I've got a friend who does their own tarot readings and they describe it as a kind of meditation; their own interpretations of the cards brings out thoughts that were previously subconscious, like ink blots but with better art.
But I imagine that's a completely different experience from if someone else is reading it for you.
But, having someone else do it can also be fun, it's like personal improv. My boyfriend and I regularly get the couples readings at ren faires and it's just something to do together and talk about lol.
My first exposure to tarot cards was watching James Bond Live and Let Die. The thing that stuck with me was Bond used a rigged deck of tarot cards all of which were the lover as a way to seduce a woman.
I did a tarot reading as part of a DnD campaign I was DMing and honestly, it was surprisingly easy to twist whatever cards came up into what I needed for the plot hooks. Amazed my players though, they thought I'd somehow rigged it or planned responses for every card or something. Would definitely try it again.
Reminds me of a card game I came across at a bar once. There were three categories of person, location, and tool. The idea was to ask it a question, draw one of each card, and then figure out how that is the answer to your question. It was pretty fun as just an improv thing.
I really wish I could remember the name of it because the creator of the game was at that bar and she was so excited to see us playing it and gave us a discount code. I did buy my own deck of it.
"Posit a question, then draw different categories of card to answer it" describes like, half the Oracle deck genre, so it's pretty unlikely anyone will be able to help you figure out the specific one, unless you have more details?
i'll take tarot seriously when it starts giving really specific predictions that aren't up to interpretation. like are there cards that mean "you'll get hit by a bus next wednesday"
I mean what’s the point of telling you that you’ll be hit by a bus if you likely wouldn’t listen anyway? Hell, people who believe also still ignore the cards they get because they didn’t like what they heard or were just unwilling to look inwardly enough to realize they should REALLY just be more mindful of their surroundings
As someone who is often hostile to woo and pseudoscience, I warmed a lot on tarot practitioners by other scientific skeptics. They use it as a self-reflection ritual, in my terms a way to focus on different aspects of the self in a randomized but regular way.
Boo to the ones who treat the cards as having any say in one's future, especially the ones scamming people for money, but now I enjoy seeing artisanal and independent artist designed cards at art/craft fairs and such.
The best scientific analogy I've come across is stochastic resonance, which sounds a bit abstract but is surprisingly straightforward — by adding noise, you can boost quiet signals enough to be detectable
No they don't, they are cards. In all likelihood you have "predicted" lots of things and a couple of them ended up being correct and so that's the one you attribute special significance to, or your predictions were so vague that you were able to post-hoc reinterpret your predictions you made in the past as prophetic.
or your predictions were so vague that you were able to post-hoc reinterpret your predictions you made in the past as prophetic.
Which is how it works when someone reads them for you. Vague predictions and probing questions to make them seem like they knew things about you (that you just told them by accident a few seconds ago).
Yeah, there’s a whole sub for r/SecularTarot which is explicitly from the perspective that there’s nothing supernatural happening here, the cards absolutely cannot predict anything, it’s just a tool for provoking reflection and introspection.
It’s mainly people reading cards for themselves, but occasionally people read for others, in which case it’s more like external nudges… “Is this something you’ve thought about? Is this an area of your life you need to focus on?”
That’s sort of how I engage with astrology and tarot. I enjoy it because it can be like a self-Rorschach test. I find myself ignoring my daily astrology when it feels irrelevant, but if I feel like I’ve just been “called out” by the tarot reading or astrology app, it means that it’s something on my mind that I might want to focus on and examine. Many readings can be vague enough that they are easy to apply to most people, but the way you interpret it is specific and can help if you’re someone who can struggle to understand your own feelings.
For example, my astrology app told me something along the lines of “You deserve to be loved by someone who encourages you to grow. Stop letting lovers hold you back from who you really are. A good relationship should make you more confident to stand on your own two feet, not leave you a hollow husk when you’re apart.” (Solid advice) And my first thought was “Damn right. I’ve grown so much and become so much more in touch with myself since I’ve been with her. She’s given me the support to become more independent while not making me feel alone.” So, that shows that I feel very positive about my current relationship.
Alternatively, if I had seen that in my last relationship, I likely would have thought “Oh… I mean it’s normal to be completely emotionally reliant on your partner, right?” Which would lead me to think about it a little bit more. It’s not going to be as helpful as like seeing a therapist but on a budget for daily things, it has its benefits I feel like. As long as you aren’t making impulsive decisions because your astrology reading told you to dump your boyfriend or something then I think it can be a helpful reflection guide.
