The Tarot Podcast with T. Susan Chang

It’s spooky season! and our featured deck this week is dark, mysterious, and just released: The Vampire’s Tale Tarot, created by Sasha Graham and illustrated by Abigail Larson. It features a vampire heroine named Octavia, whose adventure of self-discovery and undead liberation! unfolds through the 22 major arcana. If you’re a fan of supernatural beings, occult phenomena, and the “creepy-cozy,” I bet you’ll want to sink your teeth into this one!

As always, there’s a patron reading using the deck at the end of the episode. If you yourself would like to submit a question for a reading on the Tarot Podcast, sign up as a paid member! (https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast). You’ll find out when readings are happening on Patreon or Discord and be able to share your question then!

Sasha Graham is a world-renowned tarot expert, bestselling author, award winning tarot deck creator, and indie horror actress who teaches and lectures around the globe. Her work has been translated into more than 12 languages and she is the author of 13 books and 4 tarot decks including 365 Tarot Spreads, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot, Tarot of the Witch’s Garden, Dark Wood Tarot and Vampire’s Tale Tarot. Graham's filmography includes over a dozen 90's horror flicks and recently Side Effect May Vary, Screamwalkers, and Trivial. Sasha is the host/creator of a live, creepy story event and podcast called Sasha Graham's Ghost Stories by the Fire and is the writer and performer of Sasha Graham's Ghost Stories and Tarot which just premiered with a full run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Links for this episode:

• Sasha’s website
• Abigail Larson’s website
• The Vampire’s Tale Tarot
• The Dark Wood Tarot
• Ghost Tales with Sasha Graham

______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

Have you ever wondered if you could communicate with the dead? One answer: Maybe, maybe not, but your cards certainly can!

As tarot readers, we know our cards can do a lot of spooky things. My guest this week, Jenna Matlin, believes that a tarot deck is a naturally mediumistic tool; an interface between realms. In her new book, The Tarot Book of the Dead (Weiser 2026), she offers a framework for anyone to use the cards to communicate with spirit, whether or not you think you’re psychically gifted. How does this work? How do we adjust our readings to accommodate messages from Elsewhere? Listen and find out!

This week’s bonus post: “The Heralds” Spread – Jenna walks us through an example spread for sharing essential truths with the ead.

Jenna Matlin holds an M.S. in Organizational Psychology and B.A. in Anthropology, with end-of-life doula training through INELDA and completed training in psychedelic integration support. Named Philadelphia Magazine’s Spiritual Guru of 2019, her book, Will You Give Me a Reading? received the 2023 COVR Silver Visionary Award. Since 2012, she has maintained a full-time tarot practice, known for highly intuitive and innovative techniques. Her revolutionary approach to tarot mediumship specifically helps clients navigate grief, death, and communication with the dead. Based in Chapel Hill, NC, she teaches internationally and speaks at conferences. Learn more at http://www.jennamatlin.com/.

Links for this show

• http://www.jennamatlin.com
• Jenna's newsletter (scroll to bottom of page to subscribe)
• The Tarot Book of the Dead (Weiser, 2026)
• Will You Give Me a Reading? (Llewellyn, 2022)

______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

“Always.” That’s a big word. And it’s a bold move to say “The Cards are Always Right.”. But as tarot readers, it’s a creed we embrace. So what do we do when our cards fall silent? Where does our belief fall short. and what do we do about it?

Host T. Susan gets into it in this solo show. Pick up some reasons to believe, some causes for skepticism, and some helpful suggestions as to WHAT to do and what NOT to do when the cards don’t add up.

This week’s Patreon bonus content: Have *you* drawn a card that’s got you stumped? Bring it to the Tarot Podcast for a second opinion!

Links for this show:

• Bonus Post: Stumpers, conundrums, and headscratchers welcome!
• Episode 69: Active Imagination and the Tarot, with Mariana Louis
• Book a mentorship session with T. Susan! (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)

______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the two most popular tarot decks in the world: Rider Waite Smith and Thoth. What makes these two decks so influential? What do they have in common, and how are they different? And how do you choose which one to take with you on your own tarot journey?!

