Images and intuition: Tarot for contemplation
I have to tell you this blog post has been a long time in the making. Even though tarot has been a regular part of my contemplative practice for a few years now, I have been very cautious about bringing it up in my Harbor community. Some of our Harboristas live with a lot of religious trauma, and have significant reactions to anything that they may have been told is part of “the occult.” Processing those reactions can be a real struggle involving education, self-awareness, and therapy. There have always been a few of us who practice tarot at Harbor, but we have kept our practice to private chats, for the most part, out of concern for our siblings in the Harbor community.
However, at the past 3 of our 4 retreats, tarot has been introduced to our community as a tool for contemplation and self-examination, first, informally and then, this year, formally as a session. So, in this post, let me introduce you to what tarot is, a little bit about what it isn’t, and, if you are interested, how to try it for yourself as a spiritual practice.
Where did tarot come from?
One of the most important things for me to remember as I practice tarot is that it began as a game. This fact gives me permission to “play,” to not give it more power than it originally claimed to have. When tarot cards were introduced in 15th-century aristocratic Italy, they were modeled after the four-suited decks of playing cards that are still familiar today. In the following centuries tarot spread through Europe. In the late 1800s, the spiritualist movement that popularized seances and psychics picked up the deck, added spiritualist symbols to it, and promoted it as a tool of divination and an entire philosophical system.
The most popular deck, the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, comes out of this era. The symbols come from kabbalah, European Christianity, Greek mythology, paganism, astrology, and numerology.
A tarot deck has 78 cards. The Major Arcana has 22 cards, each representing a human figure (Fool, Priestess, Emperor), characteristic (Strength, Temperance), symbol (Tower, World), or life event (Death). The other 56 are similar to a playing deck with suits (Disks, Wands, Swords, Cups) and trumps (Ace to King plus a Page). All 76 have unique images that combine symbols from multiple systems to stir your intuition into deeper contemplation and reflection.
How can tarot work as a spiritual practice?
I have used contemplation as a prayer practice for many years, long before I started using my tarot decks (yes, I have multiple decks). Occasionally I will do a “reading” where I use multiple cards to explore specific questions, but more often I draw a single card and use the images and symbolism to provoke a reflection or prayer for the day.
Using images to inspire thought and prayer is not unique to tarot. We instinctively find symbolism in images, whether it be a political cartoon, a world-famous painting, a children’s drawing, or even a photograph. What makes tarot so intriguing is the layers of symbolism in conversation with each other and your own thoughts.
What if it still makes me uncomfortable?
If you have discomfort with things that have been popularly linked to “the occult,” then being uncomfortable with tarot is completely understandable, especially with its links to 19th-century spiritualism. You don’t owe anyone a justification for how you feel about it. If you want to explore that, though, then you might want to look into the history of tarot and consider its original intent. Christianity has a history of demonizing traditions and practices that conflict with the dominant narrative, so learning the origins of these things helps us understand their true power (or lack of) better.
How do I start?
Just like a game, the best way to start with tarot is to get a deck and start. I found it useful to start with a Rider–Waite–Smith deck because so many other decks are modelled from it. Each deck usually comes with a guidebook with brief descriptions of the symbolism on each card. I recommend starting with a single card draw before diving into a more complex reading. Those get easier (and faster) when you are more familiar with the cards.
I’m going to share a simple reflection for you that we received from Matt Stine at our 2026 Harbor retreat. Matt is a podcast host, writer, app-builder, and tarotist.
The reflection has four “movements” and takes about ten minutes. You can do this with a tarot card or any image. You may also want some paper or an app for taking notes.
First, shuffle your deck and draw a single card, face down. When you are ready to begin, turn it over. Here are the four movements:
Look: Take in the image, noting colours and forms. Check the edges of the image, what forms you notice. Do not interpret at this stage, just notice.
Linger: Let your eyes rest on a part of the card that is drawing your attention. Linger there for a few moments, noticing some more.
Respond: Start noticing your own reactions and interpretations. A good way to do this is to ask questions. What am I feeling? What question do I have? What message am I hearing? This is where taking notes can be helpful.
Rest: Let yourself rest into silence, leaving the card where it is. There is no need to solve anything or draw any grand conclusion. Let the silence do the work.
If you would like to talk more about using tarot in your own spiritual practice, you can find some space on my calendar, or, if you want to talk tarot with other Harboristas, let me know and I will connect you with our group chat.
