Using Tarot as a Part of Your Personal Practice
I’ve been meaning to start to share more about how I use tarot and oracle cards for my own personal practice and with my clients. Rather than explain it, here’s a snippet of a reading I did. The question and answers are real. If you’d like a reading or guidance on how to use tarot and oracle cards yourself for self-reflection, feel free to DM me.
QUESTIONS from client:
Biggest question is what will happen with my career? Am I on the right path to where I need to be?
Another question is if me and my boyfriend are ready to move in together next year or what our future has in store- moving etc.
I’ve had acne that I’ve been struggling with and I’m on a plan to hopefully help clear it and heal my gut. Will this finally be the thing that works?
Last one I’ve been thinking about doing corepower teacher training and trying to become an instructor. Is this something that is aligned with my purpose/ what I should be doing having to do with my career?
ANSWER from Emily
A few notes on tarot/oracle cards, in case you don't have a regular practice: I think they're an incredible tool for learning to tap into your intuition (and listen, uncover what you truly want) because they help you start to pay attention to what resonates.
So I'm going to pull a card, share the meaning with you and then invite you to pay attention to the words that stand out to you.
Ask yourself, 'why do these stand out?' Learning to pay attention to the stuff that sticks out is great practice for learning to pay attention to the stuff that sticks out in life (which is usually our intuition talking to us).
So feel free to just reply to the message with any thoughts that come to mind and I'll follow-up with my third party perspective to help connect any further dots
A few thoughts on your questions specifically: your cards will answer the question that's most pertinent for you to know the answer to.
Because I'm a purpose alignment coach, I'm going to give you a few nuggets that I would share with my clients.
Only you know what you want and what is right for you.
Of course you are on the right path, because it is your path.
Every decision you've made is the right one because it was the one you needed to make at the time.
There are no wrong decisions because even the 'wrong' ones taught you a lesson you were meant to learn.
If you're in a place right now where you want a different experience or a new experience, you can have that new experience. But you need to actually, truly want it.
Even if it's just to try it out to see if you like it.
You don't have to commit, but you have to want it, deep down, in this moment.
If there's anything blocking you, holding you back, any internal resistance, it will make moving toward that thing much more difficult.
I'd suggest giving yourself the space and time to answer these questions for yourself.
Do you want a different experience for your career? Do you want to make a change? Do you know what your purpose is and feel like you're fulfilling your purpose every day? Do you want to move in with your boyfriend? Do you believe that this new plan improving your gut health will clear it out?
Writing down the honest answers to those questions, then reflecting on what might be holding you back from getting what you want would allow you to truly step into your power, your intuition, your authenticity.
You are your own guide and you have all the answers you need inside of you. Truly.
Let the cards just be a mirror, a reflection of what you already know.
OK now for the card.
Your card is "TEAMWORK". Good teamwork is about cooperation and trust.
You have drawn this card to examine the relation between your body, mind and soul.
In this trinity, the soul is the deepest version of you, it is the inner voice that talks to you. As team players, your body and mind work together with the soul to guide you.
Insecurities, panic or stress all tell you that something needs to change.
You have deviated from your actual path. Look at those signals as emotional feedback and listen to them.
When you are not aligned, you counteract yourself. You want what is best for you. Your body does not always know what the soul wants. Your mind is not attuned to what the body needs.
When you have a pure and clear connection between body, mind and soul, there is space to feel what you really need.
Therefore, every moment of every day, you can ask yourself the question: "What do I need right now to feel well?"
When you are stuck in 'oughts' you are blocking your real emotions.
Listen carefully to what the body, mind, and soul are telling you.
Fine tune the messages and follow your impulses.
It is okay to diverge from fixed patterns in order to do what feels right. Before long, you will be living in harmony with yourself and the universe around you.
--
That was a conversation between me and an anonymous client. But, *you* can have the same conversation with *yourself* and build this exercise into your daily, weekly or even monthly practice to clarify what you truly want, to open up to what your intuition is trying to tell you, or to uncover what might be blocking you.
Some people think that tarot readers are psychics and are predicting your future.
The way I’ve learned to read and use tarot, is different.
It’s so easy to get lost in our own thoughts. And as we know, our thoughts dictate our emotions, which ultimately, dictate our lives.
So, the better we can quiet our thoughts and get underneath them to our truest selves, our intuition, our essence - that’s when we can find more calm and peace in our daily lives and better uncover our own truth.
