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- Tarot Tip: The Four Life Domains of Tarot
- Wald's Words of Wisdom
- Mind Your Own Business: Will AI Take Over Your Tarot Business?
- Upcoming Events
This month you came from:Hong Kong, Philippines, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States!
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Wald and I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Cheryl Ryder and Patti Woods for their invaluable contributions to this newsletter. It has always been our goal to make Tarot Tips as useful as possible to you, our cherished readers, and we feel their articles beautifully uphold that vision.
We are also pleased to feature subscribers' articles as well. If you have considered sending us something, here are some basic guidelines:
• We are looking for practical tarot techniques, insights, or information. We also welcome submissions on related subjects that can enhance a reader's understanding or use of tarot.
• To get a sense of length and topics, take a look at our past issues at https://tarotschool.com/Newsletter.html
• Please include a short bio and website/contact info. If you have a headshot, that would be lovely but it's not necessary.
• Send your submission to tarot@tarotschool.com
• We're happy to help if you have any questions or ideas you'd like to discuss.
We look forward
to hearing from you and sharing your work with our readers!
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Our beloved Sasha Graham has once again graciously arranged our annual Tarot School party! We'll be going back to Jade Eatery, the wonderful Asian Fusion restaurant at the iconic Station Square in Forest Hills, NY on Saturday, June 20th. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you!
It's a doubly special occasion because Wald and I will be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary a couple of days later! Festivities start at 4pm. RSVP to Sasha via email to sashatarotdiva@gmail.com (please don't DM her) and please BRING CASH for your check.
This is a rare opportunity to get together in person and we're really looking forward to it!
Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter with other Tarot Enthusiasts!
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Tarot as a Field of Engagement with Life:
The Four Domains Beneath the Four Powers
©️2026 Cheryl Ryder, Albuquerque Tarot Tribe
In our previous exploration of the Four Powers of Tarot, we reframed the four suits as human capacities, to: Act, Care, Understand, and to Build.
These powers do not belong to the cards.They belong to us.The cards illuminate where those capacities are available for use.Today, we take one step deeper—not into more meanings, but into the domains of life experience from which those powers arise.
The Four Domains of Human Experience
Across tarot literature throughout history, the suits consistently describe four arenas, or domains of life. When we look past keywords and observe what is actually happening in the cards, a simple pattern emerges.
🔴 Wands
Domain of Life: Active Engagement
Power to: Act
Guiding Question: What can I do?
🔵 Cups
Domain of Life: Meaning
Power to: Care
Guiding Question: What matters?
🟡 Swords
Domain of Life: Understanding
Power to: Understand
Guiding Question: What's happening?
🟢 Pentacles
Domain of Life: Structure and Stability
Power to: Build
Guiding Question: What's supports this?
These are not abstract ideas.They are conditions we are always living in.
At any moment, we are:
- engaging with something,
- caring about something,
- trying to understand something,
- and working to build or sustain something.
The tarot does not divide reality into parts.
It gives us four ways to look at the same reality.
From Situation to Participation
The cards do not describe fixed meanings.They depict situations in which we must respond.
A card shows:
• a moment,
• a condition,
• a configuration of life,
and invites us to ask:
• What’s going on?
• What matters?
• What can I do?
• Will this hold?
This way of looking at Tarot shifts us from mere knowledge to understanding, from passive reception to participation.
A Glimpse of the Pattern
For example, across all four suits, the Sevens reflect a similar moment:
A testing of what is 🔴 effective, 🔵 meaningful, 🟡 true or 🟢 reliable.
🔴 7 of Wands
Does my intended action hold up under challenge?
🔵 7 of Cups
Do these meanings align with what matters?
🟡 7 of Swords
Can my thinking hold up to scrutiny?
🟢 7 of Pentacles
Will what I've invested in actually grow?
Different domains, same underlying process.
How We Engage These Domains
The cards show the situation. We bring our way of engaging it.
Some look for meaning. Some look for clarity.
Some look for stability. Some move directly into action.
These differences are not right or wrong. They simply reflect our naturally preferred ways of engaging life. So, when we look at a card like the Seven of Cups—a figure facing multiple possibilities—we might imagine the figure as representing someone:
• asking what is meaningful,
• asking what makes sense,
• asking what is reliable,
• asking what to try now or next.
The card does not change.
The mode of engagement does.
Why This Matters
When we read tarot as domains of engaging life:
• We stop chasing fixed meanings
• We begin recognizing patterns
• We meet the querent where they are
And we return agency to the person holding the cards.Tarot does not tell us what to do. It shows us what is active—and what is possible.
A Simple Way to Use This
When you draw a Minor Arcana card:
1. Name the life domain (the suit).
What part of life is this?
