Donnaleigh: The Secret about the Secret

The Secret.

It is a 2006 self-help book by Linda Byrne that was later transformed into a well-produced DVD movie. It swept the country by storm, raised in popularity by being featured on two episodes of Oprah, reaching the top of the New York Times best seller list. The film reached #1 sales charts on Amazon.com. The YouTube trailer at the end of this article will show you just how professionally executed the display was.

But there is a controversial side to The Secret.

Critics of The Secret assert that “the secret” gives false hope to those who are in true need, and creates guilt when something doesn’t manifest if we don’t “think hard enough” about it.

If we have a terminal illness and we can’t reverse it, does this mean we aren’t “thinking right?”

So let’s take a look at The Secret today as seen through the wise eyes of Tarot. Is there truth to it? Does Source see The Secret as being what it claims to be?

I shuffled the beautiful Golden Tarot deck by Kat Black to prepare to lay out a spread when a card jumped out of the deck. A harbinger of the spread to come? It was the 3 of Cups reversed.

When upright, this is a card of celebration and expansion and rejoicing. But turn this one on its back and we have empty pleasures, lack of support, and a happiness gives way to disappointment.

As I laid the cards out, the spread read as follows:

SITUATION WITH THE SECRET (The reality of what It Is):
The Fool, The Moon, Two of Swords

CHALLENGE OF THE SECRET:
The Lovers, Justice, 6 of Swords

ADVICE GIVEN BY TAROT WHEN CONSIDERING THE SECRET:
Judgement, The World reversed, 5 of Wands reversed

LIKELY OUTCOME OF USING THE SECRET:
The Devil reversed
4 of Coins
7 of Coins reversed
Queen of Coins

And now for our translation of the cards.

WHAT TAROT SAYS “THE SECRET” IS:

In a nutshell: “Dreams are stymied by illusion and non-movement.”

According to tarot, The Secret is seen as holding a great wish. The Fool is the idea before the action, and it has a very naiveté feel to it. The Fool is about thought and dreams and goals before they happen.

The Moon is the perfect card to come up here, as it is Tarot’s great card of “secrets,” perfect for this theme (I swear these cards came up randomly). This is also a card of illusions, and things perhaps not being fully as they seem. Deceptive undertones come through, but this is a card about using strong intuitive or psychic perception in a situation and working with the subconscious.

The 2 of Swords is when we are stymied by indecision. There is a stalemate that happens when we need to make choices. Swords represent thoughts, so we are asked to look at what choices our thoughts are making that create indecision or non-movement. One of the swords has to be put down before we have a free hand to take action. Are we suspending good judgment? Does the dreaming create inaction? The Fool shows action and the need for movement, but because The Fool has zero value, this movement hasn’t happened yet. Could the compromise here be caused by the non-movement noted in this card?

THE CHALLENGE OF THE SECRET:

Summary: “It plants an unjust choice and creates non-movement due to an imbalance in thinking.”

While the positive thought and optimism of The Foo lthat we saw above is key to any productive venture, we need to do more than the spark of the thought. The author won’t write a book if the thought stays in the mind. He can stare at the page all day, but until he puts pen to paper, there is no manifestation.

The Lovers Card is an imporatant one about the choices we make in life. The choice between two things. This is an echo of the 2 of Swords card we saw in Tarot’s description of The Secret. This may be the choice between what is known/familiar/comfortable and maybe a bit dull, versus something new/exciting/risky/adventurous. The Lovers card can connect us to our soul purpose, so Tarot gives a nod to this, but being in the “Challenge” position of this tarot spread, there is a whisper about choices being overlooked and something remaining intangible and unattainable.

The Justice card in the “Challenge” position warns us of an injustice, that something is imbalanced about this. Indecision comes again with the Justice card ill dignified (as it is when it is a warning), and a false bias may be created. Inaction seems to be the key word of this spread as a whole. This is a critical card when it comes ill dignified, and it asks us to awaken to something that is unjust.

The 6 of Swords is a card of moving away from something difficult to something better. Surely this is what the masses are doing when they are wishing away, as they want something bigger, better, more wonderful. But this card shows up as a challenge. Again, non-movement. Staying where we are. Being stuck and perhaps clining to something that is not for the best.

