Tarot and Your Own Inner Knowing
As I see it, making meaning is a sorely underutilized human super-power. Our interpretations vary from day to day, person to person, and culture to culture. But finding significance in our daily lives is something we do no matter what, so we might as well take advantage of it to improve our outlook. Tarot is a great tool for practicing conscious meaning-making.
Whether it’s the weather, a chance encounter, or a snippet of a dream you woke up remembering, any little thing that catches your attention matters simply because…
If you’ve noticed something, it matters.
Unfortunately for most of us, by adulthood our interpretations become habitual and unconscious. Fortunately, your mind is incredibly creative and powerful. So when life begins to feel negative, scary, or meaningless, it is time to start steering the boat in a different direction.
I’m remembering the children’s book, Harriet the Spy. I re-read it about 30 years ago and this quote stuck with me:
“There is as many ways to live as there are people on the earth and I shouldn't go round with blinders but see every way I can.”
— Harriet the Spy
Meaning doesn’t come from what we see, but how we see. TBH, we ignore or simply miss most of what is going on around us. Don’t get me wrong, choosing how we see is lifelong work and it’s not easy because, well, being human isn’t easy. It’s confusing, painful, and messy.
But finding and feeling the good in our experience saturates our daily lives with sparkle and fills us with resilience. Tarot supports that practice.
Tarot, with its archetypes and rich, symbolic imagery, is an interactive system for nourishing a soulful perspective.
Though I’d known of Tarot since adolescence, I began learning it in late 2017, during a time of general confusion and curiosity. I fell in love with the rich complexity of its images and structure. Pulling cards has become a regular practice for understanding my own life. And now, after much study and practice, I’ve begun sharing it with others in the last 2 years.
Tarot has been used for divination since the mid-1700s. But I consider myself more intuitive than psychic and do not use Tarot for “fortune telling.” Instead, with my modern understanding of human behavior, psychology, and symbolism, I use Tarot to open a window into the present and tell a story about what’s going on in a given moment. Whether I am pulling cards for myself or someone else, they tell stories of triumph and struggle. Often we’re being reminded how to rest or play, to celebrate ourselves, or set healthy boundaries.
Even when they are pointing out something we’d prefer to ignore, the cards offer us loving support and direction. Tarot is medicine for the soul and reminds us that, as souls having a human experience, everything we need is here right now.
Meaning-making saturates our daily lives with sparkle and fills us with resilience. Tarot supports that practice.
I hope this gives you a sense of how I see and approach Tarot. In the next few blogs I look forward to sharing more, including:
My approach to readings
A basic glossary inviting you into the structure within the 78 cards of the Tarot
How I use Tarot in my own life
A bit about the “scary” cards like Death, The Devil, and 10 of Swords, which are just as nourishing as the “sweet” cards like The Sun or Six of Cups
