Over the years, I’ve noticed that when we tarotists speak together of tarot, whether in a class, a meetup or casually, we often seem to speak the cards into being.

Or, more accurately, when we speak of the cards, they show up.

Here are some examples.

When teaching a class about the Fool, a young woman wandered into the classroom, lost. She wasn’t looking for the tarot class at all.

When leading a tarot meetup at a Panera Bread, we were discussing the silent, secretive nature of the High Priestess and a patron asked us to make less noise.

When discussing the bitchy reputation that the Queen of Swords often gets, my private student’s very difficult mother rang her phone incessantly.

What is happening, energetically? I think it is tarot’s way of being reflected into our lives.

I think it is another example of how ‘as above, so below’ actually works.

Perhaps a magickal method for learning tarot is to observe how the cards enter our lives. We could hasten that process by choosing a card for a day. On this day I will look for the Magician, for example. As you call in the Magician energy, commit to look for ways the Magician appears over the course of the day.

I think this would be great exercise with many of the cards, although I can’t imagine consciously wanting cards like the Three of Swords, the Ten of Swords or the Tower to manifest in the course of my day.

There is another way that speaking the names of the cards opens us to magick.

Mark K. Greer says that if you are stuck in a reading and not sure what to say about a specific card, simply say the name of the card aloud, and wait for a moment. Then, surely, the right words will come to you.

I have tried this method and it totally works.

The next time you are in a tarot class or at a tarot gathering, pay attention to what happens in the room when a specific card is discussed. One way or another, that card is likely to make itself known in a three-dimensional way.