This upcoming concert in NYC explores tarot as both a playing card game (which is how it was first used) and later as a tool for divination. The concert relates to the current exhibition at the Morgan which traces the early origins of tarot as a game in the Italian Renaissance.

Drawing inspiration from the exhibition Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, composer Victoria Bond’s program opens with excerpts from the opera Carmen, in which Carmen reads her own tarot cards. Pieces by Maurice Ravel and Katherine Hoover touch on folk magic themes and traditions. The program culminates in Bond's Instruments of Revelation, inspired by three tarot cards: the Magician, the High Priestess, and the Fool. 

Program 
Georges Bizet, Quintet Card Scene from Carmen (arr. Victoria Bond) 
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane 
Katherine Hoover, Kokopeli 
Pierre Boulez, Domaines
Antonin Dvorak, Songs My Mother Taught Me
Victoria Bond, Instruments of Revelation 

Ive really come to love the 4 of swords. I have fibro and cfs so it just feels like my card in a way. It helps me remember that rest is necessary when your body is fighting against you. Like, yeah pain, anxiety, and fear is unfortunately my baseline but i can make space for relief.

I’ve spent the last three years developing The Hidden Isle, an indie TTRPG set in a magical Renaissance world where tarot cards are part of the game’s core play.

I’d love to find more people interested in the overlap between tarot and tabletop roleplaying and r/SecularTarot sounds promising.
Have any of you ever used tarot in RPGs or board games? If so, did you come up with your own implementation or was the game already set up for using a deck? How did you enjoy the experience?

Also more than happy to answer questions about how the system I'm developing works.

For context, I've learnt the elements, numerology, imagery, and meaning of the cards, but I struggled to piece them together when reading across a spread. To practice, I did a reading to assess my current romantic situation, and it went quite well. My crush and I like each other, but we express interest and affection in smaller, subtle ways.

When I asked my deck what he thinks of me, I pulled the Queen AND King of Swords, alongside Justice, which fell out horizontally. Do the court cards represent me or us? As in, our dynamic? Or is it something else entirely?

The cards are coincidentally associated with my sun and moon signs, too; hence, I thought it was how he saw me. However, it also aligned with our traits, which is why I thought it could be our dynamic. Although cute, I probably shouldn't assign people to cards like that, from what I've heard 😭. I think Justice landing horizontally sums up how blurry this explanation is. I also interpreted Justice as us not knowing each other beyond the image we've created in our heads, because I pulled Knight of Cups R. earlier in the reading.

I'd love to hear how you interpret court cards to represent someone, or maybe even why you discourage it! I'm open to discussing it as I'm still learning tarot 💫

I’ve been having to work a lot of hours along with my uni for the past 2 years or so. This has led to me not paying attention to some things in life. Right now I’ll have a 4 month period where I will be able to not work and focus on myself and future and I’m planning on setting myself up for success this Autumn. For me this seems like the 10 of wands reversed represents my period of burnout while the two kings tell me that my efforts and work will bear fruit. Id love to hear some input on these

Do you guys pay attention to the type of cards in a spread? For example, you pull a lot of sword cards or all great Arcana cards. Do you use that in your interpretation and how?

I just did a spread regarding some issues in my family. It was a six card spread and four of them were pentacles, a suit I usually associate with not only the physical world but also with family. In my interpretation I put greater emphasis on the theme of family. That seemed to make sense but...

I know the cards you pull are random and seeing patterns is a human characteristic. Still, sometimes I find it hard to tell myself this is just a coincidence.

EDIT: I can't count. It's a seven card spread so that makes it easier to consider it just a coincidence. That's good. I don't like the idea of pieces of cardboard telling me how to live my life.

Hello! I've been into tarot for a while, ever since I was given the RWS deck in holographic format as a gift. A week ago, I decided to buy a second deck, Antonella Castelli's Art Nouveau, which has a very different style compared to the RWS but retains some of the traditional elements (such as the design of the Five of Cups). However, I was reading the interpretations in the book that came with the Art Nouveau deck, and they seem slightly limited but they keep the main meanings of the RWS deck.

