When I first started reading tarot, I thought I was learning a divination system.

When I started studying astrology, I thought I was learning a language of symbols.

What I didn’t realize was that both would eventually become an education in human nature.

After more than a decade of reading tarot cards, studying charts, and sitting with people during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, I’ve learned that the cards and charts are rarely the most interesting part of the session.

People are.

I’ve read for clients experiencing their first heartbreak and clients celebrating fifty years of marriage. I’ve read for people launching businesses, grieving loved ones, questioning their purpose, leaving toxic relationships, finding new love, and trying to understand why certain patterns keep repeating in their lives.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that human beings are beautifully, frustratingly, heartbreakingly complicated.

Most People Already Know the Answer

This was probably the first lesson that surprised me.

People come to tarot readers and astrologers looking for answers. They want to know if they should stay or leave, trust or walk away, begin or end.

But after years of reading, I’ve noticed that many people already know the answer before they book the session.

They just don’t trust themselves enough to believe it.

Sometimes my role isn’t to tell someone something they don’t know.

It’s to help them hear what they’ve been trying to tell themselves all along.

I’ve lost count of how many times a client has paused during a reading and said:

“I knew that.”

And every time, I smile.

Because deep down, they usually did.

We Mistake Familiarity for Love

This is one of the hardest truths I’ve learned.

People don’t always choose what is healthy.

We often choose what is familiar.

I’ve seen people repeatedly attract the same relationship in different bodies. Different names. Different faces. The same emotional pattern.

The person who never fully commits.

The relationship that requires endless fixing.

The connection that feels exciting because it feels uncertain.

As someone who practices Kabbalistic Astrology, this has become even more fascinating to me. We often call these experiences soul lessons, tikkun, or spiritual corrections. But regardless of what system you use, the pattern remains the same:

We repeat what we haven’t healed.

And sometimes the greatest spiritual lesson isn’t finding the right person.

It’s recognizing why we kept choosing the wrong ones.

Everyone Wants Permission

Permission to leave.

Permission to rest.

Permission to change careers.

Permission to stop pretending.

Permission to choose themselves.

I used to think people came to readers because they wanted predictions.

Now I think many people come because they’re hoping someone will tell them they’re allowed to do what they already know they need to do.

The irony is that no tarot card, astrology chart, or spiritual practitioner can give you permission.

You have to give it to yourself.

But sometimes having someone witness your truth makes that feel possible.

People Are Far Harder on Themselves Than They Are on Others

I’ve read for brilliant people who think they’re failures.

Beautiful people who believe they’re unlovable.

Successful people who feel like imposters.

Compassionate people who show themselves absolutely none.

The way people speak about themselves behind closed doors is often heartbreaking.

As a Capricorn, I felt this.

And after thousands of readings, I’ve come to believe that self-compassion is one of the rarest spiritual practices of all.

Love Makes Intelligent People Forget Their Own Wisdom

I’ve watched strong, successful, intuitive people lose all trust in themselves because of love.

They ignore their instincts and intuitions.

They dismiss red flags.

They explain away behavior they would never accept for someone they care about.

Guess what, I’ve done it too.

Love has a way of bypassing our intellect and going straight to our wounds.

It’s one of the reasons I no longer judge people for staying too long, hoping too hard, or believing someone who didn’t deserve their trust.

Being human is complicated.

Being in love is even more complicated.

Most People Aren’t Looking for Predictions

They’re looking for hope.

They want to know that what they’re experiencing has meaning.

That their suffering won’t last forever.

That their heartbreak taught them something.

That their life is moving somewhere, even when they can’t see the destination.

After all these years, I’ve realized that readings aren’t always about the future.

Sometimes they’re about helping someone survive the present.

Everyone Is Carrying Something

This may be the biggest lesson of all.

The person who appears confident may be terrified.

The person who seems successful may feel completely lost.

The person smiling through the session may be carrying grief they haven’t told anyone about.

Reading cards and charts for over a decade has made me less interested in appearances and much more interested in compassion.

Because you never really know what someone is carrying.

And sometimes what people need most isn’t a prediction.

It’s simply a safe space where they can be honest.

The Cards and Charts Were Never Really About the Cards and Charts

When I first started reading professionally, I thought my job was to interpret symbols.

Now I think my job has always been something else.

To witness.

To listen.

To hold space.

To help people reconnect with parts of themselves they’ve forgotten.

Tarot taught me symbolism.

Astrology taught me patterns.

But people taught me humanity.

They taught me that everyone is trying.

Trying to heal.

Trying to be loved.

Trying to understand why certain things happened.

Trying to make sense of their relationships, their losses, and the paths their lives have taken.

After more than a decade of reading cards and charts, I’ve come to realize that beneath almost every question about love, career, purpose, timing, or spirituality lies the same quiet desire: to be seen, to be understood, and to know that we’re not alone in what we’re experiencing.

And I think that’s what has kept me in this work for so long.

Not the predictions.

Not the techniques.

Not even the systems themselves.

Just people.

Their stories. Their resilience. Their capacity to break, heal, begin again, and become who they were always meant to be.

And being trusted enough to witness even a small part of that journey remains one of the greatest privileges of my life.

If You’d Like to Go Deeper

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that the most meaningful readings don’t always answer our questions. They help us ask better ones.

The following tarot spreads are inspired by many of the themes I’ve seen come up again and again throughout thousands of readings. You don’t need to pull all of them at once. Simply choose the one that speaks to where you are right now.

For more card spreads, click here.