14. How you ask is everything.
As Lindsay Mack puts it: “As a human I like to think I’m pretty awesome, but I always ask for guidance from a higher power when I do a reading.” And duh—since we’re looking to access the Divine intelligence within us, why would you not dial up your guides and ask the Universe to please pay attention as you pose your question? These are busy entities, after all, and so asking nicely for them to be present for you is just kind of polite. You can keep this process simple or get as ritualistic as you like, using whatever language feels right for you. But to cut to the chase, Lindsay also suggests asking for information containing “the Truth with a capital T.”
15. No question is too small.
Don’t feel like every card you pull for yourself has to be about a major life transition or hard-core relationship inquiry. Since you’re reading this book, I’d hazard a guess that you’re pretty invested in your personal development, and so it’s likely you’re the kind of person who feels compelled to dig beneath the surface. But while you’re practicing, a few days playing in the shallow end of the pool will help build your confidence for the deeper dives. Plus tap you into one very important (for me anyway) truth about the tarot—it can be a lot of fun!
Lou is always talking about how ridiculous it is to be human sometimes, and actually when you take a step back and check out the kind of stuff we get our knickers in a twist about, it is often kind of absurd/hilarious (with hindsight at least). Sure, your higher Self is primed with all the information you need to navigate the sharper bends in your path, but she/he/they also want you to enjoy the journey. So what if all you really need to know today is what shoes to wear to a party? She/he/the tarot can help with these kinds of questions too.
16. But be expansive with it.
Instead of asking, “Kale salad or vegan sushi rolls?” (which limits you to just two options), try an open-ended question. “How will the kale salad make me feel?” opens up the playing field, inviting a more expansive worldview. Like, a Whole Foods salad bar of options. Being expansive in how you ask will lead to more questions, and therefore more cards, so also know when to stop. It’s one thing to inquire, and another to use the tarot as a tool for endless procrastination. As with the Whole Foods salad bar, know when you’ve had/asked enough.
17. Now design your own spread.
While the one-card pull is a great place to start, it can also get kind of limiting, and once things start to get a little bit more advanced, the reading becomes about how the cards interact with each other. There are many books detailing the different kinds of “spreads” (where multiple cards are placed in different positions to inform different parts of the reading), from a three-card “past, present, future” reading, to the classic “Celtic cross” (which also takes in “self,” “others,” “hopes and fears,” etc.).
But I love what Lou suggested to me recently, namely that “you get better insight when you’re really specific with a spread, designing positions and questions that really go in deep.” For example, this could look like a three-card spread with cards that ask: “Is this a great time to expand our family?” “What would I need to prepare me for motherhood?” “What kind of mother would I be?” No prizes for guessing what was on my mind when we had that particular chat.
18. The astro-tarot connection.
When I tried learning Spanish, whenever I couldn’t remember a word my brain would automatically sub in the French (which I had studied in high school)—and I find it similarly difficult to separate my understanding of astrology and the tarot. Luckily, there are all kinds of crossovers! Officially, each of the major arcane is linked to an astrological sign—as outlined in Rachel Pollack’s book Tarot Wisdom, widely recognized as something of a tarot bible. As mentioned, Death, representing transformation, is ruled by Scorpio. The Fool, the first card in the deck, is pure Aries: naively headstrong, and also the first sign of the zodiac. And then there’s how the different suits represent the four elements, which in turn are embodied by the twelve signs of the zodiac. And then there is the way the cycles in the tarot (numbers 1–7, 8–14, and 15–21 representing different evolutionary phases in the Major Arcana, for example) could be said to mirror the waxing and waning phases of the Moon.
19. Numerology is also at play …
… as are different religious symbols, figures from ancient Greek, Roman, and pagan mythology, the teachings of the Kabalistic Tree of Life, et cetera. In fact, the tradition of tarot is INCREDIBLY rich with history and infused with layers of meaning and symbolism. Way too complex to go into here, which leads me to …
20. If you’re serious about the tarot, then study it.
Buy a few books, or even take a proper class. As with learning any new language, there’s really no substitute for discussing each card in depth, in a group setting, for delving into the many possible meanings and getting these teachings to stick. I’ve heard Lou describe the tarot as “an infinite well of knowledge” and “like having a therapist with you always.” As I called it in the intro, the tarot is kind of “Google for the soul”—and what a brilliant investment in your emotional well-being to be able to add this ancient system to your spiritual toolkit.
MATERIAL GIRL, MYSTICAL WORLD TAROT SPREAD BY LINDSAY MACK
The perfect layout to create a balance between both worlds and divine what’s going on above and below.
CARD 1: The matter at hand
CARD 2: What’s swirling beneath the surface?
CARD 3: What am I moving on from?
CARD 4: What is ready to manifest in its place?
CARD 5: What is the deepest medicine and wisdom available to me at this moment?
CARD 6: Outcome
“YOU KNOW YOU’RE PSYCHIC IF YOU HAVE A BODY”
When I first met Betsy LeFae, I knew she was my kind of medium. And if she’s taught me anything, it’s that first impressions, gut feelings and hunches—about a person, or a job, or a potentially soul-destroying relationship for that matter—are really worth going with. Even if going with them means walking away from a killer “on paper” opportunity, pissing a bunch of people off, or making yourself look like a total idiot.
Betsy and I were introduced by my friend Jules, a downtown New York jewelry designer who makes pieces for Rihanna and Beyoncé and who has a healthy appreciation for the mystical herself. (She’s the kind of girl who goes to Iceland on vacation and winds up naked in a sweat lodge.) Anyhow, Jules had hired Betsy to do palm readings at the launch of a new collection, and when I told Jules all about my plans for The Numinous, she insisted we had to meet.
I’d had limited success with psychics in the past, having mainly been exposed to them as a journalist at product launches (like Jules’s event, I guess), where you get a ten-minute reading after some publicist has plied you with wine and your brain’s all soggy anyway. When I went for a proper session with the psychic all the fashion people in London go to, her “predictions” were so ridiculous (“a former airline pilot named Pete will have