What is Tarot?

What are tarot cards?

This answer really depends on the person and their own unique intentions. What tarot cards are, in and of themselves, are pieces of symbolic and metaphorical artwork created by artists that typically incorporate ancient and collective symbolism. Variations of these symbols have been used in different cultures around the world since the dawn of humanity, existing before traditional religion even came on the scene. Not the cards necessarily, but what the cards represent: a ritual and portal to communicate with the divine, with the universe, with the inner workings of one’s own psyche, soul, and/or energy. For me, they are the form prayer takes.

I was raised Catholic, coming from a long lineage of Italian Catholics, and I still have great respect for all that this experience gave and taught me. Although, what never resonated or sat well with me was the idea that you needed another human to access God, or that another human had different or better access to God than yourself, i.e. a priest. I would spend time in nature or look up at the moon in its vast expanse of stars and directly experience a connection to God. More so than I ever had sitting in a church, or telling my “sins” to a priest in a small, boxed room, or even listening to others’ interpretations of the words in the bible. These moments weren’t conceptual, they weren’t an idea of God, they were God directly experienced in every cell of my being. The experience of peace, of quietness, of awe, of being held, of everything being exactly perfect and okay. All my “problems” would suddenly seem trivial, and I would be overcome with such a sense of peace and love it would bring forth tears from my eyes and fill my being with unconditional love.

These experiences were what I came to know as God: peace, unconditional love, safety. Not a concept or an idea of a man in the sky who had the same petty judgments and challenges that human beings deal with, but something beyond humanity, an experience of the deepest love who wanted nothing from me but to spread this love, this experience, to others.

I was recently asked to not engage with tarot cards in someone’s home. Though I found it to be a strange request, I complied to be respectful. At the same time, something deep inside me remembered how misconceptions and an entrenched belief of already knowing the answers leads to judgment and disconnection rather than to curiosity and the exploration of the unknown. I reflected on how many times I’d engaged in similar behavior in the past; how many times humanity as a whole has engaged in this behavior throughout history, leading to conflict, strife, and violence. Putting away my tarot cards in this person’s home, I had mixed feelings: hurt and compassion. Hurt, for being judged for something that holds so much beauty and love for me, for what I had seen as an offering of peace and goodwill. And I also felt compassion for the fear that always underlies these sorts of limiting judgments, which are diametrically opposed to the questioning, open nature of true curiosity.

In that moment, I felt like I was praying and someone had told me not to do that in their house. Or to stop dancing. Or meditating. Telling another what’s allowed or not allowed in your own home, of course, is not wrong;  I respect people’s wishes of how and what they want in their environment, including this situation. I just find it strange to not want prayer or dancing or meditating in your home, since these things all feel incredibly healing. In their essence, there is something familiar although they all take different forms on the surface. There is a presence, a being-ness, that is filled with something good. Any form that gives access to this state, at least for me, I will always gladly welcome. However, many people have not had the opportunity to look at certain forms from a different perspective.

I was first drawn to tarot cards because I found them beautiful and intriguing. They were a way for me to create ritual, quiet my mind and get me out of my own loud thoughts, a way to be given another possible perspective related to whatever I was asking. Most times, I do not ask a specific question, rather I pull cards from a more general question of “what am I not seeing?” or “what would be helpful to see?” If I do have a specific challenge I’m dealing with or a specific situation that is causing feelings of confusion or a lack of clarity, I stick with open-ended questions as well. “What about this situation am I unwilling to see or resistant to?” “How else can I ask this question or see this situation?”

Before I pull the cards, I connect to my own experience of peace and love, to my version of God, and ask for guidance that will not only serve me but will serve the rest of humanity as well. I come into my body, noticing my breath, sensations, emotions, points of contact with the surface I’m sitting on. Then, as I pull the cards, I feel into how many to choose, and create a spread intuitively from the number I have drawn. I notice what objects or colors or dynamics most stand out to me, my interpretations of symbols and objects, memories or people that I’m reminded of, really, I allow anything to come up that wants to and simply take notice. Then I’ll read through the guidebook that typically comes with tarot card decks, to see what interpretations the artist created from these images and cards. I take what resonates and leave what does not.

I follow the same practice when I pull cards for others, regardless of the questions they may have. Some people may ask questions about their future, what they should do in a certain relationship or situation, if they will end up in a certain relationship or situation, or any number of examples. I go through the same ritual and ask for the same guidance for them, what would be helpful to see? What are they not seeing? What about this situation or person do they not/are unwilling to see? What is the true question they are asking? I will then have them notice what they are drawn to or notice in the spread (I choose how many to draw). Then I offer what I notice in the cards, and we complete by reading the artist’s interpretations and meaning from the guidebook and any reactions or responses to those.

The entire experience reminds me of being a little girl and praying to God. Although for me, the form of tarot feels much more connected, surrendered, and open. I am not in my own head with my own problems trying to solve or ask for what I think I need. I am open to the voice of God, to the rhythms of the universe, to the energies that connect us all, providing me with what is most needed, with what I may not be seeing, with the questions I have not thought to ask. God will only show us what we are meant to see. God lives in love, in connection; the devil lives in judgment, in separation.

This ritual allows me to be with others, with their questions, worries, doubts, wishes, dreams, and to see my own humanity reflected back but through eyes of unconditional compassion. It helps me to remember that we are all one, that we are all connected, that what we give is what we receive.

So for those people who may have a different opinion or experience with tarot, this is simply a perspective, a perspective through my eyes. Perspectives have truth in them, but are not The Truth. This is meant as an offering to open your own perspectives, to come into a place of curiosity rather than judgment, a place of exploration rather than already knowing. Not to agree with or have to welcome any specific form, but simply to start to learn to recognize the essence of love that may be hiding underneath the most surprising of forms. To ask questions from a place of openness, to get curious about knowing yourself through another human being or form, no matter how different or challenging they may seem. To learn to open yourself up to what it truly means to be a force of forgiveness and love.

Tarot allows me to drop into a place of surrender, of being God’s will rather than my own, of being in flow with the breath of the universe. It allows me to experience deep compassion and love for my fellow human beings, all of them, with flaws and beauty. It allows me to remember something ancient within me, yet beyond me. It allows me to tap into my creative energy, the very energy from which we were all created, Source energy, God. Tarot is sacred ritual, it is prayer.

About the Author

Sarah Burkle (Worrell) is an artist, writer, mother, and therapist who works at the intersection of science and spirituality, seeking to bring about non-ordinary states of consciousness which have been shown to provide a fundamental environment for deep healing. She earned her master's degree in counseling from Saint Mary's College in 2013, and became certified in MDMA-assisted therapy with MAPS, Integrative Somatic Trauma-Therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Reiki. She owns Non-Ordinary Therapies, a private-practice dedicated to providing quality mental, emotional, and spiritual support to assist people in accessing their deepest levels of self and a richer connection with the world. She also helped co-found Moon Blossom Collective in 2023. Becoming No One: Moments of Divine Spaciousness in a Typically Cluttered Mind is Sarah’s debut poetry collection about the process of awakening. Becoming No One takes readers through a journey of the dark corners of the human mind and finds hope in suffering, as our greatest teacher on the path to enlightenment.