Reflective Tarot
A personal reading philosophy.
When a reading begins to "click"
I feel a convergence within and the images begin to speak to me. I often notice repetitive or mirroring themes across a spread, which is why I enjoy employing multiple decks — the differentiated visual languages create multiple perspectives that strengthen and clarify the narrative. Often, even while shuffling, the placements of the cards begin to show themselves almost like lights guiding where they should land. From there, I follow the flow and symbolic structure that emerges between myself, the cards, and the querent.
The visual and emotional aspects of tarot are largely instinctive for me. The symbolic and verbal side comes afterwards and is shaped by knowledge, experience, and reflection. As an artist, symbolism has always been one of my strongest ways of engaging with the world. I’ve spent my life building a visual language through art, and tarot naturally connects to that. I enjoy richly illustrated decks and large, layered readings because I like seeing the relationships and conversations that form between cards and structures.
Music, art & pattern recognition
My background in classical music deeply shaped the way I read. Music trained my patience, timing, emotional sensitivity, and pattern recognition through years of repetition, listening, and coordination with others. There is also a ritualistic and historical atmosphere that carries through both music and tarot for me — a connection between older forms of craft, discipline, and meaning-making. At the same time, I remain very interested in technology and contemporary ways of working, and I’m constantly exploring how to unite the old with the new.
Perhaps isolation also shaped me. Even though performance was often collaborative, much of the preparation happened alone — long periods of practice, repetition, and quiet skill-building. In many ways, tarot carries a similar devotion for me. I am always reading, learning, reflecting, and refining the way I serve people and present my work.
Intuition, interpretation & trust
I do not see tarot as a fixed authority or a definitive answer. To me, it is a tool — something that helps people reflect, reconnect with themselves, and better understand the patterns moving through their lives. I think intuition and intellect are equally important and should enhance each other rather than compete. Tarot becomes most meaningful when approached with openness, trust, and a genuine willingness to engage honestly with oneself.
I believe intuition ultimately comes down to trust — the trust you place in yourself, in the fact that you are alive, and in your ability to move through the world. Tools like tarot can help sharpen that relationship with yourself, but they should not replace it. I think people sometimes fear tarot because they imagine it as something authoritative or hierarchical, but I experience it as something much more circular, reflective, and collaborative.
Creating space through trust
Tarot is a divinatory system composed of archetypes, numbers, suits, and figures that map psychological and existential movement. The Major Arcana appear as stages of a universal journey, shaped by archetypal forces with dynamic, often contradictory, personalities. Tarot symbolism is culturally layered, historically fluid, and personally coded. There is no single correct interpretation. Meanings are read, not received.
© 2026 Serpidea