In a local Tarot Circle meeting this past week we played a fun tarot game.

Everyone is welcome at Tarot Circle. Some people have never held a tarot deck before, some people are professional readers. The challenge for me is to devise tarot exercises that are interesting, empowering and doable for the entire group.

I like to begin each meeting with introductions. For this meeting I decided to let the cards introduce us. I asked each person to think about themselves at this moment and pull one card. That card would say something about them, and they would use that to introduce themselves to the group. Then the group would have an opportunity to add interpretations for the card, deepening each person’s understanding of the card they drew and deepening our understanding of each other.

What I wasn’t quite prepared for was how much laughter ensued. Along with the laughter was support, empathy and a few aha moments.

The task was simple, really. Even without knowing the cards, tarot newbies were asked to look at the picture and see themselves within it somehow.

At the end of the exercise folks had learned something about tarot that they might not have known before.

They learned that there are many ways to interpret a tarot card, such as:

Interpretive: Use traditional meanings and key words for the card. These might be memorized, found online or in a book or printed on the card.

Evocative: What do you see in the picture? How does it make you feel? What do you see going on and how does that relate to your situation?

Associative: Look at the numerology, astrology, elemental, and/or Kabalistic associations for the card.

Intuitive: The cards are designed to stimulate our psychic abilities. What do you see, hear, feel or think psychically when you look at a card?

Sometimes in tarot study groups and fellowships there are ways to let the cards teach themselves. This turned out to be one of those ways.