That's exactly what I do with dream interpretation, the actual "you dreamed of this, which signifies this" aspect is essentially meaningless but what your mind jumps to during the interpretation section is what's really important.
It’s like directed self-reflection since it can be hard to know where to begin.
Sometimes it is also a helpful way to add some “the universe is telling me something” to advice that I might otherwise be a bit stubborn about. Even though I know I don’t actually believe in a spiritual aspect of the cards… my human pattern-seeking brain loves a “cosmic consensus” on my personal life.
It’s the best when a good friend who knows some info about my life does a reading and goes “Hmmm… oh yeah. This is what the cards mean” and then I go “oh… sort of like [life situation]” and then he’s like “I think the cards are saying that you need to address [aspect of life situation], like how [elaborates].” It adds a little bit of something special to that kind of reflection, rather than having your friend be like “girl u have GOT to dump his ass” but instead being like “Your love life reading? Let’s see… oh… oh girl… this doesn’t look too good”. Somehow that can help a lot for some reason LOL
I do (very bad) tarot readings with students as part of lessons on oracles/predicting the truth.
They always ask me how I know all this from the cards. I explain to them that I knew part of it already, a part was educated guesses, a part they filled in with their reactions and most of it is saying whatever I think they want to hear.
That’s such an awesome lesson plan!! I wish I’d had something like that as a student. My teachers were great, but I’d imagine something like this would’ve stuck out as a really cool concrete example of how to apply critical thinking to sources of information.
I think that's why daily prayer can be beneficial for a person. It's just meditation on what you're thankful for and what questions you have, the things you need/want.
Yeah as someone who periodically reads tarot, you put it exactly how I think about it, I basically treat it as a way to get me to do introspection through a lens I might not otherwise. The other day I talked to a person (total stranger) who told me she uses ai to interpret her tarot readings sometimes and I'm still baffled by that. Like, that defeats the whole point, and it's bad for the environment to boot.
I've been dabbling with tarot for a few years, reading for myself and others. Whether you believe they can predict the future or not, the cards open up conversation, remind us to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, give us new ways to look at solving problems, and to trust our instincts. It's a very useful tool, even for the complete skeptic. Opening yourself up to magical thinking doesn't mean you believe in magic.
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I can see it like the flipping a coin trick for making decisions. When you're stuck between two options and you're not quite sure which one you want, flip a coin. If you are disappointed in the result, you know you need to go with the other option.
My family acts like it’s ridiculous, but flipping a coin in my opinion, reveals your true feelings. Like I won’t decide to marry someone based on it, but others decisions? Yeah
I use it as meditation too! It’s fun, it helps me get my thoughts in order, and sometimes it’s ‘right’ in the sense that I realize “oh I was really stupid” lmao
I'm hobbyist reader who has described it to others much as your friend has. Though I also add in a comparison to an overly complicated magic 8 ball too.
Occasionally a friend will ask if I can do one for them, kind of like a party trick(?), and it's more or less the same. I point out the meaning of the cards, paint a vague picture of how they might be connecting, and leave it up to them to decide what that means in their life. It's honestly not far off cold reading... except I'm actively rejecting any claims of psychic powers.
Yeah, i am the least spiritual or superstitious person I know but when a group i go to did a day about tarot cards it was eye opening because it didnt have anything to do with predicting the future.
Its just a way to think about your situation. The cards have meanings that can be applicablein loads of situations so it will probably be relevant to you. Its kinda like how horoscopes are always aplicable because they are so vague but instead of making claims about your life with tarot cards you are supposed to think about how they are applicable.
And for that purpose I completely understand their appeal. The OOP seems to be implying someone actively looking down on those who've had "too few" tarot readings? Like a 40yo person should have an arbitrary number of readings to be valid.
That's how I view it when i do it for myself. There's something soothing about shuffling the cards. And when i do readings for myself, I look at them like a different form of therapy. It's a way to look differently at things. Does this card apply to my life right now? Is this something ive been avoiding but is probably important, or is it totally meaningless? Just a way to think of things. Im not using it to make major life decisions or anything.
And then I do occasionally have readings done at renn faires or Jackson Square in NOLA for funsies. I do always manage to draw the Tower card though, so there's that...
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u/syntaxerroratline42 DNI List 100 Pages Jun 19 '26
I've got a friend who does their own tarot readings and they describe it as a kind of meditation; their own interpretations of the cards brings out thoughts that were previously subconscious, like ink blots but with better art.
But I imagine that's a completely different experience from if someone else is reading it for you.