Using the Tarot as a tool for intuition and insight
I can’t remember how a deck of Tarot cards first came into my possession. I do remember getting a Tarot reading from a vaguely charismatic reader who told me I would be good at it because I am intuitive. It seemed to be the perfect counterbalance to the logic-driven study of law that I had inserted myself into for the next three years.
I’ve been a lawyer for many years now and I still pull out the cards once in a while. Not that I use them with clients or anything but in my downtime they enable me to tap into otherwise untapped parts of my brain.
I’ve been carrying that Ryder Waite deck around for a quarter of a century now so it’s like an old friend. It’s faded in and out of my life and its role has evolved. Now that I’m well and truly at the business end of adulthood they have come into their own. And it is all about intuition.
It turns out that the Tarot has a utility belied by its mystical new age image. High profile creative people such as author Alexander Chee have written about how Tarot practice forms part of their lives.
Over the years I’ve pulled the cards out when I’m looking for fresh insight. I shuffle the cards, ask a question then pull out the first ten cards that my fingers rest on. I lay the cards in a random configuration which I know as an intuitive spread.
I don’t tend to focus on the meanings of individual cards although I’ll look one up if it seems important to the reading (tarot reading in the age of Google is a wonderful thing). Sometimes the same card will keep coming up, giving me a message that I can’t ignore. For a long time I was getting the Ten of Swords in every single reading — a sure signifier of self deception and self-sabotage.
What I’m more interested in though is how the cards relate to each other and how the spread speaks to me as a whole. The darker cards can be balanced out by the lighter ones and cards give different shades of meaning depending on what they are adjoining. Dominance of by certain type of card can indicate areas that need attention, for example more cups means there’s stuff happening on the emotional front.
Usually the Tarot will give me something to nudge whatever preoccupations are gripping me at the time. If I’m paying attention, I’ll see a new way of approaching a problem that I’ve been labouring over to no avail.
While I wouldn’t claim it’s a replacement for therapy, the Tarot parallels therapeutic approaches that provide a mechanism to stop and check in with yourself. It’s a way of quieting the external noise to tune in to what is happening inwardly. It’s pretty good as far as mindfulness techniques go.
Recently I’ve been taking the Tarot more seriously as I discover a power in it that has taken me by surprise. It could be that I’ve Marie-Kondoed a whole lot of toxic clutter from my life or that I’m hurtling towards menopause. I’m ready to live life on my own terms.
Or perhaps it’s the realisation that we’re living in unprecedented times and orthodox ways of thinking haven’t exactly served us that well . Around the world, the leaders in the ascendancy are the ones who have deferred to forces bigger than them rather than trying to overcome them with brute force.
This New Years Eve provided optimum conditions for Tarot reading as my dear friend and I stayed in a remote location of natural beauty with a starry sky and rising full moon looking down on us.
We started with a fun activity where we each drew cards signifying what lesson we would take into; let go of; take on, be careful of and embrace in 2021. We also had a theme for 2021: hers was Temperance and mine the Ten of Pentacles. So much food for thought. I highly recommend it.
The next day, on a roll, I got my friend to ask the Tarot a question as she shuffled. This is what came up.
It was clear at the outset that her question was about her career path and what steps she needed to take. I could see the commencement of new journeys of learning in the pages of pentacles and swords; the creative energy and momentum of the wands and the material manifestation of hard work in the pentacles.
If there was one card that stood out it was the high priestess. I saw intuition and wisdom as being the force that unified all the other elements. Delving deep into the vision of her business plan to find the conviction to articulate it was what would drive her success.
I could sense the deep current of creative energy and ideas within her but also the reluctance to believe in herself in a way that would bring a brilliant plan to fruition.
A good Tarot reading goes beyond the seeing the cards to feel the energy between them. It’s a flow state where you forget yourself because you’re so immersed in what you’re doing. The Tarot is at its most powerful when you shut up and let it do its work. It was really just a matter of me harnessing the energy and articulating it.
I was doing plenty of talking but it was different; as though I had suspended my usual judgement and problem solving impulse and opened up to an alternative source of wisdom. It’s as though the reading had bypassed the usual operation of my brain.
My friend says that the that the reading made her feel empowered, confident and understood. I remember feeling a trust and openness that enabled communication on a deep level.
A lot of what is happening in the Tarot takes place at an unconscious level through the use of archetypal images. Our brains make these connections all the time and sometimes deliver up surprising gems to our conscious minds. I’d like to think that the Tarot charges up the way the brain makes connections.
Since being diagnosed autistic last year, it’s not lost on me that the Tarot operates through making connections and identifying patterns. I’m particularly interested in research that shows differing patterns of brain connectivity in autistic brains. It may have something to say about what’s going on here.
I have always tended to cut through the noise and pick up on the energy in order to make sense of what is going on with people and situations. So often the power is in what is not said.
Tarot dives into the world of the unsaid; the spaces in between words. It can be the key to your unconscious mind and a tool for living.
