I first became interested in tarot almost thirty years ago. I was a pub wench at a Renaissance Faire. It was a special time.

I bought a deck. I started to read the book. I got really good at the first three cards of the Major Arcana (The Fool, The Magician, and The High Priestess, in case you were wondering) and then I gave up. Life was busy and complicated and I didn’t have a lot of spare mental energy to devote to divination.

Flash forward to 2019…I decided it was time to return to tarot. I got one deck and then another and another (SO many decks!) and then started to work with them. I switch up the decks demanding on my mood. Some of them are easier to read with than others. It’s a helpful tool for greater self awareness and understanding. Often it’s a tool for me to gain clarity about a situation or to see things from a new perspective.

Now I feel more comfortable reading for other people and recently did a New Year reading for a friend. The first card was her blessing from the past year. I pulled The Tower. (See photo above.)

I am a believer that there are no “bad” cards in tarot. I don’t believe that tarot predicts the future. We all have free will and the power of choice in any moment. That said, The Tower is pretty clear about the energy it holds and the message it brings.

It’s all crashing down on you. This interruption, destruction, not at all pleasant thing has happened and it was beyond your control. There is very little, if anything, left and it seems like everything you knew to be true no longer is.

Where’s the blessing in that?

When there’s nothing left, there’s nothing to hold us back. There’s nothing to hold on to. We’re released from patterns of behavior, a job that doesn’t serve us, a relationship that really wasn’t working. When there’s nothing left, we get to choose what we build, what we invite in. We get a fresh start, a clean slate, a blank page, or any other appropriate cliche you can throw at this. We get to move forward with the power of choosing what we really want.