Real Stories
Reflective Tarot in Counselling
These Cases Tarot is a Projective Tool, Like a Picture Card or a Sand Tray
Ground rules used in every case:
No Predictions
The Client's Meaning Comes First
Informed Consent
Always Tied Back to The Work
The reflective spread used: three cards, laid as Where I am · What's asking for attention · What I'm being invited to explore. Variations are noted in each case.
Career Crossroads And Self-Doubt
Client
Female, 34, marketing manager, considering leaving her job to start a baking business. Self-referred.
Initital Counselling
She said she had been "thinking about this for three years" and kept asking friends what she should do. Every list of pros and cons ended in a tie. She described a critical inner voice: "Who do you think you are?" No signs of depression; GAD-7 was 8 (mild).
Shared goal: hear her own voice clearly enough to make the decision herself. Tarot was offered because talking alone kept looping, and she agreed.
Problem Solving
Sessions 1–2: Explored where the inner critic came from. She linked it to a teacher who mocked her artwork as a child.
Session 3 — The reading. Cards drawn: Where I am — Eight of Cups; What's asking for attention — Page of Pentacles; What I'm being invited to explore — Queen of Wands.
o Asked what she saw in the Eight of Cups. She said: "Someone walking away from something that's fine but not enough." She cried and said that was her job.
o On the Page of Pentacles, she noticed the figure "studying the coin carefully, not jumping." This opened talk about testing the business before quitting.
o The Queen of Wands she called "the woman I'd be if I stopped asking permission."
Sessions 4–5: Turned her own words into a plan: sell at two weekend markets over the next 3 months while still employed. Journaled weekly on "Queen of Wands moments": times she acted without asking permission.
Result
After 3 months she had sold at four markets and taken six custom orders. She decided to move to a 4-day work week rather than quit, and to review again in 6 months. She said the cards "didn't tell me anything; they showed me what I already knew."
Grief After Losing a Parent
Client
Female, 42, school administrator, whose father died 8 months ago after a short illness. Referred by her sister.
Initital Counselling
She had returned to work within a week and "held everything together" for her mother. She had not cried since the funeral. She felt numb, irritable and guilty that she wasn't with her father at the end. PHQ-9 was 10 (moderate), with no thoughts of self-harm.
Shared goal: allow the grief she had postponed, and ease the guilt. Tarot was offered as a gentle, indirect way in after she found direct questions about her father too hard.
Problem Solving
Sessions 1–2: Built safety. Talked about her father's life, not his death: his habits, his humour, what he taught her.
Session 3 — The reading (adapted spread). Three cards laid as What I carry · What I haven't said · What he gave me. Cards drawn: Ten of Wands; Five of Cups; Six of Pentacles.
o Ten of Wands: "That's me carrying everyone." She realised no one was carrying her.
o Five of Cups: she focused on the two standing cups behind the figure and said, "I'm only looking at what spilled." Then she spoke for the first time about the hospital night she missed, and cried.
o Six of Pentacles: "He gave to everyone. That's where I learned it." This shifted her from guilt to gratitude.
Sessions 4–6: Wrote an unsent letter to her father, saying what she hadn't said. Planned one small ritual on his birthday with her mother and sister. Asked her sister to share caregiving for their mother.
Result
After 7 sessions, PHQ-9 was 5. She described the grief as "heavy but moving now, not stuck." Guilt eased as she recognised she had been caring for her mother that night. Monthly sessions continued until the first death anniversary, which is a known difficult point.
A Repeating Relationship Pattern
Client
Female, 29, architect, after the end of her third relationship in five years. Self-referred.
Initital Counselling
She said every partner started out "perfect" and then became distant, and she ended up chasing them. She wanted to know "what is wrong with me." She had asked a tarot reader elsewhere whether she would marry soon and felt worse afterwards. No depression or risk indicators.
Shared goal: understand her own part in the pattern without blaming herself. Before using tarot, the difference between that earlier predictive reading and reflective use was explained. She chose to try it.
Problem Solving
Sessions 1–2: Mapped the three relationships side by side: how each began, the turning point, how each ended. She saw that she dropped her own friends and hobbies within months each time.
Session 3 — The reading. Cards drawn: Where I am — Two of Swords; What's asking for attention — Four of Cups; What I'm being invited to explore — Nine of Pentacles.
o Two of Swords, the blindfolded figure: "I don't look at the red flags. I decide not to see."
o Four of Cups: she noticed the figure ignoring the cup being offered. She linked it to how she ignores people who are steady and kind because they feel "boring."
o Nine of Pentacles, the woman alone in her garden: "She's content by herself. I've never been that."
Sessions 4–6: Explored attachment patterns from childhood (a father who was often away). Set a goal of a "Nine of Pentacles year": rebuild friendships and her own interests before dating again. Created a personal list of early warning signs to notice in new relationships.
Result
After 4 months she had restarted pottery, reconnected with two old friends and was dating again slowly. She noticed and named one early red flag on a second date and chose not to continue. She said: "I stopped asking the cards when, and started asking myself why."
Identity After Children Leave Home
Client
Female, 51, homemaker, whose younger son had just left for college in another city. Referred by her family doctor.
Initital Counselling
She described the house as "too quiet" and said she didn't know what to do with her days. She cooked for four out of habit. Her husband travelled for work. She felt silly being sad about something "normal." PHQ-9 was 8 (mild), with no thoughts of self-harm.
Shared goal: make sense of this change and build a life that is hers. She was curious about tarot and asked to try it.
Problem Solving
Sessions 1–2: Named the empty-nest transition as a real loss and a real beginning. Reviewed her life in chapters: girlhood, marriage, motherhood. She realised she had no clear picture of the next chapter.
Session 3 — The reading (adapted spread). Four cards laid as What I'm leaving · What I'm keeping · What I've forgotten about myself · My next chapter. Cards drawn: Six of Cups; The Empress; The Star; Three of Wands.
o Six of Cups: memories of the children small. She allowed herself to grieve that phase.
o The Empress: "My nurturing doesn't stop. It just needs a new place to go."
o The Star: she remembered she had wanted to train as a teacher before marriage.
o Three of Wands, the figure looking out at ships: "I'm finally the one who gets to set out."
Sessions 4–6: Researched part-time teacher training. Planned a weekly video call routine with her sons that didn't revolve around checking up on them. Started a morning walk with a neighbour.
Result
After 8 weeks, PHQ-9 was 3. She enrolled in a one-year early-childhood education course and began volunteering at a local anganwadi. She described the reading as "the first time I thought about what I want, not what my family needs." One follow-up was set for after her son's first visit home.
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