It could be said that there are as many reasons for working with tarot as there are people who work with it. Spanning everything from sheer curiousity to problem resolution to deeper insight on present circumstances, tarot is versatile enough to provide wisdom and clarity on the full range of human experience. Because we are spiritual beings in physical bodies, we are by nature seekers of knowledge, so it is natural that we use this divinatory tool to look beyond our realm of understanding.
Like many who read tarot, my first experience with the cards was as a teen. My best friend and I discovered a Rider-Waite deck in a shop and it felt so magical, so mystical and exciting, to work with the cards. Even then, I felt their power. I watched as everything divined in that first reading my friend gave me unfolded in my life over the next several months, confirming for me that there was something, some unseen force, that the cards allow us to tap into.
These days, I know we shape our own realities, and the things a tarot reading may predict is subject to change, based on our actions, choices, decisions, and beliefs. With that first reading, I believed that everything the cards predicted was fated, and of course, my reality then matched up to my beliefs about the situation and outcome.
Tarot is a useful tool that shows us possible outcomes based on current circumstances. It shows us the way things would turn out if they continue along on their current path. And the beauty of it is that we can ask anything. If we are shown an outcome that is not to our liking, we can ask how to achieve X instead of Y. And, of course, we can tune into our own internal guidance system for assistance, whatever the situation.
