Symbolic Listening to God with the Help of Tarot

Listening to God can involve more than words. An image may catch our attention before we can explain why. A familiar passage of Scripture can suddenly reveal a question we have been avoiding. Sometimes understanding begins with a feeling, a remembered detail or a symbol that asks us to linger.

For me, Tarot belongs within that space of symbolic listening. Its images give our attention somewhere to rest. They can bring hidden patterns into view and help us recognise what we need to bring into prayer.

In Reading Tarot as a Christian Mystic, I introduced Tarot as a companion for contemplation and discernment. Here, I want to develop that approach through a simple five-step practice rooted in John 15:1–17.

The intention is to listen with openness, discern with care and allow what we understand to bear fruit in how we live.

What Is Symbolic Listening?

Symbolic listening means attending to the images, associations and inner responses through which meaning may become apparent.

A Tarot card can help us notice something that an abstract question leaves untouched. We might recognise a tension between what we say we want and what we actually fear. A detail in the picture may bring a neglected relationship or responsibility to mind.

These responses deserve attention. Their significance does not depend on immediately deciding whether they arose through memory, intuition, pattern recognition or spiritual inspiration.

My conviction is that the Holy Spirit can work through our human faculties, including imagination and symbolic perception. Recognising those faculties does not exclude divine activity.

Equally, a meaningful impression is something to discern. We need time in prayer and Scripture to understand it and consider how to respond.

Christian Hermetic Foundations

In Letter I, “The Magician,” of the modern classic Meditations on the Tarot, Valentin Tomberg develops the principle of concentration without effort. He connects it with Christ’s teaching about the easy yoke and light burden. His discussion invites an attentive ease rather than a strained attempt to manufacture spiritual understanding.

Drawing on Tomberg, Mark Patrick Hederman also considers Tarot a medium for Christian meditation. In Tarot: Talisman or Taboo? – Reading the World as Symbol, he hopes readers will engage with the symbols and the meditations they evoke “in whatever way the Spirit inspires.”

Neither passage supplies the exercise below. This is my own proposed practice, informed by those contemplative approaches and centred on Scripture.

Begin with the Vine and the Branches

Read John 15:1–17 before drawing a card.

In this passage, Jesus speaks to his disciples about remaining in him, bearing fruit and loving one another. The vine and branches express a living relationship. The Father’s pruning introduces the theme of growth through the removal of what obstructs fruitfulness.

Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I remain in you” (John 15:4, NABRE).

Later, the passage makes its practical direction clear: “love one another as I love you” (John 15:12, NABRE).

Read the whole passage, including what challenges you. Ask what it says about discipleship before considering your personal associations.

These themes give our listening a direction: relationship with Christ, growth and love expressed in life.

A Five-Step Practice for Symbolic Listening

Set aside a little uninterrupted time. Have your Bible, Tarot deck and a notebook nearby. Use a deck whose imagery you can look at comfortably and attentively.

You can use the whole deck. Both Major and Minor Arcana can provide a focus for this exercise.

1. Make Space to Listen

Read the passage slowly. Notice a phrase or image that holds your attention, then pause.

You might begin with a brief prayer such as the one below:

Lord Jesus, help me remain in your love. Holy Spirit, open my understanding, and guide my response. Amen.

Let your breathing settle naturally. Notice how you feel in your body. Bring any tension, sadness or impatience into prayer rather than trying to hide it behind a spiritual performance.

Stillness can include distractions. When your attention wanders, gently return.

Choose one question centred on the themes of the passage, such as:

What needs my attention as I seek to remain in Christ’s love?

Or:

What is keeping me from experiencing the full joy of Christ?

Or:

What needs pruning so I can bear fruit?

2. Receive the Image

Shuffle and draw one card.

Before reaching for a memorised meaning, look. Notice posture, colour, movement, distance and the relationship between figures or objects. With a Marseille pip card, attend to number, arrangement and the suit’s repeated forms.

Allow your initial response to register. Does your attention move towards something inviting, uncomfortable or easily overlooked?

For a few moments, let the urge to explain grow quiet. Receiving and interpreting are different movements, even when they happen quickly.

Then write down what you noticed. Separate the visible detail from your association with it.

Ask:

What does this image bring into focus about my response to the passage?

The connection may be unexpected. Give it room without forcing a correspondence.

3. Bring Your Response into Prayer

Speak honestly to God about what arose.

Perhaps the image brought relief, resistance, affection or a difficult memory. You can pray with that response before settling its meaning.

Return to the phrase from Scripture that first held your attention. Consider whether your response to the card changes how you hear it.

Then spend a little time in silence.

There is no requirement to receive words or a dramatic insight. If nothing further arises, you can finish by offering God your attention and the question you brought.

4. Discern What Arises

Read the passage again. Now allow conscious reflection to do its work.

Consider:

• Does my interpretation respect what the passage actually says?
• What hopes, fears or familiar assumptions might be shaping it?
• Does the proposed response encourage honesty, compassion and responsibility?
• What would I need to clarify before acting?

An uncomfortable insight may still be useful. A comforting one may still need examination. Emotional intensity alone does not establish an impression’s source.

You can record an understanding as a possible invitation to consider. That leaves room to revisit it.

For a significant decision, bring the impression into wider reflection, including relevant facts and trusted counsel. One card need not carry the weight of the whole decision.

5. Respond in Life

Choose one proportionate action.

You might offer an apology, contact someone who needs support, keep a necessary boundary or schedule a daily prayer time. Further prayer and reflection may be the appropriate next step.

Write down what you intend to do and when you will return to it.

Close with a brief prayer of thanks. Ask for the grace to put your understanding into practice.

Two Examples

When I tried this practice with John 15, I used two questions for reflection.

1. What Is Keeping Me from Experiencing the Full Joy of Christ?

I drew the 6 of Cups. My eye went straight to the white flower and its suggestion of innocence.

It brought into focus how jaded I sometimes feel. Somewhere within me was the assumption that the Lord also sees me as “past it”—someone who has tried and failed too many times to remain worthy.

Yet I recognised those thoughts as lies. Returning to the passage, I kept coming back to “I chose you.”

For me, those words challenged that weary self-assessment. Christ sees beyond my carefully curated ego personality. I felt invited to receive the possibility of being someone worth knowing and spending time with.

My response: I decided to schedule five minutes of silence in the Lord’s presence, simply making time to be with him.

2. What Needs Pruning So I Can Bear Fruit?

I drew The Chariot, but what caught my attention was its lack of movement. The vehicle is stationary. In fact, it’s questionable if it is even a vehicle.

That reflected how stuck I had become through trying to think my way into community. I had isolated myself while struggling to see a way forward.

The invitation I recognised was to loosen my need to work everything out and allow God to guide me through actual encounters.

My response was a willingness to participate. I could take the next step towards community without having the whole journey mapped out.

My response: I decided to stay for coffee after church on Sunday. One small, concrete step towards participating in community.

Receiving Freely, Responding Faithfully

This practice gives both receptivity and conscious contemplation a place. We quiet the immediate commentary long enough to notice what is arising. Then we bring our capacity for reflection back into the conversation.

The image may help us recognise a pattern. Prayer may deepen our understanding. Discernment helps us consider what that understanding asks of us.

For me, symbolic listening belongs within a relationship with Christ that continues after the cards are put away. Its value becomes visible in the attention, courage and care we bring to ordinary life.

Receive freely. Discern carefully. Speak charitably.

That is the spirit in which I offer this practice.