The Dark Side of the Tarot

The other day I was worried about something and the next thought I had was I need to ask the tarot about it.

The thought flowed into my head by itself with no input from me and that surprised me. It made me wonder if I started to have an unhealthy relationship with the tarot, that I depend on it too much. More like a compulsion and not a good way of using the cards. Of course, the next thought was This deserves a post for sure! And here we are!

I am quite sensitive to things that can become ‘too much’ because I have quite an addictive personality. When something resonates with me, I tend to go all in. That is why I am particularly interested in the fine line between using the tarot as a tool and depending on it too much.

As with anything else it starts slow. You do a reading here, you learn more about the cards, you do another reading, you like the feeling of your anxiety lowering, you feel more certain and in control. You do more readings, about this, that and the other. You start to feel like you have a superpower, because for a little while it feels as though uncertainty has disappeared. And then, the time comes when you cannot deal with the uncertainty of life without consulting the tarot, and you are torn to pieces when the cards don’t give the answer you are looking for.

That is when you start doing draw after draw after draw rendering the cards meaningless. What is truly scary is that sometimes people start being afraid of making their own decisions without asking the tarot, or feel incapable because they no longer trust their own judgment.

That is when the relationship with the tarot becomes an unhealthy one and you need to step away from it because all this can lead to increased anxiety, confusion, contradictory messages, decision paralysis, strained relationships and sadness.

Healthy tarot usage is when you use it for occasional reflection, journaling and when you accept the ambiguity of the draws and you do not interpret your cards to fit whatever answer you want them to provide. Signs that the relationship with the tarot is not going the right way can be multiple daily readings, asking the same question repeatedly or feeling unable to act without consulting the deck.

It becomes even trickier when someone else is reading the cards for you. Most readers genuinely want to help, but not all do. Some may, consciously or unconsciously, encourage their querents to come back for just one more reading, because repeat clients are good for business.

We live in a world where countless apps, businesses, compete for our attention. Social media, streaming services, games, news sites, they all use techniques designed to keep us there. If someone’s income depends on you coming back, it is good to keep that in mind. That is not a reason to distrust everyone, but it is a reason to stay aware, because, in a world full of hooks, it is important to recognize when you are being reeled in. Keep your curiosity, but do not become dinner…

The tarot is an amazing tool for self-discovery and self-knowledge, but when the relationship with it becomes unhealthy, it can actually make you know yourself less and lock you out of fully understanding your own capabilities.

If you notice you start to rely too much on the cards, just take a short break from them. Give yourself the chance to make some decisions or deal with some situations without it. Journaling before and after the tarot can also be very helpful, because if you write things down honestly, when you come back to them some time later then you can determine if you were in a good state of mind or not, if the reading was helpful or damaging.

Also, don’t ask the same question on and on and on, it can be tempting I know, especially when you deal with something really big that governs your thoughts all the time, but resist it. Do one draw and then sit with those cards, think about them, learn about them. This can be so much more useful that countless draws that merge one into the other in meaninglessness.

Tarot practice becomes unhealthy when instead of listening to your own thoughts and feelings, you slowly start checking whether the cards agree with them. Before long, you are no longer using tarot to understand yourself, but you are using it to tell you what to think. To me, that is the real shadow side of tarot.

But we are better than that, aren’t we, my lovely tarot enthusiasts!