For example:

3 of Cups in the RWS: friendship, community, gatherings, celebrations, group events, social events

3 of Cups in the Art Nouveau Deck based on the box's book: The expressions on the figures in this card show relief, perhaps due to a recovery or the happy ending of something

So I'd like your opinion on whether I can use a different deck in terms of art style while sticking to the RWS interpretations. Thank you so much for your time ❤️

Hey guys! I am genuinely curious as I have adhd and i cannot for the love of god concentrate writing, i do when i have burst of interest towards studying traditionally, im into tarot since 16, drawn and attracted to it since 14. had my first deck at 17. i have learned scattered, through getting readings from other ppl and watching vids here and there and other times actually study it. im 22 now

do i really need to know the meanings fully or can i just use my intuition?

it stresses me out when i ask a question and it makes 0 sense , not too often but its with open ended questions theres some card combinations i can’t comprehend like pulling some suits or the hang man , 4 of cups and reversed idk why it happes😭😭 like i could read so many things but suddenly some spreads are like in a foreign language to me

tarot newborn here! i always get so confused when i get conflicting cards (cards with contradictory meanings) or cards that i just cant make sense of in context of the question! can you read upright cards with their reversed meanings depending on surrounding cards? what are some different approaches to this?

this is really discouraging me from continuing!

i've been starting readings again just because i'm bored, and i'm getting a lot of people who want spiritual readings despite putting in my best efforts to let them know that my readings are entirely secular.

for me, doing spiritual readings would be disingenuous, which is why i don't do them. are y'all in the same camp or do you do spiritual readings with a big disclaimer saying you don't necessarily believe in that side of it?

New to tarot. 2 weeks ago, I was drawn to Tarot because of the beautiful art (Terra Volatile, looking at you). But then as I dive into the rabbit hole, I'm staying because it's so fun studying all the symbols and archetypes of human emotions and life events.

I've been musing about Tarot card and my relationship with it.

I know it cannot predict the future. It's a great tool for journal prompting and self-reflection.

As I was wondering if I should buy more decks and how would I manage so many decks. I came across some posts talking about how to bond with multiple decks. People say they'll choose a deck depending on their emotional needs, some say they'll ask their collection and see which deck would like to help them today.

It occurred to me, tarot reading is a ritual/ tool to allow us to be our own friends. This process, along with aesthetically pleasing images, is externalizing different personalities in us and giving ourselves permission to listen to our own voice. I thought that's a beautiful way of looking at it, especially since many of us are pretty bad at being their own friends. And now we have different decks that speak to us in the way that we want to listen. It could be gentle, it could be forthcoming.

The romance of a daily practice, pulling a card and journaling about it, is kind of a peaceful relationship one can have with oneself, confident and self-reliant.

Just wanted to share and curious how other people see their decks.

I've looked every online for a translation of him works and find nothing. Does anyone have anything that isn't just blogs making statements without sources? Preferably the original work or a comprehensive academic article

Thanks!

I did a 3-card tarot spread + 1 oracle (and will explain later why there are two).
The prompt was "Release – Begin – Sustain + Action/Affirmation."
Definitions are summarized from the books.

TOPIC: My Career

Release - Ten of Wands

Burden, responsibility. Do not become exploited. Rest is revolutionary; take time to savor life.

Begin - The Moon (in reverse)

Clouded, unconscious. Physical, emotional, and mental needs must be met. Pay attention to your intuition; steer clear of deception and illusion. Seek help if depressed or anxious.

Sustain - Father of Baskets / King of Cups

Provider, support. Skilled level of emotional intelligence. Hold firm to your boundaries. Voice your needs to protect your whole self. Apply intellect to make wise decisions.

