Opinion: Tarot cards are a great tool for self-reflection and mini-therapy. It won’t cast you into eternal damnation, your actions and future are still your own and the cards are only a useful guide.
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I asked the cards how I should write this, and this is what they showed me.
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The first card, representing the past, was the Three of Wands: a sign of forward planning, self-growth and progress –– the confidence to take the first steps in whatever direction you wish.
Tarot is an imported concept for me. I think of myself as a realist, and truth-telling plastic cards don’t sound real. Moreover, if you won’t make fun of me, they used to kind of scare me.
Up to about a year ago, I had dismissed tarot. That was until my grandmother showed me her cards by the fireplace one cold night. She makes really good homemade applesauce for me, so I was contractually obligated to let her read my cards when she asked, despite my doubtful remarks.
One of the very first cards she drew for me was The Fool. “Great,” I thought. “I wanted affirmations about my career and where it’s headed, and instead I’m getting chirped by a Pokémon card.” While my grandmother affirmed that I was, in fact, a fool, she also explained that it refers to the beginning of my journey, not to me. The Fool holds the contentedly naive enthusiasm necessary to begin any journey.
Reality is often stark and unwelcoming to new paths, so I reflectively thought poorly of hobbies unfamiliar to me. The irony was this card was telling me, a “realist,” to not be bothered by that starkness and try something new just for the sake of it –– to not scrutinize every step but walk forward and see where my next step lands. It made sense for my career as a writer — not debating over every word or piece I write — and for tarot itself. My grandmother gifted me a deck the next day.
Since then, I have taken those first steps forward that the Three of Wands guessed I had: learning what I could and reading the cards for myself and my friends. What I found was tarot wasn’t a summoning ritual of the dead, a fate-sealing contract or even psychic at all, really.
Tarot is a self-reflection tool. The cards guess something relating to your life, then it’s up to your interpretation of what facet of your life the card is referencing. It can help you decipher your own emotions or come to conclusions about yourself you may not have had previously.
I sat down with Jill Amy Sager, a local tarot and guidance consultant, and chatted with her about cards.
“The two words that always pop up for me are validation and self-reflection,” she told me. “Tarot helps people get out of their own way so they can see things clearer and make some forward motion in their life. How, why, what? I have no idea. But it works, and it blows me away all the time.”
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The card representing the present I drew was the Knight of Swords, which indicates swift forward motion; letting ambition drive you without overplanning.
In general, this card speaks to my growth in ambition. Yes, I’m still a serial overthinker, but I’ve found the more I’ve gotten into tarot the more I’ve let myself walk free of thought. More specifically, I think this card was talking about how I wanted to better know what the campus thought of tarot. So, with a little less self-doubt than usual and some blind optimism, I set up a table outside the EMU and read students’ tarot cards.
Many people told me this was their first time having their cards read. Some were anxious about what the cards would say — maybe twisting their fate for the worse — and others were just skeptical of the legitimacy. I took time easing those people into the reading, telling them about my own skepticism and reminding them that cards simply couldn’t tell them what to do –– it was still their choice whether they wanted to listen to them or not.
The biggest reward was seeing their confused expressions turn to nodding heads in understanding by the end. Everyone that got a reading told me they took away a deeper meaning from the cards or a sense of clarity and comfort, which made me feel useful for the day. That’s not to say I’m a good reader; I know I have much to learn. Maybe they just didn’t want to hurt my feelings, but it really seemed like people ended their reading with more clarity on what troubled them than before.
Statistical note: None of them were hexed or dragged into hell for having their cards read (that I know of).
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The final card, guessing the future, was the Ace of Swords, which is beginning something with a new way of thinking.
Psst, this one is talking about you now.
I truly think tarot can help people become more guided and find needed inspiration. My hope is that you give tarot a try, have a friend read for you or speak to a professional and experience how it can help you digest life’s trials and tests.
Be foolish enough for unfamiliar firsts –– take those steps today. Trust me, it’s on the cards.
Extended reading on Tarot card:
