Tarot and Psychology

There’s a scene that plays out time and again when I’m reading Tarot. It usually happens at a party, a restaurant, or a similarly crowded venue where I’m clicking through serial Tarot readings for complete strangers at a trot. A person approaches my table, sits down, and immediately says, “I don’t believe in this stuff.”

Okay? And I’m allergic to penicillin. Are there any other fun facts you’d like to share or are you ready to shuffle?

I’m not so fragile that my sense of self can be totally undermined by another person’s skepticism. If I were, I wouldn’t be able to read Tarot professionally. Much of the time - indeed, most of the time – I’m hired as an entertainer. While I perceive Tarot as profound and therapeutic, I’m well aware that many see it as a novelty act. That’s okay, they’re allowed! I can still go home and talk to the ghost that lives in my compost bin. Non-belief does not bother me. What does bother me is the veiled accusation that sometimes accompanies it: “You are a con-artist.”

I regularly encounter people who think Tarot is just psychological manipulation with a side of pretty pictures. Naturally, I refute this stance. I earnestly believe in the value of seeking spiritual connection, and have been faced with bizarre, uncanny, even wondrous experiences as a result of my pursuit of the supernatural. Nevertheless, those experiences are subjective. They happened to me, through my eyes, and they would not hold up in a lab. So let’s discount those weird, wonderful, anecdotal happenings. Let’s say that Tarot is simply a deck of mischievous cards that trick us into thinking up stories. To that I say: And?

People throughout history have tried to make the origins of Tarot more magical than they actually are, most notably by claiming they emerged out of Ancient Egyptian mysticism and are infused with lost, esoteric wisdom. This is what we in showbiz refer to as A Lie™. Tarot cards were never encountered by the pharaohs. Nor were they gifted to humanity by an alien race, conjured into existence by omniscient demons, or used as the Virgin Mary’s menstrual pad. They were designed by humans, for humans, and tell human stories. This is why reading Tarot is useful even outside of a spiritual context.

Every Tarot card tells a story, and each of the stories is near universal. Some of these stories include:

·      “Yay, I did a good job and other people are noticing!” (Three of Coins)

·      “This is bad and hard and I want it to be over.” (Six of Swords)

·      “I have no idea where I’m going and I’m scared!” (The Moon)

Because these stories are broad in their scope, Tarot activates the brain’s desire to make associations. We take the story of the card and attach it to relevant personal experience. This explanation is not particularly mystical or exciting, but it is factual. We all do it, consciously or not. It is unavoidable. It is also very illuminating.

Through storytelling, Tarot prompts us to ask questions about our own lives. “Oh, the Four of Cups beside the Eight of Coins is saying that I’m finding my work unfulfilling. Is that true? I don’t think so. But if I had to improve something about my work, it would be…”

Because Tarot is inextricably linked with occultism, there’s a tendency to think that acknowledging the role of psychology in Tarot undermines the practice as a whole. I think the opposite is true. Most folks think the main function of Tarot is to predict the future. I believe prognostication is possible, but I also think it's a mostly useless exercise. Predetermination doesn't help anybody. The real function of Tarot is to spark reflection, insight, and inspiration. From that perspective, psychology is not only inherent to reading Tarot, but also imperative to it. Tarot might draw attention to what we already know. It might uncover feelings we didn’t realize we had. In doing so, it may reveal roads we hadn’t considered walking. I’ve watched it do all of these things time and again.

I can’t prove that ghosts are real, or that fairies dance in the tall grass, and I don’t know God’s middle name. What I do know is that if Tarot is a tool to gain clarity and information, then one way or another, by magic or mind games, Tarot works.