I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while now. Tarot cards are (when we boil it down) basically just printed cardstock, the same material as playing cards. That’s the physical cards in our hands.
But there’s something that happens when you sit down with a deck and start shuffling. I don’t know if it’s the cards themselves or if they just help us access something we already know. Maybe it’s the combination of the reader and the cards. The symbols give our intuition something to work with, like our subconscious gets a way to communicate that it didn’t have before.
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The cards are basically like Thor’s hammer, they’re not magical on their own, but they help channel what’s already inside us. when I read, the deck becomes this anchor point that lets my intuition flow through in a way it couldn’t before, kind of like how an artist needs their brush to translate what they see in their mind onto canvas.
The actual cards have about as much mystical power as a deck of Uno cards. So, none. (Unless you count ruining friendships with a Draw Four.) They’re just fancy flashcards for your intuition. Like Google Translate for your conscious and subconscious mind, sometimes wonky, occasionally spot-on, but just a middleman.
You’re really just having a conversation with yourself. The magic happens in your head, not in the shuffling.
What I’m saying is the Tarot doesn’t have power, you do. That’s not to say that you need to be some 14th level witch to do a Tarot reading, you just need to learn to channel your own inner intuition.
The tarot community is wonderfully diverse in how people approach the cards. Some see them as spiritual, while I lean more towards a psychological viewpoint.
Everyone has their own way of interpreting the cards, which is part of what makes tarot interesting. Otherwise, we’d get pretty bored quickly, and the readings wouldn’t really have any meaning.
For me, the cards are a way to access my intuition and subconscious. I’ve had readings that felt oddly accurate, like when the Three of Swords showed up before a friend’s breakup or the Tower came up before major layoffs at work. I don’t think the cards had special knowledge; they just helped me tune into feelings and patterns I was already sensing. Tarot lets me reflect on different aspects of my life.
When I draw the Five of Cups, it makes me Maybe if I’m focusing too much on loss. The imagery and meanings guide me to think deeper, revealing angles I might not have considered. It’s like having a thoughtful conversation with a friend who doesn’t tell you what to do but helps you explore your thoughts.
For me, tarot cards work like a weird mirror.
They show me stuff I already know but from angles I never considered. There’s this thing that happens where the card meanings and my actual situation kind of overlap, and in that overlap I suddenly get what I couldn’t see before. Don’t know if it’s just the symbols making my brain work differently or what.
Still figuring out if there’s actually something to it or if I’m just finding patterns where I want to see them.
when I’m really focused during a reading, it’s not just the cards talking.
sometimes a bird chirps right when I flip a card, or I’ll see shadows on my table that match what the card means. makes me think the cards might just be one way we pick up on messages. like there’s other stuff happening too that we notice when we’re paying attention.
Jung had this concept about bridging conscious and unconscious content. He called it the transcendent function.
Tarot might function as active imagination tools, the archetypal imagery bypasses rational thinking. The Fool connects to every new beginning story in human history. Shuffling accesses the collective unconscious through symbol and chance.
I can never read for myself properly. The cards that make perfect sense when I’m reading for friends just confuse me when it’s my own spread. Or maybe it’s the other way around? I honestly can’t tell anymore. Sometimes I think I’m better at my own readings, other times I’m convinced I can only read for other people.
I use physical and digital tarot. Apps don’t have that same feel when you’re shuffling and meditating with real cards. They work fine for daily pulls though. A few apps I’ve tried keep track of what cards come up most often in your readings.
I noticed no one’s really talked about how important the artwork is.
I began with a Rider-Waite deck but changed to a cosmic deck featuring galaxy backgrounds, and it altered my readings. The visuals play a big role. The images you connect with become the language your intuition speaks through.
The other day, I was doing some tarot reading and had an interesting experience. I drew the three of wands and just by seeing the figure looking out at the horizon, the idea of new opportunities popped into my head.
I didn’t even need to look at the guidebook. It made me think about how the images themselves might convey their own meanings. Just wanted to share that moment with you all.
My grandmother got me into tarot years ago, but it really doesn’t work for everyone.
Some people, especially analytical types, just get frustrated with it. They want facts and measurable data, not abstract symbols. Had a friend once who looked at my cards and was like ‘yeah but where’s the actual evidence?’ Some folks just need more concrete stuff than what tarot provides.
Yeah I do this too, pull cards repeatedly on the same question thinking it’ll help me figure things out. But the more I do it, the muddier everything gets. The cards just show my own anxiety back at me instead of giving any real guidance. Been trying to space out my readings more. Give myself time to actually process what comes up before diving back in.
I’m more into the psychological side of tarot than the prediction stuff.
The cards basically help me sort through whatever’s going on in my life. I see them as pictures of human experiences we all have. Each card is like a snapshot of something universal, success, failure, change, being stuck. But what’s interesting is everyone sees their own life in these same images.
The Fool could be about any risk anyone’s ever taken, but it’ll remind you of your specific leap of faith. For me, readings are like collaborative storytelling. The cards give you the symbols and you bring your own situation to the table. That’s where the meaning comes from.
Do you guys see the cards as giving you answers or more like showing you what you already know?
The harder I tried to understand the mechanics of tarot, the worse my readings got. It’s like trying to explain a joke while telling it - just kills the whole thing. Some things are maybe just better not known. There’s this video on intuition and symbolism that was pretty interesting. Made me think I was probably overanalyzing everything. Now I just shuffle and go with whatever comes up.
I think… I think maybe it’s both? Like when you said the cards show what we already know, that really resonated with me. Sometimes I’ll pull a card and it’s like, oh, yeah, I guess I did know that was bothering me, I just hadn’t really looked at it directly.
But then other times it feels like the cards are showing me something I hadn’t considered at all? Or maybe I had considered it but pushed it away? I’m not sure if that makes sense.
What you said about collaborative storytelling is really interesting. I never thought of it that way before. It’s like… the cards start the story and we fill in our own details? Though sometimes I wonder if I’m just making the cards fit what I want them to mean. Does anyone else worry about that? Like am I actually getting insight or just telling myself what I want to hear?
Sorry if this is a bit scattered, still trying to figure out how all this works for me.
