We tend to associate tarot cards with fortune telling. But even if you don’t believe they can tell the future, you can use them to tell them something about yourself. Tarot cards are great meditation tools, because of their rich imagery and meanings that can be used for reflection. Here are some tips.
Using the tarot cards
You can choose to meditate on a particular suit that you feel is relevant to your situation, or randomly select a card from the deck and see how it connects to your situation. You can also try using different tarot readings, like The Creative Process spread or the Twofold Path spread, which can help you reflect on choices or key influences in a situation. These different spreads can be found on facade.com
Soak in the imagery and meaning of the cards
In general Tarot cards have four suits: cups (water, which is related to emotions and relationships), wands (which is related to dreams, projects, plans, and the process of achieving them), swords (which is related to logic, decisions, control) and pentacles (which is related to work, money, and success). Different decks also use different images. It help to buy a book that explains the images and their meanings in detail, which will let you see patterns or find points of reflection that you may otherwise miss.
Or if you don’t have a book, reflect on what the images mean to you, the emotions and ideas that are triggered, and the questions you are asking. For example, ‘Why are these two cards next to each other? How are they similar, different, related to each other? Is there anything in my life where those feelings or circumstances are also connected?
Free write
If you are confused write down the cards you got, the initial reflections, the questions, and then free-write. Do stream of consciousness, a word map or word association. Don’t feel bad if the meaning doesn’t become clear to you right away. Maybe you will see the connection in the future, as events unfold. Or even if you don’t, the questions you ask have already helped your self-awareness and helped you see the situation from a new perspective.
Photo from smithagency.com