Tarot For Mental Health – 3 Big Ways It Helps Me
One of my main focuses for this blog has always been mental health as poor mental health has plagued me almost all of my life. Not just my own, my mother, stepfather and father’s too. I am currently in therapy in a bid to deal with the trauma of my past and release it so I can have a happier, healthier future. Of course, one hour per week of therapy is not enough on its own so I do work by myself and using tarot for mental health has been a vital part of this process.
How I Use Tarot And How I Don’t
Over the years, the uses for tarot have become very stereotyped in mainstream media. Women in scarves sitting at tables with dim lights. Predicting the future and promising riches and a handsome husband or alternatively, delivering the shocking news that their client has been cursed but not to worry! The tarot reader can help lift it!
I do not believe this at all. Firstly, it assumes that the future is fixed and nothing any of us does can change it. I think this is nonsense. Secondly, I believe that the message from a tarot reading is always nuanced, never wholly good or bad. So promising your life will be all roses or that terrible peril awaits is just rubbish.
If I could use one word to describe tarot it would be “mirror”. Each tarot reading reflects my own beliefs, thoughts, biases and traumas back at me. Not just my surface thoughts, often it dredges up insights from the deeps recesses of my mind in a shocking way. The tarot tells me nothing that is not already in my mind. It just helps bring them to the forefront of my mind, into my conscious thoughts.
I also use my cards for advice. Sometimes it’s soft, like a hug. Other times is tough love and brutal honesty. You may not believe it, but each deck has its own personality. I choose my deck based on how strong I feel on the day and which I approach I feel I need.
Tarot For Mental Health Use 1 – Advice
I think we can all agreed it’s a pretty damned busy world. There are so many conflicting priorities – work, keeping your home tidy, household repairs, cooking, relationships, friendships, exercise, relaxation time…it goes on and on! The thing that so many of struggle with is balance. So, one of the ways i use tarot for mental health, and indeed physical and emotional health, is to draw three cards per day. I usually use a mix of tarot and oracle cards, and ask them a question. They questions are all designed to help my balance and focus that day. Some of the questions include:
- What do I need to know today?
- How can I find balance today?
- How should I care for myself?
- What part of my life am I neglecting right now?
- How can I get into alignment today?
This morning I asked the balance question. Here are the cards I pulled and what I wrote down.
Magical Spirit Oracle – The Past. Releasing, rebirth, spring. If I’m standing on a see-saw and where I am in the middle is now, the left is the past, and the right is the future, then I’d be trying desperately to keep my balance as the saw-saw would be on the floor on the left side. The past is taking up a disproportionate amount of my time and energy. It’s time to leave my past behind and embrace how far I’ve come.
Cozy Witch Tarot – The Hierophant. Ignore structure today, all the “I shoulds” or “I normally do it this way”. I need to let loose and take the path and the activities that feel right while still ensuring what I need to do gets done.
Seasons of the Witch Lammas Oracle – Failed Harvest. I need to release the negative feeling that I feel towards others and especially myself. They are poison, salt in the earth so nothing can grow. I need to turn back towards kindness and love.
Hopefully you agree this is good advice and I leave my cards somewhere where I’ll see them and mull them over as the day goes on.
Tarot For Mental Health Use 2 – Finding Your Blind Spots
Human beings are amazing at seeing patterns in absolutely everything but they are also exceptional at missing glaringly obvious details. This might be deliberately, or it could be a result of trauma, mental illness or even just down to their thought process at the time.
One thing that I have found in that last 18 months is if I am missing something, my tarot decks (yes all of them!) will start bashing me over the head with it. The two most commo ways they do this is giving me the same card over and over, the same overall message over and over, or both. For example, in the last week The Empress has appeared three times. This is a card of nurturing, creativity and motherhood (not always literally, just motherly instincts and behaviour.) Now I know I am the embodiment of The Empress with everyone else, I feel this message is that yet again I am not taking enough time to nurture myself.
Here’s appearance no. 1. It’s my week ahead spread from the Ink Witch Tarot 2nd Ed. The first card is what I need to let rest the second is what I need to wake up and the third is my mantra.
I have recently bought a deck specifically to find my blind spots. It’s called the Blind Spot Oracle by Teal Swan. I’ve only used it once but it’s pretty powerful and I look forward to working with it more.
Tarot For Mental Health Use 3 – Shadow And Inner Child Work
If you’re not familiar with the terms you can read more here. Everyone has elements of their personality hidden in their shadow and everyone’s inner child represents the child they were. The age of the child may be different from person to person. I see my inner child as the little girl I was around age 5 or 6. No matter how perfect your childhood might have seemed, everyone’s inner child has some wounds or scars that need to be healed.
Again, no matter how well-balanced and happy a person may seem, they will have parts of their personality that they learned was unacceptable when they were growing up. These traits will be hidden in the shadow.
It is definitely good for your mental and emotional health to reintegrate the parts of you you’ve hidden in the shadow, and also to help your inner child feel safe and loved. The question is HOW? That’s where the tarot comes in. I have a dedicated shadow work deck and a different one for inner child work. I use spreads and journal about them to explore more of the hidden parts of myself.
I don’t feel comfortable sharing these spreads yet, as it is very personal and painful for me. I have a lot more work to do before I’ll feel ready to talk about it. However, in the spirit of explaining my take on tarot for mental health I felt I need to mention that this is one of the 3 ways I use my cards.
In the spirit of sharing, here are the decks I use. For shadow work it’s Tarot of Vampyres by Ian Daniels and The Happy Tarot, a Lo Scarabeo deck for inner child work.
Do You Use Tarot For Mental Health?
I’ve been happy to share how I use tarot for mental health but what do you do? If you have any other thoughts or practices please let me know in the comments as I’d love to hear from you. Take care xx
