| Do not believe in anything simply because you have | | | | permits, site plans, site preparation, grading, filling, |
| heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is | | | | levelling, a source of good water, proper drainage, |
| spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in | | | | natural surroundings, affordability and a solid stable |
| anything simply because it is found written in your | | | | foundation. Proper materials and tools will be required, |
| religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on | | | | they need to be chosen, ordered, delivered and could |
| the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not | | | | be subjec to delay or damage.A design which suits our |
| believe in traditions because they have been handed | | | | functional and aesthetic needs someone who can |
| down for many generations. But after observation and | | | | translate the plans and blueprints through their hands |
| analysis, when you find that anything agrees with | | | | into a structure of quality, practicality and durability in a |
| reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of | | | | timely manner. Wisdom and experience build the form. |
| one and all, then accept it and live up to it. | | | | Harmonious forms make us feel content, aesthetics |
| BuddhaThe doctor can bury his mistakes but an | | | | make us feel healthy and beauty is always an |
| architect can only advise his client to plant vines. | | | | experience in love. The primary focus should not be |
| Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)Religion is what keeps | | | | decided by some strict sense of by-laws that require |
| the poor from murdering the rich. | | | | everything to be homogenized beige but on the |
| Napoleon (1769-1821)"It is the nature of art to rejoice | | | | deeper connection to what we truly need in our home |
| the soul, but not every art possesses a spiritual | | | | - our sacred space.Tarot is viewed as a pathway for |
| dimension." | | | | personal growth, greater understanding, psychic |
| Titus BuckhardtTarot is often referred to as a book | | | | integration and spiritual enlightenment. If is nothing more |
| with no cover that contains the Wisdom of the Ages. | | | | than a philosophy on how to live your life a little bit |
| One could liken it to scripture in the form of art, | | | | better, it still has merits. Tarot can help us tune into |
| symbols, numbers, universal language, colours, | | | | archetypes, imagination, energy, growth, resonance, |
| inspiration and there is no shortage of writing, both | | | | unity, harmony, identity, beauty, reflection, potential, |
| good and bad, on the subject. While not all art is Divine, | | | | polarities, alignments, culture, environment, faith, |
| the creative inspiration, insight and vision behind the | | | | fellowship, symbols, colours, order, chaos, truth, stability, |
| artistic or spiritual experience certainly is. According to | | | | solitude, boundaries, tension, compression, separations, |
| 2Timothy 3:16,17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of | | | | integration, expansion, perspective, deprivation, |
| God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for | | | | entrance, dimension, numbers, angles, foundation, load |
| correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the | | | | bearing, pressure, nature, natural laws, nurturance, |
| man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto | | | | empathy, vibration, symmetry and balance.Quite a list, |
| all good works." The three basic concepts of religion or | | | | and all of these are strong aspects of both |
| spiritual practice are the sacrifice that follows an act of | | | | architecture and conventional religion. Mainstream old |
| selfless free will, the conflict between good and evil | | | | religions stress order, stability and the rules of doctrine |
| and understanding the difference between time and | | | | (foundation) but the current fundamentalist religions |
| eternity in particular as it relates to life and death. Life is | | | | focus on religious identity, emotionalism and fervour. |
| the navigation of time (becoming) and death is the | | | | They end up with a face of intolerance and isolation. |
| navigation of eternity (being). Plato tells us that this | | | | People have a stronger response to structure and |
| world of becoming arises from the timelessness of | | | | repetition than to the truth. They tend to confuse their |
| being. The In-Between of Being and Becoming is the | | | | personal power - what you think you deserve - with |
| Silence of Presence.Studying, seeking and learning | | | | their sense of entitlement - what you think you are |
| about spirituality will not necessarily make you a | | | | owed.The Dalai Lama tells us that we should get to a |
| spiritual person. Analyzing, interpreting and speculation in | | | | place where if we were offered a table laden with |
