Daily Tarot Draws: A Self-Help Savant's Perspective
This is Part 3 of a series I’m doing featuring folks who participated in the #PM31Days2021 challenge last January.
Daily tarot draws can get pretty heavy if you take your cards very, very seriously.
I think this is a wall a lot of us who do tarot stumble against. Most of us turn to oracle, crystals, tarot, and alternative woowoo practices to find ways to *fingers crossed* pull ourselves out of a tough situation. We usually turn to our cards when life weighs us down—when we’re on the hunt for anything that can buoy us back up. If tarot becomes an emotional crutch for you, you tend to put a lot of pressure on the cards you pull on a daily basis. And instead of alleviating some of the pressure you’re experiencing, the deep and heavy stuff just accumulates week on week, making you feel like you’re sinking in some kind of new age quicksand.
On the flip side, if you go into your daily tarot draws with levity and a sense of humor, your tarot cards can help you take the piss out of the dark stuff.
I use my daily tarot draws like flash cards. I jot down two to three sentences instead of journaling page upon page upon page (unless, of course, there’s something that stands out and makes me want to really get down to the nitty gritty). Spending five minutes and under on tarot everyday is helpful. It gives me a tiny dopamine boost and reminds me to not take things so seriously that I spiral into one existential crisis after another. One part of #practicalmagical tarot I like to lean into is how action is a lot more important than whatever your card of the day says. There’s no sense in getting a 10-page reading if you’re not going to make good on even just one action step.
*This isn’t to discount long, drawn out entries though! I feel that the occasional 30-minute journaling exercise with tarot is productive and cathartic too. Probably just not everyday because that would be too draining for me!
daily tarot draws show us that tarot can be fun.
I really latched on to people’s posts when 1. I could relate to them; 2. They brought me new insights and ideas when it came to card meanings; and 3. When they were very funny. Khate was one of the #PM31Days2021 participants who ticked all three boxes straight away! I like how she was able to find humor in what could have otherwise been somber and contemplative pulls. I remember chatting with her about how some of her draws signified the Marshamallow Test. As a purveyor of delayed gratification myself, I found this take pretty refreshing, unique, and thoughtful too.
If you’re into self-help and all the jazz that comes along with it, you might resonate with Khate’s daily draw experience! And if you’re someone who wants to layer on some levity when it comes to the woowoo world, then you’re welcome to take a cue or two from her too.
Name: Khate
IG handle: khatie00
PRACTICAL MAGIC: What got you into tarot?
KHATE: In February 2020, I started to get interested in crystals, which led me to follow IG accounts including @malemysticmanila who would then post weekly card pulls. I started participating in those and some of the decks he used were Quiet Mystic and Practical Magic. That was the time I started to follow PM—I kept coming back to your page to see if you had restocked Quiet Mystic (PM’s note: subscribe to my newsletter to get updates!). At this point, I’d already started reading about oracle decks and had bought my first one (Oracle of the Fairies by Karen Kay).
“I intentionally did not read up on tarot because I was scared. I said I wouldn't get into tarot because it's scary and I don't like the idea of seeing my future. I worry a lot so I knew it wouldn't do me any good.”
When visiting the PM blog, I saw that the PM Starter Deck wasn’t as scary [as I perceived tarot to be]. It was visually appealing and not intimidating—each card seemed easily understandable. The deck also took away my worry about having to memorize all the meanings in order to interpret the cards since the meanings were right there! I found a post about how tarot can be used as a form of self-help, so I started to read up on it too. As someone who believes herself to forever be on a self-help/self-development journey, I decided to buy my first tarot deck (the PM Starter Deck!).
My goal with tarot was to further understand and to face myself.
PM: What deck do you like to use for daily draws?
K: None in particular, but since joining the daily pulls, I try to use the same deck for one month straight, then change to another deck the following month.
PM: Do you like routine / daily habits or was this a new thing for you?
K: I love sticking to routines especially in the morning (#taurusrising). This grounds me and helps set my mood for the day. Before the PM prompts, I would do daily pulls to answer the question, "What do I need to know about today?" [Because of the new prompts], I was pretty excited because I had different questions to look forward to!
