Five Things I Learned Last Year as a Tarotist and as a Human

One of the things I love about being a tarot professional is that I am always learning. Never will there be a time when I know everything there is to know about tarot, psychism, writing, reading for others, and teaching others. To be a tarot professional is to be an eternal student.

My spiritual belief system is based on the idea that life is all about healing and learning.

Sometimes lessons come from difficulties. This year I have learned a lot, not because I took time to study, but because the strange and difficult year made it necessary for me to learn. Here, in no particular order, are some things I learned from 2020. Some are things I had known earlier, but this past year brought them into a sharper focus. Some of them were brand new realizations. The first two lessons are specific to being a tarot professional, the rest are about being human.

When looking to the future as a psychic, it is hard, or maybe impossible, to predict what one cannot imagine.

I have always known that imagination is a huge aspect of tarot reading. It has to be so, because the imagination is seated in the brow chakra (third eye) along with our psychic vision.

When I looked toward the future from the relative safety of 2019, I didn’t see a global pandemic because I couldn’t imagine such a thing. Yet, I did see a lot of things in the readings of individuals that didn’t make sense until the pandemic hit. That leads me to the second lesson.

We can piece together information about our collective future when looking at trends in individual readings.

When I did new year readings for people at the beginning of 2020, I saw a lot of cancelled trips. I saw people being able to work from home. I saw people’s kids going to school from home. In those moments, many of my clients thought I had lost my mind. “My boss would never allow us to work from home.” There is no way I am going to homeschool my child.” “We’ve been planning this trip for years”.

A few months later, those same clients reached out to thank me for the heads up on the pandemic.

The good news is that reading for many people over the past year gives me great confidence in our collective future. While I have seen the worst effects of the pandemic for some people, I know, in the end, our society will emerge from this. I know this because so many people have bright futures appear in the cards. I see weddings, new homes, new babies, and college graduations, just as I always have.

It is important to be flexible.

This past year, many of us had to pivot quickly; to change plans, formats, income streams, and family routines. The more we could be flexible in our thinking, the happier we were. The more we were inventive in our problem-solving, the more successful we were.

When we resist inevitable change, we stop growing. This is a huge life lesson which every person must learn; 2020 made it obvious.

Online communities and gatherings can be uplifting, nurturing, and fun.

Teaching and community-building is my one of my favorite parts of my work. When the pandemic had me cancel all my classes and in-person gatherings in my new community center, I was sad.

Yet, a quick pivot to Zoom and livestreaming on Facebook and YouTube turned out to be a gift. Moving our first annual tarot conference, StaarCon, to an online format avoided a disappointing cancellation. Even when we return to our regular in-person groups, classes, and meetups, I will continue to host online events, and thoroughly enjoy them.

Our ability to care for ourselves and each other is paramount.

This past year was a lesson in creative self-care for many of us. It also helped us find to ways to help others, take care of our loved ones, and stay connected with friends and family in a time of isolation.

For example, my daughter and I utilized FaceTime and YouTube to do yoga and Zumba together; a practice we plan to continue into the future. Friends from around the world scheduled regular Zoom game nights, move nights, and cocktail hours. Even when we are able to resume our normal social lives, we now have skills that will help us stay close to those we love who are at a distance.

As we begin a new year, we are hopeful for positive change, healing and restored health. Many of us will carry scars from 2020 that could last a lifetime. At the same time, we have been lucky to learn important skills and lessons that will serve us in the years ahead.

May we all be safe, well, and prosperous in 2021!

Unpacking the Five of Wands

Unpacking the Five of Wands

I do a lot of livestream readings on Facebook. On Friday I do the Friday Weekly Wrap-up. I pull a single card for the collective, and then individual cards for those who make a request. The goal is to use a card to reflect on the week; to discover what we learned, what we did, and how we will move forward.

Even though I shuffle between each card I pull, I find that very often a particular card comes up a lot. This Friday the Five of Wands was the card for the collective, and then came up quite a few more times for individuals.

Then, in subsequent private readings later in the day, the Five of Wands appeared again.

It seems that the Five of Wands is describing an energy many of us are feeling right now.

A typical keyword for the Five of Wands is ‘conflict’. Yet, there is so much more to unpack in this card.

Let us start with the number Five. I see the number Four as the ‘comfort zone’, and the number Six as ‘Victory’. Therefore, Five is that place of expansion out of the comfort zone yet before we have secured our victory. By nature, Five is an uncomfortable place to be.

