How Tarot Readers “Tap In”

Everyone has a unique higher purpose, and Tarot can be used as a way to “tap in” to that idea quickly. But there are a couple prerequisites.

To feel a sense of clarity so powerful that you are able to give directional and insightful readings every time (for yourself and others!), the easiest thing you can do is meditate every day for at least 15 minutes and get a full night’s rest.

This is no secret but -- like eating healthy or exercising regularly -- meditating and sleeping are easier said that done for most of us.

Especially if we have yet to establish the habit..

It takes repetition and discipline to carve out self-care time as part of a daily ritual. It's been so crucial to my practice to the point where I don't know how people live without it.

The time I spent on anti-anxiety and depression medication was the only time that I did not find it necessary to regularly meditate.

Now, that I am off those medications, I absolutely need to meditate in order to feel balanced and clear.

Through diligent meditation, I got to the roots of my anxiety and depression and no longer need medication for anxiety and depression because I understand why I feel the way that I do.

2018... it's been a weird year.

Despite my judgement and personal bias toward a lot of sleep and meditation -- you may feel you need to meditate or sleep less than other people you know.

We are all a little different so what works for my brain chemistry might not work for yours.

BUT healthy tools like meditation and sleep -- tools that are of no cost to you, that no one can really take away from you -- can only help you get more in touch with your intuition and sense of purpose,

Of course, let's acknowledge that even if you are a regular meditater and sleeper -- sometimes you just can’t find the time to meditate or sleep a full 8 hours --- and in those circumstances, do what you can to find center, even if it means closing your eyes for ten minutes on the train, in the waiting room or on a lunch break.

Basically take the time spent scrolling through memes on Facebook to close your eyeballs and breathe.

Observe what happens when you cancel out the thoughts and opinions of others to make room for your own.

It's ideal to have the time and space to regroup but there are occasions when that's just not accessible and you have to finagle the extra time. Bonus points for that!

The key to tapping into a higher purpose -- however you get there, regardless of time, space or art -- is that you feel like you are living the best life you possibly can, and by doing so encouraging others to follow their own purpose.

If you don’t need sleep or meditation for that, congrats! You are an anomaly and might be missing out on some of the greatest human experiences available to us like dreams and other cool things that live in our subconscious brain that help us connect to our deeper selves, our higher purposes.

If you are feeling reluctant about meditating every day, the first order of spiritual business may be analyzing why you are experiencing resistance to being alone with your thoughts or body, often in silence or stillness.

When I was working at an office, there were times when the last thing I wanted to do was meditate. I knew that if I meditated, I would experience discomfort, knowing that I was out of alignment, that the environment and work that I was doing was not in service to me more than just a paycheck, that I had residual feelings of anxiety and despair that I was stifling in order to make it through the work day. The stillness made me realize that something was wrong with me, and I was terribly hard on myself for not knowing what it was.

Honestly, this negative self-talk made me want to avoid meditation forever.

But then, when I did meditate, I realized that the work that I did WAS actually very much in line with my belief system -- I was arming people with free online health resources. That's what I was paid to do! And the reasons for the anxiety and depression, the general feeling of malaise I felt before going to bed? Those would come with time.

Meditation allowed me to step back and realize that my self-criticism was only hurting me, that I was doing important work that provided value to my life and to others. Sometimes we get so caught up in what's wrong in our lives that we forget what is actually really good.

Committing to a meditation practice takes a lot of courage, but it's so worth that strong sense of self and peace that comes when sitting in stillness.

When you sit in a quiet-ish space (folks, I live and work out of a courtyard building in Brooklyn -- it's never truly "quiet" here), you discover so much more about yourself.

We are constantly receiving feedback on our actions, our words, our projects. We are social creatures, so we naturally thrive off of it, but sometimes it just makes us more confused (ahem, anyone who went to art school knows what I'm talking about, I see you!).

Our moods change depending on how many likes or views we get online, whether we get the nod of approval from our peers or not, whether a project gets funded or not. If something goes wrong, we get flustered. If something goes right, we get excited.