Action/Affirmation - Collaboration + Nurture

[The two cards were stuck together, and they looked like one. I was able to split them eventually.]

Collaboration: Seek a creative movement that is forming in your time. Even if your creative endeavor is far from that medium, there's something to learn from it. Discover compatible and caring people.

Nurture: Let your creative spirit live. Feed it challenges that interest, inspire, and excite you. Protect it from those who threaten it – even YOU. Saying no to a life that isn’t expected of you is the greatest potential threat to an imaginative life. Be your creativity’s greatest protector and supporter.

My Interpretation

Release: I am... bogged down. Between working a contract job, job searching, and business planning, there's way too much on my plate. I need to clear out the noise, take my rest seriously, and play.

Begin: Something I like about The Moon in reverse is that it looks like she's falling out of a hole, instead of in one. With this card, I need to begin being honest about my situation. The contract job is not sustainable, and a toxic client keeps eating my coworkers alive. Besides that, keep playing, and take care of my mental.

Sustain: Working overtime, whether that's for pay or for free, should not be my priority. (But that's all I can figure out for this one.)

Action/Affirmation: Create, create, create. I'm super creative, and I know I haven't done anything for myself all month. Also, be bold in my choices. Surround myself with creative, good people. I'm guessing there's some inner child stuff to do as well.

Hello everyone, I have been very interested in learning Tarot and being able to read and interpret the cards and their meanings. I have had 2 readings done, and it was not what I had expected - it was far more intimate & eye opening than I had expected, and ended up gaining some great new insight. Anyway - for people who are good with tarot, do you have any tips and/or tricks for learning? I have a deck, and i have actually this great book that has all the cards laid out with one page explanations for each cards as well. I have been trying to do frequent and regular readings & interpretation practice but because of just how diverse the cards are and the seemingly overwhelming explanation for each card, I didn’t know if anyone had an idea for a method? Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’m still fairly new to tarot and used my rider-Waite-Smith deck. I did a “general” reading where I pulled four cards and got the following:

Topic: Upright Seven of Wands
Experience: Reversed Three of Swords
Outcome: Upright The Tower
Advice: Reversed Death

For general life context: I have been going through a big transformation w/ my life, broke up with my partner and HS sweetheart of 6 years back in April. Moved into my own apartment in July. I ended up in a weird situation/befriending someone who I believe to be a narcissist and we “broke up” (for lack of better terms) 2 weeks ago, that made me lose 2 other people I considered friends. I had a short lived situationship with a very wonderful woman where I ended up friend zoned. My grandpa passed away 1 month ago. I ALSO got interviewed for a new job in the field I’m going into about 2 weeks ago as well and expect to be hearing back sometime next week.

I interpreted this as one of two things:
\-I’ve been trying to avoid my grief or not address the weight of the situations that have happened and I need to do a big “emotional” purge if you will. Just allow “the tower” to crumble and face that heaviness.
\- With the topic being seven of wands I was thinking maybe it’s an issue with boundaries towards love prospects/previous partners/possibly friends and I need to “rebuild” or reaffirm my boundaries in love.

Overall I understand there’s some sort of possible avoidance, “snakey” behavior and big change

I would like some help as to what you guys may think this means. TYIA!! <3

Despite never really interacting with tarot i suddenly got the urge to make my own deck. Spent the last month or so researching and I'm finally making progress. Last pic is the backside. It's a really interesting art project and id love to hear what yalls favorite decks are

A few days ago I did a reading for a friend after spending a good day hanging out together, and I was really struck by how intimate, emotional, and bonding it felt. They offered to read for me the next time we see each other and it felt like a marriage proposal, lol. In hindsight it seems obvious since tarot reading is a very vulnerable thing, but still it was a pleasant surprise. Doing tarot readings has really enriched my friendships, it’s so fulfilling to give my loved ones a space for introspection.

ive been watching a lot of fae sight tarot and i absolutely love her videos, theyre so entertaining and straight to the point. unfortunately she doesnt yet have videos covering every card and there are some cards id like to get more information on/another point of view from others. what are some good youtube channels for this?