| the extreme, prevent us from making any type of | | | | wonderful food and drink or a table laden with |
| committment. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, | | | | excrement and urine, we would have no preference. |
| the family has eroded over the course of two | | | | Good or bad it is all spiritual food. You neither love nor |
| generations and we now practice serial monogamy as | | | | hate who or what you are fighting for or against. |
| opposed to making lifetime committments. | | | | George Orwell expressed some sentiments on why |
| Committment is a vision you must be able to embrace | | | | Socialism didn't work over the long term, he felt that |
| from the inside and make a conscious decision to walk | | | | socialists didn't really like the poor, they just hated the |
| it in the day to dayness of your own life. Most people | | | | rich. This could be easily applied to many religions and |
| don't even know what committment means to them | | | | spiritual practices.Tarot, architecture and religion have |
| until they look up one day over the sea of laundry, bills, | | | | other things in common. All three are responsive and |
| sleep deprivation and unsatisfied emotional cravings | | | | reactive to sensations and experiences of the |
| and wonder how they ended up here. Surprise, | | | | mysterious Divine and have a purpose in life and |
| surprise - it was your choice.Not only has the structure | | | | values. They all have aesthetic elements as |
| of family and relationships changed, but also the | | | | expressed through art, sculpture, essence, light and |
| significance of church and religion. Religion is often said | | | | resonance. They originate at the centre of the self and |
| to be the true obstacle to religious experience and that | | | | create a meaningful context for our lives. They can all |
| having too strong a concept of God interferes with us | | | | also create a sense of harmony and unity through |
| experiencing God. It is not the religious experience itself | | | | ritual and ceremony. All draw on sacred texts and |
| that is conflicted it is the differing doctrines of religions | | | | have a focus on community and moral obligations.All |
| that are in conflict. We mistake our religious identity - I | | | | new structures have an Grand Opening or a house |
| still say I am an Anglican even though I no longer | | | | warming party with ribbon cutting and gifts for the |
| participate in the Anglican community - with our spiritual | | | | hostess all part of the rituals. Religion has its doctrine, |
| practice. The new Holy Communion is coffee and a | | | | liturgy, rites of passage and ministries. In Tarot we |
| doughnut at the Church of Tim Horton's.Spirituality | | | | have ritual in the shuffling of the cards, the cut, the |
| plays a major role in architecture. The use of a simple | | | | layout, the creation of the sacred space, the lighting, |
| structures, skilled use of available light, setting and | | | | the natural flow coming through our hands, the beauty |
| harmony with nature are intrinsic. It is the creation of | | | | of the imagery and a sense of the private, the intimate |
| sacred spaces which allow a transitional entry in order | | | | and the communal. Perhaps if you are fortunate your |
| to us prepare emotionally and psychologically for the | | | | reading will come with a coffee and a doughnut from |
| actual entry into the spiritual place. Sacred spaces are | | | | the Church of Tim Horton's and it all becomes spiritual |
| contemplative but are both private and communal and | | | | food.Divinatory practice and the study of Tarot could |
| have a beauty that we discover. Beauty is one of the | | | | easily fit the quote from 2 Timothy as being "given by |
| three Graces, pleasure and restraint being the other | | | | inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for |
| two. Tertullian tells us that Grace rides to us on the | | | | reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; |
| back of the Holy Spirit.While the creative interpretation | | | | That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly |
| and the design are significant, responsibility to the earth | | | | furnished unto all good works." After all, some sacred |
| is also sacred. There are many choices and decisions | | | | spaces do need furnishing.Cheryl Lynne Bradley is a |
| to be made during the process of designing and | | | | mother, photographer, writer, internationally respected |
| building the structure. Are we going to build something | | | | professional Tarot reader and the President of Tarot |
| completely new and fresh or are we going to restore, | | | | Canada. She writes extensively on Tarot, Divination, |
| renew and refresh something old? We need to | | | | Omens, Superstitions, Dreams and Reviews on Books, |
| consider when and where to build, lot levies, building | | | | Tarot Decks and Music. |