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I love reading tarot for a skeptic. I will be at a pop-up or hired for a party and someone’s friend or significant other will drag them over to me with their eyes rolling in their head. They will reluctantly shuffle the cards, often making some quip relating me to a psychic (tarot readers and psychics are different). Then, I turn over some cards and start asking questions like, “What’s going on with your work?” or “Have you been feeling stuck lately?” Their eyes widen as they look to their knowing companion with their mouth open. They can’t believe it! How did I know??
After their reading, the question I am often asked is, “How does this work?”
The truthful answer is, I don’t know, exactly.
I do have a theory, though.
One of the most human qualities is the search for meaning. My five year old, Rae, believes that R is the best letter to ever exist. Every R she sees on a billboard or the side of a truck has great significance to her. She also thinks Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison was written exclusively for her (guess her eye color). As adults, we can chuckle and know that as her brain and experiences develop, she will think the world revolves around her less and less. However, how many of us take meaning from seeing our favorite number at an opportune time, hear a significant song, or notice a certain bird or insect as a message from the universe?
I am one of those people. Lately, every time I see a grasshopper, I know that I am on the right path. Although, the message, to me, is not coming from the outside. It’s a wisdom from within.
Our bodies are so smart. They are constantly trying to communicate with us. They give clues for hunger, thirst, exhaustion, or danger. We are taught in our society, however, not to trust our bodies. That someone else is wiser than us. That there is a schedule of what, when and how much to eat, drink or sleep. We are taught “be nice to him even if he ‘makes you nervous’ or you are being rude”.
Many years ago, in my pursuit of re-gaining trust with my body, I started learning tarot. I would pull a card a day, read the meaning, and see if it resonated. At first, very few things did. Then, I put most of my trust in tarot and searched for the meaning, even when there wasn’t always one. Finally, as I was strengthening my own intuition, I was able to discern what felt relevant for me at that moment. I would pull a card, read the meaning, then ask myself, “how does this show up for me?’. I was slowly building my intuition in my body that I spent most of my life ignoring.
I have a saying, “Tarot isn’t magic, you are magic. Tarot is a mirror”. It is an incredible tool to confirm the wisdom that already resides inside of you. When you pull a card and you see your favorite number, symbol, or color, you might feel comfort. When you pull a card and see an image of your grandmother’s favorite plant, you feel connected to her. When you pull a card that means “let something go”, your intuition fills in the blank of what that might be. The genius of tarot is that it holds a multitude of archetypes. 78 pieces of the human experience right there at your fingertips. You will find hope, grief, joy, anger, connection, disappointment, success, failure, endings and beginnings. It validates our humanness. It normalizes our imperfections. By pulling a card (or 10), you get to hold all of those parts of yourself. You can feel what is true for you, even if the truth is uncomfortable.
Tarot works because it reflects our experiences back to us. When I am reading for someone, I am present with them. I explain the different archetypes I see, and I take that intuition I worked so hard to have, and share it with them. People want meaning. People want to be seen. These are beautiful parts of the human experience. Tarot gives us the tools to trust the real magic within ourselves. ✨
If you are looking to learn more about tarot from this lens, I have an upcoming Group Mentorship! Details here.