There Is No Pack of Lies

Reflections on a letter I wrote to the Glasgow Evening Times more than 20 years ago..

More than 20 years ago, I wrote a letter to the Glasgow Evening Times.

I recently came across the newspaper cutting again, and it immediately took me back to a very different time. At that point in my life, tarot was something I was deeply interested in, but it was also something that attracted a great deal of dismissal from the people and environment around me. Tarot was often viewed as superstition, fortune-telling or something bordering on charlatanism. There were plenty of raised eyebrows, jokes and assumptions about what tarot was supposed to be. It was often easier for people to dismiss it than to actually understand it.

And I found that increasingly frustrating.

Not because I thought everyone should believe in tarot. I have never believed that. But because the way tarot was being portrayed bore very little resemblance to my own experience of it.

I knew there was far more to these cards than the stereotypes suggested.

So I wrote to the Glasgow Evening Times, the Glasgow-based evening newspaper that was part of the Herald and Evening Times newspaper group.

My letter was published in their Letters & Opinion section under the headline:

“Why Tarot Cards Are So Misunderstood.”

And beside it appeared a phrase that still makes me smile:

THERE IS NO PACK OF LIES.

Looking at those words more than two decades later, I can see exactly why I felt compelled to write them.

And interestingly, although the world around tarot has changed enormously since then, I don't think the underlying conversation has disappeared completely.

A Very Different Landscape

It is important to recognise just how much has changed in more than 20 years.

Tarot occupies a very different place in our culture now.

We are living through a period in which spirituality, intuition and holistic approaches to life have become far more visible, accessible and openly discussed.

You only have to look at social media, podcasts, YouTube, books, magazines, online communities, courses and events to see how much this conversation has grown.

People are talking openly about intuition, meditation, mindfulness, energy, personal development, spirituality and different ways of understanding themselves and their lives.

There is a much greater willingness to explore ideas that might once have been dismissed simply because they didn't fit neatly into conventional thinking.

Tarot has naturally become part of that wider conversation.

It is now possible to discover tarot within seconds. There are professional readers, teachers, authors, podcasts, online courses, social media creators and communities devoted to exploring it from many different perspectives. And I think that is a positive thing.

Tarot is more visible and considerably more accepted than it was when I wrote that letter.

I certainly don't look at the world today and think that tarot needs to be defended in quite the same way. But there are still misconceptions. And perhaps there is now a different conversation that needs to be had.

Because when something becomes more mainstream, there is always a danger that some of its depth gets lost along the way.

Beyond Fortune-Telling

One of the biggest misconceptions about tarot is that it is simply about fortune-telling.

That a card appears and therefore something is destined to happen.

That every card has one fixed meaning.

That the Death card means somebody is going to die.

That the Tower means disaster.

That the Ten of Swords means everything is doomed.

It is easy to understand why somebody unfamiliar with tarot might arrive at those conclusions.

But tarot is symbolic.

The cards don't exist in isolation. Their meaning is influenced by the question being explored, the surrounding cards, the circumstances of the person receiving the reading and the interpretation of the reader.

Take the Death card. Its name alone can provoke an immediate reaction. Yet Death is one of the most profound cards in the tarot. It can represent an ending, transformation, release or the closing of one chapter so that another can begin. It can describe a relationship that has changed, an identity we have outgrown, an old pattern that is no longer serving us or something we have been holding onto long after its time has passed. That isn't about predicting a literal death. It is about recognising that change is an inevitable part of being human. And this is precisely why reducing tarot to a list of frightening predictions misses the point.

What Tarot Actually Offers

For me, tarot is not about handing somebody a fixed version of their future.

It is about exploration. A reading can give somebody an opportunity to look at a relationship, a decision, a recurring pattern or a difficult situation from another perspective.

Sometimes the cards put words around something you already know.

Sometimes they highlight something you hadn't consciously considered.

Sometimes they challenge you.

And sometimes they simply create enough space to stop, step away from the noise of everyday life and listen to yourself. That is where I think tarot can be incredibly powerful.

Not because the cards take responsibility for our lives away from us, but because they can help us engage with our own thoughts, feelings, intuition and choices in a different way.

I don't believe a tarot reader should tell somebody what they must do.