My guest is Joe Monteleone, whose channel on YouTube has a devoted following on YouTube; he’s also the founder of Tarot Mysticism Academy. Joe is particularly known for his work with the Thoth Tarot, featured in his recently published book, Tarot Mysticism (Llewellyn, 2025)

This week’s bonus content: Take the poll! on the Pepsi and Coke of the tarot world. Are you a Thoth nerd? Is RWS your ride-or-die? Curious about one or the other? I want to know!

About Joe Monteleone

Described by The Huffington Post as a "one-man band of magical-thinking-made-reality," Joe Monteleone is a tarot master teacher, modern mystic, best-selling author, and content-creator with over 80,000 YouTube subscribers. He is the founder of the Tarot Mysticism Academy, where he teaches tarot and mysticism as a psycho-spiritual framework rooted in the perennial philosophy, bridging Western Esotericism and Eastern Mysticism into a path of divination, self-awareness, personal growth, and transpersonal/spiritual awakening.

He is the author of the award-winning Tarot Mysticism: The Psycho-Spiritual Technology of the Thoth Tarot and the #1 Bestseller Tarot Mysticism: Visual Primer. Joe has taught, performed, and written for various institutions and platforms, including The Readers Studio, World Divination Association, Tarot Readers’ Academy, Anahata’s Purpose, Esotoracle Magazine, and the New York Pagan Pride Festival to name a few. Before becoming a teacher, Joe was a professional dancer and choreographer who created and toured multimedia dance works based on mystical philosophy.

He continues to provide free resources in tarot and spiritual education, including authoring many free e-books.

Links for this episode:

• Tarot Mysticism Academy
• Joe's YouTube channel
• Tarot Mysticism: The Psycho-Spiritual Technology of the Thoth Tarot
• Tarot Mysticism: A Visual Primer
• Tiktok: @tarotwithjoe
• Instagram: @tarotwithjoe
• Last week's bonus post on Knight/Knight/Prince correspondences
• TAKE THE POLL! RWS or Thoth?

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• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Tarot readers, it’s long been observed, have a particular affinity for Jungian thought, probably because Carl Jung’s theories of archetype, synchronicity, and personality offer us such rich and thought provoking frameworks for thinking about what’s going on in a tarot reading.

This week’s episode features the first of a series of conversations with Mariana Louis, whose “archetypal tarot” approach applies Jungian thought to the practice of tarot, allowing readers a way to engage deeply with the symbolic content of tarot imagery. In this episode, we talk about the Jungian practice of active imagination, and how it can extend our dialogue with the cards.

This week’s bonus content!: Host T. Susan and Tarot Podcast video producer Randy take the active imagination train ride with a mystery card! Find out which one—and what happened!—in this week’s Patreon post for members at https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast.

Mariana Louis is a professional tarot counselor, scholar, and creator of Persephone's Sister, a platform for psycho-spiritual education and guidance. After stumbling upon Jung's The Undiscovered Self in her grandfather's attic library, Mariana began her study of depth psychology and the archetypal language of the soul. This led her to pursue a degree in Western Intellectual Traditions at the CUNY Graduate Center where she focused on archetypal perspectives in the transformation of Western thought. Marrying this scholarship with her expertise in the tarot Mariana formulated the archetypal tarot approach, which she teaches in the Archetypal Tarot School and other programs. Mariana is the author of Tarot and the Psychology of the Soul: Exploring the Archetypal Mirrors of the Psyche, as well as the co-host of the Soror Mystica podcast and a faculty member at the Jung Archademy.

Links for this show:

• Soror Mystica podcast:
• Tarot and the Psychology of the Soul
• Mariana’s website: https://persephonessister.com
• Archetypal Tarot School
• On Substack: https://persephonessister.substack.com/
• On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/persephonessister/
• On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PersephonesSister

_________________________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Tarot IRL is back, with our next court card! In this episode, we examine how the charismatic and charming Knight of Wands shows up in the lives of regular people like you and me.

