How Tarot Reading Works

Exploring How

I talk a lot about how to read tarot. I find it endlessly fascinating and a life-long pursuit of knowledge, mystery, and wonder. I joke about how it’s a ‘gateway drug’ of occultism because you can layer any modality on top of tarot to learn. This not only lets you get deeper into the cards themselves, but also just about any other esoteric system. So many people, like me, are endlessly curious about how to improve their skills and connection with their deck.

And how is a great question to dedicate yourself to! But… it’s more than just understanding the symbolism in and out, or how to read spreads. That is to say, it’s more than just the mechanics of reading. How do a handful of images on some 78 cards always seem to get it so eerily accurate?

There are at least as many paths to answering this question as there are cards, and while you know I’d love to sit here and write that tome for you, let’s explore just one path here today.

You Are More Than Labels

To me, it feels like a big part of life right now is to brand yourself- have a group of labels that adhere to who you are and how you present yourself. Even in more progressive spaces. It’s not necessarily a negative thing, either. Taking on and owning who you are helps create identity, visibility, and community- to find yourself and your people. It adds momentum behind political power. Labels can be very useful. However, sometimes- they can become a crutch. Or, a limiting mentality.

For example, most of us lean heavily into our Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs to explain our behavior, feelings, and thoughts. I know I do it all the time. And who doesn’t love reading a horoscope and feeling seen? The issue I take with this pop-astrology is that it makes people forget that they’re not just where the planets are at the time of their birth. The entire zodiac is influencing them. There’s a part of every sign, planet, comet, and major celestial body in you, in some way. We focus on what’s trending because it’s fun (am I thinking about dressing for my Venus and Rising signs - absolutely! Will I stop wearing black? Never.). But we are so much more.

Throw Away the Guide Book

How does this relate to Tarot? Well, it makes me think about the little guide books with a handful of keywords that come with decks. For the most part, we give these cards just a few ways to express themselves- we put them in a box and make them as two dimensional as the card stock they are printed on.

For example, on Biddy Tarot for The Fool they say, “UPRIGHT: Beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, a free spirit | REVERSED: Holding back, recklessness, risk-taking”. And yes, the fool can mean those things… sometimes. It all depends on the following factors: the querent (the person asking the question), the question itself, the spread, the position it’s in, its orientation, and the cards around it. Oh, and not to mention the divinatory skills of the reader themself.

Here, it pays to know your Tarot history. The Fool’s original imagery is based on the that of the court jester in a King’s court (the Waite-Smith deck nods to with the colorful tunic). This card is also about the intersection of Comedy and Tragedy. The archetype of the court jester is one who is able to see through the mishigas, one who is full of wisdom, who uses their intelligence as a weapon to their advantage. One with a cutting tongue as sharp as any sword that they must carefully wield, lest they lose their life.

While the guide book terms describe in more or less terms what the Fools actions are, they miss the why- what’s going on internally with this character. The Fool isn’t necessarily on a dichotomy between Free Spirit and Recklessness. Inside, The Fool can be thinking, weighing their options, calculating how their actions or words can bring about the outcomes they desire, or, at the very least, let them see another day. The Fool has a whole internal life that gets eclipsed by a few generic words.

Marmolejo says in their eye-opening work The Red Tarot, “They are an emanation of zero, the infinite blackness said to contain the abysmal mystery of God.” They are referencing the numerology of The Fool as the 0 card, where some consider zero to be a “cosmic egg”. The object through which the universe is born. The ultimate seed of possibilities from which all else follows. There’s a reason that the Major Arcana is called The Fool’s Journey, after all. Their writing also makes me think about The Fool as being uncomfortable, whether you’re safe or sorry. The Fool implies the everlasting question of “What if?’ no matter which path you walk, new beginning you start. Again, another insight into the inner workings of The Fool that “new beginnings” just doesn’t cover.

There are an incalculable ways to interpret this card, this archetype, this person. Just like how you ebb and flow in countless ways depending on each particular situation you are in. You are The Fool, but you’re more than that, too.

You Are an Infinite Tarot Deck

As John Green wrote in The Fault in Our Stars, “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” You contain multitudes. You contain all of the archetypes. Some aspects come to the forefront more than others, but they’re all in there. You’re infinite Fool, Hanged One, World. An infinity containing each of the 78 infinities.

Just like you are not just three astrological aspects. You are the the entire sky, the entire universe, wrapped in a human package.

That’s why, no matter what card comes up in a reading, you can relate to it in some way. It speaks to a part of you, whether it hits the nail on the head, or whispers to remind you about a part of yourself that you’ve forgotten.

Tarot works because it reflects our real life. The cards are the pieces that make up all that we are.

This brings one of my favorite musician’s lyrics to mind. As Fia sings in her song, “I Am”:

No, I am not who you think I am

I am so much more, I am One with Source

I am Limitless, Infinite, Powerful, Abundant

Complete from the Start, Creator of all I Am that I Am

Oh yes, I Am that I Am

We forget that we are so powerful as to choose how we live. We give our power away to shoulds and can’ts and mindless actions.

Tarot is a portal to illuminate what we’re capable of and remind us of all that we are. Be the champion Five of Swords when you need to, or be the demure Two of Cups. Be the Knight of Wands fuckboy, or reclusive High Priestess. Be whichever card you need to be, whenever you need to be it.

You are the living, breathing deck.