What are Tarot Cards Used For (Really)?
Like a lot of questions like this — opinions and beliefs vary. Wildly. But I’d like to look at what tarot cards are used for generally and what I personally believe they should be used for.
Between Hollywood movies and the sheer multitude of websites owned by the same companies there’s a lot of misunderstanding behind what the Tarot can and can’t do.
I’ve had people ask if they’ll find their keys this week or to help them pick between two names. The Tarot can absolutely be used to help guide us in life but there’s no card for “your keys are behind the couch pillow” or “choose Jack”.
Some people will tell you otherwise. These people are generally happy to tell you whatever you want to hear as long as you keep handing them money.
If you’re trying to get a real person (and not a generic website script) I suggest The Tarot Guru. Just send your question and get a reply within a few hours from a Tarot reader sent straight to you. You’ll not get the answer you want to hear but a real person with a real anwer.
How to Use the Tarot ‘Properly’
You can ask questions about a situation, what the challenges might be, and even ask for advice and the possible outcome but after the reading you still have free will to decide whether or not to follow that advice.
Every decision you make changes your future.
Where the reading might be useful is that it could show you things that you hadn’t considered. That doesn’t mean that you have to follow the advice of the cards but, at least you get the heads up in advance of how something might play out.
I’m fond of comparing Tarot to a language. It truly is a form of shorthand, with the symbols of cards representing any and everything. Any good divination system must be able to encompass the known universe. That’s a tall order, but Tarot does it beautifully, as does the I Ching and other systems.
Tarot’s strength is in its ability to speak to the reader in symbolic ways. It takes time to understand what the symbols mean, not according to a book, but according to you. Think of them as flash cards, so to speak.
Let me give you an example. With a new client, I turned over The Emperor, from the Thoth Deck. My attention was riveted by the image of a bee on the card. It just about drove me crazy. I took a chance and asked what the fellow had to do with bees. Startled, he told me that he was a beekeeper. I was flabbergasted, but tried to look like it was just as expected. Another time, I was focused on a skull, appearing on a cauldron in an image. Nothing else mattered. The client turned out to be a mortician.
You can see that this implies that Tarot is much more than just the cards, it’s mainly you. There is no magic behind it, not big secret. If you work with the cards, they will allow you to make better choices and absolutely aid in real life decisions.
I’ve been using Tarot as a tool for over 50 years with excellent results. What’s more interesting, is that after using them for a while, you won’t need to refer to them to get their guidance, because it’ll be a part of you.
Read the books. Learn what you can, but really, the main power of Tarot is as a teaching tool designed to help the user understand the power of decisions and the probable outcomes of actions. If you listen honestly, they’ll never lie to you.
