Why I Still Read Tarot After 30 Years

Can a deck of cards really tell the future? And after thirty years of reading Tarot… why do I still use it?

In this episode of Psychic Whispers, I’m sharing my personal relationship with Tarot, how it’s changed over the years, and some of the biggest misconceptions people have about the cards.

We’ll explore why I don’t see Tarot as a tool for fixed predictions, why the Death card isn’t something to fear, and why I believe the real magic of Tarot lies in its ability to spark insight, reflection and meaningful conversation.

Whether you’ve been reading Tarot for years, you’re simply curious, or you’ve always wondered what it’s really like from the perspective of a working psychic medium, I hope this episode offers a fresh perspective.

🤍 If you enjoy the podcast and would like to help keep it independent, you can support Psychic Whispers and unlock bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes content and exclusive extras by visiting:
psychicwhisperspodcast.com

Support the Podcast & Join the Community:

psychicwhisperspodcast.com

Readings, resources & more:
psychic-whispers.com

Email:
mesina@psychic-whispers.com

Instagram & TikTok:
@psychic.whispers

New episodes every Wednesday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Psychic Whispers Podcast. Hello and welcome back to Psychic Whispers. Have you ever had something in your life that people completely misunderstood? That thing for me, I really feel is Tarot. Now I've been reading tarot for over 30 years. In fact, it was really the heart of what brought me to this work. And if it's one thing that I've realized, is that a lot of people think they know what tarot is until they actually sit down and experience it. You know, some people think it's just fortune telling, other people think it's just evil, if I'm honest. And some will just think that's a deck of pretty pictures. Honestly, three decades later of working with cards, and I don't think that any of those descriptions really fit. So today I thought that I would tell you why I still read Tarot after all these years and why I don't think I'm ever gonna stop. So let me take you back to my humble beginnings with Tarot. I was 16 years old when I guessed Tarot found me. I didn't really define tarot, it sort of found me. A then friend of mine had a deck, and she had been bestowed a deck by someone she was seeing at the time. And long story short, she did me a reading, and I was so intrigued by this experience of having the reading that I just got really curious. I'm like, what is this? What did where did you get these? You know, talk to me. And she explained and said, Hey, why don't you have a go? Why don't you read the cards? She said, Do you have my permission to do that? I perhaps it was uncouth. I know there's different people have different rules around whether you shuffle someone else's deck, but she wanted me to do it and we were 16, so I did. And when I did my reading for her, she said to me, Listen, take this book. I don't feel like I need it. I really think you're supposed to be doing this. And off I went. And since your first deck is supposed to be purchased for you, that was the case. Someone purchased me a deck. Thank you. And I ended up on this journey of reading tarot, and I absolutely loved it. You know what drew me in was just this tool to communicate with something that I knew was real, this higher self, this you know, uh unknown, this void that we I felt could communicate with. And this provided me with this tool to operate uh in between those veils in some fashion to gain insight and get answers and look for guidance. And I loved it. I loved the mystery of it that I was not sure why I thought it was going to provide these answers, but that it seemed to. And that there was something about the storytelling, there was something about the symbolism, the meaning. They just drew me in. And I felt such a strong connection. Like I'd done this a million times, and yet I was still this novice, this tell me more, like teach me everything. It was like I was remembering and learning at the same time. It was an amazing experience. I didn't have any expectations of it. I just knew that I wanted to experience it. And I wanted to learn more about how I could do this for other people and give them the same experience that I had had with my friend. And as I went about learning tarot on my own, I taught myself everything that I know about it now. It didn't really, despite my friend reading, she wasn't any more of a mentor from that point. She just left me with the book. And that's all I needed. That's all I needed. And uh off I went. But the more I was asked to do readings for people, the more I was just surprised at how it was working. I was surprised at what it activated in me. I was surprised. Every time someone was surprised, I was surprised. I was like, really? Is that really true? Is it it's that's what the cards say. Is that true? And I was fascinated by this to see that you could go deeper as I started to learn more and more about it and to gain the insights that I've gained from it to help other people see more than what was really there to start with. I mean, the the more I knew, the deeper I could go, the more it activated that psychic energy in me too. That was it. I just really felt like this was my thing and I needed to take it as far as I could go. And here I am 30 years later, still taking it as far as I can go. And I love that. When I look back, I don't think I was looking for answers. I didn't have a bazillion questions in my mind to that, to which I felt this would give me that. But I definitely think I was looking for a language, something that spoke to me from above or beyond, something that I felt was, I guess, external to just my own dialogue, something that would validate either what I was thinking or feeling or what somebody else was experiencing. Now, over these years, trust me, I think I have seen a lot of misconceptions, to say the