I don’t know about you, but for me tarot has always conjured up images of crystal balls and beaded curtains…maybe cut off chicken heads and voodoo dolls.
But then I started working with it and learning about it. And what I found rocked my world.
Tarot is actually not about dark, mysterious, hidden secrets – it’s about spiritual enlightenment. It’s about connecting to your higher self. The reason it’s mysterious is because most people aren’t self aware enough to realize they have a soul and that soul is here for a reason.
So I guess in order to believe in tarot, you do have to believe that we all have a soul. If you don’t believe that, stop reading this now because you’ll totally disagree with what I’m going to say next.
Our soul is here to learn things. Yes, it’s true.
Have you ever had the experience of having your life fall apart so completely you had to wonder WHY? Maybe you tried to do things a certain way, only to find it all blow up in your face? Have you ever suffered complete annihilation of all you thought to be true? I did. And then I decided had a choice, and my choice was to believe there was a reason. So I started exploring.
I grew up in a traditional Irish Catholic family. My father was in the seminary for 9 years, training to become a priest. Then he decided it wasn’t for him, so he dropped out and married my mom. My mother was the youngest of 9, and the only one in her family who did not become a nun. The other 4 girls became nuns, and of the 4 boys, 3 became priests – one was a hold out like my mom. He became a CIA agent. Yes, this is a true story.
My point is – Catholicism, traditionally, is a very fear-based belief system. They like control, so they induce fear. To be fair, many religions do this. They teach people to fear what they don’t understand. Many of us grew up that way. It doesn’t translate well to those who have spiritual gifts and abilities that many don’t understand – like me.
As it became clear I was ‘spiritually gifted’ my parents reacted in fear. They talked about having me exorcised as a kid. My abilities scared the hell out of them. I was taught to fear myself and my spiritual gifts.
When I got to a point in my life where absolutely nothing made any sense, I had to go back and question everything.
I stumbled across tarot readers on YouTube. They weren’t spooky, dark and mysterious – well, some were. But there were also readers that were educational, gentle, ridiculous and hilarious. It started as entertainment. But then I realized I could use tarot as a way to consciously connect with energy. Energy that I’ve always been able to sense, but maybe not put words to. And a whole new world opened up for me.
My experience with tarot has brought deep healing and guidance – for myself and for others. I learned that tarot is as unique as we all are. It’s a way to connect with our spiritual side; our soul, our angels, our guides. In an often confusing world where everything is competing for our attention, tarot brings us back to ourselves – our inner selves, our true selves.
We all have different levels of awareness in our spiritual journeys. Some are more open, some are less. When you are spiritually open, you can become aware of signs, synchronicities, feelings that come to you. These are simply ways of your higher self communicating with you. Your soul is trying to get you on the right path, so you can learn what you came here to learn. Not only on an intellectual level, but on a spiritual level as well.
The truth about tarot is that it gives us a way to tune into the energy of what is happening in our lives, especially when nothing else makes sense. It’s a way to bridge our conscious mind with our often unconscious spirit. Tarot is a tool for gaining understanding – and we all have the ability to tune in.