The Mystery of Tarot Reading
Listening to Mary Oliver in conversation with poet Coleman Barks was the hi- light of my day…of this week. He said on describing how her poems affected him…
“They leave me open and empty and pleased to have no answers.”
He then turns to Mary Oliver and asks ‘Is that what you want?’
And she replies ‘That is absolutely what I want….
She continues.
‘So many of us live most of our lives seeking the answerable, somehow demeaning or bypassing those things that can’t be answered and therefore denuding one’s lives of the acceptance of mystery, and pleasure of mystery, and the willingness to live with mystery. If there was something I could say to people it would be love the mystery ‘
The Hermit is one of my favourite cards as it points to walking the road that is right for you, which is how I feel about reading Tarot. It is a calling somehow.
It is a rare moment when someone voices an idea so beautifully, an idea you hold deeply but haven’t found the words to articulate, exactly when you need to hear it.
I constantly ponder the mystery of Tarot reading, trying to describe or even understand ‘how it works’.
And it ‘works’.
Just this morning in a WhatsApp video tarot reading a client picked, out of 78 cards the one card that perfectly reflected how she was feeling. On reflection there wasn’t another card that would have described her situation more accurately.
It is magic. I pulled the card for her. She was hundreds of miles away.
Even after years of reading Tarot for people the most common experience I have, whether reading for someone opposite me in person in Battersea or online, after reading an initial 10 card Celtic Cross tarot spread, which I describe as a snapshot, I ask how does it reflect what’s igoing on, and they say ‘it’s so accurate’.
How? I agree. I have no idea. I can only accept the mystery. And daily love the mystery. I certainly know how fascinated I am, how enriched I feel, and how privileged. I’d like to borrow Coleman Barks words and be more “open and empty and pleased to have no answers.”
Do come and have a reading with me in Battersea or online, I hope the mystery of it will be a pleasure for you too. As well as bring answers.