How Tarot Teaches Us about Itself

How Tarot Teaches Us About Itself

I once spoke with a tarot reader who made a practice of ‘setting’ their tarot cards. Here’s what that means.

When they got a new deck, they would go through the cards and decide what each card would mean to them, for now and always. This is like the practice of activating a card for a specific reading, but it is for every reading they would ever do with that deck.
I commented that this seems like a very limiting practice. The conversation did not go well after that.

This happened years ago, but it has stuck with me. I understand that every reader must develop what works well for them. Yet I have a hard time understanding how limiting what a card can mean is ever helpful.

For me, part of the magic of tarot is that, over time, tarot expands the way it speaks. Over the almost thirty years I have been a professional reader my understanding of each card has grown exponentially. This has served to keep me fresh and has helped me deepen my practice.

In a relationship with another human, we expect to learn and grow together. We expect the relationship to develop. I want the same thing to be true in my relationship with tarot.

Here are three examples of some recent growth that has happened in my understanding of some specific cards. This growth happens in the natural course of giving professional readings. The new information I discover about the cards gets solidified when I talk about it on my YouTube channel, write about it here, or share it during classes and meetups.

One card that has opened up for me recently is Major Arcana 21, The World. Over the past few years, I have seen it come up more often to describe a person’s world view. I have also seen it show up to encourage a larger view. That is, to focus less on minutiae and more on the bigger picture.

How did it happen that I started seeing The World this way?

Part of tarot reading for me is entirely intuitive. I will look at a card, and a group of cards, and things will come to me. The things that come to me are usually related to the card, but not necessarily to classic keywords or to ways I have interpreted the cards in the past.

This is an essential part of my reading toolbox, and one that I would not have if I practiced setting the cards.

A card must appear in a new way a few times for it to come into my consciousness as a new interpretation in my internal tarot lexicon. I remember when I first become conscious of this process. I was reading professionally in Connecticut, just as Foxwoods Casino and the Mohegan Sun Casino were becoming some of the largest casinos in the world. The Wheel of Fortune started appearing for clients who were working at the casinos. Then, the Wheel of Fortune began appearing (often along with the Devil) for people who were developing gambling additions. Although this was not a sudden process, it did feel that suddenly, I understood in real practice that the Wheel of Fortune would talk about the casinos. Gambling is indeed a common keyword for the Wheel of Fortune. However, seeing it in practice was a true learning experience.

Numbers and elements factor strongly in how I understand, read, and teach tarot. Recently I have had revelations about the Minor Arcana Twos, and the Minor Arcana Fours.

Of course, each card stands alone in its unique meaning. Yet, when more than one of the same number appears in a reading, there can be an additional interpretation which adds nuanced information to the reading, or an overarching theme or bit of advice.

For the Twos, what has come to me recently is the message to stay in your own lane. When I see a few Twos in a reading, I often feel that the universe is saying “You do you, Boo!” This may be an admonition to worry less about what others are doing, saying, and thinking, and focus on your own goals.

The Fours have recently struck me as a message about boundaries and self-care, and boundaries as self-care. It is an interesting exercise to look at the four Minor Arcana Fours and find a self-care message within each one.

It is this expansive ability of tarot that keeps me fascinated reading after reading, month after month, year after year.

When we let it happen, tarot can teach us about itself, about ourselves, and about life.

Manifestation with the Watery Suit of Cups

This morning I taught a class on YouTube about the Suit of Cups. One of the things I love about teaching these sorts of classes is that I always get new ideas of how the cards work. Tarot is infinitely expansive; there are always new ways to see, understand, and process the cards.

My big unexpected take-away from the class was about how much we can use the element of Water and the suit of Cups in our practices of manifestation.

When I speak of manifestation I am speaking of prayer, of Law of Attraction, of Creative Visualization, and of magick. Use whichever words feel most comfortable to you. The premise is the same, however we might speak of it. When we want to bring something in to being, we must imagine it and see it clearly in our mind’s eye. In this way things move from thought to form.

Had I given much consideration to it, I might have more easily seen the suit of Pentacles as a suit of manifestation, since it is of the Earth element, and therefore already solid and real. I might have seen the suit of Swords as a suit of manifestation, because it is the suit of Air, and therefore related to the powers of the mind, where all manifestation begins. I might have even seen the suit of Wands, because of the passionate, spiritual motivation that we derive from the element of Fire.

But did I ever see Water as manifestation? Well, the Seven of Cups is one of the two cards that I strongly see a card of manifestation. The other is the Two of Wands. When I see either of these cards, I am inclined to ask my client to consider what they want to manifest at this time, and to encourage them to put their energy into bringing their desires into being. If both cards appear together, the need and ability to manifest is especially strong, and should not be ignored.

Truly, all four tarot Aces invite manifestation, and it was with the Ace of Cups that our discussion of manifestation began. Each Ace offers a beginning, an essence, a concept, and a jumping-off point. Each Ace is a seed from which something might grow.