With his prancing steed, flaming helmet and salamander-bedecked surcoat, our Knight of Wands is heading places. His fit is checked, his hair is did, his look is maxxed—and he’s off on his next adventure just as soon as he takes one last selfie. What will he do with the awesome creative potential of the Ace of Wands?!

When you draw the Knight of Wands, look out for the following themes:

• People experiencing momentum
• People having adventures
• People meeting challenges
• People Experiencing romantic drama
• People moving
• People having air-of-fire/solar experiences.

✨ To share your stories about the Queen of Wands for the next Tarot in Real Life segment - please join as a Patreon supporter of the Tarot Podcast! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast . You can also write in to the show at https://thetarotpodcast.com/about, using the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Links for this episode:

•

Ep. 60: Intro to Court Cards.

• 4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot (2025)
(Link above is better for creators, but here's an Amazon link if that's easier.)
• Shop for cool stuffmade by your host!
• Tarot Deciphered: a card-by-card encyclopedia of tarot lore and correspondences.
• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes! https://tsusanchang.com
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Whether you’ve been reading for a month or a decade, once in a while we can get kind of stuck in our tarot practice. Fortunately, Barbara Moore is here to tell us all about how to revive a faltering tarot practice. In this brief episode, Barbara walks us through a variety of ways you can jump-start your cards, find your inner oracle, get the riffle back in your shuffle.

Our bonus for patrons this week? How to find a Tarot study buddy.

Links for this episode:

• Barbara’s website
• Barbara’s author page at Llewellyn
• Episode 53: How do I care for my tarot Cards? with Barbara Moore
• Episode 45: Why Are People Afraid of Tarot? with Barbara Moore
• Bonus post: How to Find a Tarot Study Buddy.

________________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

The Tarot Podcast is sharing the secret sauce this week! it’s the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure spread, my hands-down favorite form of narrative problem-solving. Choose your starting point and endpoint—and then let Fate handpick three magical tasks to accomplish on your personal heroic journey!

In this week’s bonus post: some tips to help you start and end your journey. Available to all paid Patreon members!

Links for this episode

• BONUS POST: How to Start and End Your Tarot Adventure
• Episode 09: World’s Simplest Problem-Solution Spread

• 4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot

______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

The effervescent Ethony Dawn returns to the show this week! to talk about an energy practice that’s really crucial for tarot readers: grounding. When you work with tarot, you’re reaching out with your subtle senses and making yourself alive to synchronicities and wonders. Groovy!

But working these delicate antennae in extended client sessions can leave you feeling woozy, faint, and disconnected. In this episode, we talk about how you can reconnect with the Earth and re-anchor yourself in good ol’ reality.

Ethony is an author, tarot reader, tarot teacher, and High Priestess. She’s the author of Become an Exceptional Tarot Reader, Tarot Grimoire, and Your Tarot Court (Llewellyn) and created several decks, including Luminous Flow Tarot, Cosmic Wisdom Tarot, Modern Love Tarot, and Awakened Soul Oracle. As Headmistress of the Tarot Readers Academy, she teaches Tarot worldwide. Ethony is an ’80s child who loves Halloween, Care Bears, and the ocean.

Links for this show:

•

Episode 58: Tarot Myths with Ethony Dawn

•

Ethony’s website

•

Ethony’s YouTube channel

•

Ethony on Instagram

•

Ethony on Facebook

___________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

This week, the Tarot Podcast brings you one of the best-selling tarot decks of all time: the Wildwood Tarot. Creators Mark Ryan and John Matthews joined me to discuss the roots of this deck in pre-Celtic mythology, earth-based shamanism, and the lore of Sherwood Forest. (Artist Will Worthington was unfortunately unavailable for the interview.). Anchored to the Wheel of the Year and the earth’s seasonal cycles, the Wildwood Tarot has proven to hold enduring appeal for pagan practitioners and mainstream readers alike.

As always, there’s a patron reading using the deck at the end of the episode. If you yourself would like to submit a question for a reading on the Tarot Podcast, sign up as a paid member! You’ll find out when readings are happening on Patreon or Discord and be able to share your question then!

This week’s Patreon bonus content includes additional readings AND the Bow Spread from the Wildwood guidebook.

