5 Alternative Uses for Tarot

For the average non-tarot card user the term 'Tarot Cards' will probably conjure up thoughts of black magic and witchcraft, or charlatans. It can get a bad rap, but what many will not realise is that there are many uses for Tarot cards you might not have expected.


So here's run down of the top 5 alternative uses I've found for Tarot cards that you might not be aware of (I wasn't aware of some them!). I don't claim to have any personal experience with any of these, but I do find them interesting. For each use there are many articles, books and resources online if you wish to explore them further. My top 5 gives you an overview to get you started.

1. Meditation

Using tarot cards to focus the mind can be an alternative way to meditate. A card can be chosen either at random, or one that you wish specifically to explore, and then study the card, exploring the details, the colours, shapes, and how these make you feel or what they mean to you. This is just one example of how to use cards for meditation. Each person will of course find their own way of meditating with Tarot.

2. Psychology

Tarot cards have interestingly been used to gain insight to the mind, as a therapeutic and psychotherapy tool. For example the patient may be prompted to select a cards with images that most personally resonate with them, and describe what meaning they may have for them.  They may provide some help in expressing difficult issues or experiences in an objective way. Even Jung took an interest in Tarot as containing archetypes useful for analysis, and you can now buy decks based on Jungian archetypes, or find books on interpreting tarot based on these archetypes.

3. For creative inspiration

Tarot can be used in creative writing to inspire characters and plot lines or to  develop existing ones. Italian writer Italo Calvino called the tarot "a machine for constructing stories". They can provide inspiration or provide focus for any creative pursuit, or even to help with a creative block.   For example a particular element of a design in the imagery, or colours and shape may provide inspiration for design, or cards laid out in a spread can provide inspiration for the progression of a storyline or development of a character.

There are a number of books which discuss how to use Tarot for creativity such as the more well known 'The Creative Tarot - A modern guide to an inspired life' by J. Crispin, and numerous tarot spreads are available online for the purpose of aiding creativity or resolving blocks.

4. To manifest desires

Tarot spreads can be used to help identify how to best manifest your goal. After determining what your goal is and how you want to achieve it questions such as "Where am I now in terms of manifesting my goal" or "What action will support me in achieving my goal" could be asked.  You can find many spreads to support manifesting desires with tarot online.

Another method is to pick a card that most fits with your goal, and whilst gazing at the card repeat an affirmation for your intended objective. This blog post by Joy Vernon gives more insight into this. As with any wish or desire do be careful and sure of what you want and how you want it otherwise you may not get what you expected!

5. Finding lost objects

Using a small spread such as a 1 or 3 card spread can be helpful in finding lost objects. There's a great thread at the archived AeclecticTarot forum by tarot users citing examples of when this has really helped them out. Why not give it a try? It's similar to using any type of divination card to discover what is inside a box or container which I talk about in this post


I hope this has been a useful insight in to alternative uses for Tarot. I would expect these can be extended to Oracle cards or even Kipper or Lenormand too. Do you have any alternative uses for any of these? Share them in the comments below, I 'd love to hear about them!

Sources
Using Tarot in Psychotherapy, Dore J. 2017 https://pro.psychcentral.com/using-tarot-in-psychotherapy/ 
Carl Jung and Tarot, Greer M.J. 2008 https://marykgreer.com/2008/03/31/carl-jung-and-tarot/