What came to me very clearly was this. Everything I have ever learned about manifestation and magick includes a specific central point. The emotion that we put into our vision is paramount in our ability to bring that vision into being. Without feeling it, without emotion driving it, the manifestation will not have life.

While some tarot cards can speak of, and offer opportunity for, manifestation, we can use any tarot card to bring something in to being. Each card carries an energy. Tarot magick is simply the practice of using specifically chosen cards to bring us the energy we want, or to banish from us the energy that doesn’t serve us.

When we study the suit of Cups we might see instruction on how to channel our emotions toward manifestation. We might specifically see a story of manifesting more love in our lives, and on the planet.

What do you see about manifestation in the suit of Cups?

The Power of the Tarot Aces

I have a huge affection and affinity for the four Aces of the Minor Arcana. Within these cards I find power and magick, and many opportunities for truth-telling.

Typically, in a reading we can see each Ace as a new beginning. The sort of new beginning is determined by the suit.

For example, the Ace of Pentacles might be a new job, or new money, or a new way to care for your health, such as a new diet.

The Ace of Swords might be a new idea, a new understanding, new information, new technology or a new sort of communication.

The Ace of Wands might be a new creative project, a new passion or a new energy or sense of vitality.

The Ace of Cups might be a new relationship or a new connection within a relationship.

Yet, there is so much more to be found in these four cards. Not only do they each speak of a new gift, or a new journey, they also speak of untapped potential. Each Ace can be like a seed waiting to sprout, or an egg waiting to hatch. Within these cards we can see the incubation, as well as the beginning.

Each of the Aces can also speak to a need to find the source, or the essence of something. Sometimes a journey leads us back to the root. In these cases, the Aces can each be the goal of a journey, or the successful end of a journey.

The power of each Ace is to hold the essence of their element. The Aces can tell us where we are going, they can urge us forward, and they can help us keep our goals firmly in mind.

The Aces can also tell us what we need to nurture in order to get to where we are going.

The Aces are the Four Tools of Magick. We can use them to invoke their elements and to create sacred space.

The Aces correspond with our chakras. We can use them in chakra healing and activation.

The Aces are archetypes. The Ace of Cups is the Holy Grail, while the Ace of Swords is Excalibur.

The Ace of Wands is the priapic symbol of life waiting to happen. The Ace of Pentacles is the Earth Mother herself.

It is easy to dismiss the Aces simply as the energy of new beginnings. They are that, and so much more.

There are many tarotists who find similarities between the Aces and the Pages. Some even have a hard time finding the differences between the Aces and Pages of each suit. I think when we fail to find those distinctions, we do a disservice to ourselves.

Both Aces and Pages strongly hold the energy of their element. Both Aces and Pages can speak of something new or young. But, to me, that is where the similarities end.

Pages are about youth, learning, and communication. Aces are about initiation, essence, and source.

We can also see a correlation between Aces and Tens, since they are numerologically the same. We might see the Aces as the beginning of the journey, and Tens as the end. Yet, we could also reverse that and see the Tens as the situation we find ourselves in when the story begins, and Aces and the solution to which we eventually arrive.

I often like to see the Tens as the higher octave, or next level, of the Aces.

It is always a good exercise to find more connection, information, and power within individual cards and sets of cards. This is especially true when we believe we know the cards well. I think the Aces are especially important to explore because their simplicity can cause us to miss their depth if we don’t take the time to look.

How Tarot Helps When We are Suffering

Suffering is part of the human condition. Most spiritual thought and psychological study, is, in great part, an effort to understand and ease suffering. As a professional tarot reader, I often feel that my job is to help clients identify, understand and mitigate the things that cause them unnecessary suffering, and to help the manage the suffering that cannot be avoided.

While our current pandemic has sharpened everyone’s focus on the many problems we face, there were certainly problems before the pandemic, and there will be problems even once our current crisis is solved.

I have always been interested in the concept of suffering. I remember as a child asking my father, a Methodist minister, why God allowed people, or perhaps caused people, to suffer.

In college, I was fascinated with a book that was required reading in my psych 101 class, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. You are probably familiar with his premise, that we can tolerate a great deal of suffering, as long as we can find meaning in that suffering.

Often, I find that a purpose of tarot reading is to find meaning in difficulty. The process of divination with tarot lends itself well to discovering these sorts of insights.

When we study tarot, we realize that tarot study is not simply memorizing seventy-eight cards. Tarot study introduces us to the archetypes of tarot. That is, the characters, themes, lessons and experience that are common to all and understood by all.

As we learn these archetypes, and find that commonality of experience, we learn spiritual lessons to help us on our own journey through life. Over the past fifty years this process has come to be known as ‘The Fool’s Journey’.