THE ADVICE TAROT GIVES RELATED TO THE SECRET:

Summary: “Use good personal judgement, create movement and action, and notice how conflict rather than creation is created by this technique of thought alone.”

Hang onto your hats, because Tarot is asking you to use good personal judgement when considering The Secret as your only tool for manifestation. You are asked to awake to a higher level of consciousness with The Judgment card, and radical transformation is advised, it does ask for making big changes in your life and creating betterment. Tarot fully supports the need to do this and this important card is a nod that The Secret is headed partly in the right direction. Change and ascension in our lives is certainly adviced. But while doing so, we are also asked to make a Judgment call. It is up to you, and only you, to make an important decision (as was recommended by thee 2 of Swords and Lovers Card earlier). Notice in this card, the central figure uses the gesture for “please rise,” and asks us to stand up and get off our bottoms. Everyone around him takes notice and begins to move. Tarot is advising us to integrate movement with the ethereal wish of the Fool.

The World reversed is an important card here. But the Judgment card and The World card are the final two cards in the Major Arcana cards, the heavy hitters. They are the end of manifestation. But this World is reversed and somehow we are being asked to look at The Secret and how it undoes manifestation. In the card, she is standing…but with this reversed, does this mean she never got up from her laurels to create? Is this what landed this card reversed rather than upriight? If this card had landed upright, it might have suggested that we consider focusing on worldly things and external content, but reversed, we are asked to look within at what caused a roadblock to our success. Look at how only thoughts and no movement can create great delays and even lack. Frustration lies in this card reversed, and we are advised to realize the frustration this method will likely bring us.

The 5 of Wands is a card of action gone bad. Something was intended to be playful and fun, and someone gets hurt. Janina Renee, in her book, Tarot: Your Everyday Guide, mentions that this card reversed tells us to “approach new and confusing situations more tentatively.” Pointing at The Secret here, we are asked to stand back and look at this situatio with a more tentative eye. It asks us to let go of something that might create an inner conflict. This card when reversed, to me, shows “dis-ease.” Tarot asks us to look closely at how this can create dis-ease of our community.

THE LIKELY OUTCOME IF THE SECRET IS USED:

Summary: “We are being tricked and therefore bound to what we already have and where we already are, because we are sitting on our laurels, and laziness is being exploited. Be more practical and of the earth, and use something physical — beyond thought — to create real manifestation.”

The Devil card is a difficult to get in any reading. He is the Great Trickster, and he keeps us from moving away from our attachments. We become bound to something, chained to a situation, and we convince ourselves we can’t break free. We are in bondage, and we have false beliefs. Mary K. Greer states that this card reversed is “Spiritual Blindness.” And this is what we’ve created through the fancy marketing of this idea of “creating through thought alone.” The Devil is self-destructive and he hides from us the treasure that lies just beyond his illusion, the illusion that was referenced in our definition of The Secret by Tarot when The Moon card arrived. This is a destructive card of holding back, of road blocks, and of inner belief systems that keep us bound and chained.

The 4 of Coins is a card of holding on tightly, of being miserly, of not letting go. Not ironically, the character in this card is nearly always sitting….again, no movement and holding onto what we already have. Maybe it is time to stand up?

The 7 of Pentacles reversed shows us what we aren’t harvesting, what is withering, and getting little return for the energy we’ve put into a project. The word “exploitation” comes to mind here, and laziness is at hand. There is stress when this card is reversed. Surely this is not the outcome we had hoped for?

Lastly, I asked for one last card for thought, and the Queen of Pentacles came up. She is practical and she uses things of the earth rather than tricks of the mind. She nurtures what she creates by using her hands, and she gives us security in our surroundings. This is a final wise bow from Tarot to ask us to look at the more practical and earthly side of what we do when considering The Secret.

For while we all must have good intentions when we wish to manifest, and enthusiasm can bring miracles upon us, those miracles will remain dreams and illusions until we create actual practical action and movement to manifest physical change.

Here’s wishing you a tarot-filled week of manifestation and action.

Donnaleigh
www.donnaleigh.net
Hear my tarot podcast at www.TarotTribe.com