Our truth (what’s right for us, who we are, what we need) lives beyond our thoughts and actually gets muddied and confused by our thoughts.
We are so much more than whatever thoughts pop into our heads and it’s up to us to figure out strategies for clearing those thoughts out giving space for our intuition to come through so we can truly understand ourselves and what we need.
Meditation, journaling and oracle cards have really helped me both become an observer of my own thoughts and find the stillness needed to let my highest self come through.
I see oracle cards as a mirror. It helps us see our own inner guidance and uncover our truth. What we really need, what’s right for us, lives inside us but it’s hard to always know what it is.
Tarot is a clarification tool.
With more clarity, comes more confidence and more calm.
On Reading Your Cards.
Sometimes (doesn’t happen often to me but has happened) you will get a card that feels really off that you can’t relate to in that moment. Sometimes it’s because you aren’t ready to see whatever that is in that moment.
Every word in every card description doesn’t have to apply. Pick the phrases that do resonate and focus on those. Why do they resonate? What does that uncover for you? Different words in the same card will stand out for different reasons at different times.
On Challenging Cards.
Challenging or “scary” cards - some decks have them, some decks don’t. When you pull one, let it be either a validation of something you’re already feeling (trust your gut) or let it be a warning that you might want to change something so that you don’t set yourself up to feel that way. And again, if it doesn’t resonate at all or you’re not ready for it, just let it be like a thought: something that you acknowledge and move on from.
On Positive Cards.
There’s a ton of positive cards. These can give you such a reminder of how amazing you are :) and a focus for your gratitude. Let these lift you up.
On Directional Cards.
There’s also a ton of cards that feel directional. They almost feel literal, like you could use them to make specific decisions. Again, since the cards are mirrors, if something is resonating, it’s probably because that’s what’s already in you. If it’s guiding you towards an opposite or different decision than what feels right to you, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the decision you’re supposed to make. Rather, it might just be the outcome you’re meant to reflect on so that you can have further info to drive your decision-making (kind of like exploring both sides of the coin).
On How & When To Pull.
It’s up to you. Truly. But here’s how I do it.
Before any reading, take a few deep breaths. Focus on bringing your energy into your deck.
If you’re using someone else’s deck or someone else has used yours recently, consider using palo santo or sage to clear out any other energy that might be in there.
Shuffle the deck and start focusing inward on what you’re looking for some guidance on.
When you feel like the cards are shuffled, split them into three decks. Then, collect them back into one and pull your card(s).
Experiment with different decks and different approaches and different times to see what works.
The only time you really shouldn’t pull is when you’re feeling extra emotional (like heat of the moment type thing).
Regardless of how or when you pull, I recommend making a ritual out of it. Pair it with a brief meditation and a lit candle. Make it a sacred space for yourself.
The Final (Non)Rule.
Remember that this is all about you. You only like shuffling once? Great. Do it.
You only want to pull at 7:00p on Thursdays? Awesome.
It’s your thing and you can’t do it “wrong”.
If you’re being summoned to do a new type of pull, or create your own, listen to that!
The whole thing is an amazing exercise in trusting yourself and your intuition.
HOW TO USE ORACLE CARDS FOR DECISION-MAKING
To be used when looking for answers to specific questions
Write down the questions you’re noodling on
Ask your higher self or your intuition for the answer
Meditate and/or journal on the answers
Pull 1 card for a clarifying card or to ask what you might have missed OR pull 3 cards to ask to go even deeper
Journal on the cards
HOW TO USE ORACLE CARDS TO BUILD YOUR INTUITION
To be used as a daily practice to build your intuitive muscle
Pull 1 card
Pay attention *only* to the parts of the words, imagery or feelings that resonate with you (positively or negatively)
Ignore the stuff that doesn’t make sense, doesn’t feel like it applies to you right now
Journal on why it resonates, why it’s sticking out to you
HOW TO USE ORACLE CARDS FOR HEALING
Focus asking for guidance on what might be blocking you, what you need to let go of, what you need right now in your healing process
Pull 3 cards to represent the energy of the past that is still at work, the moment right now and the energy of the future that is already here
Pay attention *only* to the parts of the words, imagery or feelings that resonate with you (positively or negatively)
Journal on what the cards are revealing to you about your healing process