Daily Tarot Deck Draws: A Newbie's Perspective
Do you pull a tarot card for yourself everyday?
Last January, I did a 31-Day Tarot Challenge, providing daily prompts to inspire folks to draw a card for themselves everyday (you can still find the prompts on my Instagram highlights).
Some of my friends who were newbies to tarot told me that they needed help formulating questions—that blind pulls without any prompts felt too intimidating / daunting to them and they needed some help. So for January, I decided to host the challenge on my social media and because a lot of people were game, tagging me on their personal posts and pulls (thanks, everyone!), I thought I’d actually do a monthly prompt offering on my shop.
I’m happy to report that since January, some people have actually been able to carve out a daily practice! Not only has it allowed them to get to know themselves better, it’s also helped them learn the cards and get more comfortable interpreting them and aligning them with their own experiences.
I asked a couple of #PM31Days2021 participants about their own insights after the challenge ended. I’m hoping their take on the tarot inspires you to start a practice that works for you (daily, weekly, whatever floats your boat).
Meet Queenie, my friend and daily tarot participant!
Name: Queenie Bernardo *I actually interviewed Queenie last year about the act of holding space. You can check out that post here.
What got you into tarot: Practical Magic
“I’m very new to tarot reading and I mostly do it for myself. I’ve done card pulls a few times for family and close friends only but a big takeaway for me from doing this challenge is that practice really is important. Every day when I pull a card - especially when it’s one that I haven’t or rarely encounter – I learn something new and it helps me with the practice the next time I do it.”
PRACTICAL MAGIC: What deck/s do you like to use for daily draws?:
QUEENIE: I’m at tarot newbie so I only have 2 decks for now… I use the Pinoy Practical Magic deck most of the time since that was my first ever deck and I’m very comfortable using it now.
PM: What surprising insights did you get from doing a daily pull in January?
Q: Some of the prompts were questions I never really thought of asking myself and doing a daily pull and thinking of answers to the prompts based on the cards sometimes made me dig really deep into my thoughts and feelings.
“Most of the days I got advice that I really needed to hear, which made me really appreciate doing a daily pull.”
PM: Did you like having a routine or was this a new thing for you?
Q: I like routines but I’m not super rigid with myself so it’s ok if I miss a day or two sometimes I think establishing a routine really helps if you are trying to achieve a goal or target (e.g. I have a weekly exercise routine/schedule because it’s my goal to keep healthy & moving despite being stuck at home now). Sometimes though I like to change it up when I feel like I need some variety or something new.
PM: Did you pull your card of the day at the same time everyday or did your routine vary?
Q: I pulled my card of the day in the morning around 90% of the time during the challenge. When I had a busy morning due to work, then I pulled my card before I went to bed.
PM: What question/s did you have difficulty with?
Q: Questions on the topic of removing/releasing (Bilanggo, Alsa-Balutan, Pagsuko) and also the Kasinungalingan and Panlilinlang questions – I guess because like I mentioned before, these are things I never really thought of asking myself.
“Most of the time the cards really guided me when thinking of my answers although there was one time when I couldn’t really relate the card I picked to any of my thoughts so I just let it be.”
PM: Did your personal definition of a particular card change because of this challenge?
Q: The 9 of Pentacles card was a repeating card for me (it still is as of today :D) and with this challenge it became more a message about self-love for me rather than one of solitude.
PM: Did you learn anything about the kind of questions you can explore using with tarot?
Q: Yes definitely! I liked that questions can apply not just to the present but also the past and of course, the future.
PM: What did you learn about yourself?
Q: Doing this tarot challenge made me reflect on myself in a sense that I was reminded of some aspects of my past and how that has resulted to how I am now and also how in certain ways I have changed.
“The cards I pulled for prompts that related to future plans reinforced the goals and intentions I had already set for this year so I think that shows that I am on the right path.”
Finally, I am not really a very open person when it comes to sharing quite private things about myself (especially on social media) but doing this challenge and posting it on my stories made me realize that I can do it to a certain extent.
PM: Were your cards an immediate reflection of how you were feeling or did they surprise you?
Q: On most days the cards were spot on reflections of how I was feeling. There were a few days though when I did get surprised and had to think hard about my card pull.
PM: I think a lot about confirmation bias and reading tarot for ourselves. What do you think about this?
Q: I guess confirmation bias is something that sometimes can’t be helped when reading for yourself. It does pop into my head sometimes, like I think, “Am I interpreting the cards like this because this is what I believe or want to hear?” That’s also probably why I had difficulty with the questions that I mentioned above because my beliefs/values did not really resonate.
Thanks to Queenie for always being game to answer my Q&As and for being such an active participant in #PM31Days2021 :)
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be featuring more participants in the challenge to help you see different POVs! I’m hoping that this series shows how tarot cards can be #practicalmagical to just about anyone, regardless of background, level of tarot experience, or perspective.