Welcome to The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot, where I explore how conversations with the tarot can help us heal our relationship to joy, pleasure, and the magic of everyday life. I'm all about hope as an important part of healing. I also think that when it comes to the mystic world, it’s best to keep things simple. There’ll be no ten-card readings here, cryptic prophecies, or magical cures written in these readings, only simple one-card readings and gentle insights to guide you on your journey.
When I started reading the tarot, I was deeply intimidated by the esoteric knowledge coded within the iconography of these cards. I relaxed, however, when I learned that this form of invitation originally started as a card game. That simple history allowed me to get playful. Still, I often felt like I would never understand the meaning of each card and was overwhelmed by the number of books and online resources on the subject. I’ve read so many great ones (the only ones I’ll talk about here). I’ve read other sources that overwhelmed me with their fixed interpretations of the deck and complex ten-card readings. Eventually, I got to a place where I found the resources that spoke to me and gradually got more comfortable interpreting the cards in my own way.
It might seem strange, in many ways, to write another guide to tarot reading when there is just so much out there. But one thing I rarely saw was advice for those of us who don’t want to be professional readers and don’t necessarily want to learn how to do complex spreads. When I published Conversations with the Tarot, in fact, is when I learned that there are many tarot readers like myself who just want to have a conversation with the cards.
That’s all I do: A daily pull over my first cup of coffee. Sometimes, it’s after a yoga practice or meditation, and sometimes, after a stroll in my garden. I seldom have a specific question in mind when I shuffle and pull a card. I just want to know how things are going. Sometimes I want to chat about a dream I had or just check-in with the cards and see what they want to say. I’m not rigid about this either. If I miss a day, that’s fine. If the cards call to be again after work or before bed, then we talk. To me, reading the tarot is a conversation between the reader and the deck, one that grows over time in depth, nuance, and understanding, as any healthy relationship does. It’s also deeply personal and idiosyncratic—again, just like any healthy relationship. It’s not about waiting for the tarot to tell you what to do or magically answer all your questions or solve all your problems. It’s about relearning your own intuition and instincts, those powerful tools that often get dulled or disused in a world that prefers the extroverted, the performative, and the concrete.
This way of exploring the tarot is for the practical mystic wanting a simple way to develop their daily mystic practices. Over time, you will develop your own way of reading each card based on synchronicity, your life experience, and your relationship to the cards. You don’t need to have any tarot experience to begin your reading journey or any plans to read for anyone other than yourself. You just need an open mind and a willing heart—and a deck. On this blog, I’ll offer a gentle perspective imbued with everyday magic, as is everything I do. We’ll explore your relationship to specific cards—the ones you have an affinity for and the ones you don’t. We’ll work through dated iconography and celebrate the images that have stood the test of time. Best of all, we’ll get comfortable reading beyond the guidebook when it doesn’t resonate with you.
I work with the Rider-Waite-Smith here since it is the most common and oldest deck, with archetypal images that can speak to anyone. Although I’ve explored and often consult a variety of other decks, I find myself consistently returning to the Rider-Waite-Smith. Since this is the most iconic and standardized deck, I’ve found it an ideal starting place to help new readers navigate their tarot journey. It makes it easier to learn the meanings of each card and the overall story of the deck, including other decks that might speak to you along the way. Grounding yourself in these iconic images also helps new readers get comfortable drawing on your lived experience and intuition to interpret the symbolism of the cards, which is always fluid and changing, especially as we deepen our relationship to the deck.
That’s all I’m doing here: writing about my way of reading the tarot to help you find YOUR way of reading the tarot. This blog is for the everyday reader. The newbie is looking to find a less intimidating roadmap into this form of divination. It’s also for the seasoned reader looking to freshen up on the basics. One thing I’ve learned in my years of studying the tarot is that I’m deeply nourished by conversing not just with the tarot but with other tarot readers. They bring valuable perspectives to interpreting the cards that always help inform my own take.
As I always say, true magic is in the everyday. The tarot, if it speaks to you, can help you reconnect to your innate sense of well-being and rediscover the daily enchantments all around you. So, if you’re interested in learning more about conversing with the cards, join me here on The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot, where there will be advice, insights on the cards, tarot readings, and more than a little magic.
Ready to begin?
