It was a joy to speak with Susie, whose thoughtful questions and deep knowledge of tarot made for a rich and lively exchange. We talked about how visualization can be more than just a mental exercise—it can become a bridge between the symbolic and the personal, the card and the self. We led a guided visualization, and explored how all of us can find these seemingly imagined worlds in ourselves.

We also touched on a project close to my heart—my Court Card mini-videos. These short films are an imaginative way to bring the characters of the tarot to life, each with its own gesture, mood, or symbolic nuance. They’ve become part of the storytelling we do in the card symbolism classes we teach at our Tarot Salon, and I was thrilled to talk about them on the show.

The Tarot Podcast is a weekly show hosted by writer and teacher (and onetime Tarot School student!) T. Susan Chang, and part of its mission is to bring the wisdom and experience of the tarot community's mentor figures to a broader audience. You can listen anywhere you find podcasts, watch on YouTube at youtube.com/@thetarotpodcast, and support the show by joining its Patreon page at patreon.com/thetarotpodcast/membership.

You can watch our episode at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Mb7xpTaDk

And if you do watch or listen—we’d love to know what you think!

QUESTION:

I have been studying the Court Cards. I often find myself at a loss whether to interpret them as an external person or a psychological part of the questioner.

(1) Any hints on how to work with this?
(2) Are these the only two options for interpreting the Court Cards?

Thanks for the help.
Julian

ANSWER:

The reason you may have difficulty choosing a particular interpretation for a Court Card is because it is entirely possible for that card to be operating on more than one level at the same time. This is where a combination of knowledge and intuition (and practice!) helps.

If you wish, you can follow the school of thought that says that any Court Card always has something to say about the querent, regardless of what else it may mean. In this case, you'll be focusing on the energy of the Suit, combined with the
characteristics of the Rank, to give you some insight into how the querent (or you, if you are reading for yourself) is behaving and/or responding to the circumstances of the reading. State of mind is a key thing to consider here.

However, there are times when the context of the reading will strongly indicate that the card refers mostly to another person. In my opinion, it's usually easy to spot an outside person in a Court Card. For example, if the question is job-related and a Court Card appears, it probably indicates an employer, co-worker, interviewer, management executive, etc. Court Cards also often represent clients. The context of the reading will tell you who it is.

When a Knight appears in a reading, the card could predict a message (the Suit would describe the kind of message it is) or indicate different rates of movement (timing) in the situation being discussed. The Knight of Swords is the swiftest, followed by the Knight of Wands, the Knight of Cups, and lastly by the slowest of the group, the Knight of Pentacles.

Another way of looking at the Court Cards is in reference to stages of development:

Pages = beginning of a project/venture
Knights = the greatest investment of energy
Queens = the nurturing stage
Kings = completion

If you're esoterically inclined, you can use the Court Cards to give you information based on their astrological associations, elemental counterchanges, and/or positions on the Tree of Life. These subjects are too complex to go into here but I mention them because they are other ways to use the Court Cards.

In addition to all this, The Tarot School has an audio course called Court Cards: Advanced Reading Technique. (See this month's Product Spotlight for details.)

Many people think that reading Court Cards are difficult because they've been told they're difficult. There's lots to know about them –– but that's true for every single card in the deck. The more you know, the more choices you have –– and the stronger your readings will become.

Resource:

Court Cards: Advanced Reading Technique

To submit a question to be answered in a future issue of Tarot Tips, send us an email at tarot@tarotschool.com

Wald's Words of Wisdom

Divination can show up anywhere—if you’re willing to read it.

Dianomancy (from the Greek dianomí, meaning “delivery,” and manteía, “prophecy”) is a contemporary form of divination that finds meaning in the randomly generated words printed on grocery bags, especially those used for takeout and delivery orders.

You may have seen them: kraft-paper bags stamped with cryptic, computer-generated words like STORMY SUGAR, ZEN CANYON, or PLUM BRISK—not marketing slogans, but order identifiers spat out by Whole Foods’ backend systems to match customers with their meals. And yet, these odd little phrases have a strange poetry to them, as if they’re trying to tell you something.

That’s dianomancy.

