Visit Llewellyn to explore and order the Da Vinci Tarot: http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/book.php?pn=J409

HOST: Can the Da Vinci Tarot be used for meditation?

MCELROY: Here's a simple meditative technique you can use:

1) Pick a quiet spot where you won't be interrupted by others. If you find meditative aids helpful, feel free to light a candle or two or to put on some peaceful music.

2) Take three deep, calming breaths.

3) Pause a moment to allow expectations and mental chatter to drop away.

4) Shuffle the deck. Focus on the physical and tactile feedback associated with shuffling. If you mind wanders, gently set thoughts aside by thinking, "I'll get back to you later."

5) Draw a single card and spend some time getting to know the image. Don't strain to memorize detail; instead, let your eyes slowly wander over the image from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side. With the Da Vinci Tarot, play close attention to backgrounds, shading, and the postures and expressions of the figures you see on the card.

6) Close your eyes. In your mind, recreate the card in as much detail as possible. New details may present themselves -- some of which may not appear in the original card. That's fine; accept what happens.

7) When the card is recreated in your mind's eye, expand it to fill your inner world. Open your senses to the card. What do you hear? What's the temperature? What's the weather like? What scents are in the air? Let the card come to life around you. How does the character on the card, if there is one, respond to you, if at all?

8) Keeping your mind as still as possible, broadcast the intention that you would like to receive an insight from the card.

9) Pay attention! Sometimes characters will speak. Other times, you may receive a general feeling, a sudden insight, or an emotional impression. If no insight comes, don't fret -- part of the experience is learning to let go of attachment and expectation.

10) Slowly, slowly pull away from the world of the card. When you feel back inside yourself, take three cleansing breaths and open your eyes very slowly.

HOST: How about as a brainstorming tool?

MCELROY: When using the cards as brainstorming prompts, try this fast, but powerful, technique:

1) Write your question down.

2) Shuffle the deck and pull a single card.

3) The Da Vinci Tarot cards are packed with detail, so, rather than be overwhelmed, pick the first detail that catches your eye.

4) Write down the name of that detail.

5) Free-associate: what do you think of or associate with the detail you noticed?

An example: let's say your question is: "How can I motivate myself to get back to painting pictures?" After shuffling, you draw the Fool card, and your eye is drawn to one of the bat-like wings on Da Vinci's flying machine. You write down the word, "Bat."

Next, you write down everything that comes to mind when you think of bats: sonar, navigating by sound, silent flight, vampires, leathery wings, flying rats, rabies, BatMan, and cave ceilings.

While looking at your list, you may find yourself taken with the idea that bats use a completely different sense (hearing) for navigating their world than we do. What might happen if you tried to paint pictures based on a sense other than vision? What might happen if you painted what you feel ... or what you smell ... or what you hear? What does a sound look like? What might music look like?

Suddenly ... you're brimming with great new ideas -- and you've realized that, in order to get motivated again, all you needed to do was to approach your paintings from a fresh point of view.

It's a simple, but very effective, technique!

HOST: Can you elaborate a little on the Archetypal figures of the Major Arcana as interpreted in "The Da Vinci Tarot"?

MCELROY: When we start exploring the Majors through the lens of Da Vinci's work, amazing things happen. Some examples:

1) Traditionally, the Fool is associated with everything from the dangers of the unknown (symbolized by the precipice he approaches) to creative leaps and leaps of faith.

In the the Da Vinci deck, we see Da Vinci's bat-winged flying machine, which represents a creative leap, to be sure, since it wasn't possible to construct it using the technology of his day. By association, we also think of Icarus, who took his own flight of fancy too far -- and fell.

2) The Magician is traditionally associated with capability and masculine power; the card can also be related to the esoteric "secret" that some aspect of the Divine Power exists within us all.

In the Da Vinci Tarot, the card is illustrated with one of the most controversial of Da Vinci's images: a figure that was very likely John the Baptist ... later repurposed as a portrait of the god Bacchus. One of this is a man, a messenger ... the other a god. The result? A visual pun. When we see the Magician (or ourselves reflected in the Magician), do we see a mere mortal ... or something more?

3) In my favorite card from the deck, The High Priestess, we see the familiar Mona Lisa sporting a pope's hat!

Traditionally, the High Priestess is associated with secrecy and secret knowledge. And, of course, the Mona Lisa has long been associated with secrets: at first, the secret behind her smile ... later, the secret behind her identity. (A recent computer analysis of her facial features makes it very likely that she's trans-sexual self-portrait of Leonardo himself!)

Every single trump card in this deck unfolds in exactly this way -- references within references within references! Unfortunately, the references (and the fun) may escape those unwilling to invest a little time in getting to know the Da Vinci Tarot on its own terms.

And, of course, the trumps as a whole tell the story of personal transformation, marking our movement from the fancy of the Fool to the wholeness of the World. The clever illustrations in the Da Vinci Tarot make it possible for us to experience this very familiar journey from an entirely different perspective.