The fact that tarot works has been made clear to me in every reading I’ve ever done, even when I didn’t understand how it worked.
As far as I know, tarot works this way: you find an ethical & effective reader, they “connect” with you & your energy, they use the cards to tap into both their’s & the querent’s (that’s the client or the one being read for) subconsciouses & higher selves (the more aware, evolved & spiritual part of each of us that is, essentially, a higher consciousness — think your true self, beyond ego & with an innate understanding of your higher purpose) & the Divine (whatever that means to you, if anything), & they read the messages received from your subconsciouses, your higher selves & the Divine (whatever you believe that is, if anything).
Now, even to me (& I’m not opposed to magick or other things most people are skeptical of), this sounds “woo woo”. But it is less so than it sounds. And I can tell you from experience: it is truly a marvel to receive a reading from an ethical & professional reader who genuinely connects with you & their own intuition. For my part, I see the messages I get when reading tarot as coming through me, not from me. I believe these messages are, effectively, a kind of “universal download” that comes from the Divine (whatever you believe that to be, if anything), as well as higher selves & subconsciouses. Once I’ve connected with the client (& this can happen across any physical or geographic distance), I seem to be able to convey messages intended specifically for them.
This doesn’t mean that one must be psychic per se to read tarot well, though some of those who read tarot are psychic (even if those abilities don’t help them read tarot better). Tarot doesn’t work because the reader is always psychic; it works because the reader is deeply in touch with their intuition, which is a part of being human most of us ignore & that our culture doesn’t value. Intuition is one of the most powerful tools any person has for sizing up situations & making decisions. Without intuition & a profound connection to it, many people who try to read tarot don’t make connections &/or don’t trust the messages they receive. My intuition (& my connection to it) is the best gift I can offer as a professional & ethical tarot reader.
So, what is intuition? According to the Oxford Languages Online Dictionary, intuition is “a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning” & “the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning”. This, essentially, means that intuition is the part of the self that is instinctive & knows things without understanding why or how it knows them. Intuition is based on several factors, such as past experiences, subconscious processing of experiences & emotions, & the brain’s ability to recognize patterns. Intuition draws on learned information, emotional cues, & things stored in the subconscious. And while the conscious mind can only process 40-50 bits of information per second, the subconscious mind can process 11,000,000 bits of information per second, according to The Britannica. That means the subconscious mind processes information at least 220,000 times faster than the conscious mind can. That’s incredible, & what’s more, it reveals the vast well of data processed & stored in the subconscious!
So, what exactly is the subconscious? According to the Oxford Languages Online Dictionary, the subconscious is “of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware, but which influences one’s actions & feelings”. The subconscious is what enables us to do things automatically, on “autopilot,” as it were. There is so much information stored in their subconscious minds that people don’t have to think when they’ve done something enough times before. If this is the case, then why don’t most people know what their subconscious can do?
The subconscious is a part of the self that people frequently forget exists & that most of us don’t think about often, even when we do remember. This is partly because our culture doesn’t value anything that isn’t arrived at through logic &/or reason. While there are times & places for logic & reason, they aren’t all there is to us or life. We are multifaceted beings who need things like intuition as much as we do logic & reason. Besides, the subconscious is far more than just intuition & information storage.
The subconscious plays a vital role in many of the everyday things we do. It is responsible for creating & maintaining habits. It helps the conscious mind make decisions by offering its intuitive guidance. It helps us process information & does it vastly more quickly than the conscious mind can. It is the storehouse for most of our memories, experiences & knowledge. It can trigger emotional responses, especially when strong feelings are provoked. It helps our physical health by allowing us the opportunity to address unresolved emotions & negative or limiting beliefs. Understanding the subconscious & what it encompasses is a valuable aspect of personal growth because it can reveal hidden motivations, patterns in one’s life, behaviors, & much more.
So, how do we access our subconscious? The answer is not instinctive, or we’d all have been doing it already. There are several methods for achieving this, including dreams, meditation, visualization, affirmations, dream journaling & automatic writing. However, tarot is one of the most powerful tools for accessing the subconscious. How does tarot do this? It bypasses the conscious mind, the ego, conditioning & any other barriers to the subconscious. Tarot’s imagery & the nature of its symbolism greatly assist this process,
particularly when the tarot reader uses their intuition for reading. When you learn to read tarot intuitively, the messages you “sense” when a card comes up for a particular client are incredible. We in the industry call these messages “universal downloads”; in other words, we’re downloading messages from the Divine (whatever that means to you), higher selves & subconsciouses. I can’t say that I fully understand how these “universal downloads” work, but they do. When the reader connects with the client & pulls cards, the download begins…& what comes up can be life-changing.
How so? Well, when a reader who reads intuitively pulls cards & receives their “universal download”, the messages they receive connect directly to the querent’s subconscious. Because tarot bypasses everything I mentioned above & gets straight to the subconscious, many things you aren’t consciously aware of can come to the surface. So often, for varying reasons (such as a lack of true self-awareness, resistance to change, & not recognizing limiting beliefs are just three), people do not understand their patterns, that what they’re doing isn’t working or how to change those choices & behaviors, even if they knew what wasn’t working. These are things people need to know about their subconscious to do. Knowing your subconscious is also a key part of self-awareness.
Tarot can benefit anyone, regardless of their life path or location. Even those who think they are self-aware (in my research, up to 97% of people believe they are; however, by modern definitions, the actual number is at most 10% or perhaps 15%). Even those who think they’ve conquered their fears (our subconscious can “hide” our deepest fears). Even those who feel they understand all their choices & behaviors (sometimes the true reasons we make choices or behave in specific ways aren’t often the answers that seem obvious). Because nothing related to the self is ever “learned”. There is always more to know, & so we’re never done! (Please don’t let that last sentence scare you off. It’s not a bad thing!)
Because it gets to the subconscious, the tarot can help us access our true selves, our fears, the reasons we make the choices we make or behave the way we do & so much more. Accessing information stored in the subconscious is a necessary part of personal growth & learning who we truly are. Without access to the subconscious, we can’t become who we want to be, get where we want to go in life, or achieve what we truly want.
In truth, tarot works, in essence, because of intuition. Hopefully, that seems less “woo woo” than my first explanation. If not, know that to understand if you like something, you must experience it. Being skeptical is okay, but being open-minded is better. After all, “There is more in heaven & earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”, as The Bard said in Hamlet. There is more to the world than what our five physical senses experience!
If you’re interested in finding out more, please don’t hesitate to email me at raven@intotheaviary.com. We can set up a free discovery call & talk. You can also ask your questions before you book a service!
