4 Ways Tarot Can Support You
Hi y'all,
Hope this blog post finds you well!
I’ve got something a little different for you today. It’s something I’ve been thinking about A LOT in this time of virus and pandemic - a year in now, with no clear end in sight. Well, the end is there, kinda - but it’s wobbly, unknown, uncertain. It’s not stable enough for me to feel comfortable booking a vacay, even if I were allowed - or meeting folks in person to read tarot cards.
It’s at the point in the pandemic when lot of us are burnt out.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely had my moments of immense fear, feeling hyper activated, in panic mode, or in states of hypervigilance, paranoia, anxiety, or even numbness and dissociation.
This global event is hitting a lot of us – myself included – at our root, causing us to question our commonly held beliefs and ideas about safety, health, and risk.
And, for some of us, it’s even brought up big questions like whether what we’ve been doing with our life (and maybe who we’re spending it with) is exactly what we wanna be doing.
Near the beginning of the pandemic, about a year ago, I pulled this card of the day – pictured above – which reminded me to turn to my passions to keep me alight.
It was such a good and needed reminder, as I’ve definitely had my bad days since this has all started.
And – I’m sure this comes as no surprise – my passion happens to be tarot, magic, and spirituality.
I’ve turned to witchcraft, prayer, and tarot to support me throughout this crazy year.
A year into this global pademic (big sigh - a whole year, can you believe it?!), I’m so glad I have my cards, and that I took the opportunity to dive deeper into my relationship with my tarot cards. I’ve been reading tarot for twenty years now, but never have I experienced such a rough year with so many ups and downs. It’s been very grounding to work with them to help me work through moments of personal crisis, and anxiety around the very real uncertainties and unknowns throughout this whole up and down roller coaster year.
The past year has put me to the test - for real.
I’ve felt my relationship with myself, and my own inner strength, deeply tested, as well as my relationship to place - I moved out of an apartment I’d been in for 10 years, and a neighbourhood I’d lived in for 15 years. It’s tested my friendships; many haven’t lasted, when put to the test. I incorporated my business, I hired an accountant, I decided to get so many aspects of my life in order, even if it was absolutely, gut-wrenchingly uncomfortable.
Through all of this, I’ve had tarot.
Tarot has grounded me when I felt nuts, and has helped me understand where I’m at, what I’ve experienced, what the hell my problem is, the choices in front of me, and which path forward might best serve me.
What makes tarot so special?
Why do I really, seriously believe that everyone would benefit from adding tarot to their ecosystem of supportive tools?
Lots of reasons, but today I’ve decided to leave it at only four!
#1: Tarot Invites Us To Slow Down
Tarot – in many ways – actually FORCES us to slow down.
We have to find our cards, maybe even select from one of the many decks we have. Then we have to connect with whatever the hell our intention is – what do we wanna know?
How are we even feeling in the first place?
Good?
Bad?
Terrible?
I’ve literally never heard of anyone just grabbing their deck and picking off the top card, as is. It’s pretty known and accepted within the practice that – hey – ya gotta shuffle. The act of sitting down (or lying down, you do you) and shuffling a deck of cards IS an act of slowing down.
It’s ingrained in us to shuffle for at least 30 seconds – and many of us shuffle for minutes, sometimes even five or ten.
In my 20 years of reading cards, I’ve never seen someone shuffle less than 30 seconds.
And that may be the first 30 seconds of your day that you’ve taken a breath, taken a moment to yourself and slowed down your body, your breathing, and your mind.
Slowing down is often the LAST thing we feel like doing in a crisis.
I don’t know about you, but when I’m in crisis mode I tend to feel a sense of URGENCY – anxiety and panic about needing to solve things, NOW.
But even 30 seconds of connecting to breath, intention, slowing down our beings and our thought patterns, can make all the difference in every day life, but especially in times of crisis and panic.
