Turning up the Tarot

No headscarf or jangling bracelets: tarot reader Thomas Saunders is a million miles from the cliche of a fortune teller

Where Tarot falls in the malaise of spiritual and emotional guidance may not be clear at first. Cynics dismiss it as hocus pocus nonsense whilst the more superstitious can see its terrifying potential to predict the future.

"But Tarot has nothing to do with fortune telling," stresses Thomas Saunders adamantly, "the latter is sinister, it feeds our expectations, hopes and fears, whereas Tarot is about taking responsibility for ourselves. Science, on the other hand, is too rigid and tries to fit everything into one formula." 

I'm at Saunders’ beautiful home in Biot, about to have my cards read. My head is skeptical but my heart is palpitating with fear; even though he promises the Tarot won't tell me my destiny, I can't help but think I'm about to hear something I'd rather not know.

Surely the Tarot is an instrument of prediction otherwise what's the point? "People come to me hoping to be led to a tall, dark stranger - a perfect lover or benefactor. In reality the cards only introduce you to you, the irony is that you are the tall, dark stranger you want to meet. It's about discovering the inner self."

An architect by trade, Saunders couldn't be further from the clichéd image of a fortuneteller. "I hit the typical midlife crisis," he confesses candidly, "I was facing three big questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my destiny?" He became fascinated with sacred languages and geometry after reading C.G. Jung. This led him to Tarot, which he has now been practicing for 25-years. He was Marie Claire’s Tarot reader and is author of The Authentic Tarot.

The reading Saunders gives is more a form therapy: a way to think about who you are and where your life's going.

Saunders initially asks his clients to pose a question in their heads or to think about an issue that's affecting them at present. As they hold this in their mind, they will shuffle the cards three times, each time cutting the pack in three and putting it back together with their left hand. Saunders prefers to know very little about the person in front of him, so there is no outside information clouding his understanding of the cards.

The normal Tarot spread uses 21 cards: a mixture of the 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards. The Major are pictorial and each represents a stage or a pitfall along a metaphoric pathway. The Minor ones belong to one of four suites: Money (physical), Cups (emotional), Swords (rationality and intellect) or Clubs (creativity). Saunders only uses the Ancien Tarot de Marseille as he deems this the most authentic pack of cards.

After dealing, he quietly studies the spread; my heart starts to thump again. "The death card doesn't mean you’re about to die,' he breaks the silence quickly, "it implies a metaphorical death, you must let go of something." From Saunders reaction, I’m guessing most people freak out when they see the Grim Reaper. However, I'm more worried about the fact that there is not a single Cup in my hand. The Cups are in the realm of emotion. What does this mean? Am I dead, on the inside? Even though this is unusual, Saunders suggests that the absence of emotional issues in my hand, simply implies that I don't have any. I’m doubtful but decide it’s best to turn to my attention to the table.

Going through the spread, working in different directions across the three horizontal and seven vertcal lines, he studies the relationship between cards. Like a storyteller he weaves a tale from the different elements.

As he tells me the story, it triggers me to think, mostly about things of which I am already aware but often avoid. When it is over, I feel strong enough to do some honest self-refelction; I know that this is the first step in acutalizing positive changes. The Tarot hasn’t given me any magic answers as to how to do this - that tricky bit is down to me.

tom@thomassaunders.net

Authentic Tarot Card Workshop with Thomas Saunders. 6th and 7th February. To book call 06 83 26 84 86 or email louise@holistic-provence.com