least, about what tarot is, uh, and a lot of people's attitudes towards it, which are sometimes incredibly open and mysterious, and they love, they're intrigued to the total adverse uh end of that of being quite, oh, no, thank you. That scares the bejesus out of me. And fair enough. Um, so there's a lot of things in between those lines that people draw, I guess, about what tarot kind of is and maybe what it isn't. But I think one of those biggest misconceptions is that tarot is this device to predict the future. I mean, I certainly see that's how it's portrayed. I mean, look at all the films that tarot shows up in, especially all the spooky ones, in which, you know, the tarot reader lays it out and says, Oh, this is going to happen like untimely, anything, doom and gloom. Yeah, it's uh it's got its reputation for predicting. And I certainly think I have predicted things in readings. There have been predictions that the cards have stated that have happened. So we're not to say that that is a total off point, that it doesn't do any of that. Um, because that sometimes does happen. I've seen that happen many times, but that's not really all it's about. It's not its solid and sole purpose. You know, in my experience, the future is really fixed. And I noticed that what tarot does is it shows us possibilities and it shows patterns, deeper meaning under currents of dialogue and conversations and even questions. You know, sometimes it's confirmed something that I've already sensed. And sometimes it's challenged me completely. But it definitely helped me gain a very good perspective. And I just feel like, yes, I get so much more when I read the cards, but it doesn't hand you a simplified answer like that. No, yes. It can if you ask it that way, but it's not just as simple as that. I love that tarot is so complex and that it provides you with an answer and a question and also a little insight, and also could guide you. Like there's a million layers that go on in this whole kitten caboodle. So it's not, you know, just handing me that's what's going to happen next Tuesday. There you go. Um, it gives me, you know, a lot more depth when you know how to read all of the little energies in there and all the symbolisms in there. You can get so much out of it. Even when you don't know how to read all of that, you can get so much out of it. So for me, I think to just thinking that's all it is, just a tool for predicting the future, it's definitely not. There's so many more layers happening under the currents of tarot. Now, one of my favorite things is when someone learns that I read tarot or have read tarot, and they ask me if I believe in tarot. I think that's a really interesting question to answer. Because I don't really think that the magic is just in the cardboard or the paper that it's printed on. You know, it's not like it's special paper or special card material. It's made of the same stuff as anything else, right? I mean, we want to talk about it in that way. The magic, if that's the word that we want to use, is in the conversation that happens between your cards, your intuition, your experiences, and your willingness to look honestly at your life. You know, tarot doesn't replace your intuition, it just gives it somewhere to land. It also gives you sometimes the words to express it, or the storyline, the depth to really activate what you're feeling, or get in touch with the words of what you're feeling, or get you to the feeling of what you're feeling. So, yeah, 100%. I believe in tarot. I believe it works. And I believe that we attune ourselves with it with this deck that allows us to have and forge a connection with cards, the same way as you can have an attachment to, you know, a special ring or a necklace, or we can create a bond that allows us to utilize the tool for its intended purpose to help guide and give us a way of expressing something that we might intuitively know, but tarot gives us the outlet to channel it. Now, if I'm really honest, I know, and everyone knows too, that some of the fear or worry uh around Tarot is that blasted death card, that poor, poor death card, it's got the worst reputation in the whole deck. Bless its heart. I've lost count of how many people panic when they see it, let alone talk about it. That's the one thing. If that card comes out, nobody wants to even go near the cards. I get it, but it, you know, bless. Um, it's actually a lot more of a positive card and a hopeful card. And I hope maybe just hearing this, if you are adverse to tarot, and if that is the card that has set your tone of maybe I should steer clear, I want to kind of clear something up about that poor thing that's giving the whole deck an awful reputation. It really doesn't predict actual death. It's about the cycle of death and rebirth. It's about letting go, closing a chapter and transformation. It's actually quite a hopeful card when you see it. But I get it. It's kind of doomy and gloomy when you look at it not knowing what it means. And as a person who doesn't know how to read tarot, that card could do a little number on you if it gets whipped out and you think, is that it? Is that my time? Absolutely not. It does not predict anything like that. And so I just want to be really clear for those of you who are curious about tarot, but maybe a little nervous, you don't use it to predict anything like that. I don't care what the horror movies tell you. It's not happening. But what tarot did need is a card to tell us, you know, when something needs to end so that something new can be healed or begin, that there is a life and death cycle in life that we're seeing reflected all the time in this world of ours. And the death card is simply the representation of that cycle, death and rebirth, and being able to put a situation to rest in order to open a new chapter is a great card to have. So clearing up what uh poor death has been uh giving people for a long time, just clearing up the reputation there and leaving you with a little food for