I was bemoaning a lack of Enthusiasm at the store last week—a surprising state for me, as I am usually full of enthusiasm—when Carin Pratt, in all her wisdom, suggested I write my Enthusiasm on tarot cards. It's no secret around the store that I am quite enthusiastic about these decks of 78 pictorial cards; in fact, we recently put our collection front and center at the Norwich Bookstore, in an effort to spread my enthusiasm. What are tarot cards you may ask? A beautiful deck of seventy-eight small pieces of art and an excellent tool for answering questions and solving problems.
I've realized, as I eavesdrop on browsers (yes, I do), that there are a number of misconceptions about tarot cards. So I just wanted to put this out there: You don't need to be psychic, you don't need to believe in the supernatural, in fact, you don't need to know anything about tarot to benefit from it (and you certainly don't need to know anything to be gifted your first deck). Tarot is many things to many people. For me, the cards are not about predicting the future but untangling the present; pulling cards is like journaling, meditation, or therapy—I use them to make space in my brain, to open myself up to possibilities, to come at a problem or situation from a different perspective.
There is no right or wrong way to read tarot cards. You can learn from a book (they usually come with the deck, but I also recommend anything by Rachel Pollack or Mary K Greer to start) or you can read intuitively, by examining the cards and simply paying attention to the thoughts and impressions that come up for you. You can pull a card every day with no particular question in mind (I pull one each morning) or you can reference the deck when you have a specific question. In fact, you can employ all of these methods nearly simultaneously. I have found, and perhaps you will too, that no matter what method I employ, the tarot has an uncanny ability to draw forth the exact wisdom I need in a given moment.
Emma Nichols co-owns the Norwich Bookstore with her partner, Sam Kaas. When not at the bookstore you’ll most likely find her reading books, baking bread, tinkering with spreadsheets, or pulling tarot cards.