Coming out as a Tarot reader and a reading for a new year
/It might seem strange that I consider Tarot reading something I’d have to “come out” about when I’ve been blogging about being a practicing spiritual Pagan for years. But that’s my honest reaction to the idea of talking publicly about Tarot.
It may have something to do with the fact that when I was a child I had no solid concept of Pagan spirituality—beyond the idea that my family didn’t attend the churches everyone else did—while at the same time Tarot was concrete and explicitly secret. I knew that Tarot was something one NEVER discussed with anyone who didn’t already know my mother and I did it.
I don’t remember a time before I knew what Tarot was. I do remember when my mother gave me my first deck of cards. I was thirteen and it was a simple black-and-white version of the Rider Waite deck meant to be colored in. I studiously read about each card and colored it with corresponding colors. The deck is well-travelled, but I still have it.
Photo by Arie Farnam
Clearly, I took Tarot seriously even as a young teen, but it was something I shared with a very select group of people who already knew I knew. The first time I let a stranger know I knew about Tarot was when I was 22 and traveling as an independent film maker in Kazakhstan. I met a professional Tarot reader and confided about my practices.
That meeting had a strong influence on me, and for ten years after that, I carried a tattered blue school notebook filled with hastily recorded notes about the Kazakh reader’s insights in my pack, even though some of her teachings were very different from my mother’s. To this day, I can’t get her admonition not to cross my feet while I do a reading out of my head, as superstitious as it sounded.
Superstitious? If you are reading this only because you enjoy my other writing and you think of me as practical, rational and down-to-earth, you may be confused. Isn’t everything about Tarot superstitious?
That is another reason I feel it is something to “come out” about. Not only did I have secrecy around Tarot engrained in me due to the isolated and traditionally religious nature of the community around where I grew up, Tarot also remains one of the least socially acceptable aspects of modern Pagan traditions.
On the surface of it, Tarot shares its roots with playing cards used in gambling, dating back to around the fifteenth century in northern Italy as best historians can guess. There were no doubt divination systems long before that in Italy and other parts of Europe. Every culture tends to come up with something. But Tarot likely began largely as a parlor game for the upper classes, perhaps combining the influences of mystical Christianity with “quaint” folk divination of the day.
Why would I place any stock in it then?
The simple answer and the one that matters most is that it helps. It is a structure for investigating complex problems, both emotional and practical. It gives comfort. It calms me and helps me think through difficulties rationally and deeply. If there were no other reason, this would be enough. The world today is chaotic and disturbing and therapy is really expensive.
A tongue-in-cheek adage has it that Tarot is “the poor woman’s therapist,” and there is something to that. However, I’ve seen some good (or at least high-priced and well-recommended) therapists in my day, and if forced to choose whether to never see Tarot again or never see a therapist again, there would be no contest.
Tarot works. Therapists are definitely a mixed bag. In this case, the poor people’s version isn’t necessarily inferior.
Why does Tarot work if it was developed from a parlor game?
I have done readings for friends over the years and recently I’ve taken a few paid clients on the same terms under which I tutor professionals in English as a second language. And here is what I and most other authentic Tarot readers tell people who ask how it works:
The interpretation books I use are well-written with a lot of spiritual and emotional wisdom. If you take any book written with spiritual and emotional wisdom and flip randomly to a page and read a passage for guidance, you will usually calm down, feel more centered and gain some insight. People do this all the time with the Bible and other religious texts The best Tarot books are on a similar level of sophistication today, though it has taken several hundred years to get there.
The images in Tarot cards are rich in symbolism, as are the texts. These symbols, through our subconscious associations with them, have powerful effects on our thinking. Looking at the images and reading or hearing a description of those symbols affects us on a subconscious level, providing spiritual connection and psychological benefits.
While Tarot may have initially come from something frivolous, several centuries of serious development has turned it into a kind of universal language for every part of human experience. One way or another it covers every eventuality and speaks to the universal needs and struggles we all face. There is real wisdom in the structure of the cards.
