Why I Pray with Tarot

What do I mean by “praying with tarot?” First, it mainly just means bringing God into my readings. I am a recovering addict, so my life literally depends on staying as connected with my Higher Power as I can. I have to do my best to bring God into everything I do so that I can continue to have my “daily reprieve” that the Big Book of AA describes.

And it works. For coming up on 20 years it has worked.

Bringing God into my readings is seeing the cards/spread as a meeting place with God/Spirit. I still pray with words, both the twice daily 11th step prayers and with the Jewish siddur (prayer book.) But tarot allows me to connect with God non-verbally. With other parts of myself that bypass, and at times, go beyond words.

Meeting with God in a tarot spread means that every card is a message that Spirit wants me to be aware of, work with, follow, or avoid. Since my life just works better the more I try to align my will with God’s will, the more ways that I can connect with Spirit the better.

Tarot is quite unique in that it lets my non-verbal brain run free and “speak with” and be “spoken to” by Spirit. And this, ultimately, becomes another way to build, nurture, and strengthen my relationship with my Higher Power.

A stronger relationship with my Higher Power leads to trust: trusting in God’s presence/power/love, not just having faith. And this trust has a very distinct result.

It means never having to be frightened of any of the cards. No more being nervous when The Tower appears. Or 5 of Pentacles, The Devil, 9 of Swords etc. etc.

Praying with Tarot means the cards don’t predict the future. We have free will to change anything, or at least change how we engage with the situation. The spread simply shows what’s happening now, including our usual ways of handling life.

The difficult cards become God’s way of getting our attention; that we need to do our spiritual/life work to get to the root of the issue. And often, to make changes in how we interact and operate.

When you are in a state of prayer with your Higher Power, fear of any card that shows up can disappear and curiosity and trust can take its place. Curiosity about what Spirit is wanting you to see about yourself and the situation. And trust that God has your back and is with you no matter what.

Trust means remembering that God always wants what is ultimately good for us. So the difficult cards are simply there to show us what needs to be faced. And when we know that no matter what, God is with us and always has our backs, then facing those energies becomes much easier.