Why Tarot?

Tarot is a set of images on numbered and categorized cards, that randomly chosen, create a picture-story used by the tarot reader to deepen the questioner, or querant’s understanding of a past or current situation, or how to can bring about a desired future. This allows you and I, the querant and reader, to creatively collaborate, utilizing both intuition and intentionality. The basic archetypes and core images have held fairly consistent since the fourteenth century, while artists through the centuries have added their personal vision and historical understanding to each new interpretation of the tarot. Tarot has become a reliable language for intuitives to explain their impressions of what is going on for the querant, with imagery, figures, and number-systems that immediately feel familiar. Every deck creator has their own interpretation of these archetypes.

When is a reading useful?

When you are feeling stuck in a situation regarding a career, relationship, ethical, or the inner self/spirit/soul/mind. It helps you see your situation in greater depth, allowing you to draw insight moving forward.

Do you tell the future?

No. I’m really just reading you and using intuition and skill to counsel you about your situation so that you can become unstuck. While people have had uncanny experiences of feeling like I could see deeply into them, it’s not a parlor trick or some predictive science. I can tell you likely possibilities of what is going to happen in your life because my reading of the cards and you give me insight on your internal state and your current behavior. From there, it’s pretty easy to hypothesize with accuracy on what your future behaviors and decisions might be.

What is your experience?
I started reading cards for people over 30 years ago, and people told me I was good back then! I think I’m way better than when I started at thirteen. It has always been something I’ve done, either casually or professionally. In the intervening years I’ve done a lot of study on the Tarot, mythology, and occultism. The most fun and unusual tarot gig was doing back to back readings at a swanky party on a Hollywood studio lot. Eventually, I found myself in graduate school for counseling psychology at a Jungian and Depth Psychology focused school, Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. I used to read for my classmates all the time during those years, which was one of my favorite parts of the experience because it connected me to everyone in a deep and special way. After passing my board exams for Marriage and Family Therapist, I spent thirteen years in private practice`. While a tarot reading with me is specifically not a therapy session, I bring all my skills as a counselor and all of my skills as a Tarot student and reader. In late 2020, I completed the Biddy Tarot Certification Program, as well as the Heart of Service program by Wild Soul Tarot, to make sure that there were less gaps in my knowledge and speed as a tarot reader as I pivoted my career to readings. One thing you might want to know about me is that I have met and spoken with all kinds of people from many walks of life and that people who know me think of me as non-judgmental, fair, and insightful.

Is the Tarot a religion?

No. It’s a set of images that are heavily influenced by the Western perspective. The first decks that were popularized, the Thoth Tarot and the Rider Waite Tarot, were drawn by white women and given book interpretations by white men, which influences the imagery and the themes. A lot of images could be seen as consistent with Christianity, but there are just as many mythological/polytheistic figures as there are figures that could be interpreted as having visual or thematic associations with Judaism, Islam. You can make an argument that figures resonate with diaspora religions, with paganism, and with atheism. There is a sense of feminine and masculine divine. The way I read, I allow you to have your own religious associations with the material, or not! It’s more about you and your personal journey. The tarot is not a religion in that it doesn’t represent a belief system. It shows cyclical and significant patterns in human life, things that we need insight on. The images are open ended while the stories contained in them is universal.

Why do you collect so many Tarot decks?

As I deepen my journey into social justice work, it is a pure delight to see the many, many new interpretations of the Tarot, from perspectives of people who are BiPoc, Trans or gender-nonconforming, gay or lesbian, Dianic Wiccan, and all of the many, many specialty decks that allow readings to occur within the imagery of a fandom, like the Game of Thrones Tarot. If you buy me a new deck, you will receive a free reading with this deck!