thought in case that was one of the things that put you off tarot. Please don't let it. So, of course, the question now is after 30 years, why haven't I stopped reading them? You know, I don't need the cards like I did in my early days. When I was 16, I felt so dependent on them. I needed the cards to read for people because they they gave me the words, they gave me the structure to do a reading and to read energy. And as I learned to read for others, what I noticed was that I was getting things without looking at the cards. I started reading organically until I got to a point where I just thought, let me just try this without cards. And then it just transitioned from there. And my abilities to read and connect with people and energy just naturally kicked in. The confidence basically in me grew. And I was able to tap into what I could feel were intuitive hits because of what Tarot had taught me and because of what I felt when I did readings. To oh, I was always getting those hits, but I never consciously knew what to say about them or how they felt. And what Tarot did was it gave me the language of my own intuition to start with. And then I just noticed that I didn't need the cards anymore. But it still, even though I don't need them, I love using cards. They continue to teach me, they remind me sometimes to go back and tap back in. Look again, Messina. They sometimes allow me to read for myself because sometimes that's really hard if I've got a situation in my life. As a psychic, notoriously, we are muddled by our own stuff, our own emotions, our own attachments to outcomes, just the same as everybody else. And just because I am a psychic does not mean I always have my answers right in front of me. Sometimes I get muddled up by the complexities in my life. And tarot can help me strip it back and allow me to see more clearly. It also sometimes is just it's fun. I use them always in my yearly outlooks every year. I use cards when I do a lot of remote readings, when people have ordered audio readings or they've ordered video readings with me. And I've used cards sometimes to help strengthen the connection so that I can give real answers to those things and I can feel intuitively, okay, that's validating what I'm picking up. And it just continues to challenge me sometimes. Reading cards, and I see something different, or I feel something different, and I'm learning and growing in my psychic energy. And there's just something about honoring my roots. And I have quite the collection now: 30 years of collecting certain decks and loving the artistic license that people have used in creating their symbolisms and learning about different people in that way too, just admiring the art in which is shared in each deck and the love that someone's given to create it and the different energies that different decks have. I love that too, that celebration of, you know, different vibrations. But I just feel that I see new things every time I look at them. I've looked at those pictures a million times over 30 years, and I still see something different every time. I still look and think, ah, look at that, and appreciate something different in the same deck over and over. It's fantastic. But I still love the magic of them. The fact that their origins are a little blurry, and the fact that there is just this mystery that surrounds them. There's something about keeping a key to that in my life that reminds me to engage with magic and with the fact that there's so much more in this life than what we see. I guess they also serve as kind of a reminder for me to be called back to that. And I'm happy for that. I need that in my life. I need to remember that it's not just our daily schedule and our daily grind and our. I mean, I live my life as a psychic. I'm well aware of all of the hidden energies under the surface, but there's something about tarot that's a little more of a key. It just feels like when you hold those cards and you connect with them, there's something very ancient about it. There's something very old and ancestral that ignites something in me. And that feeling can't be replicated anywhere else, but when I read cards. The beauty of cards is that you don't have to be psychic to read them. You know, anybody can learn to read tarot. If you're feeling inspired to try, please do. If you've been told that they're scary or evil or just for psychics, and I would encourage you to stay curious. There could be something to be found here. You don't have to believe that they can predict your future or that they're magical if you don't want to. And you know, that's perhaps why I've never stopped reading them. I'm okay not knowing what my future is. I just feel that they help me understand where I am today. And from there, I get to choose where to go next, right? Master and creator of my own destiny, as we all are, as I encourage you all to notice. And hey, without Tarot, I wouldn't be here. This podcast probably wouldn't exist. The whole 30 years of being a psychic medium, I often wonder if that would have been different. Had those cards that day for my friend not been laid out for me, what would my path have been? It's a crazy moment in my life. It definitely set a future that I wasn't really asking for at the time, but that I'm so glad unfolded. I would love to know. Do you read Tarot? Or have you always been curious about it? I would love to hear your experiences. You're more than welcome to send some questions into the show or share with me. There's just a little thing down there that says send us fan mail. Please click it. I would love to hear from you. Now, if you enjoyed this conversation or you would love to know more about tarot, you can connect with me on psychicwispers podcast.com. And if you would love to hear and have a reading with me, it's psychic whispers.com where you can find all the things that I do. Thank you for spending this time with me today. And until next time, trust your path, honor your truth, and always keep listening.