.
I do use Tarot of the Cat People, but I like the images - they speak to me. And, aside from the images, it’s a traditional deck.
I also think today’s spiritual geniuses are being very very quiet. I’m just not sure why.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Back in college, I wanted to learn about tarot, but since I was “into” native american culture I went and got myself Animal Medicine Cards and a Native American tarot deck, neither of which rally resonated with me. Then because I was really into Arthurian Legends, I got myself the Arthurian Tarot Deck… also didn’t resonate, which I thought was surprising. I stopped my card-buying there. I wonder if I’d started with the Raider-Waite Deck from the beginning, how differently I would be approaching life now. … Over a decade later, I end up going to a psychic for an Aura reading, but she also did some card readings, and did one for me using the Ascended Masters deck by Doreen Virtue. Now THOSE three cards really resonated, so after a lot of dithering, I got myself a deck, and have enjoyed using them when the call comes.
I see myself trying the tarot again. When the time comes
And it’ll be the classic Raider-Waite 
April 19th, 2009 at 4:55 am
P/s: about the spiritual intelligence question you raise: I wonder if it’s not so much something that people lack per se, but more like an ability that can be “heard” once the mind quietens down a little… thing is, in this day and age, it’s tough to get any silence, isn’t it?
April 19th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hi Stephanie, today’s spiritual geniuses do seem to be very quiet. Where are they? And where is the next Einstein too? With billions of people in the world, there should be a few people who have ideas that would change the world. The only new ideas seem to be economic. If someone can make a dollar, there is no shortage of ideas both good and bad.
April 19th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Hi Lynne, I really agree that life is too fast and too loud. Modern life has unlimited distractions and our minds go off in all different directions. I think the economy bombards us with sensations selling stuff and we all have marketing-brain-glut.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I want to believe that there are spiritual heavyweights that still roam the earth. I’m certain they are out there. Perhaps it is out cynical nature that bans us from truly seeing them. There are so many people out there trying to make a buck off of their “gifts”, that is becomes less evident who the real geniuses are.
Genius is measured so differently now. As a society, we call people genius based on how much money they make. How large they can grow their empire. There is a huge difference between ingenuity and true divine genius.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Hi Extraordinary, I agree. We exalt people like Bill Gates as our role model, our modern Prometheus. Nothing wrong with that, except that is pretty much all we exalt, billionaires and celebrities. As for spiritual teachers, they are also all about money…book sales and appearing on Oprah. We have enough pretenders, faith healers with wireless devices and mentalists bending spoons.
Maybe the genuine spiritual geniuses don’t advertise. I am a fan of the ancient grimorie “The Book Of Abramelin”. In this book the author supposedly wanders the earth looking for the true magic, and runs into the same thing as we would today…fakers and pretenders. Until he runs into the spiritual genius Abramelin. It seems down through history, true spiritual genius has always been rare thing and hard to find.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:40 am
I like the way your mind works so much, I’m giving you an award. Do with it what you will.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:06 am
I agree that the spiritual giants of our time are laying low, which is probably what they usually do. I’ve read that the brilliant author of the Buddhist “Lo-Jong” was essentially begged repeatedly to write until he finally relented. Another Buddhist monk told his teacher that he would be writing a book to help people gain enlightenment and his teacher just asked, “Why?”
April 21st, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Stephanie, thanks for the award!
April 21st, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Dr Deb, it’d be nice if we had some spiritual giants in popular culture. A lot of people view Oprah as something of a spiritual giant. Don’t know about that, but at least she tries.
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Excellent article(s). I stumbled onto your site and feel I have found a “Gem the Midst of Waste that is the Internet”. Thanks for the thought provoking articles.