Spiritual malady.

The Major Arcana of the Tarot are authentic symbols. They conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation. That which they reveal are not secrets, i.e. things hidden by human will, but are arcana, which is something quite different. An arcanum is that which is necessary to “know” in order to be fruitful in a given domain of spiritual life. It is that which must be actively present in our consciousness— or even in our subconscious— in order to render us capable of making discoveries, engendering new ideas, conceiving of new artistic subjects… if the mentality and morality of the recipient is ready… and does not suffer from the most serious spiritual malady: self-complacency. 

— Valentin Tomberg Meditations on the Tarot (translated by Robert Powell)

Many people think of tarot as a kind of parlor trick, and I get it: Plenty of tarot readers try to entice people with promises of fortunes told, romances predicted, disasters foretold. Tarot can be quite useful as a divinatory tool, or even as a playful game for our imaginations (it’s a deck of cards, after all!).

But as a person and a practitioner, I use tarot as a contemplative guide & tool for spiritual and personal growth. For me, tarot has been slowly evolving into a support for meaning-making and growth rather than a means of extracting predictions.

Which isn’t to say that questions aren’t important when it comes to meditating on tarot. I firmly believe that the right question is the most important part of a meaningful tarot reading.

But the right question— the one that gets down into the heart of what’s actually important for the reading recipient to know— is rarely, if ever, one that yields a prediction of what’s to come. Why? Because predictions serve who I think I am, not the essential nature of who I actually am. When I’ve sought predictions from my readings, it’s always because I was grasping for control from a state of fear. And the end result was never satisfying.

So-called “accurate” tarot readings affirm who you think you are and what you think you want. Meaningful readings reflect your reality and introduce you to new facets of who you actually are and what you need on your journey to a fullness of being.

Valentin Tomberg asserts that the most serious spiritual malady is self-complacency; a sense of self-satisfaction and smugness that can lead us to overlooking important information or threats. Constantly reinforcing who we think we are is a symptom of self-complacency that is highly valued in our dominant culture, and it’s killing us.

This is a critical, evolutionary moment for humanity: climate change, gun violence (in America, that is), pandemics, fascist and authoritarian movements, we’ve got it all! But rather than being called to care for and tend to each other, we are being given permission by our leaders to strive for “personal freedom” and for you to “do you.” And at the same time the sacred arts are being coopted through insta-friendly spiritual aesthetics that serve to uphold power structures of patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism.

We must evolve the tools at our disposal to serve liberation and the pursuit of becoming fully human. There are many astrologers, tarot readers and others who have been/are working to evolve our systems to do just that, and I’m one of them.

My evolving tarot lineage takes its basis in those that have come before— just like the Marseilles, Thoth and Waite-Smith lineages do, for example— but it is also starting to diverge from them in some important ways.

Informed by a blend of intuition, lived experience and lots of research & development, this emerging work is actually it’s own new thing… And honestly? That’s intimidating. Like… Who am I to be evolving this tool?

I’m not initiated into any esoteric orders, I don’t have religious training, I’m not a whatever-generation descendant of magical healers who passed their secrets down through the ages. I’m just… me. A person. An earthling. I have an English degree from a state school and a never-to-be-finished Masters in Education (and the student debt almost 20 years later to prove it). I worked in welfare offices and schools and nonprofits before I became self-employed. My first business was a walking tour company I started with one of my best buds (shout out to the GTGs, still slaying). Since then I’ve been a cocktail developer & bartender, freelance writer, fulfillment assistant, virtual project/business manager, web developer, voice over artist— and, of course, tarot reader.

But something I try to remember after each self-doubt spiral is that all creators of anything are just… them. Just people. Messy, brilliant, fallible, mortal humans. I’d argue that tarot’s roots go back well beyond the thinkers we have names for in the historical record, but Pythagorus— whose numerology is reflected in tarot’s structure— was just a person. The two teens who have maybe finally proven his ancient theory? People. Earthlings.

Here’s your reminder that you, too, are an earthling. You are of this planet just like the rest of us, and we are all interconnected in ways that are beyond our complete comprehension. Every small move away from self-complacency and toward love evolves the whole, and we really need to embrace a willingness to evolve right about now.

Remember: This lunation began in the Ecosystem of Trust, and our companions here are The People of Faith. What opportunities are you being given to release self-complacency? Where in your life are you being invited to have faith in your own humanity?

Until next time,

sara

P.S. I’m opening my calendar for my one-of-a-kind tarot readings later this week! Join the waitlist if you’d like to be in-the know.