If Tarot Isn’t Just About Intuition, Then What Is It About?

The other day I got an email from one of my students:

“Liz, I’ve heard you say that you don’t need to be psychic to read tarot. And I don’t disagree, because I don’t consider myself psychic and I’ve definitely been improving in my readings lately because I’ve been following your instructions on how to actually read my cards. But at what point does tarot become an intuitive practice, too? I keep expecting my intuition to kick in, but I don’t know how or when that will happen.”

I love this question, because it highlights the mainstream context of tarot – that it is a psychic tool – and opposes it against the reality of cartomancy – that you need to learn to read the cards if you want to make them talk.

I also consider “psychic” to be a loaded word. Not because I have anything against it, but because the mainstream perceptions – the Hollywood stereotypes of psychic ability – has created unrealistic and uneven expectations about what “psychic” work is really about.

There is a false belief out there that you need to be psychic to read tarot. When I first came out as a tarot reader to some distant family members at a reunion several years ago, one of them actually said, “Oh, you must be a little bit psychic, then. I didn’t know that about you!” 

It’s not uncommon for the tarot-curious to feel shut out from tarot because they don’t feel naturally “gifted” as psychics. Or, for new tarot students to prematurely quit tarot when they struggle to piece together a reading.

The problem with letting this belief hold you back is that there is foundation that needs to be laid with tarot first. People expect their tarot readings to flow with insight before they’ve developed fluency in the language of card reading.

And I do believe that tarot is a language, one based in a series of images and artworks.

Building the foundation means building fluency. Once you’re able to speak the language of tarot, the process of piecing together a reading and building your interpretations becomes second-nature.

And that’s the point when the magic starts to happen. That’s when your intuition kicks in and your readings start to hold space for something more psychic, sometimes spooky, even, because you start to just know things that querent hasn’t mentioned at all. Because you’re not focused on the nuts and bolts of the reading process anymore.

So yes, I do believe that tarot can be a conduit for psychic ability.

But to get there, you need to lay the groundwork.

If you’re ready to start, my Tarot Foundations program is open and waiting for you.

Until next time,

Liz xo