When we are in a panic, we rarely make the best decisions. Our thoughts can overwhelm us.
If we slow down and realize that right now – in THIS moment – we are safe.
Everything that comes after that can be much more grounded and stable. Even the simple act of shuffling cards can help remind us of this – and invite us to slooowwww down.
Slow our bodies.
Slow our mind.
Slow our breath.
Slow our thoughts.
#2: Tarot Connects Us To Ourselves
When we slow down, it becomes a lot easier to connect.
With ourselves.
With how we’re feeling.
What we’re scared of.
What our hopes are.
What our dreams are.
When we’re in a heightened state of anxiety, panic, stress, worry, or whatever – all things crisis can bring up for us – we can easily become disconnected from ourselves, our internal state and the reality of our bodies in this present moment.
We become clouded by fear or anxiety – and those things are NOT ‘us.’
They are feelings, sure.
Mental states, sure.
But they are not WHO WE ARE.
Taking some time to draw tarot a tarot card (or two, or three) during our current moment of global crisis can reconnect us to the core of ourselves, to the reality that – right now – we’re ok.
We may be anxious, we may be sick. We may be making ourselves sick with anxiety! (I’ve done it!!) And all for what? Does that help?
Pulling tarot cards during times of crisis can bring us back to ourselves, our bodies, our sensations, the specificities of all the different things we may be feeling.
If we take a moment, we can probably untangle all of it.
And tarot can even help with that.
Tarot can bring us back to ourselves when we’re overwhelmed.
We might see ourselves in the cards, and learn something about ourselves and how we are dealing in the present moment.
#3: Tarot Shows Us What Is Hidden
When we’re in crisis mode, it’s easy to miss things.
It happens to me, too!
If I’m feeling super anxious, paranoid, or worried about the current global crisis – I’ve felt myself get totally clouded, forgetting who I am and being disconnected from my body, the present moment’s reality (I’m at home in my apartment, totally good).
When I take a moment to pull a card – this is true always, but especially true in moments of crisis...
The tarot card that comes up almost ALWAYS shows me something I didn’t see.
Either something I didn’t want to see, or simply something that I couldn’t see.
When tarot shows us what is hidden from us in our crisis brain moments, it can jolt us out of our sense of panic, fear, dissociation, complacency – or whatever it is we’re going through.
When we see what’s been hidden from us, new futures become possible and suddenly available to us.
#4: Tarot Inspires New Ways of Being
Once we’ve been able to slow down, connect with ourselves, and see what's hidden, new ways of being come into view.
We see how many choices are available to us, when we might not have been able to see them before.
We see that we’re not as trapped as we thought, as we felt.
We become reconnected to our sense of personal agency, our sense of power.
The cards can show us new ways of being in the world. Depending on which cards we draw, a nasty pattern that it’s time to break out of can come up – or an invitation to reconnect with our artistic side, or dive into our spirituality.
To take action this time instead of passively fading into the distance.
If we want to feel differently, we need to take different action.
Tarot can cut through that confusion, and provide some decisive instructions on what steps would best serve us in connecting with ourselves.
Tarot can provide a map out of whatever confused muck we find ourselves in.
Tarot can reveal new ways of looking, ways of thinking, ways of being. No two cards are the same – so the advice can get pretty specific! And, often – if we follow this advice, we’ll be forever changed.
And, in crisis – we’re often called to the challenge of being the best version of ourselves.
The most courageous.
The most thoughtful.
Tarot can show us how and where and why to direct those efforts – to support our own health and wellness, as well as that of others.
Did you find this all helpful?
Want to learn more about working with tarot?
Great news!
There’s a few different ways you can learn from me with tarot! I have an amazing in-depth online course and group coaching program called Tarot Without Bullshit - enrollment is only through my mailing list. You’ll get first picks when I open the doors again1
Click here to sign up for my mailing list! You’ll also be invited to download a free PDF containing 4 easy tarot spreads designed by me.