Mark Ryan (b. 1956) is an English actor, singer, author, and action director whose career spans West End musicals, television, and film. He's best known to mainstream audiences as the voice of Bumblebee, Jetfire, and Lockdown across the Transformers franchise, and for his iconic portrayal of Nasir in Robin of Sherwood and Mr. Gates in Black Sails, alongside work as a swordmaster and fight director on films like King Arthur and First Knight. Before entertainment, he served with British Army Intelligence and Special Forces, later working as a licensed US private investigator (as described in his 2015 autobiography, Hold Fast). Ryan's most enduring contribution to tarot is the Greenwood Tarot, created with artist Chesca Potter, which he later reworked with John Matthews and illustrator Will Worthington into the internationally bestselling Wildwood Tarot, followed by a 2017 companion workbook, Wild Magic.

John Matthews, dubbed "Oxford's answer to all things mythic," has worked as an independent scholar since 1980, building a lifetime study of Arthurian legend and, more recently, the history of piracy, across a publication list topping 200 titles — among them Pirates, a number-one New York Times bestseller for 22 weeks in 18 languages. He has advised on major films including King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Prince of Persia, and won a BAFTA for the King Arthur education DVD. His tarot work began with the Arthurian Tarot, devised with Caitlin Matthews and now some 150,000 copies deep across three editions. He went on to create the best-selling Wildwood Tarot with Mark Ryan, along with The Shaman's Oracle, The Camelot Oracle, The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus, and The Sherlock Holmes Tarot. His latest publications include The Sleeping Beauty Oracle, The Circle of the Sidhe, and Merlin's Mirror Oracle.

Links for this show:

• The Wildwood Tarot
• Sherwood Oracle:
• Robin of Sherwood (TV series 1984-86)
• Arthurian Tarot
• This week’s bonus content

_______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Tarot IRL is back, with our very first court card! In this episode, we examine how the energetic and enthusiastic Page of Wands shows up in the lives of ordinary folks.

In her hand, the Page holds the Ace of Wands—our natural force, our initiative, our motivation. As the rank representing beginning in the suit representing beginning, she’s the embodiment of beginner mind. She represents our zest for life, our willingness to try, the latest new thing. What can’t she do?!

When you draw the Page of Wands, look out for the following themes:

• People giving and getting announcements
• People learning or starting new things
• People playing and creating stuff
• Young enthusiastic people
• People doing earth-of-fire things
• People experiencing the sun/heat

✨ To share your stories about the Knight of Wands for the next Tarot in Real Life segment - please join as a Patreon supporter of the Tarot Podcast! You can also write in to the show at thetarotpodcast.com/about, using the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Links for this episode:

•

Ep. 60: Intro to Court Cards.

• 4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot (2025)
(Link above is better for creators, but here's an Amazon link if that's easier.)
• Shop for cool stuffmade by your host!
• Tarot Deciphered: a card-by-card encyclopedia of tarot lore and correspondences.
• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes! https://tsusanchang.com
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Animal decks are commonplace in the world of tarot, but to my mind the very finest of them is the Animal Totem Tarot, published in 2016 by author Leeza Robertson and artist Eugene Smith. In our conversation, the creators share the story behind Leeza’s meticulously-conceived animal correspondences and Eugene’s exquisite inkwork, which came together in an unforgettable 78-piece work of art..

As always, there’s a patron reading using the deck, at the end of the episode. If you'd like to see more of the Animal Totem Tarot in action, we have a few more readings in this week's Patreon bonus content.

(If you’d like to submit a question for a reading on the Tarot Podcast, sign up as a paid member! at https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast. You’ll find out when readings are happening on Patreon or Discord and be able to share your question then!)

Leeza Robertson is an international bestselling author with Llewellyn Worldwide. She is a girl from the Aussie bush living her best life in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her wife. When she is not writing books or creating decks, she is helping other writers bring their dream of publishing into reality.

Eugene Smith is an illustrator born and raised in California now residing in Chicago, IL. He decided all that time spent doodling in notebooks and scribbling on walls should be put to good use and so he pursued a BFA in painting and drawing from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His work has appeared in books, editorials, tarot card decks, and educational graphic novels. He lives with his lovely wife, two children, and an odd dog.

