Is Tarot only there
to give us answers?

01

The more we think,
the more paths appear

When we are uncertain about something, possibility after possibility springs up in our minds.

Each thought branches into another. Before long, we can no longer remember what we were originally trying to work out.

As the creator of NTTarot, this is exactly when I find Tarot most helpful.

Drawing a card does not suddenly reveal everything about the world.

Even so, once a card is placed on the table, I can sometimes say to myself:

✦

For now, let me try
thinking from this direction.

From the thoughts that had been spreading without limit, I can bring one into focus and set the others aside for a while.

For me, Tarot sometimes becomes just such a signpost for thought.

02

Is this only
a personal impression?

I wondered whether I was alone in using Tarot this way.

Looking into it, I found similar experiences described in research involving people who use Tarot in everyday life.

A 2018 study submitted to Fordham University, based largely on interviews with Tarot readers and their clients, found that people sought more than predictions. Their aims also included confirmation, insight, recreation, and creative experience.[1]

That is a compelling way to put it.

A card need not determine the one correct answer. It can take us from “I do not even know what to think about” to “I will begin by thinking about this.”

Perhaps this, too, is something Tarot can do.

03

Feeling that life is not
entirely without order

Another study interviewed people who regularly used Tarot for self-reflection.

They spoke of gaining insight into their present circumstances and considering actions they might take next. Many turned to the cards during difficult periods; some found a new perspective or a sense of reassurance.[2]

One especially memorable idea in the study is an experience close to feeling that life is not completely without order.

We cannot truly know the future, another person’s feelings, or whether our own choice is right. The world is full of things we do not know.

In the middle of that uncertainty, we draw one card.

There is no guarantee that it is an absolute answer. We can still decide, however, that for now we will use what this card suggests as a starting point for thought.

It may not be complete certainty, but it gives us a small place to set our feet.

For some people who keep returning to Tarot, that feeling may be something they value.

04

A perspective we would not
have chosen ourselves

Tarot has another intriguing quality.

We do not select a card and decide its meaning in advance. We do not know which card will appear.

At other times, your response may be, “No, that does not fit me now.” That reaction is a discovery too.

Our own thinking shows itself when we resist a card as well as when we agree with it.

Tarot is not a machine that reads the mind directly.

But it can place on the table, without warning, a perspective we might never have chosen while thinking alone.

That is part of what makes cards such interesting tools.

05

A card for thinking,
rather than an answer

Psychological research has also shown that uncertainty can prompt information-seeking behavior and create a cognitive burden.[3]

Because we do not know, we look for more information. When we still do not know, we think some more.

That process can be necessary. With a question that has no definite answer, however, it may never end.

1. 01

   Choose one question.

2. 02

   Draw a card.

3. 03

   Look at what is pictured there.

4. 04

   Read its meanings, then consider how they meet your situation.

This short sequence places a temporary frame around thoughts that had been expanding without limit.

Does Tarot know the future? Does a randomly drawn card carry meaning? Different people can answer those questions differently.

Even so, a card can invite us to look at our question from a slightly different angle than we did yesterday.

That alone may be reason enough to draw one.