Now, let us look at the suit of Wands. Wands, of course, relate to the element of Fire. Fire is our motivation, our passion, our creativity, our anger, our humor, our vitality, and our spirituality.

When we add the expansive nature of Five to the fiery nature of Wands, we see great potential for an explosion. Whether that is an explosion of anger or creative inspiration depends on the individual circumstances.

The classic Waite-Smith image often makes the rounds on social media with the caption “Stupid Tent”.

The card shows an image of five people, each with a wand. They might be fighting. They might be playing. They might be dancing. Or, indeed, they might be building something or struggling to set up a tent.

Sometimes when this card appears, I like to ask my client what they think the people in the Five of Wands are doing. Whatever activity they see in the card is the activity they need to be doing. Perhaps they need to fight for what they want. Perhaps they need to dance more, to bring more joy into their lives. Perhaps they need to focus on building something. Perhaps they need to be more playful.

I think sometimes tarotists see the conflict inherent in this card and don’t bother to dig more deeply.

Sometimes, this card really is about conflict. That might be internal conflict, as in decision-making. It might be conflict going on around the querent. It also might be a conflict between the querent and someone else.

When reversed or ill-dignified, it can sometimes be about people who are unwilling to take a stand. That is, those who are conflict-averse to their own detriment.

Yet, this card can also be about creative collaboration, and the tension inherent in that process. This card can be about taking a creative risk in order to build something bigger and better than before. This card can be about the motivation it takes to push for success, and the anxiety that happens along the way.

Why is the Five of Wands appearing so often right now? Certainly, there is a great deal of conflict happening on the planet at the moment. Yet, within the Five of Wands is the journey toward success, both personal and planetary.

The Five of Wands reminds us that things are uncomfortable right now. Yet, with creative solutions and good collaboration we can, as individuals, as communities, and as a planet, build something wonderful.

The Five of Wands also reminds us that nothing wonderful happens without the willingness to incur a modicum of risk.

Tarot and Poetry Inspire Each Other

There is a unique connection between tarot and poetry. We tarot readers know that when we are giving a reading, teaching a class, or talking about a card, we often become more eloquent than we might be in normal conversation.

Tarot inspires the way we communicate.

There are many published books of tarot poetry. Sometimes the poems are written by poets who happened to be inspired by tarot. Sometimes they are written by tarotists who happened to be inspired to write a poem about a card.

The relationship between tarot and poetry goes back to early tarot history. In the 1500s tarot was a card came played by wealthy and influential people in Italy and France.

In Italy, the game of tarot led to a fad called “tarocchi appropriati.” In this game players would make up verses that were inspired by the cards and descriptive of one another.

Perhaps this was like the rap of the 1980s, where musicians used rhyme to speak of themselves, and of one another.

As the game of tarocchi appropriati developed, the verses became predictive, rather than simply descriptive. Many scholars believe that this is how fortuning telling with tarot first began.

It is easy to think of a particular tarot card and call to mind a poem or song lyric that matches it. I was recently reminded of a blog project I began and never continued called “Poetry in Tarot” where I related a poem to a tarot card.

I’ve also played with writing tarot poetry. I have two poems published in “Arcana: The Tarot Poetry Anthology”. My 78 Poems Project is far from complete, yet it is something that inspires me from time to time.

The question I have is this. Other than the connection between off-the-cuff verses inspired by early tarot cards in a popular game, why does there seem to be such a connection between tarot and poetry?

I decided to ask my cards this question. The card I pulled at random was the Queen of Cups, whom I often describe as “poetic”. When we look deeper at this card, we see it as a card that instructs us to nurture the heart.

The art of the tarot cards, along with the lessons and stories inherent in individual cards and in suits and groupings of cards, inspires us in so many ways. Poetry is one way we express that inspiration. That creativity begets creativity is a law of all nature.

Poetry, in turn, can help us make sense of the mysterious cards.

If you want to dig deeper into a tarot card, try writing a poem about it. Try to think of a poem or song lyric that reminds you of a card and use that to help you understand and remember that card.

Art and words go together in so many ways, and often enhance one other. The ongoing marriage of tarot and poetry is certainly a match made in heaven.

Holding Space at the Tarot Table

This post is for anyone who reads tarot for others, either professionally or casually.