Links for this show:

• Animal Totem Tarot
(Amazon listing)
• Leeza’s website
• All of Leeza’s decks and books for Llewellyn
• Eugene’s website
• All of Eugene’s decks for Llewellyn
• Celestial Unicorn Tarot
(Amazon listing)

_______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Neurobiologist and tarot reader Siddharth Ramakrishnan returns to the Tarot Podcast to talk about interoception—your awareness of what’s going on inside your own body. When we’re doing a tarot reading, what’s happening in this internal sensor system? How do the things we’re hearing from our body affect what we see in the cards and say to our querents?

For more Siddharth, and more on the intersection of brain biology and divination, check out this week’s bonus content, where Siddharth and I speculate about what’s going on neurologically when you’re trying to detect whether your tarot reader is a fraud!

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, PhD, is a neuroscientist, artist, and educator. He is the Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound and a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research spans developmental biology, neuroendocrinology and neuroethics. A Fellow of the UCLA Art|Sci center, his collaborations with artists have led to exhibitions and documentaries that blend the worlds of art and science highlighting topics like Hox genes, animal umwelts and biomimicry. An avid Tarot reader, he has designed and created the NeuroTarot deck based on the major arcana of Tarot and infused with neuroscience. He was the keynote speaker at NWTS 2023, StaarCon 2025, the UCLA Art Sci Center, and a panelist at the Masters of Tarot workshop (2023) with Mary K. Greer at Omega, Rhinebeck NY. In addition he has been featured at various scientific conferences, art museums and tarot workshops. His book "The Neuroscience of Tarot", is out with Llewellyn Worldwide. "The Neuroscience of Magic" will be out in 2026!

Instagram/BlueSky/Threads: @siddbits
Youtube: @brainmystic
Email: neurotarot@gmail.com
website: http://www.brainmystic.com

Links for this show:

• Bonus post: The Neurobiology of BS Detection
• Episode 55: Tarot and the Predictive Brain, with Siddharth Ramakrishnan:
• Chekhov’s affect grid
• Emotional contagion quiz
• Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (Take the MAIA assessment!)
• Freeing the Genie Within, by Debra Lynne Katz

_______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

It is commonly said that court cards are the hardest cards to interpret. Today, we take on these Royal Pains in the A** and try to make some sense of them. When you’re done listening, you’ll have a toolbox full of ways to interpret courts. But remember, above all, court cards are just people!

For this week’s bonus post, I’m asking folks to tell me a story about a court card using its associated minor cards! Send yours before 7/31/26 and I’ll thank you with a little surprise gift!

Links for this episode:

• BONUS POST: Tell me a Court Card Story!
• 4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot
(Amazon link if you must)
• Tarot Correspondences: Ancient Secrets for Everyday Readers
• The Living Tarot: Connecting the Cards to Everyday Life for Better Readings
• Pick up the Tarot Podcast official Decan Notebook

Court Card reference books

• Understanding the Tarot Court, by Mary Greer
• Your Tarot Court, by Ethony Dawn
• Tarot Court Cards for Beginners, by Leeza Robertson

______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Tarot on the Road is back! This week, the Tarot Podcast heads out to the Morgan Library in New York City for their “Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions” show. The exhibit is dazzling to look at, but it also gives you a sense of how tarot morphed and shifted in form over the centuries.

In my conversation with the three organizers responsible for the exhibit, you’ll see how the rich, thoughtful narrative they organized around tarot captures the imagination and closely follows the trajectory of tarot from a luxury object made an artisanal workshop in 15th century Italy to becoming a contemporary global phenomenon.

If you just can’t possibly make it New York, you can see many of the featured images both in the video version of this podcast and in the Morgan’s own incredible exhibit catalogue, which is lavishly illustrated and full of fascinating essays on the cultural history of tarot (yes! you do need one more book!).