So, essentially those three points add up to a sort of pseudo-psychological, utterly non-mystical explanation that may or may not satisfy all psychological doctors, although it does satisfy quite a few. The bottom line is that the benefits are observable.
But astute friends and clients will still tend to ask, “Yes, but does it really work?” When pressed they reveal that what they mean by this is, “Does Tarot tell you things you don’t already know? Does it predict the future?”
The answer to that question is far more individual. My answer to those I do readings with is that it provides psychological and spiritual benefits, wise counsel and comfort. That is indisputable. It doesn’t really matter if you believe it predicts the future or mysteriously provides information you don’t already know. It will still be helpful.
My personal belief is that I have on occasion gained insight and information, which I can’t explain, from the Tarot. But I have also often been confused. Personally I think sometimes Tarot can give information in ways that the pseudo-scientific explanation doesn’t cover, but that is, at least for me, an unpredictable aspect.
I can usually tell if profound and unexpected information is there and if it is trustworthy, but that is a rare outcome. Most of the time, the cards reflect things we do already know at least subconsciously. Our conscious minds recognize the true parts of what the explanations of the cards say and because the structure allows for healthy and calm consideration, we come away more clear-headed.
And when we don’t recognize the truth there, which also happens, usually it is just not a great reading and we don’t understand. Only occasionally do I get the sense that something important and previously unknown has been revealed.
My Kazakh mentor claimed that the only time Tarot should actually be used to predict the future is on the winter solstice. I have always done predictive readings on the solstice ever since, but it is more for the tradition than anything else. The predictions aren’t really anything one could act on anyway, just a vague sense of the year ahead.
And although for awhile I followed her stricture and did not do predictive readings at other times of the year, I no longer follow that religiously. The rule I do adhere to is that I never make decisions based solely on predictive Tarot readings and I advise clients and friends not to either.
I have certainly used a predictive reading to help me make a difficult decision. If the reading indicates a positive outcome associated with a direction I am already intuitively inclined to go, it gives me some peace of mind and it is then easier to bite the bullet and make a decision when I have to take a shot in the dark.
On the other hand, I revisit my reasoning and check and recheck my decision-making on those occasions when the reading does not support the direction I intuitively feel like going. Sometimes that does change my eventual decision, not directly due to the reading, but rather due to that cautious reappraisal.
Most often I think Tarot affects my decision making for the better on those occasions when my intuitive sense of the best decision conflicts with what I selfishly or lazily want to do. The Tarot overwhelmingly tends to support my intuitive sense of right and wrong over my personal desires and it has a way of talking me (and my friends and clients) into healthier decisions that require self-regulation.
I do personally find that the Tarot gives good predictive advice. But I am not set in a fixed belief about it’s predictive or mystical powers. I could be convinced by evidence to change my stance on that aspect of the Tarot, and it wouldn’t have a significant impact on my use of it, since most of the Tarot work I do isn’t predictive, but much more self-reflective and analytical.
Whether that satisfies skeptics and ridiculers is debatable, but this is my declaration as a Tarot reader. I plan on posting about Tarot, including useful readings for various full or new moons, in 2020, so if you do enjoy this type of self-care, stay tuned.
To get started here is a reading for the new year, which I developed and found particularly helpful. It can be adapted to any topic or area of your life that you have concerns about and it is well suited to tomorrow’s first full moon of the new year.
Reading for setting hopes and goals
A lot of New Year’s readings either attempt to predict what is going to happen in the new year or encourage you to set whatever goal you want. This one is a healthy compromise between the two. The philosophy of the Tarot is not predetermination. Even those who believe Tarot does literally predict the future insist that the prediction is valid only “if you persist on the same path.”
