Tarot Reading Technique: Turn Problem Questions into Profound Readings

Amongst tarotists of every level of experience, from beginner to pro, is an ongoing discussion about the questions we pose of tarot.

There are workshops, blogposts and memes designed to help us understand how to phrase a helpful question, and, in some cases to didactically tell us what tarot can and cannot do, or what we should or should not ask tarot.

I rail against the can’ts and shouldn’ts.  My philosophy is this. If you want to ask a question, ask it. If the cards respond in a way that makes sense, great. If they don’t, then it is time to rephrase your question and dig deeper into your divination process.

Here’s a sort of question that could be quintessentially problematic to answer, but also could be a goldmine for profound divination if dug into properly.

Will I ever find my true career path?

If asked such a question, there would be nothing wrong with pulling a card or two to see what comes up. However, in the eight small words that comprise that question there are many significant questions that could lead to a life-changing reading rather than a simple career prediction.

Let’s break it down.

The first point I will make is the most obvious. Most readers will tell you that the better question would be "What must I do in order to find my true career path?"

Rather than asking simply for assurances for the future, this question asks for ways to be proactive toward reaching one’s goal.

The second problem with this question is an over-arching spiritual belief/assumption that there is indeed a "true career path" for the questioner.

Whenever a divinatory question isn’t about something specifically spiritual but relies on a specific spiritual belief, I prefer to rephrase the question. In this case the question I would start with would be:

"Is there a spiritually pre-ordained career path for this individual?"

If the reading proved positive, I might then ask questions like "What is it?" or "How can she find it"?

If the reading suggests that this person doesn’t have a pre-ordained career path, the way is clear to do some great career vision work with tarot. By looking at the querent’s skills, desires, likes, dislikes, drive and opportunities you should be able to come up with an action plan for developing a fulfilling career.

In this were the case, the belief that the Universe had some sort of special career plan for the querent may have kept her from seeking her path herself.

I think we need to be super careful about questions that hold within them inherent assumptions. The assumption in this example was spiritual. There can be mundane assumptions as well. Imagine the question, "Why doesn’t my boss like me?" It would be wise to first ask the cards how the boss feels. Clearly, a reading based on a false assumption can’t be of much value.

Something a question like "Will I ever find my true career path?" screams without saying a word is frustration. The difference between asking "Will I?" and "Will I ever?" is energetically enormous. When frustration is so clearly evidenced, it makes sense to ask about what has created this frustration.

This question offers an opportunity to pull cards about the current career, the career history, and what has caused the frustration. This can give advice for healing from past career trauma, handling a currently difficult job and finding a career change that feels like a calling.

Of course, these sorts of questions aren’t always about career. We voice our frustrations with our families (Will my mother ever listen to me?) about love (Will I ever meet a nice man?) and about ourselves (Will I ever get control of my weight?). Voiced frustrations unintentionally offer a wonderful opportunity for healing through divination.

Whether we are reading for ourselves, our friends or our clients, the questions we ask, and the questions we are asked, can offer a much deeper reading than expected. We need to be willing to be proactive rather than passive by asking "how" rather than "will". We need to question every assumption. We need to hear the frustration in our own questions, and in the questions of others, and form more questions that offer healing, strategy and understanding in the face of those frustrations.

Hard Tarot Truths: The Death Card, Death, What We Sometimes Don’t See, and What it all Means

When I present a psychic gallery, I begin with a list of rules.  One of those rules is that I am willing to take questions about other people who aren’t in the room - living or dead. (Yes, tarot ethicists, I do third-party readings, but that’s for another discussion.)

The rule has a second part. I am willing to talk about other people living or dead, but you must tell me which they are. To me, the dead look a lot like the living, only happier.

This usually gets a laugh from the group. I don’t say it for the laugh, although I certainly use humor as a tool in giving readings in both individual and group settings.

A quarter century as a full-time reader has shown me my truth. To me, the energy of those in spirit and those still living is virtually indistinguishable. Except, as I said, the dead seem wiser, lighter, and happier in general.

