Tarot has long held a place in the realm of mystery and symbolism. For centuries, it has been used not only for guidance, but for storytelling, meditation, and meaning-making. In therapy, tarot can offer a meaningful and reflective way to explore emotions, patterns, and possibilities.
Each card can be a window to inner truth. Through imagery, archetype, and intuition, tarot creates space to pause and reflect. It invites us to ask what is alive in me right now, what story am I living, and how I might move forward with more clarity and care.
The Origins of Tarot
Tarot started in 15th-century Italy as a card game called “tarocchi.” Over time, the imagery on the cards became a tool for reflection and spiritual exploration. The decks we know today often draw on symbols from various traditions, including medieval Christian mysticism, astrology, alchemy, and the Kabbalah. While its roots are Italian, tarot has evolved across cultures and continues to be adapted in contemporary spiritual and healing practices around the world.
It is important to acknowledge that tarot has also been embraced and preserved by Romani communities, who have faced centuries of marginalization while contributing deeply to its cultural continuity. Today, tarot is honored in many spaces, including personal rituals, intuitive practices, and therapeutic work.
How I Use Tarot in Therapy
In my therapy practice, tarot is a tool for self-inquiry. It helps us slow down and explore what is happening right now, and how we might respond with more intention and awareness. We use it to reflect and make choices that support growth and alignment.
During a session, we might pull a card and sit with what it evokes. We may ask questions like:
- What stands out to you in this image?
- What truth is rising to the surface?
- What might this card be inviting you to face, release, or reclaim?
Tarot supports both compassion and accountability. It helps clients name what’s real and explore what needs tending. Sometimes it validates an emotional truth. Other times, it challenges old patterns or nudges a difficult but necessary step forward. It can hold space for both softness and strength.
My Experience with Meeting the Tower
I remember a time during the height of COVID when life felt especially heavy. I was isolated, overwhelmed, and grieving multiple personal losses. Nothing felt certain and everything seemed to be unraveling at once.
During that time, I pulled a card. The tower.
At first, I resisted it. The tower can feel like a hard truth. Chaos, collapse, sudden change. But as I looked more closely, I felt something shift. I began to understand the tower is not a punishment, but a necessary clearing. A sacred disruption.
That card helped me make meaning out of the mess. It reminded me that falling apart is sometimes necessary in rebuilding ourselves. It reminded me to surrender to what I couldn’t control and to get out of my own way. I carried that insight forward and it continues to inform the way I show up in both my self-work and therapy practice.
Why Tarot Can Be So Helpful
Tarot speaks in symbols and requires your own interpretation. Many clients find that it opens something they couldn’t access with words alone. It invites presence, curiosity, and a deeper kind of listening.
In therapy, tarot can help:
- Explore emotions and inner conflict
- Identify patterns and beliefs
- Clarify choices or crossroads
- Support self-awareness, spiritual alignment and accountability
- Bring intuition and insight into the conversation
Sometimes tarot can feel like a magic answer, but most times it’s a practice of reflection and remembering, which is magic in and of itself. It asks us to be honest with ourselves and invites us to live in greater alignment with who we are becoming.