Nor should a reading make somebody feel that their future has been decided for them.

The most valuable reading, in my view, is one that leaves you more connected to yourself and your own judgement. It can open a door. hat you choose to do once that door is open is still yours.

The Mystery Matters

There is another part of tarot that has become increasingly important to me over the years.

The mystery. We live in a world that wants answers quickly. We search for something and expect an answer immediately. Social media gives us endless opinions. Podcasts and videos can reduce complicated subjects to a few minutes. Algorithms increasingly predict what we might want before we even know that we want it. There is something rather beautiful, therefore, about something that doesn't always give us a simple answer.

Tarot can make us pause.

It can invite us to sit with an image.

To consider a symbol. To notice what comes up within us before somebody else tells us what it is supposed to mean. That matters. I don't think every aspect of tarot needs to be explained away in order for it to have value. And I don't think spirituality should require us to abandon our critical thinking either. There is room for both. Curiosity without gullibility.

Discernment without cynicism. Openness without surrendering our own judgement.

That balance is important to me. Because I think the wonder of tarot is partly found in what cannot be neatly packaged and explained.

Looking Back

When I look at that newspaper cutting now, I smile......

I recognise the woman who wrote the letter.

She was passionate about tarot.

She was frustrated by the way it was being dismissed.

And she clearly felt strongly enough about it to put pen to paper and send her thoughts to a newspaper.

More than 20 years later, I can see how much the landscape has changed.

Tarot no longer sits quite so far outside mainstream conversation. People encounter it through social media, podcasts, YouTube, books, courses, workshops, professional readers and their own personal exploration. Spirituality and intuition are discussed far more openly.

People are questioning old assumptions and looking for different ways of understanding themselves.

There is a growing recognition that wellbeing isn't necessarily about separating mind, body, emotions and intuition into completely different compartments. For many people, spirituality has become part of a much broader exploration of what it means to live a meaningful life.

Tarot has found its place within that. And I think that is something to celebrate. But I also think we need to be mindful of what happens when something becomes popular. Accessibility is wonderful. Simplification isn't always. Tarot doesn't need to become less mysterious simply because more people are interested in it. It doesn't need to be turned into a series of instant predictions. And it doesn't need to lose its symbolism, history and depth in order to have a place in modern life. Perhaps the challenge now is not defending tarot from those who dismiss it. Perhaps it is making sure that, as tarot becomes more widely accepted, we continue to approach it with the respect it deserves.

A Different Way of Looking

Ultimately, I don't think tarot needs everyone to agree about exactly what it is.

Some people will see it as a spiritual practice.

Some will approach it through intuition.

Some will find psychological or reflective value in the symbolism.

Others will simply be fascinated by the imagery and history of the cards.

There is room for different perspectives.

What matters to me is that we don't reduce something complex into something simplistic simply because it is easier to understand that way.

For me, tarot is a language of symbols.

It can help us explore the things we are thinking about, feeling and experiencing.

It can sometimes reveal a perspective that has been sitting just outside our awareness.

It can challenge us as much as it reassures us.

And sometimes, the most valuable thing a reading can offer isn't an answer at all.

It is a better question.

The Letter That Started This Reflection

I never imagined, when that letter appeared in the Glasgow Evening Times more than 20 years ago, that I would still be working with tarot all these years later.

Nor could I have known how dramatically the world around tarot would change.

Yet looking at that cutting now, I feel a certain affection for the woman who wrote it.

She cared enough to challenge something she felt was unfair.

She believed there was more to tarot than the assumptions being made about it.

And she was right about that.

Today, I don't feel the need to defend tarot against every sceptic.

People are free to believe what they believe.

What I do feel strongly about is approaching tarot thoughtfully.

With curiosity.

With discernment.

With respect for the person sitting in front of you.

And with an appreciation for the mystery that makes tarot what it is.

So, more than two decades after I wrote those words to the Glasgow Evening Times, I can look at that old newspaper cutting and smile.

THERE IS NO PACK OF LIES.

There is simply much more to tarot than many people once imagined.

And perhaps the most interesting part is that there is always more to discover.

Susanne Kennedy Tarot

Tarot • Psychic Mediumship • Coaching

susannekennedy.com