Many people who fear tarot and choose not to get readings cite their worry of hearing about death (their own or someone else’s) as their primary reason for avoiding the cards.

Many fearful first-time clients implore me not to tell them “anything bad”. The unspoken request is that I avoid any conversation about impending death.

There is an actual “Death card” in tarot; Major Arcana 13, situated between the Hanged Man and Temperance. Many clients are quick to say, “Oh, I hope I don’t get the Death card!” not realizing that very often Death is the predictor of happy things like marriage, pregnancy and job change.

Tarot teachers generally preach that “Death doesn’t mean death”. Even the writers of The Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Wedding” knew this. When Lisa draws Major Arcana 13 prior to drawing the ‘Happy Squirrel card”, the reader dismisses Lisa’s concern about Death as we are all taught to do, saying simply that it “just means change”.

Many tarotists feel that whether or not Major Arcana 13 can speak of physical death, we readers shouldn’t. Because of this, we get very little training or practice in dealing with issues surrounding death unless we choose to seek training outside of our tarot community.

This is an odd dichotomy, since many tarotists are also psychic mediums (me included), in regular communication with the spirit world.

Moreover, our clientele expects us to be able to deftly handle issues around death and dying. It’s assumed we have special knowledge where these delicate matters are concerned.

The fact is, many of us do have special knowledge and ability regarding death and the spirit world. Many readers become aware of their gifts after a trauma or near-death experience gives them a peek at the ‘other side’.

Many psychic people are tormented by natural gifts which force them to see the death of those around them before it happens. Typically, these folks do not pursue psychic development, rather, they try to block their dark visions, generally with little success.

We tarotists seem to be mired in this dichotomy, in one breathe insisting that the Death card can’t mean actual death, and in the next referring to Major Arcana 13 as “THE DEATH CARD”. Do we call Major Arcana 11 “The Justice Card”, or Major Arcana 5 “The Hierophant Card”?

We seem to speak of Major Arcana 13 in exactly the ominous tones we claim it doesn’t merit. What our conversation dismisses our inflection highlights.

This is emblematic of our need, as tarot readers, to get more comfortable with Death the card, and death the conversation.

Each reader has a specific set of skills, and a personal relationship with the cards. One primary goal of a reader is to figure out exact how Spirit, and the cards, speaks to them uniquely.

It makes sense that we are taught to avoid discussion of physical death as we learn to read tarot. Regardless of what we feel psychically or might see in the cards, predicting someone’s death generally seems neither healing nor helpful.

Yet, death is a part of life. Our clients come to us to get help understanding all aspects of life, especially those things that are most mysterious and painful. Like death.

Somehow, we as readers must each navigate these issues in ways that feel ethical and helpful.

For me, helping a client process a death that has already happened, or even a diagnosed terminal illness, is a loving process for which I feel qualified. My sense of the spirit world is clear. My connection with those in spirit seems undeniable.

The harder issues for me come up around the prediction of death, or even prevention of death.

In my lengthy career, I have had a variety of different experiences around death. Some are exactly what you would expect of an experienced professional like me. I have been able to see and predict the timing of death when appropriate, or note a problem that, in retrospect, foreshadowed a death.

 However, on some occasions, I just didn’t see it. It feels frustrating that, in a few readings, I can clearly see a person’s career problems and find in the cards and from the voice of Spirit brilliant workable solutions - but fail to see the profound tragedy that is looming just around the corner.

It happened in my own life.

There are quite a few people who have credited me with saving their lives by telling them to get to a doctor, or an auto mechanic, when I saw something dangerous in their cards.

Yet, my own mother’s lung cancer was stage 4 before it was diagnosed.

Why didn’t I see THAT coming early enough to do something to save her?

In my professional life the question is the same. How is it that I sent Client A to the doctor and her cancer was caught in the very early stages, but I didn’t see Client B’s impending heart attack? Why did I see that Jane’s daughter would drop out of school but didn’t see that Mary’s brother would be murdered?

