The True Power of Tarot
Dear Kindred Spirit,
I love tarot, as you know, and lately I’ve been thinking about how it can help us make more authentic choices.
At first, that might sound strange, because tarot is often used as a way to look outside ourselves for answers. We pull cards and ask them to tell us yes or no, which direction to take, or what will happen next. Without meaning to, we can hand our authority over to the cards instead of allowing them to guide us back toward ourselves.
I know this because I’ve done it.
In my highly anxious twenties, I trusted myself so little that I pulled tarot cards for nearly every decision. I wanted the cards to give me certainty. I wanted them to tell me what to do so I wouldn’t have to risk making the wrong choice.
But I was also disconnected from my intuition at that time. Instead of helping me feel clearer, tarot often increased my anxiety. I would pull more cards, ask the same question in a different way, and search for an answer that would finally make me feel safe.
What I didn’t understand then was that without a connection to my intuition, the cards couldn’t give me the kind of certainty I was looking for.
Over the years, through meditation and intuitive practice, I am now able to recognize what it feels like when I am connected to the truth within me. My anxiety softens. The mental noise quiets. I stop grasping for guarantees, and a calm confidence begins to rise from somewhere deeper.
That feeling has become one of the ways I distinguish intuition from fear.
Fear is often urgent. It wants an answer immediately. It wants proof, reassurance, and a promise that nothing will go wrong.
Intuition is quieter. It does not usually shout or argue its case. It simply offers the next true thing.
This is why I no longer work with tarot as a tool to tell me what to do. I work with the cards as a practice to help me connect to my intuitive knowing.
The cards give form to what may be difficult to name. An image catches my attention. A symbol stirs a memory. A phrase in a guidebook opens a door. Something inside me responds, and I begin to notice what I already know but have not yet allowed myself to admit.
The meaning of a reading does not come only from the card. It comes from the meeting between the card and my intuition.
That distinction matters.
When I work with tarot, I am not surrendering my choices to an external authority. I am creating space to slow down, pay attention, and hear myself more clearly. The cards may challenge me, comfort me, or reveal an angle I had not considered, but the decision remains mine.
That is what makes the practice feel sacred to me.
And if you’re an unconventional person, as I am, this kind of self-trust matters deeply. The most important choices in your life may not make sense to everyone around you. They may not follow the expected path. They may ask you to leave something familiar, begin again, or choose a life that other people cannot fully understand.
Those choices cannot be made by a psychic, a teacher, or anyone else. They have to come from the wellspring within your own soul, and tarot can help you connect to that place.
It can help you sit with uncertainty without abandoning yourself. It can help you notice what is alive in you, what is asking to change, and what truth has been waiting patiently beneath the noise.
For me, tarot has become less about finding answers and more about creating the conditions in which an answer can emerge.
I spend time with the images. I notice what pulls at me and what I resist. I read, reflect, and write until the surface chatter begins to fall away. Then I listen for what remains.
Sometimes what remains is not a complete plan. Sometimes it is simply the next honest step, and that’s enough.
The longer I work with tarot, the more I believe its real power is not prediction. Its power is presence. It invites us to pause before reacting, to become curious about our own inner landscape, and to remember that wisdom often arrives as recognition. A quiet yes. A necessary no. A truth we have known for a long time.
Tarot does not need to replace your intuition. It can become one of the ways you strengthen your relationship with it. The cards may begin the conversation, but the deepest answer still comes from within you.
Emma
Hi, I’m Emma Basu. I’m a writer, tarot card reader, and book lover. My soul’s work is to help you find clarity amongst the chaos, meaning in the mundane, and purpose in your life’s winding journey.
Disclaimer: This blog is a resource guide for educational and informational purposes only and should not take the place of hiring a life coach, a therapist, or of seeking medical attention. No information on this blog creates a coach-client relationship between us. You are fully responsible for the decisions and actions you take in regard to your life and affairs.