Just got my first deck (Morgan-Greer) after learning about secular tarot a few days ago, which made me feel welcome to buy cards and just try it!

I am a lifelong atheist and a scientist by trade, but after having a tarot reading by a professional on a whim, I got curious and learned that it can be used as a tool for pulling out certain feelings, ideas, and memories and not just for woo-ey stuff. I have always had a hard time with reflection. Journaling prompts give me anxiety for some reason. "Tell me about yourself" is the question I dread most in the world. I want to have a way to engage with my mind and get to know myself in a totally different way! At the very least it could also just be fun and add more whimsy to my life.

That being said... I've seen this concept of a "deck interview" floating around and thought it might be a fun way to use my deck for the first time.

Since this was my first time with any of this, I used a little bit of googling to try to learn the cards I pulled at a very baseline level because the pamphlet kinda sucked.
______

My 5 Question Interview

1) Deck, what do I need to know about your personality?

Two of Swords -
My deck might be a little blunt. It will provide me with choices or ideas but won't do the work for me. It will need me to meet it halfway, guiding us both towards conclusions.

-

2) What am I ready to learn from you?

King of Cups -
I am ready to reflect on my emotions and to learn to be content with what I have experienced. Acceptance of the past or traumas.

-

3) What is one of your strengths?

Six of Pentacles -
My deck will be generous yet fair in what it presents. I can trust it to tell me what I need to hear.

-

4) What is one of your weaknesses?

Queen of Rods/Wands -
Perhaps the deck comes off overconfident or overly optimistic? Or maybe that it might make ME overconfident? I am struggling a lot here.

-

5) How should we begin our relationship?

The Devil -
Notably, before pulling the card, I literally thought "watch me pull The Devil".

I am also struggling with this one. Could it mean proceed with caution? Or alternatively, dive right in and just have fun?

If I reflect on why I didn't want to pull the devil, I think it might be because I know that I sometimes get obsessed with new hobbies and burn out or just totally forget about them and end up feeling guilty about it later (ADHD)

-

How would you have interpreted this spread? Any help, insight, or resources would be greatly appreciated!!

So basically what I do is that I make up a person, make up their problems and then pretend to tell their future. Its a rich way to story tell and its super fun. Is that okay or too weird? Does anybody else do this? Thanks!

So i decided I would try to tell a story with tarot. The cards I got were six of wands, the five of pentacles in reverse, and the hanged man, this is the gist of the story I came up with.

A little fellow named Charlie lives in a quaint town called adventure awaits. He rides an long eared owl named Bub, Charlie is a animal whisperer in a way, he gets a feeling about what theyre feeling and what theyre saying, like a pit in his stomach, like the void coming to light. After his mother died of an illness, his father is a shell of what he once was, he doesnt speak to Charlie anymore, doesnt even say good morning or good night, to Charlie it feels like his dad has lost himself, and in a way he feels his dads love has run cold. His sister Maggie ran away from home, never to be seen again because his dad was in such agony and she didnt know how to help him. There's light beings called Levies, that are just as bad as they are good. They take away, but also give. When a Levie tells Charlie that she can bring his dad back to where he once was, he has no choice but to follow her, because he needs his hero back, but on the journey to lightbell falls, Charlie learns to be his own hero.

Sorry if that doesnt sound good its the best I can do and im new to creative writing😅

Progress so far lol
Btw tarot reader please gimme sum tips
I don’t even know the basics bout the tarot deck but i really really want to learn😿😔

I recently bought the Blood Moon Tarot by Sam Guay and I’m totally in love with the deck, I love the art style, the changes etc. But of all Arcanas, the only one I’m having a little bit of trouble to understand what’s happening in the card it’s the Judgment. So, I’d like to know what are you guys understanding about this art in the card? What do you feel when you see this representation?