The Tarot Belongs to You

Soul Tarot 101

Feb 22

Never, ever, ever forget: The Tarot existed long before anyone brought it down into paper, or card form.

The Tarot existed long before it was labeled, or named. It existed, invisibly, as sacred invitations for our evolution, long before books, teachers, and decks appeared.

The Tarot belongs to you. It belongs to you without anyone needing to give you permission. It always did. If you don’t see yourself in the Tarot, or in a card, it isn’t the card that is failing you — it’s the interpreter of that card. Take them off the pedestal, and step back into your own power. Reclaim what was always yours, and begin to channel and lean into what the Tarot means to you.

There is a lot of problematic stuff baked into much of the foundation of modern day Tarot teachings. Racism, capitalism, white supremacy, ableism, patriarchal structures, exoticism, amplification of heteronormative relationships, and a lack of representation of fat bodies, bodies of color, and beings that exist outside of the gender binary are only a handful of issues that are present in many of the Tarot decks and books that have been created, especially in the last 150 years or so. In order to begin to forge a new path with the Tarot, one that is rooted in repair and inclusivity for all, we have to first acknowledge those harms.

We also get to reclaim our own sovereignty and autonomy around the Tarot.

You can look beyond the imagery of a card, you can change the name of a card. You get to make it your own. Tarot is a tool that belongs to the people. It is meant to be interpreted, honored, understood, and explored from a multitude of spectrums. It longs to be bonded with us in a way that is free from judgement, perception, and expectation. It wants to co-create with us.

In Soul Tarot, everything is flexible. Tarot, at its core and essence, is receptive and transformative with its meaning, interpretation and experience. If something doesn’t align with us, it is our opportunity and invitation to bring evolution to any deck or any card with our experience and interpretation of it.

There are no rules to Soul Tarot, or any kind of Tarot, for that matter. There is only flexibility, and curiosity. No one is wrong, no one is right. Hell, there would be no Soul Tarot without my experience as a queer, abused, friendless kid, looking from book to book, from deck to deck, and not seeing myself represented in those materials. It helped me to forge my own path in the forest, and strengthen my capacity for critical thinking.

Enjoy Tarot books and courses, learn from the teachers that align with you, but never forget: the Tarot belongs to you. It always has. Forge your own path, and keep joyfully exploring it.