#31DaysOfTarot

I’m back with another week of tarot themed prompts (and answering them instead of other more urgent writing projects).

8. What’s on your tarot wish list?

I could be here all day, I have a constant rolling list of decks I’m interested in and need to research further, many of these have a tendency to migrate onto my wish list.

The Fat Folks tarot has been floating around the top of my list for a long time, the kickstarter for the second printing finally began at the beginning of the year and has already been fully funded, I’m hoping it makes its way to Little Red Tarot!

The Ritual tarot is also on my list but is wildly outside my price range. The imagery is captivating and I love the absence of words which I can imagine leads to very intuitive readings but would also be an enjoyable challenge to sink my teeth into.

Tarot de Carlotydes has been following me around since I realised that Blackwells sold tarot decks, I really like the sketchy art style, the gentle colour palette and the feel of the characters. Although it feels like it might be another deck that sits quite close to the RWS imagery (something I try to avoid having too many replicates of), the French feeling makes me really happy.

9. Most underrated deck in your collection?

I don’t really know enough about what tarot decks other people use or rate highly to know which decks would be considered underrated. I suppose the Big Gay Tarot by Poppy the Witch is a deck that I personally undervalue/underutilise, I love the deck and the illustration style makes me so happy, but it’s a little too bit for my hands and I generally prefer more illustrative pip cards so I just don’t use it that often.

10. What’s your positive interpretation of the death card?

I’ll admit, I don’t really have a negative interpretation of the Death card, maybe it’s my Scorpio rising but I see any card of transformation as a welcome present. To me, if the Death card crops up in the reading it tells me that something is ending and we can’t do anything about it, Death is the great leveller after all, but just like with all endings there is a new day dawning on the horizon, a brand new opportunity just a step away.

11. How does tarot fit into your broader practice?

Tarot is where I began my practice, it was my first conscious step into more esoteric subjects. I was a fairy child with a vivid imagination (sometimes to my cost) and a lifelong fascination with fairytales, myths and legends, but tarot was the first more regimented step into the way magic can filter into everyday life.

Today, tarot is a tool and a pleasure. I use it for meditation, for journaling prompts, for shadow work and as a way to relate to any therapy/treatment I’m going through. I might not touch cards for days, weeks or even months at times but they are a constant presence in my mind and indelibly linked with how I interact with the world.

12. Which deck would you like to use more this year?

I would really like to get more comfortable with the Spacious Tarot. I usually rely quite heavily on the characters within the cards to communicate the meanings and the various layers that each card holds, the Spacious Tarot has a much more atmospheric feel and I think it would strengthen my intuitive reading capabilities to get more comfortable with it. I also bothered to get the expansion cards last year and should really get some better use out of them.

13. How do you use tarot as self care?

For me, tarot is self care in the same way that therapy is self care. It’s not cosy, comfortable bubble bath self care, it’s more a tool for shadow work and other deep inner work. Or it’s like a friend that tells you what you need to hear even if it’s not what you want to hear.

14. Have you ever converted a non-believer into a tarot enthusiast?

I don’t love the language of this question but couldn’t think of another way to phrase it. I know that many people I’ve read for haven’t ever had a reading before and generally leave my reading feeling like it resonated more than they expected.

I’ve had some people sit down with me very sceptically, which I also completely respect, but also I don’t think there’s anything in tarot that is so woo. Obviously you can take tarot down the routes of collective unconsciousness, or predicting the future which are perhaps a little harder to swallow, but the core basis of the cards and everything they represent along with talking out a question with someone else, it’s basically therapy with props – so in my opinion there’s nothing to not believe in.

read part one here

read part three here