Like other forms of found divination—bibliomancy, for instance—it requires you to open yourself to meaning before you understand the message. The phrases are not for you in any ordinary sense. But they arrived at your door, attached to something nourishing. So why not ask: What might this word pairing reflect about your day, your mood, or your current inquiry?

How to Spot the Secret Message:

•  Look for uncommon word pairings—they’re background codes, not slogans.

•  Check near the barcode or near the top flap—that’s where the system prints them.

•  They often appear in all-caps and may follow whimsical pairing patterns.

Here’s how to try it:

•  Notice the phrase on your delivery bag. Don’t correct or interpret it right away.

•  Speak it aloud. Feel its rhythm and sound.

•  Free-associate. What does it remind you of? What qualities or symbols emerge?

•  Ask a question. Hold a life situation or concern in mind and reread the phrase as if it were an answer.

•  Respond. Write, draw, or pull tarot cards based on the phrase to see how it might apply.

Some combinations are poetic. Others are absurd. But that’s part of the magic. Divination doesn’t require elegance—only attention.

The next time a bag of groceries shows up bearing a name like LUNAR GARLIC or SILKY TRUTH, pause before you unpack it. The Universe might be sneaking in a message… just past the oat milk.


We’d love your suggestion or submissions for this column! If you have an idea or would like to contribute, please contact us at
tarot@tarotschool.com.

Court Cards: Advanced Reading Technique 

There's way more to Court Cards than meets the eye, more than you'll ever know just by using your intuition or learning "what they mean."

This two-part audio course takes an in-depth look at the surprisingly complex nature of Court Cards — the qualities of rank and suit, astrological attributions, esoteric titles, elemental counterchanges, and the host of other exotic esoterica that make these 16 bland images so elusive and mysterious.

A wealth of information is expertly presented, clarified through question and answer and practice readings, and applied so organically to everyday general and personal issues that Court Cards may well become your all-time favorites in a reading!

The deeper mysteries of the Court Cards begin to be opened up for you as well. You'll find out how to turn them into the precision instruments of compass, calendar and clock. And you'll learn the answers to some fascinating primal riddles of Tarot philosophy and magick that even the most advanced readers find insoluble, and would love to know.

Join us as we begin to unravel the Great Court Card Mystery and make it your personal (and oh, so powerful!) stash of knowledge and technique.

Listen to a sample clip

This course consists of 8 classes with two mp3s per class. 

Esoteric Insights

WHY DOES ONE STUDY TAROT?
 

By Wald Amberstone

Why does one study tarot? This is not a rhetorical question. For each person, although there is not an unlimited number of answers to this question, there is an unlimited field of nuance and perspective. 

What is tarot? What do the cards mean? Is meaning all there is to the cards? If not, what else is there? 

Levels of meaning all concern who one is and what the world is. There is the mundane divinatory meaning: telling the future and advising on how to deal with our daily lives. There is a psychological meaning which explains us to ourselves as individual personalities and helps us cope with our dysfunctions. There is an occult or magickal level that tells us how to refine ourselves, raise our sights to “spiritual” development and lift our best and highest natures to the dross of ignorance, instinct and reflex. Then there is a purely spiritual facet which reflects only that about each of us that is ultimately, not relatively, real and true. 

Perhaps there are other levels as well? What about art history? What about personal agendas and empowerment? What about the myriad practices and philosophies that tarot can picture and express? 

What else is there to tarot besides meaning? 

There is feeling, emotion. There is conditioned reflex, which is shared by mind and heart. There is experience, through meditation, but felt as physical. There is intention, focus, awareness. 

Tarot practices include exploration of levels of meaning; exploration of personal psychological responses to a variety of issues and images; experience of inner landscapes through journeywork, with full sensory impact; the ability to find a way through thickets of uncertainty and discontent; and through meditation to affect the world inside and outside with awareness, attention, focus and intent.

Mind Your Own Business
YOUR MOST VALUABLE

BUSINESS ASSET
 

By Patti Woods

If your business was metaphorically on fire and you could save just one thing, what would it be? Websites can be rebuilt, hardware and software can be repurchased, but for me, my mailing list is the thing that cannot be replaced.