Links for this episode:

• Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions exhibit at the Morgan Library
• Exhibit catalogue
• Patreon bonus content: Morgan Library conservator Frank Trujillo takes us through some of the intricacies of what conservation experts have been able to learn about the composition of the 500-year-old cards at the heart of the show.

More tarot history episodes:

• Episode 56: Tarot Museum Belgium with Guido Gillabel
• Episode 48: What is the Tarot de Marseille? with Sherryl Smith

_______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

If you’re tarot-curious, you’ve probably heard some of the myths around tarot – how you’re supposed to get your first deck, what kind of abilities you have to have, what kind of power the cards have, even how to handle or not handle your cards.

But what do REAL tarot readers think about some of these myths? Cardfluencer Ethony Dawn and I pull back the curtain on what tarot actually looks like! in contemporary practice.

Ethony is an author, tarot reader, tarot teacher, and High Priestess. She’s the author of Become an Exceptional Tarot Reader, Tarot Grimoire, and Your Tarot Court (Llewellyn) and created several decks, including Luminous Flow Tarot, Cosmic Wisdom Tarot, Modern Love Tarot, and Awakened Soul Oracle. As Headmistress of the Tarot Readers Academy, she teaches Tarot worldwide. Ethony is an ’80s child who loves Halloween, Care Bears, and the ocean.

Links for this show:

• Ethony’s website
• Ethony’s YouTube channel
• Ethony on Instagram
• Ethony on Facebook
• Aidan Wachter’s Glymmering podcast

___________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

Getting a tarot reading? How can you make sure you have the most meaningful experience possible? How do you protect yourself against “querent remorse”? In this week’s show, host T. Susan offers tips and caveats: how to prepare for a reading, what to expect during a reading, and what to do after a reading.

(This one’s intended especially for those who are seeking out readings, but it’s also generally applicable for anyone who consults the cards for themselves.)

For examples of great questions you can ask a tarot reader, be sure to check out this week’s bonus content!

Links for this show:

• Episode 11: “Will I Ever…?” with Theresa Reed
• Episode 15: “Should I…?” with Theresa Reed
• The Tarot Podcast's recommended readers

_____________________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

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It’s Tarot On the Road! This week, the Tarot Podcast visits the Tarot Museum Belgium, where proprietor Guido Gillabel shows us what 40 years of pure tarot obsession can look like. If you find yourself somewhere between Brussels and Antwerp, be sure to get in touch with Guido for a tour.

The audio and video versions of this episode are distinct. In the audio version, you’ll hear my interview with Guido about how he became a tarot reader and teacher and how the Museum got started in the Amsterdam occult scene of the late 1970’s and early 80’s. In the video version, Guido shows off his collection of historic tarot artifacts, tarot novelties and contemporary decks from all over the world.

Links for this episode:

• website: https://tarotmuseumbelgium.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tarot_museum_belgium/
• email: guido.gillabel@telenet.be

***Tarot Museum Belgium visits are by appointment. Contact Guido directly through his website or e-mail.***

This week’s bonus content:

• Tarot Origin Stories: Mine…and yours?I was inspired by Guido’s tales of hippie Amsterdam to take a trip in the Wayback Machine myself.
• You might also enjoy Episode 54’s bonus content, featuring another collection of rare tarot decks: Tarocks in Amsterdam

_______________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member!
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host!
• Sign up for readings and explore booksand classes!
• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

In today’s show, the Tarot Podcast veers off the beaten path and turns to science! for an explanation of how prediction works. My guest is Siddharth Ramakrishnan, a neuroscientist who also practices tarot. He’s also a terrific explainer of brain biology for those of us without advanced degrees in the sciences. How has evolution shaped our perception of the future? What role does our brain play in decoding what’s to come? Join us for some facts, some educated guesses, and some wild speculation!

