Seasons of the Self

The Psychological Honesty of Tarot cards

I was doing a reading for a client on her birthday. She had had a good year financially, was in a stable long-term relationship and was recently offered a job in a different country that she was very excited about. When I asked her what she wanted from the reading, she said she wanted insights into what could help her get ready for her move. The last thing either of us was expecting to surface in her session was tearful loneliness. Yet it did, surprising both of us and bringing up a truth she had not yet faced for herself: while the move was a fantastic step ahead for her career, it meant making her relationship long-distance. And she discovered that she was simply not okay with that because she needed more connection with her partner.

The tarot can be an excellent mirror and elevator down to the basement of your own brain. Time and time again, I have seen it call forth much-needed insight, self-awareness and clarity of direction for the client. Yet, it has taken me years to incorporate it into my work. Starting a practice centered around tarot took a lot of social courage since I am a scientist and so are most of my friends. So I have been painfully aware of the skepticism and distrust surrounding tarot readers. Tarot is world-renowned mainly as a psychic tool, the word itself calling to mind the image of a mystical-looking lady sitting in a room full of drapes and wafting incense. Hollywood has turned her into its favorite plot twist and punchline. Tarot in popular culture is either something to hold in reverence or in derision. Sadly, these representations of tarot have, I believe, cost us the wonderful opportunity to use these cards to get to know ourselves better.

The tarot deck is made of 78 cards, each with unique imagery. With the sheer number of decks out there, that’s thousands of images that are thoughtfully designed to represent the different aspects and stages of a human life. While learning to use art as a therapeutic tool, I saw that a significant part of the process is sitting next to the client and looking at the drawing they’ve made. We wonder together about what each little part of that drawing means to them. In that joint looking and reflecting, we find feeling, meaning and healing. In my experience, sitting with a tarot spread is no different. All my clients are familiar with (and perhaps a little tired of) hearing, “What comes up for you when you look at this card?”. I so enjoy hearing each person’s unique interpretation of the deck. What I enjoy most is the spark of self-discovery in their eyes when they stumble onto something that they are feeling or going through but did not have an awareness of until they saw it in the cards.

Here’s a simple exercise that you can do to see how the tarot can be used as a tool to understand yourself better.

You will need:

• a pen and notebook or your notes app
• (optional) your own tarot deck if you have one that has more traditional imagery (not abstract decks)

1. Write down how the card makes you feel and any incidents it reminds you of. Feel free to write as much or as little as you want.
2. If you have a tarot deck, pull up “The Hermit” card, or look at the image below (image 1).
3. Carefully look at it for 30 seconds. Set a timer. Notice what in the picture attracts your attention most and make note of it.
4. Observe and make note of how you feel in your body. Does it feel heavy or light? Does your chest feel tight or expansive?

I have seen The Hermit put people in touch with their loneliness, trigger a memory from school of being a social pariah, draw home someone’s fear of abandonment, serve as a reminder that you need some solitude because that’s how you recharge, affirm the need to either find a mentor or be one for someone else, … the list goes on. One card, so much meaning, awareness and helpful guidance for so many people.

After doing this exercise, you might find yourself wondering, as I did when I was new to tarot, “Was that real insight or did I just find what I was looking for?”. Psychologists call this the Barnum effect, which explains our tendency to read personal relevance into vague, general statements. A demonstration of the Barnum effect was given by psychologist Bertram Forer, who gave his students a “personalized” personality profile and asked them to rate its accuracy. Nearly everyone rated it highly. What they didn’t know was that every student had received the exact same text. It’s the same effect that makes horoscopes, personality tests and psychic readings feel eerily specific to us even when the words could apply to almost anyone. Tarot is not immune to this, with readers using vague language to make you feel seen.

So is this what happened when you looked at The Hermit? No. The significant difference between the Barnum effect and the exercise you did was that you provided the interpretation. Similarly, in my sessions, my client and I interpret the cards jointly. There is no guesswork or sticking to a rigid set of card meanings. When you supply the meaning yourself, you can trust that the feeling is real. The psychological honesty of the cards is found in the way they hold up a mirror to your inner world. Remember my client who came to me excited about her new job and found that she was dreading being away from her partner? This is exactly how tarot helped her. She was surprised by the tightness she felt in her chest after seeing the Two of Cups next to the Six of Swords in her reading (image 1). This led to us working through these feelings and her going home with the clarity that she wanted to ask her partner to move with her for her new job. This was something she hadn’t even thought of until our session!

I have seen clients stumble onto unexpected joy and clarity. Many times though, clients stumble onto something that’s uncomfortable for them to face. I have realized after years of practicing that my work is not to interpret cards or give reassurance. It is to hold space for exactly this discomfort that comes with finding something unexpected or unwelcome. I frame my work around the tarot because I have found it to be a quick and honest route to this self-discovery. I support this process by holding space with compassion so that my clients can give their attention to whatever is asking for it and feel empowered to make decisions.

The exercise in this blog is a version of the process I use in my sessions to help clients get in touch with themselves and take charge of their lives. If you are curious about my sessions, please get in touch or book a session with me.

For more on the Barnum effect, watch this video. If you want to explore another self-reflection exercise with the cards, check out this excellent article by therapist Rae Buchanan that takes a deeper look into the psychology of archetypes and how the tarot draws on them.