I tried to do my pulls every morning, but there were a couple of times when I shifted to the afternoon, after work. When I started the PM prompts, I was also trying to establish a more consistent tarot practice for myself, so getting excited about the questions helped me stick to my practice more consistently too.
PM: What question/s did you have difficulty with?
K: “What reward can you finally reap?” I got the Page of Pentacles and I was like, “Huh? It's supposed to be a culmination and not a beginning!” I had to think hard about that one! I interpreted it as me having to put my online courses to good use, haha.
Another one was, “Where do you need to be more competitive?” I got the Wheel of Fortune and had a hard time pointing out one specific area. I interpreted the card, instead, as life in general. I am already very competitive and have been trying to tone it down (sore loser kasi ako, haha!) so I didn't think that the card would actually be an encouragement for to keep being competitive. Come to think of it, baka gusto pala niya na yes, competitive, pero healthy competition. Like, don't play dirty ‘cause it’ll bite you in the arse. “Huwag sore loser, huwag pikon" (haha, yeah, yeah Universe, I hear ya!).
PM: Did your personal definition of a particular card change because of this challenge? If yes, why or why not?
K: SUPER! With the FIVES! I got 5 of Swords three times, and 5 of Wands and 5 of Pentacles once each.
“I connected fives with challenges/tensions/negatives, but the way they presented themselves in the pulls were actually straightforward, honest and empowering. It gave me a different perspective.”
An excerpt from the PM Book on the Fives of the tarot featuring the Practical Magic Starter Deck.
And now thinking about it, I am reminded of the saying, "the quality of your life is determined by the quality of questions you ask." Also like.... you get what you ask for!
PM: Did you learn anything about the kind of questions you can explore using with tarot?
K: Questions can be both broad and specific at the same time, and they don’t have to be revolve around fortunetelling! I now try to start my questions with How/What/Where. I’m actually so amazed by how these questions alongside the cards can help provide answers/insights. As in mapipilitan ka mag-isip. I was actually tempted to draw a clarifying card pero pinandigan kong i-interpret yung one card.
PM: What did you learn about yourself?
K: That I can actually stick to doing this for 31 days, OMG! I was super surprised that I didn't miss a single day! :-O I was proud of myself.. I struggle with following through but I surprised myself with this challenge. I also discovered my communication style in interpreting the cards. I was trying to fit to a certain style but with the daily draws, I eventually learned to just write/communicate how I normally would. People whom I usually interact with would often say that they could hear my voice in how I write (PM’s note: I think this is what makes Khate’s pulls super easy to relate to!). This became true in my daily posts.
PM: Any thoughts on interpreting tarot pulls and confirmation bias?
K: This was a question I had to sit with—it gave me a couple of realizations and made me think about how this is an interesting topic, too.
Confirmation bias is probably why some tarot readers don't like reading for themselves! I always wondered why some readers don't actually read for themselves even if we consider tarot a form of self help.
I agree that there is confirmation bias when reading for ourselves because when I look up meanings of the card, I would pick up those that I can relate to or those that resonate with me... and maybe that's why I don't like predictive tarot reading because there's a lot of possibilities which confuse the heck out of me.
If confirmation bias exists, then if we read for other people, isn't that projection? We interpret the cards based on what resonates with us, which is influenced by our experiences, beliefs, values and attitude. I also saw a post on IG about intuition, which I think makes sense. You do pick up on what you're sensitized to. At the same time, being an empathic person probably helps a lot too because it enables you to connect deeply with the feelings of others. (PM’s note: I agree! And I think this is why we have to be especially selective when choosing who we trust to read tarot for us. I have a blog post about this :).
“My biggest realisation so far particularly when reading for ourselves is that... tarot meets the querent where s/he is at.
It's a reflection of your state of mind, of where you are emotionally and mentally; of what you can accept, of what you are willing to learn, of what you are open to receiving, and of what you hold true for yourself and others at that specific time.”
This is also why I like journaling my answers. I get to think, expound, and explore further, plus I get to revisit my state of mind at that time too.
Thanks to Khate for the very helpful insights and for sharing so much of your voice in your pulls!
If you’re at all interested in carving out a daily tarot practice for yourself, you can check out the PM Prompts available at the shop. They’re themed monthly but of course there are no hard and fast rules with these—you can do them anytime you want!