I bought my first deck after one of my tattoos, my Birth piece, was completed. I appreciated my tattoo artist Lana Zellner’s artwork and wanted to pay tribute by getting her the Eight Coins’ Tattoo Tarot, which is a remarkable deck containing brilliant art pieces. I added the Voyager Tarot to my collection thanks to Donna Hennes, New York’s Urban Shaman, who hosts Tarot 101 classes online. Like her, the Voyager Tarot happens to be my favorite deck as it seems more contemporary and adaptable to our times, the 21st century. I am grateful for both of their work as they started me off with my Tarot Card collection.

Growing up in a very religious environment, tarot cards had a sinister connotation to them because they are used to “predict” your future or for fortune-telling, which is a bit scary especially if it’s not the outcome you wish for. But most people whom I have interacted with that practice and use tarot cards would tell you as a disclaimer, Tarot Cards are NOT for telling or predicting your future. If anything, at for myself, I use it as a tool for guidance. So it functions as, let’s say, a rosary or mala beads.

We all have the capacity to trust our instincts or our intuition. As someone who lives with anxiety, I constantly doubt my decisions and actions. Fear is something else in the realm of intuitions. Herein lies the purpose of Tarot Cards to me, it’s an elaborate way of flipping the coin when I feel stuck. I could say the same for Angela as we’ve both shared each other’s spreads via face-to-face or remotely. We would send each other photos and this practice to this day, never ceases to amaze me, because the timing of our spread or messages is impeccable. Always. We are indeed blessed. Our favorite spread is the 3-card spread. It may mean the Past, Present or Future but really we take each card’s meaning into context of the whole picture.

Historically, there are different accounts of when tarot cards were incepted. There are mentions of the Italian inception or Egyptian roots way back in the 14th or 15th century. Originally they were either playing cards or as works of art in pocket form. Whatever the historical implications, I believe it does not really matter. What matters most is how you use it for yourself today, so you may feel more confident of the decisions you are making tomorrow. Because there are really no right or wrong answers; there’s THE answer. And it’s always the decision or path you have taken. Trust that you are always where you need to be. The edition of the Witches’ Almanac entitled The Moon: Transforming the Inner Spirit found in our Chronicles section has a great article Cartomancy and the Captivation of the Tarot by John Nuttal. He provides more details regarding tarot cards. I say it's worth the investment if you ask me.

Happy Exploration this Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saints and Souls Day Weekend! May you happily celebrate with your ancestors! Try our Halloween Oracle or Santa Muerte Cards, because why not? :-)