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist, artist, and educator. He is the Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound and a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research spans developmental biology, neuroendocrinology and neuroethics. A Fellow of the UCLA Art|Sci center, his collaborations with artists have led to exhibitions and documentaries that blend the worlds of art and science highlighting topics like Hox genes, animal umwelts and biomimicry. An avid Tarot reader, he has designed and created the NeuroTarot deck based on the major arcana of Tarot and infused with neuroscience. He was the keynote speaker at NWTS 2023, StaarCon 2025, the UCLA Art Sci Center, and a panelist at the Masters of Tarot workshop (2023) with Mary K. Greer at Omega, Rhinebeck NY. In addition he has been featured at various scientific conferences, art museums and tarot workshops. His book "The Neuroscience of Tarot", is out with Llewellyn Worldwide. "The Neuroscience of Magic" will be out in 2026!

• Instagram/BlueSky/Threads: @siddbits
• Youtube: @brainmystic
• Email: neurotarot@gmail.com
• website: http://www.brainmystic.com

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• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊

For this week’s episode, we present something completely different for the Tarot Podcast! We recently traveled to Amsterdam and decided to do an episode on the tarot scene there. We interviewed three readers: Trippy, Melanie Webb, and Giulia Castagna.

Trippy and Melanie are readers at the Embassy of the Free Mind, a Hermetic library in the heart of Amsterdam. Both Trippy and Melanie are Jungian-influenced archetypal tarot readers, and you can visit them on Thursdays and Fridays at the Embassy.

Our third interviewee, Giulia Castagna, is an Italian tarot reader and astrologer who is based in Amsterdam. She currently gives readings at Black Moon Botanica, in the charming Spiegelgracht neighborhood.

Stick around for the end of show! where Trippi and Melanie do readings for me—and I do one reading in return.

ALSO: Be sure to catch this week’s Patreon bonus content, a video short of a terrific collection of tarot decks housed in Fabula Rosa, in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. The owner, David Schors, kindly permitted us to look around and examine some very unusual and beautiful decks he’s acquired over the years.

Giulia Castagna

• Website: https://lunaticanocti.com
• Upcoming courses (in Italian): https://elenaronzio.socialacademy.com/pages/corsi-di-tarocchi
• Instagram: @lunaticanocti

Melanie Webb
Melanie takes her audience into a world that is not usually seen, but deeply felt — a place suspended between dream and reality. Having grown up with Tarot cards, she developed an intuitive and playful connection to visual language from an early age.
During her twelve years at the Academy for Applied Astrology in Amstelveen, she developed a strong interest in the relationship between Jungian psychology and Western astrology. Tarot formed an additional module within this astrological and Jungian curriculum, allowing her to interpret the cards through the archetypal frameworks and psychological theories of Carl Jung.
With her Tarot cards, she not only reads what lies beyond but also unpacks the signs that are present all around you. A reading with Melanie allows you to pause, take a breath, and look again: at yourself, the moment, and everything that moves beneath the surface. In her sessions you can expect imagery, intuition, and silence to come together. A session with Melanie allows you to sink into the moment and gain a truly unique perspective.

Trippy
Trippy has been reading Tarot for more than thirty years. Her connection with the cards began in childhood, shaped by early mystical experiences that opened her sensitivity to the unseen.
For the past nine years she has read regularly for Thuishaven, where clients often describe her readings as clarifying, grounding, and deeply supportive. Her work blends intuitive insight with years of exploration in esoteric and meditative traditions, including the Tarot study with Kenton Knepper on Meditations on the Tarot, as well as her ongoing Jungian exploration inspired by the works of Marie-Louise von Franz. Trippy’s style is warm, compassionate, and direct. She aims to help people reconnect with their inner guidance and leave each session with a renewed sense of clarity and empowerment.

• The Embassy of the Free Mind
http://embassyofthefreemind.com
Keizersgracht 123, 1015 CJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

Museum: open Wednesday through Sunday
Tarot readings: Thursdays and Fridays
Events & workshops: All year!
Hermetic text viewing: by appointment

__________________________________

• Become a Tarot Podcast member! https://patreon.com/thetarotpodcast
• Shop for Tarot Podcast MERCH! & cool stuff made by your host! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarotista
• Sign up for readings and explore books and classes!
https://thetarotpodcast.com

• Continue your tarot journey with The Living Tarot book and/or The Living Tarot online class (discount for class available if you purchase the book!)

😊 And...don't forget to like, rate, subscribe, and share!! 😊