Each Major Arcana card has a lesson to teach us about how to live life, find our balance, and journey toward our spiritual enlightenment. What is interesting is that none of these Major Arcana cards address suffering specifically, although all people suffer. While the Major Arcana cards address a host of issues, including things such as oppression, addiction, fairness, closure, patience, wisdom, compassion, mastery, responsibility, loneliness, self-awareness, education, meditation, and change, there is no Major Arcana card that is specifically and exclusively about suffering.

I think there is a lesson in that. Suffering is not the event, or the situation, but a reaction to the event or situation. The Hermit may speak of our loneliness, but whether we are suffering in our loneliness or handling it with patience is up to us. The Tower may reflect an uncomfortable occurrence, but how much we suffer with the Tower will depend largely on us.

In the Minor Arcana there are certainly cards that can speak of suffering. The Three, Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, for example, or the Five of Pentacles or Nine of Wands, can all depict suffering.

Sometimes, in a reading, acknowledgement of our discomfort and misery is helpful. Sometimes holding space for our struggle is an important part of our healing.

We see that tarot divination can help us find meaning in our suffering, can help us find our place on our journey toward enlightenment, and can help us acknowledge our suffering. Divination can also help us find solutions for our suffering that are both practical and spiritual.

Tarot can also help us see the suffering of others.

I often think that the world divides itself into two types of people. There are those who have suffered and therefore want others to suffer as well. There are those who have suffered and want to help others avoid those same difficulties. The lessons of tarot that we learn in tarot study and find in tarot divination tend to steer us toward a path of compassion. In this way, tarot helps us heal ourselves, and each other.

Suffering is part of human existence. Tarot helps us understand our suffering, manage our suffering, heal our suffering, and learn from our suffering.

Tarot makes us aware of the suffering of others, and often holds us accountable to act with compassion toward others.

When Numbers Repeat in a Tarot Spread

When Numbers Repeat in a Tarot Spread

I recently received an email from a tarot student asking me to comment on a spread he had performed for himself.

In a fifteen-card spread, all four Aces had appeared, as well as the Magician. Though himself a competent reader, he was wondering what my take was on this rare occurrence. I shared my thoughts with him and got his permission to expand on that theme in a blog post.

Rather than addressing only his particular situation, I would like to comment more comprehensively on ways to interpret multiples of number and rank in a tarot spread.

First, when more than one of the same number or rank appear in a tarot spread, it is something to pay attention to. Your interpretation of this phenomenon will generally be in addition to your interpretation of the individual cards. Read it as an extra message.

If there are two of the same number, you can often make a comparison between the two cards. Are they similar or starkly different? For example, if the Ten of Swords and the Ten of Cups show up in the same spread, you are going to want to spend some time figuring out what that means. That message will be substantially different than if the Ten of Pentacles and the Ten of Cups show up together. Two similar cards of the same number will strengthen each other. Two opposite cards of the same number may present a choice, or a progression from one to the other. They may be about switching between two different perspectives. They may describe two radically different aspects of life happening at the same time; a dichotomy of significance.

When paying attention to trends in numbers and rank, the positions the cards fall in, or the specific questions asked, may or may not be a consideration as you interpret the meanings of those numeric trends.

When three of the same Minor Arcana number or rank appear, think about the fourth card that is missing from the set. What is the significance of that particular card missing? What is the message of that predominant number or rank?

When all four of a Minor Arcana number or rank appear, interpret the number itself as a specific and strong message in a reading. This message is made stronger when the corresponding Major Arcana One through Nine also appears.

The message is made stronger still when other Major Arcana cards that break down to the same number are also present. So, for example, the Magician strengthens the four Aces. The Wheel of Fortune and the Sun, also One cards, would make that message stronger still.

To interpret the value of the number or rank, you have to have a clear sense of keywords and interpretations for the numbers and ranks. If you don’t already have this, it makes sense to develop it. This will help you not only when multiples appear, but also in your interpretation and understanding of the cards in general.

For example, for my friend who received five Ones, I suggested that he should remember to be his authentic self. He needed to look for the source or origin of things. He should consider things from their simplest and most obvious perspective. He already knew that the Ones meant it was an important time for new beginnings. I suggested, as well, that the singular thing he was looking for would be found.

If the multiples you are experiencing are from the Court, you might consider that as an indicator of many people in the situation. Yet, each Court rank has specific keywords, just as numbers do. It’s possible that multiple Pages might speak of communication or education, for example.

If you work with a system that assigns numeric value to the Court Cards (typically either Page-One, Knight-Two, and so forth, or Page-Two, Knight-Three, and so forth) you can look at the corresponding Major Arcana cards as well.

Some people associate the Empress with Queens and the Emperor with Kings, and so a spread with Empress and Queens, or Emperor and Kings, would be considered a strong message.

A great tarot reading derives its depth not only from the cards that appear, but also from the trends of distribution that appear in the cards.

Paying attention to multiples in number and rank is a tarot skill that adds a great deal of meaning an insight into any reading that auspiciously contains such a trend.