In short, we have free will and Tarot only reflects the consequences of our choices. This reading frees us a little to consider possible positive outcomes, results that we could gain this year, if we are willing to change paths or persist as the case may be. The goal here is to help us find possible and achievable hopes for the new year.
To begin, identify one or more areas of your life in which you would like to see improvement. This can be general or specific. For instance, I tried out the categories of “physical health and well-being,” “emotional well-being and healing,” “my writing profession,” “my family,” and “my social and community relationships.”
Write these down in your journal or other record book in a numbered list, leaving a few inches of space in which to record your results.
Next, it is good to set up your Tarot spot in a way that is supportive of calm and reflection. For most of us that means a place where you won’t be disturbed, possibly with a candle or a special cloth to lay your cards out on.
Many readers have very strict rules about how and where and when Tarot may be done. I have my own, which I will write about in other posts, but the bottom line is that what matters is your frame of mind, and if laying out your cards at a night club or among the tea things on your kitchen table or on a log in the woods or on your messy bed gives you a sense of being grounded and centered, then that’s fine for now.
For each topic you want to set goals for, you will have three cards. Shuffle the deck well, cut the deck (i.e. divide it into two or three piles, depending on your tradition, and restack it) and draw three cards off the top.
This is a sample reading about a young person’s aspiration to develop as an actress. Reading from the left, card one indicates some conservatism or stinginess in the situation. Possibly the young person is overly reticent or she encounters stinginess in opportunities to practice acting. Card 2 indicates that the young person could gain intellectual understanding or make a firm decision about her path during this year. Card 3 indicates that something regarding attraction or passion is the main challenge, possibly meaning either over-enthusiasm or balancing this aspiration with a romantic relationship. Image by Arie Farnam
Card 1 (placed to the left) represents the status quo or your current situation with that topic.
Card 2 (placed to the right) represents what is the most favorable outcome you can achieve during the year. In some readings this is called “the aspiration.” It is something you can work toward.
Card 3 (placed perpendicular to Card 2 further to the right) represents the challlenge or what will cross your path as you try to reach your aspiration.
This is a quick, clear reading that can be done separately for a number of topics. The only tricky part comes when you may A. receive a card in the first position that seems opposed to what you think your current situation is, B. receive a somewhat negative card in the second position, or C. receive a positive card in the third position.
People sometimes claim that Tarot is intentionally vague so that you can read just about anything into any card. But that is far from true. In fact, the cards can be very specific. However, there are multiple meanings to each card in order to cover all of the myriad archetypal aspects of human existence. That means you always have a positive or a negative aspect to choose from in each card.
And given the positions of the cards here, it is clear which interpretation of the card you are meant to choose. Card 1 may be mystifying to you if your situation is very difficult and you get a very cheerful card. Consider that the good cheer may be what is going on around you, while you suffer, or it may be pointing to a silver lining to your situation that you are not paying enough attention to.
Card 2 will have some positive aspect that you should focus on. Classically, Death can be read as an ending but it also necessitates a deep transformation and a new beginning. The Hermit may mean loneliness and isolation in some contexts but it also may mean simply standing out from the crowd and carrying a light for others to follow. The Five of Swords may look grim and unpleasant but it can mean that you’ll simply win a hard fought battle one way or another.
Card 3 on the other hand has to be read for it’s difficult sides. Just as every card has a positive aspect, there is always an inherent difficulty. The Ten of Disks may be lovely to look at but it’s focus on family legacy and togetherness can imply that family, as positive as it may be at the time, is somehow limiting or complicating your development in another area. This is natural and does not mean we should abandon our families. It simply points to what will give challenge to that aspiration in the year ahead.
Experiment, keep a record of this reading and look back at it in a few months to see if anything that didn’t make sense initially makes more sense later on. Good luck!
There is certainly more to write about Tarot and I will be posting on a number of connected topics, including how I set up a Tarot space, how to shuffle, whether and how to read reversals and more. For now, explore, pay attention to your intuition and be well.
