Liz Worth ~ Tarot

All year I’ve felt like I’m competing between two identities:

There is the part of me that reads and teaches tarot, and the part of me that is an artist.

I used to feel like these two things co-existed to a certain extent, though of course they are distinct and pull from different parts of me.

The part of me that is an artist needs long stretches of time to write. This means being offline and undisturbed. It means being free to be with my own thoughts and feelings. And it requires a certain level of privacy, as writing takes time to develop and is often only revealed when it’s ready for an audience.

The tarot part of me is present, visible and social. It requires that I’m available, responsive, and openly sharing.

These two things sound like an ideal balance on paper. One allows for quiet and solitude, and the other allows for service and community. And both can trade places, with tarot being a gentle ritual and writing eventually being for public...

How are you? October was a big month for me. After the stillness of the last few years, this autumn has felt like life has really come roaring back in so many ways.

I had the opportunity to read tarot at some great Halloween parties, and also at the closing party of Likely General, a shop where I read every Sunday for two years. I loved having that residency and loved part of the community that had grown around that store.

Likely General closed its doors at the end of October, and I’m glad I could be there one last time to offer a few tarot readings as we all said goodbye to the space.

One of the things I found myself reiterating throughout my readings in October was that we have choices in life.

Whenever I read at events, I know I am going to have some nervous sitters on my hands. People are often curious about tarot. When they see a tarot reader in the corner at a party, they might decide that today’s the day they’re going to finally give tarot a try.

But...

I don’t know about you, but I have been caught up in a flurry of activity these last few months. When life feels like it’s just go, go, go, it’s easy to forget to check in with yourself. When there is a lot to do, we can end up in reactive mode sometimes, just going through the motions in order to check off our to-do lists.

But I get out of sorts in all kinds of ways if I don’t take – or make – a little bit of time to get back to my inner compass and see how I’m feeling about my present moment.

Taking that time allows me to reflect on whether I’m spending time on what I intended to. Outside of my tarot business, I’m a writer, and if you do anything creative you’ll know what I mean when I say that writing is (unfortunately) often one of the first things that falls off the radar when life gets hectic.

We owe it to ourselves to pause and ask: Am I forgetting something as I rush throughout the day?

I don’t mean forgetting...

I’ve recently been inspired by a tarot reader friend who has been doing big, deep-dive readings for himself each week to get a sense of what to prioritize in the days ahead.

I know it’s popular to pull a card a day, but sometimes that can feel like information overload with a lot to take in and not enough time to carry through on all of tarot’s messages.

I like the idea of a weekly tarot pull to set the tone for the week ahead. I find in general that I’m most effective and focused when I start off my week with a clear sense of my top priorities. A lot can happen in the span of a few days, but I can also waste a lot of time if I haven’t clearly identified what I need to be moving forward.

And these days, it feels like there is so much to do: I have new writing projects I want to make space for. I have my new Tarot Study Hall community to build upon. And I have been busy with the little vintage resale business my husband and I started last year.

...

There are so many cards in tarot that indicate and inspire new beginnings.

But we have to remember that tarot is balanced: It shows us beginnings, middles, and ends. And all of the various experiences in between those states.

Some cards are static and unchanging, and others signify abrupt endings. Some show the hard work that comes with moving towards a goal, and others show the importance of rest and stasis.

We can’t be changing all the time, of course.

But if you’re craving a clean slate and want to open a new chapter, here are my Top 3 tarot cards to reflect on when you’re ready for a new door to open:

1. The Ace of Cups. I have a special relationship with the Ace of Cups. I find it reliably pops up when I need reassurance that things are going to turn out for the best. Especially when I’m making a big change.

The Ace of Cups is a wonderful card to reflect on for new beginnings in relationships, creativity, spirituality, and the self.

2. The Ace of...

A few years ago, I was a tarot conference when a few readers started talking about gift certificates for tarot readings.

“Don’t buy your friend a reading when they’re celebrating a happy occasion – no one gets tarot readings when things are going well,” one of them said.

He was half-joking, half-serious.

And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Gift certificates aside, it’s typical for people to seek out tarot readings when they are contemplating a dilemma.

Tarot helps people when they feel stuck in a rut or trapped in a tough situation. It helps when they are blocked around a decision, or when they feel unfocused about their overall direction in life.

Sure, some people book in for cosmic check-ins and general life updates, but by and far, I’ve noticed that most clients have specific reasons for buying tarot readings.

This is why tarot reading requires compassion. While it can be tempting sometimes to tell it like...