Helpful Tarot Love Readings

Whether you are a tarot pro, a tarot enthusiast, a tarot client, or merely curious, you know the trope. There is a perception that the primary consumers of tarot readings are the lovelorn.

There are real reasons for this. There are many, many cautionary tales of psychic addiction that stem from the pain of uncertain relationships and the false belief that a tarot reader can tell you, for certain, the destiny of your relationship. There are an equal or greater number of people who rely on wisdom from tarot to help them navigate difficult situations with great success.

We humans tend to over-spiritualize romance, often to our detriment. I think that is because so many of us are driven, either by hormones, societal conditioning, or genuine desire, to find a workable relationship. At the same time, workable relationships can be hard to find, and hard to maintain.

When an attraction or connection with another person catches us, it can feel spiritual, whether it is or not. That crush, or new relationship, or amazing sex, can be captivating. That sense of connection with another human generates for us all sorts of questions. Where better to take those questions than to your own tarot deck, to a friend with a tarot deck, or to a professional reader?

Skillful work with tarot can indeed help us with all aspects of navigating relationships. That includes finding love, choosing a partner, building a healthy relationship, ending what doesn’t work, healing problems in a long-term relationship, healing from a breakup, and handling the grief of widowhood. Yet, tarot in the hands of naïve or manipulative people can sometimes make things harder.

How Unskilled Tarot Hurts Us in Relationships

Sometimes people stay in abusive relationships because they believe that tarot told them they were meant to be together. Sometimes people mourn the ending of an unhealthy relationship because they believe tarot told them that they were soulmates, or that their lost relationship was their only possibility for partnership.

I have seen readers encourage clients to believe that a spiritually ordained ‘soulmate’ relationship would be without any conflict or difficulty and would not need any maintenance work to prosper.

I have seen readers give false hope to clients for relationships that are obviously over, never to return.

These are but a few of the ways that unskilled use of tarot can hurt us in relationships. In this age of livestreamed collective tarot readings, there are also those who conflate a collective reading on YouTube or TikTok with a specific one-on-one reading. This can lead to a great deal of misunderstanding and misguidance for those already in emotional turmoil.

How Tarot Can Help

Good practices in relationship readings require asking the right questions and managing expectations.

Collective readings on social media can be fun, interesting, informative, and even profound. However, do not assume that the collective reading about “where your relationship is going” is necessarily a valid piece of helpful information for your individual situation.

Do not assume that the future of a relationship is always predictable at all. Love is a choice that each partner must make every day. It may be impossible, in a single reading, to predict what two people will choose each day for the rest of their lives.

 “Will we stay together?” “Is he the one for me?” “Is this the right relationship?” “Is this my soulmate?” are very often not helpful questions, or questions that can easily receive an accurate answer.

On the reverse side, if the cards clearly suggest that a person might be dangerous or abusive, and you have other substantiating information or history, it might be a good idea to trust the cards and use caution, no matter how attached you may feel in your heart. If this is the case in an ongoing relationship, asking the cards about options and solutions can be very helpful.

When we ask, “What does this person feel about me?” or “What does this person think of me?” we may get a valid answer that is helpful. Or we may get an answer based on a passing thought or mood. Even in very stable relationships our moods and feelings can shift from moment to moment. A snapshot of a particular moment might be misleading. Asking that sort of question could also be a gross invasion of privacy.

There are many questions we can ask of the cards to help us navigate relationships.

A single person may receive great counsel by asking, “What can I do to attract the right partner?” or, “What can we know about the possibility of a new relationship for me in the near future?”

Tarot can be helpful in vetting possible candidates. A reading can give us a heads-up about potential good matches, and those who might be incompatible and inappropriate.

When you want to access the potential of a new relationship, a two-question reading is helpful. Ask “What is the worst this relationship could be?” and “What is the best this relationship could be?”

Another helpful question to ask any time in a relationship timeline is, “What can I do right now to make this relationship the best it could be?”

In a relationship, tarot can help us improve communication with our beloved, and can help us meet their needs, and get our own need met. “How can I help my partner?” can be a great question to ask. “How can I communicate my concerns to my partner in a way that they can hear me?” is another helpful question.

Tarot can help us know when it is time to leave a relationship, and how to heal. Tarot can keep us in communication with our loved one in spirit after they leave this earth.

