Rachel Pollack in her book, Forest of Souls, Llewellyn, 2003, Pollack suggests a new way of thinking about the Tarot. In her iconic, whimsical style she writes

“Let us imagine, for the moment, that the Tarot indeed comes from the God of Everything Worth Knowing. If Thoth (Egyptian God) had wanted to give his original disciples a fixed sequence of symbols, he would have handed them a single table, or a sewn book. Instead, he gave them cards, and cards, unlike most sacred texts and/or divine messages, do not have to remain in their original order. What new, or alternate Major Arcana might you get if you take the twenty-two Major Arcana cards, shuffle them, and lay them out in a new sequence?”

A Tarot Reading is a Unique Fool’s Journey Every Time

We do this every time we lay out a reading. A reading presents a different Fool’s journey every time it is laid out. The order is determined by the shuffling, cutting and laying out of the cards. This is what profoundly distinguishes the Tarot from other sacred texts. The Fool’s journey becomes personalized to the client.

A Tarot reading provides a unique perspective from which to contemplate our lives and ourselves. When we lay out the cards to derive an answer to a question or issue troubling us, we are presented with a sequence of pictures that position us at this moment, in relationship to that question. It might validate a feeling we’ve been having about a situation that hasn’t been fully acknowledged.

The barriers to acknowledgement may be related to having to make a difficult decision. The reading may be just the nudge we need to make that decision and act upon it.

During a professional reading, one of my Tarot student asks, “Do I have a future as a professional Tarot reader?”

The Ace of Wands is turned up. “Energy, strength, enterprise; principle; beginning.” The Tarot has answered that she is at the beginning of a new enterprise that she’s approaching with strength and energy. This is where she’s situated presently in her journey to becoming a reader. From this place she certainly possesses all the qualities that will successfully carry her through to successful completion of her goal.
A Tarot reading might suggest who we might trust to help us through this situation, or point to other influences that will ease our fears about loss and abandonment. A client asks the reader, “How might I best deal with these difficult people at work?”

The Tarot reading reveals the Queen of Pentacles. “Generous, intelligent, charming, moody married woman.” The Tarot has suggested that she’s having problems with her moods which is affecting her relationships at work (and likely home too but her question was about work relationships). If instead of arguing with her co-workers, she approaches the so described “difficult co-workers” with intelligence and generosity, her difficulties will lessen. She agreed that her struggles with menopausal symptoms had made her moody and she would seek advice from her Naturopathic Doctor for help with this problem.

Tarot Shows How We are on the Wrong Path to Fulfillment

The Tarot may also reveal how we are focusing our attention in the wrong direction which may lead down the wrong path. A client asks, “Will my finances improve soon?”
The Tarot reveals the Ace of Cups. “Fertility, productiveness, beauty, pleasure.” The Tarot didn’t reveal a Pentacles card which pertains to the physical universe (body, money, objects) but rather a Cups card which pertains to spirit, intuition and love. The Tarot is suggesting that money won’t be her focus over the next year (or perhaps shouldn’t be!) rather, she will be rewarded in an un-materialistic manner. How she will be fulfilled over the coming year won’t come through the medium of money!

A Tarot reading can open the doors to our unconsciousness, allowing more information to flow between unconsciousness and consciousness. We may receive messages that suggest how we are sabotaging our success in an area, or ignoring something, which is putting enormous pressure on us internally or externally.

A woman asks the Tarot reader during a reading how her next year will go. The Five of Cups turns up as her greatest fear. “Loss in pleasure. Partial loss. Vain regret.”

Tarot Death Card Spurs Awareness

The reader suggests that she’s afraid of regretting selling her Bed and Breakfast. Yet she knows she should retire. She said she hadn’t thought about it before from this perspective. She’s terribly afraid she will regret making this decision to sell, which keeps her stuck in the mire of overwork, perpetual exhaustion and little pleasure in her quickly encroaching senior age.

Later in the same reading the outcome card is revealed as the Death Card: The sight of which freezes her into stillness and silence. The client has been profoundly brought face to face with death as “Outcome” – whatever the reader says at this point to alleviate her death fear (that the Death card points to death/rebirth, change, etc.) can counter the impact of seeing that card as the “Outcome” of the reading.

The information flow from unconsciousness to consciousness zooms past any denial she’s affected to block this awareness from reaching consciousness. The client nods with confidence. “Yes,” she exclaims, “I’m putting the B & B up for sale in the New Year and retiring. My children will be happy to see me retire. And I’m going on a cruise – to heck with it!”