2. Ask the guiding question(s):
🔴 What can I do?
🔵 What matters to me?
🟡 What's really going on?
🟢 Will this hold?
The card becomes an invitation to explore capacities, abilities, and agency.
Closing Thought
Human beings have always used stories and symbols to navigate uncertainty. The tarot is one such system. It does not remove uncertainty. It helps us engage with it more consciously. And that is a blessing beyond measure.
And it reminds us...
We already possess the capacities we need.
The cards simply show us where and how to use them!
Warm wishes to all, Cheryl
About Cheryl Ryder:
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60-years of tarot use and study, a tarot workshop developer and the leader of the Albuquerque Tarot Tribe Meetup Group for the past 12 years. Cheryl has grown the group from 150 members to over 1200 using innovative and interactive teaching methods.
You all know her: a 10-year Readers Studio veteran, 7 years of Coordinating the Tarot Ambassador Team, occasional First-Timer Initiator, Merchant Faire Vendor, and in 2024, the Facilitator of the Sunday morning Tarot Incubator Discussions.
Cheryl’s ongoing programs and discussion groups on the Albuquerque Tarot Tribe’s platform (open to anyone interested in tarot globally) continue to inspire people to expand and deepen their learning of tarot and their worlds.
https://www.meetup.com/the-albuquerque-tarot-meetup-group/
Email: ABQTarotTribe@gmail.com
To submit a question to be answered in a future issue of Tarot Tips, send us an email at tarot@tarotschool.com
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Wald's Words of Wisdom
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Mind Your Own Business
WILL AI TAKE OVER YOUR TAROT BUSINESS?
Not if you capitalize on this one easy tip
By Patti Woods
I received an interesting email this week from an “AI spiritual platform.” It was a membership app offering spell work, meditations and daily tarot readings. Here’s one of their selling points:
“The skill of tarot is in the
interpretation, the contextualization, the questions asked. [This platform] does this work using the same frameworks an experienced human reader would use. The output, in our testing across hundreds of readings, is often indistinguishable from a competent human reading.”
I, as I’m sure almost all other tarot readers, have some thoughts about that. My knee-jerk reaction was to get angry
over the encroachment of AI into a territory that 1) is my livelihood; 2) is something that I’ve studied for decades; and 3) is something I believe is a sacred practice.
Tarotists who only offer written readings are the ones who may see the most competition from AI. But I started to think about how the AI explosion might actually be beneficial to readers. For those who eschew generative assistance, what opportunities might actually become more available to real (human) readers?
I think the answer– at least part of it– is in-person sessions. I know many readers–myself included– pivoted to doing online readings during the pandemic. We got used to holding appointments over Zoom and on the phone. The technology was a godsend. But now the pendulum is swinging back and I think there’s a window opening for good, old-fashioned, sit-at-the-table-with-me readings. They say loneliness is the new pandemic and people are craving community and connection. In-person tarot readings can be an antidote to that. But, assuming you don’t have a dedicated brick-and-mortar space, where can you go to meet with others?
Some options:
The obvious choice: metaphysical stores. If you happen to live in an area where there are crystal shops or witchcraft supply stores, they’re often looking for readers to add to their roster.
Other businesses like coffee shops, hair salons, bookstores, restaurants, etc. It’s a win-win situation. You get to read and they will attract new customers.
Parties. Doing readings at showers, bachelorette parties and holiday gatherings is a great way to meet new potential clients.
Libraries. If you teach tarot or are comfortable giving presentations, many libraries will welcome you to come share your knowledge. Also, many have private rooms that you can sign up to use.
Ren fairs and festivals (if you don’t mind being outside and dressing up).
Conferences. Think romance writers’ conferences, steampunk conventions, wedding expos. Last year, the casino in my state hosted a holistic wellness expo and there were dozens of readers who had booths.
Public work spaces. For a time I rented space at a local co-working space and used the conference room to conduct readings.
Capitalizing on in-person readings is just one
way we might beat AI at its own game. It may be hard to compete with low-cost, highly-polished written or recorded AI readings, but one thing AI can’t do is replace YOU. Your physical presence and compassionate conversations are a treasure that no computer can recreate!
About Patti:
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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
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Upcoming Events: 
Tarot Salon on Zoom!
7:00 – 9:00 pm EDT
Our popular Monday night classes are held over Zoom so you can attend no matter where you live.
Classes are recorded and all levels of experience are welcome!
JUNE 2026:
1 - Symbols of the 5 of Swords
8 - Reciprocal Powers of the 4 & 5 of Swords
15 - Symbols of
Death
22 - Symbols of Temperance
29 - Birth Cards: Wheel-Magician
Get on the notification list to see what we'll be teaching each week.
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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!
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