*The purpose of this post is to give you, the reader, an idea of what to expect from a tarot reading with me and to give you some knowledge on what tarot is to me. I don’t, by any means, speak for all tarot readers. ♡
Back when I first started to dedicate myself to giving tarot readings, I stuck to practicing on my family members only. While this helped me with feeling comfortable, I found myself having to figure out how to explain to them what exactly tarot and readings actually are. Since expanding to reading for close friends, and then strangers, I noticed that people tend to vary in their level of both belief in the tarot and their trust in me as a reader. That colors their reception to my explanation, so the most basic answer I tend to give is this:
Tarot is a tool for self-reflection, and you can think of it as a conversation with your subconscious. We’ll shuffle, I’ll lay the cards out into a spread, and I’ll tell you what the symbolism of each card is. I’ll also let you know what I find significant about the combinations of the cards, as well as their placements. What I’m reading is the current energy of the situation at hand, and what will unfold along that path. Something important to understand is that you always have the power to change your mindset and therefore change your path.
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The slightly more in-depth layer to understanding what tarot is, is that it delivers messages through a symbology that speaks an unknown, subconscious language. Throughout the deck, the imagery used is varied and speaks to a universal journey of soul-seeking that we go through as human beings. What’s funny to me is that, long before I began to read tarot, I reveled in what I see as the shared human experience. The idea that we are all learning the same lessons, just taking varied paths to the same place. When I got more into tarot, I was delighted to understand that the Major Arcana tells the tale of this shared human experience. Readings, in general, can offer us the roadmap to navigating the ebbs and flows of life.
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If we want to peel back one more layer, we can delve deeper and say that tarot readings are a way to communicate with our highest selves. This isn’t something I’ll always discuss with a client because I don’t want their feelings about that to filter how they receive their reading. That being said, I do believe that interacting with the tarot is a form of interacting with what we like to call the Universe, Source energy, Spirit, etc. It’s for this reason that, regardless of what level of explanation I give, I also try to explain to my clients that the tarot can often bring up uncomfortable truths.
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Each tarot reader brings her own flavor to the readings she provides, as well as her own areas of background knowledge and influence. I would say that my readings have a tendency to gently drag you (ha!), in order to remind you of the shadow work at play in your life. They have a way of getting to the heart of the matter — the dynamic or situation that you knew was there all along, but may not have been ready to tackle just yet. I aim to deliver these messages as gently as possible, with the same amount of humor and compassion I have when giving advice to my closest friends.
I hope this post has provided some insight into what a tarot reading is. If any tarot readers are out there — do you have any other themes you like to discuss with first-time querents?
theburiedgold 