Celtic Wisdom Tarot
Text by Caitlin Matthews, art by Olivia Raynor
Destiny Books, 1999
ISBN 0-89281-720-8

The Book says: The Changer shows the god Taranis (the Thunderer) wielding his lightning bolt. The Romans associated Taranis with Jupiter and his thunderbolt. Taranis turns his wheel and everything is changed utterly. Victims dedicated to Taranis were stabbed to death as part of his sacrificial rites. The upturned cauldron in this card appears in numerous stories where guests are invited to a specially built hostel by their enemies, only to find that the hostel is made of iron, that is has been heated from outside, and that there is no way out.
Keywords: Complete or sudden change, alteration of the world as one knows it, shocking or traumatic incident, old habits overthrown, breakdown, routine destroyed, revelation, clarifying or cleansing event, humility.
Reversed: Cooperation with disastrous influences, refusal of help, repression, ignoring warning signs, the prolongation of suffering, trapped in the past, calamity, squalor, clouded motives, hubris.
Soul-Wisdom: What old habits, concepts, and structures have you outgrown?

TarotBroad’s Buzz: There is a sense of energy and upheaval in this card. The Changer’s energy will shake-up your life and turn over everything you’ve ever believed. He will force the changes only implied in the Wheel of Fortune, whether you are ready or not. His lightning bolt will shoot illumination and change into our lives. While this upheaval may be beneficial in the long run, its initial impact will probably not seem helpful. In fact we may resent and resist the change, seeing it as something destructive and traumatic, but one of the things this card may show us is that these experiences are a necessary part of our growth.  They help us transform and alter our reality. Sometimes we have to be forced out of our rut or to move on to break free of our self-defeating patterns.

I think the key to understanding this card is to accept that sometimes we need to be shaken out of our complacency. It is natural to want things to stay the same in our lives; there is a comfort to familiar things. Even if things sometimes become too routine or boring, we still prefer that to the unknown. The Changer shows us that there are moments in our lives when we need to face the unknown. Sometimes we need to move on in order to find happiness and fulfillment in our lives, The Changer helps us (indeed forces us) to make this move.