Photo by Mary Kalhor
When reading Tarot or other cards for divination, it is helpful to stay in tune with your current quest. To ascertain your current quest, simply ask the Tarot what your current quest is, pulling a single card to learn more. The trick to this game is learning when to ask the cards this question.
Before you perform this reading, hold the deck and ask yourself if you already know what your current quest is. If the answer you hear first in your mind, heart and/or soul is “yes,” do not pull a card, or you’ll risk harboring self doubt. Instead, thank the cards for their assisting presence and put them away or perform a different kind of reading.
If the answer is no, you do not know clearly enough what your quest is, and you should proceed. Shuffle the deck three times to generate kinetic energy, gazing internally or at the deck to infuse the cards with your soul’s reflection, asking the question: what is my current quest? The answer could be something small or large, trivial or huge, but for the seeking, it’s often something larger that requires delayed gratification.
When you’ve finished shuffling thrice, stack the cards neatly and cut the deck once, dividing the deck into two stacks of cards. Notice the fork-in-the road feel of the two stacks. This is to remind you to use your intuition, which in this case will urge you to draw from one of the two stacks. Pull a card a turn it over with a calm, present mind.
What you see in the card will bring immediate reactions forward. Notice these carefully, perhaps meditating for a while on them. You will also notice later reactions as the card’s imagery connects meaning to happenstance in your mind, like a spider weaving a web. Let this meaning-making unfold, for as long as you need until you understand what the card means. This could take moments, weeks, years, etc.—no matter. Time is not of the essence when dealing with soul.
The Tarot will always apply to your life, because it’s universal—the story of all human lives. It’s your job to interpret the cards—and thus, your current quest and life itself—both creatively and instinctively.