I thought I’d share a couple of stories about why I began learning how to read Tarot last fall, and how I view this as a helpful hobby both for personal development and for serving + building connections with others.
How I got into learning to read Tarot
My husband, Reid, and I were sitting at the RV dinette, playing a card game called Casino sometime in August 2019. A 2 and a 9 came out next to each other on the table in between us, and I had the random thought of, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there was some card game where the numerology and symbology of the cards that came out in a certain order during your game gave you a message from another dimension or the Spirit world or something?!” (My brain is always coming up with abstract potential book ideas.)
Then I thought, “Oh! That’s what Tarot is!”
A brief detour to mention my obsession with seeking signs & synchronicities
Reid and I began dating on July 29, 2008, and then, the number 29 began popping up for me everywhere. It became my own personal “angel number” or God wink or whatever you call moments of awareness of synchronicity or serendipity.
I’ve always been an overthinker, and that didn’t stop once we got engaged on July 29, 2011. I would ask myself all the time, “ARE we too young to be getting married? IS Reid really my soul mate // one true love? Can someone please send me a sign if I’m doing the right thing for my life??” Then, in my Psychology of Marriage class, the professor randomly assigned us all 4-digit ID numbers of his own creation (because he didn’t like using TAMU’s however-many-digits one I guess), and mine was 1629. When I went dress shopping over winter break, David’s Bridal put me in dressing room 29 (and I found my dress). Reid and I received 29 gifts at our couples shower. And I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting, but I remember thinking that I got the message loud and clear!
Ever since, sometimes I’ll be driving down the road, thinking something like, “Should I have left earlier? Is this the best route to be taking? Should I even be on my way to do whatever I’m doing is or should I have declined?” And then I’ll happen to notice that the license plate directly in front of me ends in 29. It’s come to be my sort of “mindful message” from the unexplainable beyond that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be in that exact moment and everything is happening as it’s supposed to.
Now, back to starting to learn about Tarot
I felt a little hesitant after my initial interest and draw towards the cards. Would religious people think I’m weird or evil for wanting to learn? Would “real” psychics look at me as an intruder into their sacred practice? I decided to follow my curiosity regardless, but was sort of asking the Universe for a sign of if I was barking up a tree meant for me or not.
While we were at my sister’s house for our Corbin family vacation 2019, I ordered my first Tarot deck from Amazon to get delivered there. During our afternoon naptimes, more often than I slept, I began going through this free online Learn Tarot course.
The course recommends that a great way to start learning your cards is to take the first section of the deck, shuffle, and draw 1 or 2 at a time then just write the story you see in that card’s picture before you start to look up the traditional meaning of the cards.
I began doing this for one card a day. On the second day, I contemplated starting an anonymous Instagram to document my Tarot learning journey, so I set out the deck box all staged with my traveling crystals, then day 1’s card on the left, and day 2’s card on the right.
I remember my jaw literally dropping as I gasped, realizing from the picture that my first two cards I ever began learning were the 2 then the 9 of the Major Arcana.
(“Ours not to reason why, ours but to do or die” from The Charge of the Light Brigade quoted in The Blind Side suddenly comes to mind.)
Needless to say, I took this as my message that the Divine is indeed in support of my desire to learn Tarot.
Offering free readings to my readers
In February, I sent out an email to my list offering a free reading, along with sending up a hopeful prayer: “If I’m meant to pursue reading Tarot for others as part of my life’s (or blog’s) purpose in this season, please let some sort of positive message or takeaway come through in this first round of virtual video readings.”
Not just within the first group of readings but in the very first reading I ever recorded and sent to my subscriber, I said something that reminded this person of a piece of advice a loved one had given them years ago in a letter. They then retrieved and re-read this letter, whose advice also applied to a current situation they’re facing. I got chills when they told me, as I realized this message from Spirit fulfilled my request for a sign that Tarot can be a meaningful and unique way for me to help others on our wild and crazy journeys around the sun!
And so, for a limited time (maybe the first 29 subscribers or so 😉 ), I extend this offer for free readings to anyone who wishes to join my email list and support my blog’s growth. I hope you get some encouragement and entertainment–especially in this NUTS time we’re living through at the moment–in return. Just click the button below to get started.