This post is about some of the most difficult moments we encounter at the tarot table. That is, moments when we see our client’s grief, moments when we must suggest that our client’s perception of something may not be accurate or helpful, and moments when our client exposes an aspect of their personality or belief system that we ourselves find distasteful. There are certainly other difficult moments that might happen in a tarot reading, but we will leave those for another day.

Obviously, when dealing with many of these sorts of issues, a good tarot reader will strongly and firmly suggest counseling, therapy, or other mental health services. Very often we tarot readers are the first line of defense when it comes to emotional well-being. We can’t diagnose or treat our clients. We can help them see and normalize the fact that they might need treatment and encourage them to get it.

Holding Space for Grief

It is good and healing for readers to offer hopeful perspectives. Readers who see danger and despair at every turn and insist that their clients are in denial if they don’t see things this way can do real damage. At the same time, toxic positivity is pretty damaging, too. A good reader will not sugar-coat. However, a good reader will have difficult conversations with finesse and a delicate touch.

Very often, though, the most grievous things we see at the tarot table are not future potentials, but real tragedies which have already occurred. We may work with a client who has suffered a recent loss, or who has just received a devastating diagnosis.

A good example of a card that can let us know such a thing has occurred is the Five of Cups. This image often shows a person grieving over three spilt cups, when two remain standing. There are times this card can suggest a poor attitude, a victim mentality, or crying over spilt milk. Yet, over the years I have learned that when we see grief at the tarot table, whether in this card or others, we must acknowledge the pain rather than minimizing it. Accusing a person of being negative before we discover the circumstances is a newbie mistake no good tarot reader wants to make.

Some clients will be victims of their own spiritual bypassing and refuse to acknowledge their grief. When that happens, we can’t be pushy, but we can suggest that a time might come when they will need to experience their grief. Some of what we say in a reading may not be helpful initially. Sometimes pieces of a reading will stick with the client and be recalled at the right time, long after we ourselves have forgotten the reading.

Some clients will be holding on to a story of grief and loss from which they refuse to heal. In this case we need to acknowledge their pain before we offer strategies to help them move past it.

When clients are in real grief, we have to be careful to not minimize what they are feeling. When a loved one is recently deceased, we need to hold space for their pain and loss. We cannot offer comfort until we acknowledge how hard the process is. We cannot give clues for the way forward until we help them feel strong enough to walk that path. We cannot offer messages from the deceased without acknowledging that, while a mediumship experience is comforting, it is not the same as enjoying a meal in person with a loved one.

Many tarot readers are empaths. We must be able to experience a client’s grief with them without taking on so much that we impair ourselves, or let it stick with us after the reading is over.

Managing the energetic aspect of the reading is super important when the reading contains grief and sadness. We do that by having good psychic protection techniques in place throughout the reading process.

Holding Space for Truth

We see a lot of denial, anxiety, and fantasy at the tarot table. Many times, people come to us with a particular story. Over time I have learned to pull cards to check in on everything a client might tell me that could possibly be subjective. For example, ‘My boss hates me’, ‘My husband is a good man’, ‘I’m not very smart’, ‘I know this is the right relationship for me’, and so on.

Sometimes people build their entire life on a belief that turns out to be false. Sometimes they discover that belief is false in a tarot reading. When we are about to disturb the belief structure upon which a person’s life is currently built, we have to be very, very sure and very, very careful.

When we do this correctly the client ends up feeling free, empowered, and hopeful. When we humans lie to ourselves there is always a part of us that knows we are lying, even if it is deeply buried. For example, if my client believes her husband is a good man, but I see in the cards that he is behaving inappropriately in some way and the client confirms what I see, a golden opportunity presents itself.

“So, you and I both agree that you are abused in your marriage. If this is true, how does hanging on to the idea that your husband is ‘good’ help you?”

Once disabused of the story that her abuser is ‘good’, the client is free to decide how to best move forward. Then, we can pull cards on all the possibilities that are now accessible.

Imagine a client who believes himself to be less than intelligent. His understanding of his career and relationship possibilities are limited by that belief. The cards that you see in the reading tell you that your client is quite smart. The hard time he had in school was for reasons related to his environment, rather than his abilities. You can ask questions of the cards to help you build a case to your client that offers logical examples of his ability to learn and to process information. Now you and your client are free to explore new possibilities for his future.

The tarot techniques that work best in these situations involve asking many questions of the cards. Allow both logic and intuition to guide those questions. Use as many cards as you need in order to clearly find the information that will help you help your client best.

