Tarot

Tarot is a tool for approaching questions and problems with a different way of thinking than we bring to daily life. I believe the cards bring out a capacity in our minds that is more profound and less conventional. Often, we know more than we think we do.

A Tarot reading may help in circumstances like:

• Navigating a life transition

• Weighing a difficult or complicated decision

• Trying to find clarity or direction

• Dealing with confusion about a situation, or exploring whether there's more to it

• Reflecting or planning on a milestone occasion, such as a birthday or major achievement

Tarot is a non-clinical service, separate from counseling. Tarot does not involve diagnosis or treatment, and is not billable to insurance.

Q. What is Tarot?

A. Tarot is a symbolic system dating back to the 15th century, when cards were used interchangeably for playing games and for divination. Some people played card games using Tarot decks (and still do), while others posed questions about life to essentially the same deck Hoyle makes today. In other words, people using cards historically did not make a strict distinction between game-play and divination. Paper was much more expensive, so cards had to serve more than one purpose. But I also share this history to dispute the idea that Tarot is a “new age” fad, or that everyone who uses it fancies themselves a mystic. Tarot is old, practical, and not always very self-serious.

Q. Ok, but are you psychic?

A. No. And I know next to nothing about anything else occult, such as astrology or crystals. I simply know how to read Tarot cards, because I learned to do so starting at a young age. It’s like speaking a foreign language, not like knowing a different reality. In fact, I enjoy de-mystifying Tarot for others, including teaching the deck like any other body of knowledge.

Q. How does a reading work?

A. The first step is developing a question. I recommend coming with some topics in mind, and we can formulate your question(s) from there. I will choose a spread that fits your situation, and draw on any intuitions you have when the cards come up before telling you what I see. You may want to bring a notebook or a recording device so you can refer back to the reading later.

Q. I'm skeptical. What if we're just...playing with cards?

A. As mentioned above, Tarot decks and playing decks have always been used interchangeably. Divination can be practiced with poker cards, and the single biggest seller of Tarot decks today is a company called US Games Systems! Tarot's game-like quality is part of its unique value as a tool of insight. Consider how many facets of life have the structure of a game: war, politics, markets, achievement and prestige, and of course sports and any other competitive performance. This system of symbols that we "play" like a game can speak effectively to our experiences, personal or public.