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People believe some absolute bollocks about tarot.
Tarot predicts the future. It’s evil. You need psychic powers. Someone has to gift you your first deck or it won’t work. Can’t let anyone touch your cards. Must cleanse them under a full moon or they’ll be cursed.
None of that’s true.
These tarot myths stick around because they serve a purpose. They keep tarot feeling mysterious, exclusive, and slightly dangerous. Great for dramatic film scenes where a character pulls the Death card and everyone gasps. Shit for actually using the cards to understand what’s going on in your life.
Most of these myths exist to gatekeep. To make tarot feel like something you need permission to access, something only special people can do.
Here are 9 that need burying.
Tarot Predicts the Future
This is the big one. The myth that tarot is fortune-telling, that the cards can tell you exactly what’s going to happen.
Bollocks.
Tarot shows you patterns. Where you are now, what’s influencing you, where you’re likely headed based on your current trajectory. But it doesn’t dictate what happens. You still make the choices.
Think of it like a weather forecast. The forecast shows current conditions and likely patterns, but you still decide whether to bring an umbrella, stay inside, or go out anyway. The forecast doesn’t control the weather. It gives you information. That’s tarot.
Fortune-Telling Is Manipulation
When readers claim they can predict your future with certainty, they’re lying. Or deluded.
Either way, it’s manipulative.
Life doesn’t work that way. You have free will. Every choice you make creates ripples that shape what comes next. If the future were fixed, none of your decisions would matter.
I’m not a fortune teller. Tarot helps you understand your present so you can create the future you want. That’s it.
Tarot Is Evil or Demonic
This one comes straight from religious fear and Hollywood drama. Tarot cards as gateway to the devil, demonic forces, dark magic.
Are books evil? Is the Bible evil? Is Mein Kampf evil? They’re all books.
The point is that tarot is a tool. Sure, it can be used for evil things. It can be used for what people might call demonic things. But is it inherently so? No. Fuck no. It’s how you use it.
They’re Bits of Fucking Cardboard
Tarot cards are cardboard. They don’t have power. They don’t summon spirits. They don’t open portals to hell. What they do is help you understand shit. That’s their power.
I’ve read for Church of England vicars. I’ve read for Muslims, atheists, people from every belief system you can imagine. The cards work for everyone because they’re a reflection tool, not a demonic gateway.
One of my regular clients is a vicar. She calls me her spiritual director. If tarot were actually evil, I don’t think that would be happening.
You Need Psychic Powers to Read Tarot
No. Fuck no.
Reading tarot is a skill you develop, not a superpower you’re born with.
Think of it like learning an instrument. Your intuition gets better with practice. You learn to notice patterns, connect symbols, read energy in the room or over the screen. But you’re not waiting for a lightning bolt from the mystical beyond. You’re developing a skill.
Do some readers connect it to psychic work? Sure. Some people have natural intuitive gifts and they use tarot as part of that. More power to them. But most of us just learn the cards, practice reading, and get better over time.
I Started During Lockdown
I practiced day after day after day after day because I had nothing else to do. Built my connection through repetition. No psychic powers involved. Just dedication and genuine desire to understand the tool.
If you want to read tarot, you can learn. The barrier isn’t supernatural gifts. It’s willingness to study and practice.
You Can’t Read Tarot for Yourself
You absolutely can.
But I’ll be honest: it’s harder than reading for someone else.
Confirmation Bias Is Real
The challenge is psychological, not supernatural.
When you’re emotionally invested in the outcome, it’s easy to read the cards as telling you what you want to hear. I do it myself. I’ll pull a card that’s calling me out on something, and if I don’t want to hear it, it’s very easy to go “oh, but maybe it’s talking about something else” and let myself off the hook.
Whereas when I’m reading for someone else, I’m not as emotionally invested. I can stay objective.
You can read for yourself. Just be aware of your biases. Ask yourself: am I being honest about what this card is showing me? Or am I twisting it to match what I want to be true?
Sometimes an external perspective helps. That’s why professional readers exist. We can see things you’re too close to notice.
But self-reading is possible if you stay honest with yourself.
You Must Be Gifted Your First Deck
This is gatekeeping dressed as tradition.
The myth goes: your first tarot deck must be gifted to you, or it won’t work properly. Some versions say it must be gifted by another tarot reader, like you need to be initiated into some sacred club.
If everyone waited to be gifted a deck, we’d have no tarot readers. How would the gifter have got their deck? Who gifted them? Where does the chain start?
