There is a question I’ve been hearing a quite a bit lately and I expect I will be asked quite a bit for the rest of my life: “So how does this whole Tarot thing work”?
Sometimes it is asked with genuine curiosity. Sometimes it is asked with wonder. And sometimes it is asked with disdain and an implied additional remark of “Prove it!”.
The answer I want to give, especially in the last case, is that it honestly doesn’t matter! It works. The constant feedback and validation I get from clients during and after their readings is enough for me. The heartfelt responses I have received when I have been able to deliver messages that are truly helping people is what matters. I don’t really need to know how it works anymore. I realize there will always be skeptics and I honestly believe no answer will satisfy them although I believe many would become less skeptical if they received a reading of their own.
But I do understand the curiosity and wonder and have certainly felt it myself – especially when I first started giving readings to others online. In many of these cases, I have given readings to people knowing literally nothing about them but an obscure online handle or email address! No idea of real name, gender, age, appearance, personality, health, marital status, occupation, etc. And in nearly every case, I have been able to tap into something relevant and specific to help that individual and deliver a message that resonated with them.
These are not generic “one size fits all” messages. I have had recent readings for complete strangers (not seeing or knowing anything about them!) online where I have discerned accurate things like they recently enlisted in the military and had mixed feelings about leaving home and heading overseas. Another person I saw opening their own business. Another I saw working too hard and missing out on recent chances at love. Another I saw recently constructing and moving into a house. Another I saw a recent break-up and move. The list goes on and on.
So how does this whole Tarot thing work?
Given that it works without any tangible connection between me and the person I am reading for, my belief is that we are all being guided. We all have spirit guides and angels who are looking out for us on the other side and who can communicate with one another. So, essentially, when I do a reading I am asking my guides to call on your guides!
I believe we all have the potential to communicate with them ourselves and Tarot cards are one method – and one that works very well for me. The cards exist in the deck in a certain order whether I am physically looking at them or not, and I believe I am guided through intuition and connection to guides to re-order them in the proper way to deliver the message that is needed at the time of a reading.
For each reading, I feel guided to choose a certain type of spread based on the situation or question being asked. When I shuffle the cards, I have learned to trust how long to shuffle. Often I will get an impression of a number that I then use as a shuffle countdown. So I ask for guidance, choose the spread, think of your question (if you have one – if not I ask to be shown what you need to know right now), and a number usually is given to me. So I might see “17” and so I begin to shuffle the cards, each time counting down. “16… 15…” etc. Often I get a reasonable number but on occasion I get a fairly large number and I have to spend a couple minutes shuffling until the cards are ordered the proper way to deliver the message.
You will often hear that spirits and guides communicate with us through symbols and I believe Tarot cards are symbolic and I am able to tap into and trust my intuition to interpret these symbols. When someone requests a reading from me, I believe they have been guided to request that reading and it is my job to be the vessel to deliver a message to them from their guides. The cards are laid out in a spread where each position represents a certain aspect of the question or situation. From there, I pick up on symbols and feelings and basically study the cards until the messages become clear. It is a bit like a very blurry picture that slowly comes into focus. Or a puzzle where I am given all the pieces and need to fit them together.
The good thing about this is a Tarot reading still works whether you believe the same or not!
If you are not a particularly spiritual person but still feel compelled to understand how Tarot could possibly work, a good source of info is the work of Carl Jung. His theory about the collective unconscious is also similar and more scientific explanation covering similar territory.
So what do you think? Do you have other theories on how it all works? Does it even matter? I’d love to hear your comments.
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