When it comes to the actual cards that appear, for me death can show up in numerous ways, and rarely is it Major Arcana 13. I’ve seen death heralded by The Sun, the World, the Four of Swords and numerous other cards. But sometimes, I haven’t seen death at all, even when it was only days away.

Once I was reading for a person who is a good client and friend. We were discussing a relationship I didn’t see going anywhere for her. Just as the reading was ending she received a call on her cellphone telling her that the person we had just been discussing was killed in an auto accident.

Granted, I said the relationship wasn’t going anywhere, but…geez.

I know I am not the only reader to occasionally be confused around the energy of death. In January 2007 Sylvia Browne, on the Montel Williams Show, told the parents of missing child Shawn Hornbeck that their child was dead. In fact, he was later recovered alive, having been held prisoner not too far from his home.

That Shawn’s parents kept looking for their son after the psychic suggested he was no longer living was a blessing, and a reminder to all of us to never lose hope, regardless of what we perceive, or what we see in the cards.

Yes, the cards never lie, and intuition is always a voice of truth. However, sometimes we interpret those cards, voices, and impressions poorly. And sometimes, the information is just not delivered to us.

These rare experiences where big-energy occurrences fail to register for us are valuable because they foster deeper exploration.  They ask us to consider carefully our powerlessness to pick and choose the information that is given to us in a reading.

These experiences, though not the norm at my tarot table, can be perplexing. These experiences ask us to contemplate what is true about tarot, and about when tarot allows us to perceive death, and when it doesn’t.

Here are six things I have come to believe to be true.

1. Each person has their own capacity to sense death approaching, or not, just as each person has their own capacity for mediumship and other psychic skills. The ability to sense or predict approaching death is not an easy skill to cope with. It’s equally possible to be a very gifted psychic and not have the ability to sense death with any reliability.

2. The Universe ultimately decides how much we need to know. In processing what I saw as my own failure to prevent my mother’s death I realized I hadn’t failed – it was neither my task nor my ability to prevent my mother’s death. However, sometimes it IS my task and ability to give someone information that could save their life. It’s not up to me when that happens. Like life and death itself, that power rests in hands greater than my own.

3. Major Arcana 13 really doesn’t specifically predict physical death, nor does any other card with any reliability. However, sometimes we do see death predicted in combinations of cards or single cards that strike us that way in a single reading.

4. Those who have passed on can often speak through the cards, allowing tarot readers to delve into mediumship experiences and deepen their skills. While death itself can be hard to pin down, the spirit world is most often very willing to share with us.

5. We tarot readers need to find better and deeper ways to train for and talk about all aspects of our clients’ lives, including the most difficult and dire. Our job is not just about prediction, entertainment and strategy. Often, we function in the capacity of priest or priestess, offering spiritual comfort and wisdom to those who are bereaved, and to those who are facing the challenges that make faith hardest to have.

6. The future isn’t always set. Some things are fixed, others are mutable. That we will all die is fixed. The how and when of it is sometimes changeable, sometimes not. Sometimes we are given the tools to change a potential future, other times we are not. Sometimes we are made aware of a potential future, other times not.

I’ve come to believe that in each reading, the cards, our own skill, and the Universe work together to give us the information that is needed. We can muse and puzzle over why some information is given, and some is withheld.  From that rumination greater wisdom can be revealed.

Sometimes our own desire to not want to see something, or our own fear about how we might handle something difficult could block us from seeing an impending tragedy for ourselves or a client.

I think it is best to work toward compassionate detachment where we can see everything that is revealed without fear or judgement. I think we need to study and practice and learn how to handle the most difficult readings with skill and compassion.

However, I also know that sometimes it is hard to figure where our lack of skill ends and the Universe’s choice to reveal or hide information begins.

I think a good tarot reader must practice, study, meditate and learn as much as humanly possible in order to be worthy of the trust our clients place in us.

At the same time, we have to honor and accept our own humanity, and the power that always belongs with the Universe, and not with us.

We who seek to glimpse the spirit world, to peek at the future and hear the whispers of the angels are often amazed at the verifiable clarity and truth we reveal. When that doesn’t happen around something small we can write it off as unimportant. When that doesn’t happen around something big it’s harder to understand, and impossible to write off.