It’s nonsense.
Connection Matters, Not Transaction
I was gifted my first deck. Good deck, helpful for learning. But when I had a friend who wanted to learn tarot, I passed it on to them. I’d already moved on to a different deck by then.
The decks I deeply connect with? The ones I use for professional readings? I picked those myself. I chose them because something about the imagery spoke to me. That connection matters more than who paid for it.
Buy whatever deck calls to you. Choose one that resonates. That’s what creates the bond, not the transaction method.
You Must Cleanse Your Deck Between Readings
This one’s complicated.
Cleansing CAN be helpful. But it’s not magically required.
Ritual vs Superstition
Some readers cleanse their deck between clients. Sage, crystals, visualisation. Whatever works for them. And that’s valid. If it helps you reset mentally, if it creates a symbolic boundary between readings, if it helps you focus, brilliant. That’s ritual serving your practice.
I knock on my deck and shuffle between clients. That’s my reset. Works for me. Clears the energy, sets intention for the next reading. Simple, effective.
The real question is whether you’re doing this because it helps you, or because you’re scared not to.
If you’re cleansing because you genuinely believe the deck will be “contaminated” without it, that’s fear. Superstition. If you’re doing it because it helps you mentally prepare and focus, that’s ritual.
The cards don’t actually hold onto “bad energy” from previous readings. They’re cardboard. But if the act of cleansing helps YOU, then do it.
You Can’t Let Others Touch Your Cards
Some readers have this boundary. And that’s valid for them.
I know a reader who doesn’t let anyone touch their deck. That’s their connection, that’s how they work. Not restrictive, it’s part of their practice. Helps them maintain their relationship with the cards.
I have clients shuffle and split the deck in person. They choose which pile to draw from. That physical interaction is part of my reading flow. Works for me. Doesn’t work for everyone.
Personal Practice or Fear?
Personal practice choice versus fear-based superstition. That’s the difference.
If someone tells you “nobody can EVER touch your cards or they’ll be ruined,” that’s superstition. Fear. If you choose not to let others touch your cards because it works better for your practice, that’s valid.
Do what serves YOUR practice. There’s no cosmic rule about who touches what.
Online Tarot Readings Don’t Work
Energy and intuition aren’t bound by Wi-Fi speeds.
I’ve done hundreds of readings over Zoom. Clients from all over the world. The connection is always there.
Whether you’re sitting across from me in person or on a screen halfway across the world, the reading works the same way.
I’m still connecting to the cards. Still reading the energy. Still having a conversation with you about what’s coming up.
The delivery method doesn’t change the quality of the insight.
Skill and Openness
The reading quality depends on the reader’s skill and the client’s openness to the process.
Not whether you’re in the same room.
Pixels don’t block energy. Distance doesn’t diminish intuition. The reading works because of the connection between reader, cards, and client. Not because of physical proximity.
Tarot Gives You All the Answers
Tarot isn’t a cheat code for life.
It doesn’t hand you all the answers on a silver platter. It doesn’t tell you exactly what to do.
What it offers: perspective. It shows you patterns you might not have noticed. Options you hadn’t considered. Helps you peel back layers of understanding about your situation. But walking the path? Making the choices? That’s on you.
Clarity, Not Instructions
In readings, I emphasise understanding over directives.
The cards illuminate your options. They show you what’s influencing you, what patterns are at play. Where different choices might lead. But they don’t tell you “do this specific thing and everything will be fine.”
Life doesn’t work that way.
You have agency. You make the decisions. Tarot just helps you make informed ones.
These Tarot Myths Exist to Gatekeep
To make tarot feel like something you need permission to access. Something mysterious and exclusive that only special people can use. Something dangerous if you don’t follow the “right” rules.
You don’t need permission.
Buy your own deck. Read for yourself. Skip the cleansing ritual if it doesn’t serve you. Let people touch your cards if that works for your practice. Book an online reading if that’s what’s accessible.
Use tarot however helps you understand what the fuck is going on in your life.
The only real rule: don’t be a manipulative prick about it. Don’t create dependency in your clients. Don’t claim certainty you don’t have. Don’t use fear to control people.
Beyond that? The cards are yours to use.
Want a reading that cuts through the bollocks? Book a session.
New to tarot? Learn without the gatekeeping nonsense in the Simply Tarot course, where we focus on building your connection to the cards, not following superstitious rules that don’t serve you.
