The tarot has been a part of my life for more than forty years, yet it’s only recently that I feel I’ve graduated from perpetual beginner to novice. Through those years I’ve realized that it’s perfectly okay to hardly ever read for others; to have never been paid for the few times I brought the cards out to read for friends and family; to own many decks and enjoy finding the next and the next, even if I always read from the same one; and to still open up a book to help me remember the core theme of a card. Working with the cards has kept me connected with the mystery and magic of the world that can be easily overlooked as I go about my average daily life.
One rarely discussed way of working with the tarot cards is a method I’ve taken to calling Intentional Tarot. In this method of using the tarot cards, we are literally doing the opposite of a traditional tarot reading—we start with an answer instead of a question. We select the cards face up instead of face down. We send our intentions out instead of pulling interpretations in. We attempt to change the world instead of hoping to change our lives. We become active participants instead of passive recipients.
As a complete nobody in the tarot world, I can’t pretend to have deeper insights into how to read the cards than the current masters in the field, those who have made their entire lives a full devotion to studying, practicing, and teaching the tarot. I come to the table as someone who has always been interested in the tarot, who looks through the companion book of a new deck a few times each year, and who still struggles with remembering all the cards and what they mean even after forty years. With this book, I hope to offer the tarot community two things:
1. For the perpetual beginner, I have some ideas and methods that have helped me to finally get “off book” and do readings for my friends and family without looking to my books and notes for help. However, the book I refer to in that phrase does not refer to this book. I am under no delusion that I could write a book that would bring someone to a deep understanding of the meanings of the tarot cards. The books that I hope to help you put aside will be the ones you already own, be they classics in the field, or companion books to your favorite decks, or online resources you can check with your phone, or any other materials you’ve collected to help teach yourself how to read the tarot.
2. For anyone interested in tarot, I’m offering a detailed look at what I’m calling the Intentional Tarot method for using the cards. This method involves the rarely discussed idea of using the tarot cards in a non-random manner. In Intentional Tarot, we consciously select specific cards for a specific goal and send our intentions for that goal out to the universe. In the reverse from the traditional process, we begin with an outcome that we desire and select cards that indicate that outcome. Like most tarot books, a large portion of this work is dedicated to information about each of the seventy-eight cards. However, you will find the majority of that section, chapter 4, is focused on examples of card intentions to give you ideas for how to practice Intentional Tarot; there is less focus on card interpretations to be used in traditional tarot readings.
There are many excellent books of card interpretations available, ranging from the beginner level to deep psychological Jungian essays, from classic phrases to quirky insights specific to only one deck. I have kept to the very basic meanings of the cards and encourage you to find richer interpretations for your traditional tarot study in any of the many tarot resources available. Above all, your greatest resource will be your own practice and experience.
Traditional tarot is both intimate and inward-facing. By interpreting the cards, we hope to gain personal insights and reach a deeper understanding of ourselves and our situations. Intentional Tarot is simultaneously intimate and outward-facing. We articulate our most personal intentions and send them out in hopes of fulfillment. The main purpose of this book is to show how we can use the rich symbolism and visual imagery of the tarot as a tool for activating outward-facing intentions, to strengthen us in our self-understanding, and to actively express love and care for others.
Tarot Interpretation can be represented by the Magician: The Universe gives you energy when it responds to your question during a reading. You take the Universal energy and make it into tools you can use to deal with your issues. The Magician reminds us of the tenet “As above, so below,” meaning things that happen on one level of reality also are reflected in other levels. In a traditional reading, like the Magician we bring down the gift of Universal energies and make use of them to effect changes on our level of existence.
Tarot Activation can be represented by the World: During a traditional reading you can bring the Universal energies around in a circle, that which you receive and that which you send out. The inner and outer worlds become one. Your self is linked with all things and you are an active participant in the flow of Universal energies.
Intentional Tarot can be represented by the Fool: You are emitting your intentions from your own store of Universal energy in blind faith that you can have an effect on the world. Like The Fool’s Journey, the energy begins with you. Take a leap, select the cards face up, in the same way that the Fool has their face up, send out your intentions like the Fool with their arms wide open.
This book embraces the trend for using the pronouns “they,” “them,” and “their” to refer to a person of any or unknown gender. This relatively new convention is especially appropriate when studying the tarot. Even when a card depicts a character as specifically female or male, any insights implied by the card will be of use to and can be applied to anyone anywhere on the gender spectrum.