I guess the bottom line is this. We see what we see. We can’t know why the Universe shows us some things and not others, but we can trust there is a reason. We can work to improve our skills and remove our biases and fears so that we can see all that is possible to see, and deliver it in a way that give help and comfort.

One great comfort I get from these experiences is this. If, very often, the spirit of a living person and the spirit of a dead person feel the same to me, death can’t really be that much of a big deal.

Of course, the death of a loved one is life-altering and tragic. Yet, on a spiritual level, the ripple a soul makes while passing from one world to the other is often so gentle as to not be perceived.

May our eventual passing, and that of our loved ones, be distant, and equally smooth. And, while we are here, may we tarotists work to give comfort and well as information, and to inspire faith rather than fear.

Five Ways to Keep Your Tarot Readings Fresh

If you are a tarot reader, either hobbyist or professional, you surely know the exhilarating feeling of the reading that flows like a well-crafted story and cuts to the truth like a knife through butter. 

You also probably know the drudgery of slogging through a reading that feels as inspiring as white rice.

When we readers contemplate the factors that create those epic readings, versus the readings we yawn through, we often credit (or blame) the client, or the deck, for the energy of the reading.

It’s true that some clients are easier reads than others. It’s also true that each reader tends to connect with certain decks more than others. However, I think it is safe to say that the responsibility for the energy of a reading lies not with the client nor with the cards, but solely with the reader.

The questions are, how can we control the energy of each and every reading? What can we do to make sure that each reading is not only accurate, but also inspirational? How can we stay engaged and interested in each person’s story?

These questions are particularly important to professional readers who perform multiple readings a day, psychic entertainers who work the cattle call at corporate events, and tarot aficionados who want to make sure they can read for all of their friends at the kiki. The truth is, although each tarot reading is as individual as a snowflake, each tarot reading is drawn from the same seventy-eight cards. And, although each tarot client is a unique individual, the commonality of human experience and the predictability of human psychology can cause us to feel that we are giving the same tired reading over and over again.

Professional readers who work with groups often receive that terrible review. “She said the same things to all of us.” Or, “We all got the same reading!” Typically, when I hear this complaint about colleagues, I recognize that the group of complainers really do have a lot in common, and those commonalities would be the logical talking points in each reading.

Nonetheless, a great reader must be able to reveal the truly unique aspects of each person for whom they read, even if their clients are a family of identical triplets.

Have you given readings that felt a little stale? Here are five things you can do to make sure each reading you perform feels fresh.

1.    Use key words and memorized card meanings as a jumping-off point for your interpretations.

Key words and classic meanings can INFORM a reading, but cannot BE the reading. Use intuition and context to speak to the client’s individual situation rather than making a blanket statement based solely on what you have memorized about the cards that appear.

We all develop particular ways of understanding each card. We may have pet names for specific cards, or archetypes that resonate for us. It’s important to keep our personal relationships with the cards personal. Our internal understandings of the cards may be helpful fort teaching tarot students, and in our own contemplation. But, if we fall into the trap of always saying the same thing every time we see a particular card, we are no better than a tarot app, offering the same flat reading every time a card is revealed!

 

2.    Be aware of your energy, and consciously control the energy at the table.

A tarot reader must be an energy worker. Don’t just flip cards and interpret! Make sure you conduct your readings in sacred space, and that you are constantly aware of the flow of energy in the room. Use your breath and your focus to keep the energy moving. This will ensure that the reading is a spiritual and enlightening experience.

 

3.    Read books, watch movies and have conversations.

Tarot reading is a communication skill. The more you expose yourself to new vocabulary and new communication styles, the more you will naturally incorporate new words and phrases into your readings, avoiding the rut of saying the same things over and over.

 

4.    Don’t rely solely on questions from the client; ask questions of the cards that will take the reading as far as it can go.

Your client may not have questions that will lead to an interesting reading or may not know what questions will be most helpful to ask. Let the cards that appear create curiosity in you that leads you to ask expansive and meaningful questions. Be willing to rephrase your clients’ questions, or to break a single question into multiple questions.

