How do you define “quality of life”? Is it the money that you bring home? Is it the neighborhood that you live in? Is it the cloths that you wear? Is it the amount of times that you eat out every month? Is it your ability to meditate, to “stay in the now”? Is it the people that you know? Is it having a successful career? It is feeling happy? It is making those around you happy? Is it contributing to your community? All of these things, and more, define our quality of life. A good working definition might be the general well being of an individual (this can also be applied to a group, a community, a state or a nation). Our quality of life/general well being is dependent on our economic status, our environment (and how well it sustains us), our physical and mental health, availability of educational opportunities, and availability of time and space to follow our passions, to be able to plan leisure activities that sustain our soul. Hmmmm… It looks like it might have been easier just to say that our happiness level reflects our general well being 
Quality of Life
One way to measure the quality of your life would be to look at the difference between your hopes/expectations and your reality, your current experience. There is a lens of perception here – our quality of life is to some extent dependent on how we choose to view it. If our hopes/expectations are not being met, then we are not happy, and we do not feel that we have a good quality of life. How well we are able to adjust to different sets of circumstances is a reflection of our quality of life. We can be going through difficult circumstances, but if we are able to adjust our expectations, we can still maintain a reasonable quality of life.
As readers, we are there to help our clients achieve the best quality of life possible. We look at their issues/challenges/blocks, and we help them to (a) see them clearly, (b) define their options, and (c) work out action steps to moving their life forward. The structure of the Tarot, with the archetypal Fool’s/Hero’s Journey of the Major Arcana, and the elemental/energetic breakdown of the Minor Arcana, lends itself well to addressing quality of life.
Spiritual Quality of Life
The spiritual quality of life is represented by the suit of Wands, which is associated with the element of Fire. Wands are all about passion, movement, and taking action on new ideas. Here is where we access our creative centers, and where we express our personal will/power through action. When we are aligned with our authentic self, our destiny comes to us in a very natural way.
Things that we might want to look at in a reading, and work on with our clients, in relation to the spiritual quality of life include:
- Are the Seeker’s actions and beliefs in sync?
- What is the Seeker’s passion in life?
- Is the Seeker following their passion in life?
- Has the Seeker defined their relationship with the Divine?
- How are the Seeker’s spiritual beliefs expressed in everyday life?
- How can the Seeker grow spiritually?
- Is the Seeker happy within their current belief system?
- How does the Seeker express their independence?
- Does the Seeker have a well established personal identity?
- Is the Seeker able to access their creative center and express it?
Emotional Quality of Life
The emotional quality of life is represented by the suit of Cups, which is associated with the element of Water. Cups are all about our emotions, about relationship (with self and with others), about duality (bringing opposites together), and our connection with our intuitive self.
Things that we might want to look at in a reading, and work on with our clients, in relation to the emotional quality of life include:
- Is the Seeker happy in their relationship with themselves?
- Is the Seeker happy in their family relationships?
- Is the Seeker happy in their relationship with their significant other?
- Is the Seeker maintaining good relationship with the people that they work with?
- Is the Seeker able to acknowledge their emotion?
- Is the Seeker able to express their emotions?
- Does the Seeker have a strong sense of faith?
- Is the Seeker able to connect with dreamtime?
- Is the Seeker able to express their imaginative side?
- How does the Seeker respond to emotional obstacles/challenges?
Mental Quality of Life
The mental quality of life is represented by the suit of Swords, and the element of Air. Swords are all about clarity – cutting through to the truth of the matter (the sword of justice), and making informed decisions. Honesty and integrity are both part of this suit.
Things that we might want to look at in a reading, and work on with our clients, in relation to the mental quality of life include:
- Does the Seeker know their own personal truth?
- Does the Seeker deal fairly with those in his/her life?
- Is the Seeker happy with the choices they are making?
- Are the choices that the Seeker is making supportive of them?
- Does the Seeker stand up for their ideals?
- Is the Seeker able to use logic and reasoning to deal with the issues they are facing?
- Is the Seeker able to communicate well?
- How does the Seeker network within community?
- Is the Seeker able to be objective?
- Is the Seeker accepting the truth of their situation?
Physical Quality of Life
The physical quality of life is represented by the suit of Pentacles, and the element of Earth. Pentacles are all about material things, and the day to day of life. About financial stability, home,family and physical health.
Things that we might want to look at in a reading, and work on with out clients, in relation to the physical quality of life include:
- How does the Seeker relate to their job/career?
- How well is the Seeker connecting to their natural environment?
- How grounded is the Seeker?
- How does the Seeker see their world? Are they happy?
- How does the Seeker see themselves financially?
- Does the Seeker have the ability to share with others in need?
- What does the Seeker value?
- Does the Seeker experience abundance, stability and security in their life?
- How does the Seeker maintain their quality of life in the material/physical world?
- Is the Seeker able to balance career/family/community obligations with obligations to self?
A good way to look at the current state of the Seeker’s quality of life would be to break the deck down into individual suits and the Major Arcana, shuffle the cards, and draw one from each pile. The layout that I use for this is:
Note: In this reading, I would use the Major Arcana card as the general card for the Seeker, and the suit cards for their quality of life in those specific areas.
[title]Bonnie Cehovet[/title]
Bonnie Cehovet – has written 21 posts on Tarot Elements.
Bonnie Cehovet is a Certified Tarot Grand Master, a professional Tarot reader with over twelve years experience, a Reiki Master/Teacher and a writer.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
hi Bonnie,
I enjoyed reading this. I really like the idea that it’s a 5 card spread, so not a huge number of cards (which makes it easy to use & it’s “portable” ), but it still covers the main areas & concerns of life & you can go as deep with it as you want or need to.
Valerie
Valerie -
I tried to present something that specifically covered different areas of life, in a compact manner. The benefits re that it is portable, as you noted, but also that it is straightforward, and not confusing to the Seeker. Larger spreads can sometimes do that.
Blessings,
Bonnie
What an excellent article. I feel I learnt so much abouth the different aspexts of the quality of life. I have recently been looking at this. The assimilation with these different components with the tarot cards was really useful to me.
Thank you
Megan -
I think this is a good way to view our work with ourselves, and our work with our clients. Happy to hear that it was useful for you!
Blessings,
Bonnie