If you have questions about love, romance, and relationships, tarot can provide helpful answers, but only if you have the skill to ask the right questions and interpret the cards thoughtfully, or if you find a good, intuitive, intelligent tarot reader to do those things for you.

If you are reading for yourself on your own relationship, it is helpful to remember this. No matter how intuitive you are, no one should fully trust their intuition when it comes to matters of their own heart. It is almost always impossible to discern the difference between desire and intuition when we are in the throes of heartbreak or attraction.

Follow your heart, certainly, but keep your head, and attend the wise counsel of tarot in a way that is healthy and healing. It is better to use the cards to help us make wise decisions, understand our feelings, find solutions, and know our options.

Many relationships feel like fate and destiny, but only a few of those truly are. Even a relationship that is a brilliant match can suffer from neglect and poor communication.

Many people think that the cards can help us know our fate. I think the cards do a better job helping us understand ourselves and those around us so we can make good decisions for the best possible future, in love and in life.

Tarot in My Life: New Growth & Celebrations

I had been confused for several months with regard to a series of emotional lows. Was it hormones? Was I homesick? Was I just sick and tired of apartment life and boat work? There were a few days last spring when I didn’t even get out of bed. I tried my best to not let the ebb and flow of my emotions keep me down.  Skype calls with my parents and other family members did wonders to boost my spirits, a regular dose of morning yoga was just the medicine I needed for my mood swings, and a day at the beach took my mind off of the boat yard and our myriad of projects.

“The crisis has passed, your work has produced good results and something good is on the way. Your talents and sensitivity lie hidden just beneath the surface - allow your metaphysical interests to develop.”*

During that time, my dreams were full of interesting symbolism around birth and celebrations.

In one dream, on my way to a family celebration, I stopped by a quarry where a toddler was playing precariously close to the rocky ledge. Suddenly, she fell into the cold murky water. I tried and tried to reach her and when I did, she was no longer breathing. I tried to resuscitate her to no avail. She was gone. Still, in the dream, I attended the celebration where I was greeted by my mother and aunts, sisters and female cousins and to my surprise no one blamed me for the death of the baby.

When I awoke the next morning thinking about the dream, it occurred to me that the baby was actually me!

“Open your heart – deep fulfillment is realized through love - give and receive it. Love is a relationship – share your ideas, your touch, your projects and your growth.”

The raw and sometimes rough emotions that overtook me during that time, I now realize, were actually giving birth to a new chapter in my life as I journey through my 50’s. This chapter, although, still being developed, is re-awakening my body, mind and spirit on a path toward recognizing more fully the abundance of the gifts of the universe – especially the gifts of appreciating the time I am gifted with to experience and cherish the love of family and friends, old and new.   

“Follow your heart and you will know joy, your hopes will be complete and there will be a happy conclusion.

I found my new chapter in tarot’s Three of Cups. This card is not only about celebrations, love, joy, exuberance, and happy times with loved ones, friends, and sometimes, especially woman friends, but it is also about new growth, birth, and giving and receiving in the circle of life. It is about “the beginning of a new lifestyle and the commencement of a love which is mutual.”

We are living aboard again. The best part of this life is meeting new friends, catching up with old friends, creating new bonds with sister sailors, happy hours by the sea, and music jam sessions on the docks. The best part of seeing my family on my annual visit to the states is just “being” in their lives and making the most of our limited time together. My lesson in this new chapter, I believe, is to learn how to be at peace with my chosen life path, while celebrating its lessons of give and take.

The traditional tarot card images in the Three of Cups (of three women intertwined, dancing joyfully) remind me of the feelings of sisterhood, jubilation and exuberance in my college sorority when we would sing a song called “The Loving Cup”…

We'll pass the loving cup around

We won't pass a sister by

We all drink from the same old cup,

In dear old AOII.

Oh you and I shall never grow old

While this fair cup is nigh.

Here's health, here's wealth,

Here's life, here's love......

In Alpha Omicron Pi   

Here’s to the abundance of friendship found in the celebrations of life. Here’s to the new paths on our journey in life and the abundance found in new growth along the way. Here’s to the Three of Cups! Cheers!

*All quotes from the Three of Cups, Crystal Clear Reflections Tarot Divinations at http://crystal-reflections.com/tarot3/

Linda and her life partner, Chris, have been traveling and living in the Caribbean for three years, on their sailboat, Troubadour. Read about their journey at http://sailingtroubadour.blogspot.com/