 

5.    Use the right spread and/or reading technique for the right situation.

Tarot spreads and reading techniques are not one-size-fits-all. A past-present-future three-card spread may not give enough information to answer a complex problem, while a Celtic Cross may be too broad to give specifics.

Changing up your spreads and techniques will keep you on your toes and keep your style fresh, while giving you the best opportunity to give each client the most information, and the best experience possible.

A great tarot reading needs to be a lot of things. It needs to be accurate, entertaining, insightful and enlightening. It’s often a plus if there is some humor involved. Maybe most importantly, each reading needs to be tailored to the needs, truth and energy of each client. When we make this our priority, we are open to the authentic mystical divination process.  And, we are able to effectively communicate the information we receive in a way that this relatable, interesting, and not a bit boring!

Dealing with Our Decks: Different Ideas in a New Era of Tarot

There’s a general belief amongst tarotists and trend-spotters alike that tarot is enjoying a boost in popularity. Whenever I see headlines like “Tarot is Back!” I always cringe because, in my world, tarot has never been gone.

I think we can thank the internet and social media for the proliferation of tarot interest, tarot information and tarot decks. There is a concern among many tarotists that so many tarot decks are being created, so many tarot books are being written, that the quality works, and the traditional works, will be diluted by a flood of mediocrity and misunderstanding.

One need only to look at the wide variances in card depictions, teaching methods and card interpretations to know that the more minds in the mix, the more difficult it will be to hold on to traditional foundational tarot understanding.

We can see how much tarot understanding has expanded since A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith produced the deck that practically defined tarot for a century prior to social media. Might A.E. Waite, if he were here today, see our common tarot practices as a gross misunderstanding of his work?

In the early 1970s Eden Gray suggested that tarot was exoteric; a tool we could all use at our kitchen tables, rather than an esoteric device reserved only for the very gifted and studied few. With this open-minded approach and social media, we can only imagine how much tarot wisdom we might develop in the next decade, and how much we might add to the body of knowledge that is tarot going forward. As long as the foundation doesn’t get lost along the way, I have to think this is a good thing.

I believe there will always be those among us who keep the traditions sacred, even as tarot may at times become trendy and pop, and perhaps at other times swing back into the shadows, as trends often do.

Social media allows us to discuss in large groups our thoughts and feelings about the cards, and to share our techniques. As we discuss and share, it becomes clear that we all have different feelings and beliefs about the way the cards work, how the cards speak, who speaks through the cards and what our connection to the cards might be.

One new tarot technique that piqued my curiosity recently is the idea of a “tarot deck interview”. That is, asking a new tarot deck questions to ascertain how you might best use the deck, and what your relationship with the deck might be.

My first reaction to this concept teetered between ridicule and simple lack of resonance. I don’t tend to personify the cards overly much, and, unlike many readers, I don’t notice a palpable difference in the voice and personality of specific decks. For me, tarot is tarot.

This was true until a student shared her deck interview in an online thread about the topic. There was something that felt so poignant and true about the reading that I immediately questioned my initial reaction to doubt the process.

When I first learned tarot, there were some distinct tarot traditions; Waite, Crowley, Feminist/Pagan, De Marseille. These traditions still exist, and still inform the vast majority of tarot knowledge and practice. Now, though, there are tarot decks, and tarot-like decks, that are remarkably different from any of these traditions.

Modern decks like Chrysalis, Mary-el and Wild Unknown are very popular, and stray significantly from any tarot traditions of yesteryear, although one can see influences from those traditions in certain cards and decks here and there.

The vast number of available decks has led to some serious collecting (in some cases, hoarding). While there are still folks who read with, and own, only one deck, many of us choose not to be deck-monogamous.

Right after my online conversation about interviewing tarot decks, another online friend reached out looking for advice on what to do with, or how to use, their huge tarot collection. The truth is, while most of us have tarot shelves filled with decks, most of us confine our tarot use to only a few trusted decks. The majority of the decks in our collections sit and collect dust.