Holding Space for Growth

We don’t have to like all of our tarot clients. We don’t have to share the same political views, or the same taste in music or fashion. It is inevitable that we will find within some of our clients severe personality differences or character traits that we find distasteful.

It only makes sense to gently point out these areas of concern if you determine that they are negatively impacting your client’s own experience of their life.

For example, you might notice that your client is overly talkative and then discover they are having problems at work because of their communication style. At that point it might make sense to use the cards to explore why your client is so loquacious and to give them ideas on how to make changes.

Your client’s homophobic comments might understandably make you angry. Yet, it may not be helpful to enlighten them about your opinion of their belief system. However, you might see in the cards that their attitude is hurting them because it is hurting their relationship with a family member. Then, you might be able to pull some cards to help them find a different way to process what they have so far refused to understand. When you are able to do this, you can make a lifelong difference for an entire family.

We may not always like or enjoy our clients. Yet, we can hold them in compassion, and hold space to help them find a way to grow.

Very often, people seek tarot readings because they are going through difficulties. We tarot readers must be prepared to hold space for people who are not at their best. We need to be our best selves when others are at their worst. By doing so, we can offer the opportunity for healing, and a hopeful way forward.

Advice for Tarot Students: Be Your Own Guinea Pig

No matter how long we have been working with tarot, or how expert we have become, we are all eternally tarot students. One lifetime will never be enough to learn everything there is to know about tarot, and about all tarot can teach us.

The real goal of most students is to learn to read the cards well, regardless of how much we might know about history, symbolism and classic interpretations. We want to be able to use the cards in ways that reveal a depth of information that is helpful, truthful and healing.

I often tell my tarot students that I can’t possibly teach them to read tarot.

What?

It’s true. I can only show students how tarot works for me. I can create an environment in which each student can discover how tarot works for them.

We each have our own relationship with the cards. However, I notice that some tarot students miss an important step in developing that relationship.

The step they miss is that they don’t read for themselves enough. We often encourage students to study a card a day, which is a great practice.  We teach students to do three-card spreads to answer questions. We also need to encourage students to perform comprehensive spreads for themselves. This is something that should happen regularly; not when there is a question or a problem, but when there is a desire to study.

There is a silly old tarot adage that suggests we shouldn’t read for ourselves. I call shenanigans on that! I think we shouldn’t be trusted to read for others if we can’t competently read for ourselves.

Of course, it is wise and good to get an impartial reading from another reader from time to time. Yet, if we don’t read for ourselves regularly, we will never figure out how the cards speak to us.

A comprehensive spread is a spread that doesn’t require a question, and that covers many departments of life. Examples of comprehensive spreads include the Celtic Cross, the Astrology Wheel and the Seven Sisters.

Being able to ask a specific question and pull a few cards to get an answer is great, but that is only a fraction of what we can do with tarot. Practicing comprehensive spreads for ourselves and others will teach us to use tarot on a much deeper and more effective level.

Another problem is that many students do not go deep enough into their self-readings. This mistake takes many forms. It happens when students only turn to the cards when they have specific questions, and only read the cards as far as it takes to get an answer to those questions.

Tarot will usually answer our questions, and more. The cards will suggest questions we need to ask ourselves. The cards will give us information we need but didn’t know we needed. To stop digging into the cards we’ve pulled as soon as we get the answer we seek is like eating the chocolaty Oreo cookies and throwing away the inside creamy goodness.

Tarot students need friends to act as guinea pigs to try out new spreads and new techniques. Finding those willing subjects, reading for them and getting feedback is an important part of tarot study. Online tarot study groups have made finding those guinea pigs a relatively easy task.

Yet, if we are not our own guinea pigs first and foremost, we miss a huge opportunity to learn. Worse, we lose the opportunity to avail ourselves of the greater wisdom that tarot can make available. That is a disservice to us, and, ultimately, to the people for whom we will read in the future.

The remedy for this is simple. Make reading comprehensive spreads part of your tarot study routine. See how the cards speak to you, and how what you have seen in the cards plays out over time. Develop a relationship with your cards by using them to speak to you about your life.

When you do a reading for yourself, find the details in the cards, and in the combinations of the cards, that give you stacks of information to consider, rather than a single answer to a single question.

Try new techniques on yourself, and don’t be afraid to experiment. The more playful and experimental you are, the more you will learn and the deeper your tarot practice will become.