The Magician

What is tarot?

That's a question I've been trying to answer for years. Since 2020 to be exact.

Not because tarot is mysterious, but because the answer changes depending on who is asking.

Some people see tarot as fortune telling. Some see it as psychology. Some see it as spirituality. Some see it as storytelling.

For me, tarot has become a language.

And no matter how many times I've tried to stop speaking it, I keep finding my way back.

There have been periods when I seriously considered walking away from reading cards altogether. The pay isn't always great. People can be rude. It can be emotionally draining work. More than once I've looked at the practical realities and thought, "This is silly. Why am I still doing this?"

But every time I step away, something pulls me back.

Not because I think I'm destined to read tarot.

Not because I believe the cards chose me.

Simply because reading tarot feels like using a tool that fits naturally in my hands.

That's what I think of when I look at The Magician.

Traditionally, The Magician stands before a table covered in symbols. The tools are already there. The challenge isn't finding them. Instead, it's learning how to use them.

I think many of us have something like that in our lives. A skill, a craft, a way of seeing the world that keeps returning no matter how many practical reasons we find to abandon it.

For me, tarot is that thing.

The cards help me organize intuition. They help me find words for experiences that are difficult to describe. They help me connect patterns, questions, fears, hopes, and possibilities.

When people ask me what tarot is, my answer isn't that it's magic.

My answer is that it's a tool.

And sometimes the most important tools are the ones we keep reaching for, even after we've convinced ourselves we're done with them.

-The Tarot Gal