In this day and age where social media rules, it can be all too easy to put newsletters on the backburner. It’s so much easier to create a quick post and send it out into the ether. 
 

But of course, we know the dangers in that. First of all, there’s no control over who will see your posts. The algorithm is constantly changing and people are jumping off the digital bandwagon. (Anyone else feel like Facebook is a ghost town lately?) Secondly, you can’t trust social media. There have been times when platforms go down. In 2021, Facebook and Instagram went down for five hours, resulting in millions of dollars of loss across the board. (That day, I heard from several colleagues who missed appointments because they had no other way of reaching their contacts.)
 

When you have a mailing list, you have the ability to reach your potential clients whenever you want. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t utilize my list as much as I could. I have a fear of being a nuisance, so I probably underdeliver with my once-a-month newsletter. But here’s the thing. Without fail, I always make sales when my newsletter goes out. My phone notifications start ding, ding, dinging about an hour after sending my newsletter. (I learned the hard way not to send it out right before bedtime.) All this is to say that your newsletter is an energetic lifeline between you and your people.
 

There are certain emails that I can’t wait to get every month. I immediately open newsletters from The Tarot School (of course!) and Theresa Reed’s Hit List. I have a friend who sends one for his Medicare business and, while I don’t use Medicare, I read it because I love his voice and he keeps me informed. What these all have in common is personality– they offer advice, recommendations, personal stories. They don’t exist solely to sell, sell, sell, but rather to connect with their communities. When I read these emails, I feel like I’m hearing from a friend.

I know people struggle with what to write. Try not to overthink it. What would you say to someone in person? Share your day. Offer a tip. In my newsletter, I always comment about what’s bringing me joy (it could be a recipe, a travel tip, a new pair of socks, anything really), and I offer a pick-a-card message for the upcoming month. Think about the newsletters that you actually read. What do they offer? How do they make you feel? 
 

The last thing I’ll say about mailing lists is that they’re worth the investment. Most email hosts like Mailchimp, MailerLite and Constant Contact offer free accounts up to a certain number of contacts. Once you get above a certain number, you’ll have to pay which I initially bristled at. But what I’ve found is that the investment is one hundred percent worth it. The fee is a drop in the bucket compared to the sales that I make solely from sending out my newsletter. (Do remember the legalities around mailing lists. You must have people's permission and you must offer an unsubscribe option.)

This month, challenge yourself to write a newsletter or revamp your current one. Send it out and look at the analytics. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you learn.

And if you'd like to check out my own newsletter, you can do that here:
https://www.pattiwoods.com/contact

About Patti:

Patti Woods is a writer and tarot reader with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. Having served as an editor for both newspapers and magazines, she transitioned into freelance writing, contributing hundreds of articles to major publications such as The Boston Globe, Business Insider, Wine Spectator, Parade Magazine, The Week, Christian Science Monitor, Vegetarian Times, and Health, among many others.

In addition to her writing career, Patti is the founder of Mind, Body & Tarot, a business featured in Business Insider, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, Fodor's Travel, and more.

She is also the author of Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, published by Arcadia/The History Press, and has contributed to several anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Learn more about her services and offerings at www.pattiwoods.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boozytarot
IG: boozy_tarot

Upcoming Events: 



Tarot Salon on Zoom!
7:00 – 9:00 pm EDT

Our popular Monday night classes are now online so you can attend no matter where you live.

Classes are recorded and all levels of experience are welcome!

AUGUST 2025:  
  4 - Symbols of the 3 of Cups
11 - Symbols of the 4 of Cups

18 - The 4-Cornered World of Tarot
25 - The Hidden Face: 2 & 3-Card Variations
 

Get on the notification list to see what we'll be teaching each week. 

Readings with Ruth Ann

Running The Tarot School with Wald keeps me pretty busy, but I still love giving readings! My specialty is using your Birth Cards and Elemental Array (techniques Wald and I have developed) in conjunction with random draws to give you an extremely personalized and powerful reading. 

If you are familiar with the Tree of Life, you may request a Birth Cards Synastry Reading. I will compare your Birth Cards with those of one or two others to give you a deeper understanding of your relationship with them.

I excel at giving Readings for Readers so if you're always giving readings to others, let me help you with some self-care for a change!