Sometimes I encounter a tarot book and I think “wow, we really need more of this.” That was my reaction when I heard about Theresa Reed’s latest, The Cards You’re Dealt: How to Deal When Life Gets Real. Here, card meanings and activities are tailored for navigating the biggest challenges in life: grief, loss, caretaking and other destabilizing events. Could this release have been more perfectly timed? I don’t think so. Theresa’s signature blend of directness and empathy is what makes this book special. She talks about topics that many of us shirk away from with directness and clarity. At the ..read more

  I need it. You need it. We all need it. Strength. Our collective card for the year of 2024. How can we make sense of this card? What context does it offer to our current time and space? Let’s open an inquiry. Part One: Origins and Evolution of Strength As someone who came to tarot through the Waite-Smith tradition I’m accustomed to a gentle version of Strength, a woman calmly attending to a lion. Patience and compassion were among the first key words I associated with this card (shout out to Joan Bunning for that). But when I delved further into tarot history I realized the earliest il ..read more

It is hard to put into words what Rachel Pollack’s insights mean to me. She is a shining inspiration for the way I want to be not only as a tarot reader, but as a human being. I did not know her well but was lucky to meet her and have lunch with her at a tarot conference in 2018. Although she passed last April, I have a hard time talking about her in past tense. Through her books and teachings, it feels like she is very much still here with us. 78 Degrees of Wisdom is the Pollack book which has had the most reach. And with good reason! That was one of the first tarot books I ever read and it ..read more

I just finished reading Tarot Celebrations by Geraldine Amaral & Nancy Brady Cunningham, which caught my eye because it approaches tarot with a Jungian perspective. It’s a decent intro to psychoanalyst Carl Jung and how his ideas can apply to a tarot practice. I can’t say much in this book was super in-depth or revelatory to me, but I’m already fairly versed in this subject matter. If you’re new to Jungian concepts and how they relate to tarot I would actually recommend this over many other books. One particular concept mentioned in the book really hooked my imagination and won’t let go ..read more

The framework for a simple tarot spread came to me in the shower today (as interesting ideas often do). It’s a day late but this is somewhat solstice themed, and also more broadly winter themed. In the past I’ve been known to take on longer, more complex spreads for the solstice. But this year simplicity feels right. As I’ve been doing lately, I’ll pull some cards for myself and offer them up if they happen to ring true to you. Perhaps after that you’d like to try the spread for yourself? Oh and also: I support rebellion, so if you’re in the southern hemisphere or stumble upon this post at a ..read more

Many moons ago (probably like 2015?) I hosted a community event on Instagram based on a concept I came up with called Gratitarot. The idea is very simple. Gratitude + tarot = gratitarot. In its purest form, to practice gratitarot you simply draw one card and use it as a prompt to consider something you’re grateful for. I’ve been revisiting that practice this week, maybe partly because we just passed Thanksgiving in the US (say what you will about that holiday, but I’m never gonna shit on an opportunity to be grateful). Gratitarot got a boost in popularity a few years ago when the wonderful K ..read more

The Forest of Souls by Rachel Pollack immediately became one of my favorite tarot books when I read it earlier this year. There are so many wonderful gems, my copy is adorned with underlines and notes. Lately I keep thinking about a passage where Rachel describes being in a difficult time and turning to her tarot cards without any particular spread in mind and saying “take me home.” It’s not entirely dissimilar from Mary K Greer’s method of writing from the heart with tarot that I referenced in my last post. Both of these approaches to tarot are alluring to me as I continue to find that I’m ..read more

Sharing directly from your heart isn’t always calm, clear and articulate. I want it to be. But sometimes sharing directly from your heart is an unnerving storm. Mary K Greer has this simple but wonderful method for writing from the heart with tarot. I’ve done it many times and figured I’d do it again today. This wasn’t what I had planned. For my previous two pieces, I took more of an educational angle with an in-depth book review and a discussion on tarot history and the Chariot. I wanted to do something similar today. Teach you something, or share some type of tarot lore ..read more

Remember how back in January loads of tarot readers were sharing perspectives on the Chariot? Because according to the numerological method developed by Angeles Arrien, 2023 is a Chariot year (2+0+2+3 = 7, the Chariot). I’ve talked about this concept of collective year cards many times, so if you’ve been following me a while you might have heard this preamble: year cards aren’t something I’m super into. Numerology isn’t something I’m super into. BUT- here’s something I love about tarot: if you’re open, you can find a way to powerfully and potently relate any card to any situation. So even if ..read more

Sometimes I finish a book and immediately start it again. That’s what happened with this one. Before I read this, I thought: eh, I know enough about tarot history. I’m not an expert but I can hit on the key points (started as a game in Renaissance Italy, picked up by occultists, blah blah blah). Besides, it’s kind of a boring topic. I’d rather talk about tarot’s present, or tarot’s future. Turns out that first of all, tarot history is far more fascinating than I thought. Like how the first High Priestess card may relate to a 13th century woman who inspired a heretical movement with the b ..read more