I’ve never believed spiritual practices like tarot card readings were actually accurate or helpful until I tried it for myself last Wednesday.
I have recently had complex negative feelings in which I couldn’t figure out the source, so I came to an intuitive reader in Asheville, Melinda Raines, for a special shadow archetype reading involving tarot cards and somatic guidance.
Our session started with meditation to center myself and connect with the earth, to really dig deep and find my true reason for being there.
“As you exhale, imagine roots growing out of your body and sinking into the core of the earth,” Raines said.
With each breath I took, I felt more relaxed and focused on my body and mind. I was able to find the negative thoughts causing me trouble.
“So what came up for you?” Raines asked as I opened my eyes, coming back to our session.
“I have been feeling really aggravated lately for no reason. I feel like it’s disrupting my social life. I just want to find out what’s going on and why these feelings came up out of nowhere,” I said.
Raines explained her process of intuitive reading to me. She would start by intuitively constructing questions to ask, and then pulling a card from her tarot deck for an answer.
After deep consideration, the first question Raines asked was, “What is your anger representing and how are you currently perceiving your anger that is causing distress?”
She intuitively pulled “the world” card from her deck. It was a colorful card of a woman holding the world in her hands.
She informed me that this card represents anger taking over important parts of my life in many unexplained ways.
“Remember there are many parts of you and many feelings. Anger is just one of the bunch. You need to take time to intentionally luxuriate in other feelings, especially pleasure and peacefulness,” Raines said.
“That makes sense for me,” I said. This was something I knew, but never given much thought to. Some emotions make themselves more known than others, and a lot of the time there is no explanation for it, especially anger.
The second question Raines asked was, “Who in you is resistant to your anger?”
The card she pulled for this question was the “death” card. I was slightly startled by this because I didn’t know much about tarot cards and automatically associated it with something negative, but this card actually represents a rebirth.
What Raines said next fully resonated with me. “Currently, some part of you sees the bigness and heaviness of your anger as an end, as threatening to the identity you have always felt yourself to be.”
Hearing this out loud, and looking at the death card gave me a heavy feeling in my chest. She was exactly right. There is a part of me holding those feelings back because I feel like it is wrong and out of character for me to express it.
“Your primal brain may associate feeling or expressing anger with death because you may have learned it is unsafe to feel or express it,” Raines said.
“It is a scary emotion to feel,” I said.
Raines reassured me that my anger is beautiful, and it is my mind’s way of protecting itself.
At that moment, she came up with another question. “What archetype inside of you do you already have access to that can help you reclaim anger as the sacred emotion it is?”
“The hierophant” card was pulled this time. This card was very elegant and feminine. It is a woman in a beautiful dress holding a staff surrounded by sunflowers.
After pulling this card, Raines asks me a personal question. “Are you religious at all?”
As this is a complex idea for me, I responded with a simple, “kind of. I was raised in a religious household,” not expanding any further on the topic.
Raines gave me the idea to reconnect with any sort of spirituality I may have on my own terms.
“This may mean bringing some traditions from your past and creating new ones that resonate with you,” Raines said.
I was a little caught off guard by her thought because this has been something I have tossed around in my mind lately, and I did not expect the topic to come up in our session without me mentioning it first.
Raines moved on to her very last question.
“What archetype inside of you knows how to create safety and comfort for yourself at all times?”
She pulled the “judgment” card for this last question. The card had a floating woman on it playing the trumpet with butterflies surrounding her.
Raines assured me that my own judgment and awareness is strong, and I should use my own intuition to differentiate between good and bad actions.
“Trust yourself and your instincts above all and you will find the answers one step at a time,” Raines said.
As our session came to an end, I felt rather alleviated and thanked Raines for her time and expertise.
Even though I had doubts going into this reading, what Raines said really resonated with me. I left with a new insight into my situation and the actions I should take moving forward.
I didn’t expect to find interest in intuitive reading, but it is something I will try again in the future.