We all experience decks that “read well” or “speak clearly” for us, and decks that don’t. Often, this has nothing to do with how much we like the artwork. And this is another substantive question for each reader to ponder. What is it that causes a deck to feel readable?

One of my problems with the idea of a tarot deck interview is that I know in my own experience the majority of decks I have will sit on the shelf and not get much use. If I interview such a deck at the beginning of our relationship, will the cards really make this prediction, and will I have the wherewithal to interpret the cards in such a way after having just bought them and hotly anticipated their arrival?

On the other hand, my friend who wonders what to do with her shelf of inactive decks might have a field day breaking out each one and asking, “How can you serve me?” or “How should I use you?”

When I was learning tarot thirty years ago there were not so many decks from which to choose. Then, perhaps the majority of available decks had similar symbolism. The greater variety now available makes the idea of conducting deck interviews seem more reasonable and helpful than in might have seemed a quarter century ago.

The idea that each deck has a specific personality and might be most useful for some specific tasks more than others seems very different from the concept of “Comparative Tarot” as developed by Valerie Sim and practiced by many readers of my generation.

While Comparative Tarot does acknowledge the common wisdom that different decks can have different voices, Comparative Tarot asks us to look at different depictions of the same card and let that process of compare-and-contrast inform our understanding of the card any time we see it, no matter the particular deck.

I had developed this concept even before I heard of Valerie Sim’s work. I’ve always called it “The Deck in My Head”. Whatever deck I happen to be working with, I will often call to mind other depictions of the cards that appear on the table. This helps me give a clear and comprehensive reading with any deck; I joke I could do it with seventy-eight pieces of notebook paper.

Coming from this perspective, from the idea that all images of the card inform of our understanding of what the card can mean, seems almost diametrically opposed to the idea that each deck operates in its own way, has its own agenda and its own best practices. I will have to let some of these ideas gel to see if there is a way these two ideas can work together for me.

I do occasionally discover a deck that I will use for a specific purpose, although I have never determined this by asking the deck itself. Most notable is my Tarot of Transformation, which is way too hairy-fairy for me to give a strong comprehensive reading. I call it “The Big Guns” and will bring it out when I get stumped in a professional reading. I will never use more than three cards from this deck in a sitting because each is so intense in its message. Never has this deck failed to settle a problem or solve a mystery when I use it this way.

The question is, would interviewing decks lead me to finding other sorts of big guns for my arsenal? Might it stimulate my creativity and help me find new uses for my beloved-but-unused decks?

One problem I see associated with the mindset around interviewing decks is the idea that there should be decks that we use for specific type of readings. I’ve played with this idea too, using The Lover’s Path Tarot for romance readings and Ghosts and Spirit Tarot for mediumship readings, for example.

Overall, I really resist this concept, and think it could lead to really limited readings, for this reason. No question exists in a vacuum, and no part of life is independent from the rest of life. For example, my question may be about love, but the impediment to my love life may be my career.

I think, for professional readings and general divination, I personally need my primary tarot deck to be a full-service one-stop-shop kind of a deck. I want all the information, and all the factors.

After some consideration, I think the process of interviewing tarot decks can help us expand the way we use tarot, but could also limit us in our readings, depending on the way we choose to use the process.

Maybe most importantly, I think one of the reasons it’s great that there are so many tarot decks available is that they can teach us about each other, not only about themselves. I don’t want to see the Comparative Tarot process get lost in a sea of decks that are so dissimilar one from another as to not withstand any comparison.

The other quandary the concept of interviewing tarot deck presents for me is the personification of tarot. Can seventy-eight pieces of cardboard think and feel? I think each of us does anthropomorphize tarot to some extent. For me, though, the power of the cards in not in the cards, but in where the cards lead my thoughts, feelings and intuition, and what the cards teach me.  I feel I work with the power of the symbols themselves, not the paper on which they are printed.

I will be pondering and musing about this for a long time. Tarot culture is always growing and changing, as are we. This is one of the reasons I love tarot, and love being part of the community of tarotists who ponder with me.