With a daily meditation practice and commitment to self-inquiry, you start to culminate an understanding for yourself that is unconditional, acceptance that no matter what, you are such a bad ass resilient boss that you can stay true to your vision, even when rejected, even when applauded!

Tapping in by means of meditation allows you to become a stronger conduit for readings, helping you to assume the position of the messenger, clearing all bias or pre-conceived notions of the person you are reading, and allowing any interpretation of the cards to guide you, whether they are meant for yourself or others.

Of course, it helps to have a general understanding of what each card means, but it is a means to an end — your intuition is always at the forefront, and if you receive a message that differs from the traditional meaning of the card, see where it takes you.

This requires a belief in the Jungian philosophy of synchronicity, or the idea that your reading will resonate with the other person as a set of meaningful (but powerful) coincidences. It’s a leap — especially if you are distrusting of the world, or of other people because of past traumatic experiences, particularly in childhood. It’s human nature to be critical of our surroundings, of belief systems, of processes. But it’s also our survival instinct that keeps us going, and what is survival instinct but intuition?

So what happens when someone's intuition is off?

Those who have mental health issues know what I'm talking about...

(OH my god, what if this goes awfully wrong, what if I'm not safe, what if this happens, why is my intuition telling me something bad will happen? WHAT IF?!)

This is why meditation is so important -- It helps you separate anxious thoughts from intuitive ones! I guarantee you, meditating WILL help end that "what if" thinking. AND you might even be able to get to the source of that "what if". Maybe you can find a productive place for it. Maybe your "what if" thinking is actually a super power gifted to a visionary artist or inventor !!!

MAYBE MOST IMPORTANTLY

If there is a reader who does not speak to you, or what they are saying isn't translating, take what you can from it and trust your own intuition first and foremost.

A medium recently told me I was hexed.

I absolutely do not believe in hexes. Why? Because who does it serve to believe that someone else’s agency is more powerful than your own? Absolutely no one! It only detracts from you having the ability to make your life the way you want it.

At the time I was declared "hexed", I was in the process of breaking patterns of childhood trauma. What the medium was picking up on was not that I was hexed, but that I was working through dark and heavy thought patterns (depression and anxiety, hi!!) that I developed as coping mechanisms.

Basically, readers who tell you that you're hexed get the sense that you are vulnerable and try to take advantage of that vulnerability. Yet another reason to trust your intuition over other people's!

Like Tarot, language is also contextual and symbolic, and when you receive other readings (or advice in general) from someone, it is important to not take what they are saying literally all the time.

All esoteric wisdom is literary. It does not define us, we define it. We apply it to our lives and give it meaning, but only if we choose to, and I suggest only applying what is helpful to you in order to become your own best intuitive.

Tarot readers know that the more you read your cards, the more you start to recognize that the symbols have real life applications. You’ll start to meet people who fit certain archetypes, who serve as guides on your journey towards a higher purpose... maybe as an artist, a facilitator, a healer, an activist, or even as someone who is meant to disrupt and disfigure and dismantle order?! It's up to you!

There are so many purposes to have and hold in this life. It's a matter of determining which one you wish to hold.

Our motives, goals and identities should be flexible enough to invite growth and shifting perspective -- it's in that change that our lives become more exciting and meaningful.

If you are new to Tarot, try approaching it as a game to determine who your character is RIGHT NOW and what conflicts you’re facing.

Tarot is a tool to overcome that feeling of negativity that develops when our plans don’t take their projected route. It helps us readjust gracefully and prepare for our next move.

Sometimes the higher purpose we find is really a temporary role, and we realize the further we explore it, that our purpose has changed. The length doesn't matter, so much as the conviction and knowing, accepting that the person we thought we knew ourselves as can change several times over the course of our lives, and we may find ourselves living not just one but several lives!

Even if you don’t subscribe to the idea of tapping into a higher purpose, you can still use Tarot to develop and foster a sense of resiliency through self-inquiry. Developing a strong intuition this way can be highly practical, helping us reach our goals more quickly and efficiently.

There are so many ways to “tap in” to your meaning of life. Using a combination of mediation and Tarot is just one way.