If you want to read the deck interview that got me thinking, I am sharing it here, with the permission of the author, Maureen, from the Tarot Nerds Facebook Group.

Green Witch Tarot Deck Interview:

1. What can you teach me? - The Holly King (Hermit)

I will be your mentor and guide to seek your truth and journey with you on your chosen path. I am experience and knowledge.

2. Describe yourself to me- 10 Chalices (Cups)

I am happiness abundance and joy, everything you strive to achieve. I am a good deck.

Describe me-7 Athames (Swords)

You are a strategic thinker with determination and fortitude. You are diplomatic and very perceptive. You overcome challenges, are self-reliant, confident and brave.

4. How can we work together- Ace Pentacles

I will teach you the magic art of manifestation. We will do well together, I am grounded and earthbound and bring you good fortune.

5. What are your strengths: Queen of Swords-I am shrewd, orderly independent and self-reliant. Honest and sharp of tongue when necessary much like you.

6. What are your weaknesses? Page Cups

I need to be more creative and trust my inner child. I must be less pragmatic and analytical and more watery. I am a good friend but my loyalty is not honored by everyone.

7. What is our potential together-Knight Swords.

Our relationship will adventurous, but we must be thorough and avoid impatience. We must not rush this process and miss any steps.

8. Do you want to work together? -The Star

The opportunity is presented to you but you must decide. The energies are in favor of our union. I bring you the tools to manifest all you desire. Trust your intuition.

Divining with Friends

I just returned from my second adventure headlining at Florida Pagan Gathering. As with most festivals, retreats and conventions, some of the most profound things that happen aren’t what’s on the schedule.

Marcus Katz spoke to me about this when we were choosing a venue for TarotCon Florida 2015. He wanted to make sure the hotel had a bar because, as he put it, the most important parts of a tarot convention weren’t the workshops and teachers everyone came to see. The most important parts were the personal interactions attendees had with each other, late at night, with their cards in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

I saw a lot of those sorts of moments at FPG Samhain 2017. Everywhere I looked I saw small groups of folks spontaneously gathered to read cards, play music and talk.

I was part of such a spontaneous group one evening after a delicious turkey dinner when one of my dining mates pulled out a deck of Doreen Virtue Goddess cards.

In deference to the fact that I was the only professional reader at the table, she gave the deck to me.

The recent kerfuffle around Doreen Virtue’s disingenuous dismissal of anything outside the narrow spectrum of traditional Christian thought (the majority of her published work thus far) hadn’t spread to this group of passionate Goddess-worshipping festival staff.

And, you know what? Neither Doreen’s renunciation, nor the ire of the cartomancy community, had any impact on the way those beautiful cards read that evening.

I suggested we spread the cards around the middle of the table, and each take one as a message from the Universe.

Like many oracle decks, the Virtue Goddess cards have clear words and phrases- no memorization is needed to read these sorts of cards. All the diviner must do is extrapolate the ways the message makes sense in their current situation.

Believe it or not, I was surprised by the uncanny way a few of the cards pinpointed mundane occurrences of the day. I don’t remember the actual Goddesses our cards evoked, but one woman’s card told her that her family was safe and protected. Just that day, she had had a scare regarding the well-being of her children that turned out to be a false alarm. The card she pulled gave her additional reassurance.

Mine was hilarious. It told me that my household was improving. I had just received a text from my husband saying that he was taking advantage of my absence to do some deep cleaning of our condo. Improvement, indeed!

As with tarot, the images of the cards spoke as well, through their colors and symbols.

We went around the table with a second card pull – this time each of us asking a specific question of the cards. The answers were poignant, humorous, and on-point.

As a full-time card reader, I love the depth and process of a professional-level reading, and I love tarot as a complex and nuanced tool with which to perform such a process.

Sharing a Goddess-themed card oracle with new friends around the dining table reminded me that the power of divination belongs to each of us, that all oracles can speak to us, and that the power of the oracle is not diminished by the behavior of its creator.

I was reminded, too, of something I often preach to my tarot meetup groups, which is the power divination has to help us make new friends.