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! 

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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:

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

This week’s bonus content:

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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!

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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

Melanie Webb

Trippy

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In today’s episode, we take on a totally practical question for both new and experienced tarot readers: How do I take care of my tarot cards?

The care and maintenance of a metaphysical object is just different from the way you deal with your ordinary household items. Whether or not you feel your cards are actually sentient (and some people do!) they deserve special consideration. And Tarot Podcast favorite Barbara Moore is back! to walk us through some of the tarot community’s most common physical, metaphysical, and ritual practices around card care.

Barbara Moore (Saint Paul, MN) has been in love with tarot for over thirty-five years. She has shuffled her cards and taught tarot all over the world. Now she embraces her Hermit self by writing books and creating decks. Her Steampunk Tarot, Good Fortune Tarot, and Trick or Treat Tarot are among her favorites.

Links for this episode:

https://www.amazon.com/Living-Tarot-Connecting-Everyday-Readings/dp/0738772259

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It’s the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Tarot Podcast! and have I got a show for you!

Today we’re having a look at three Unexplained Card Phenomena that every tarot reader faces at some point or another.  They are:

What do they MEAN?  What message is your jumper card trying to send you?  WHY are you getting that stalker card again and again? And why are your holdouts keeping their distance? Discover the secrets that these attention-seeking cards are trying to share!

Also: the miracle of card tracking! To gain access to T. Susan’s card tracking template, sign up as a member at the Fortuneteller level www. patreon.com/thetarotpodcast/membership . (It’s also available in the Living Tarot online class www.tsusanchang.com/class .)

The tarot deck known as the Tabula Mundi is a modern tarot masterpiece, a memory palace, and a love song to esoteric tarot. Its creator, M. M. Meleen, is known for her work producing Thoth-inspired cards, as well as for co-hosting the Fortune’s Wheelhouse esoteric tarot podcast with me. In today’s show, we explore the interlocking astrological intricacies of the Tabula Mundi, and its origin story. And we have a close look at the Tabula Mundi Devil card, in all its muscular blue-skinned glory.

As always, there’s a patron reading, using the deck, at the end of the episode. We also have a few more readings, offered as Patreon bonus content for the week.  If you’d 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!

M. M. Meleen is the artist and creative force behind four modern esoteric tarot decks: Tabula Mundi Tarot, Rosetta Tarot, Pharos Tarot, and the latest work of talismanic and decan magic, Telos Tarot of 777. She is the author of Book M: Liber Mundi, Book of Seshet, Spectrum Fari, and Scions of 777: Vol. I, Six-and Thirty Decans, and Vol. II, Forty-two Truths. She also co-hosted and co-created the Fortune's Wheelhouse tarot podcast, and co-authored Tarot Deciphered, both with T. Susan Chang. For info on past, present, and future works of love and will visit tabulamundi.com. The decks and the books can be found at www.tarotcart.com.

Links for this episode:

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Tarot IRL is back! with the final installment of our numeric minors in the Wands suit.

In this episode, we examine how the mighty—but exhausting!—10 of Wands shows up in the lives of ordinary folks. It could be called the Triumph of the Will, capable of channeling human ambition into extraordinary achievement and astounding brutality. The Lord of Oppression will demand everything you have, and more. What you make of that crushing pressure, however, is up to you.

When you draw the 10 of Wands, look out for the following themes:

For decan basics and examples, see episode 39 (Decan Basics) and 40 (Decan Deep Dive) with Mary Greer:

✨To share your stories about the Page 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.

More resources:

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In Episode 48, the tarot historian and independent scholar Sherryl Smith gave us an introduction to the classic European deck known as the Tarot de Marseille, or TdM. In this episode, our focus is how to read with these historic cards—which many modern tarot readers find intimidating. Sherryl demystifies the ins and outs of the TdM, explaining why some readers find the deck downright liberating.

Be sure to listen through to the end of the episode for a demonstration reading with the TdM! Bonus TdM readings—and full graphics for the episode—can be found on our Patreon website (www.patreon.com/thetarotpodcast). If you’d like to submit a question for a future 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 in advance.

Sherryl Smith’s tarot journey began over 50 years ago when she saw David Palladini’s Aquarian deck in a bookstore and instantly recognized an important turning point in her life. She has been studying the history of tarot and reading with historic decks for 25 years.  Her website Tarot-Heritage.com tells the story of tarot’s 600-year history. The Cartomancy section of the website has everything you need to get started reading with historic decks like the Tarot de Marseille

Links for this episode:

Sherryl’s TdM Resources:

Books

Where to purchase decks in the US

US Games: https://www.usgamesinc.com/?target=search&mode=search&substring=marseille&including=all

Llewellyn.com:

Unique and whimsical decks:

Where to purchase decks in Europe

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The Rider Waite Smith and Thoth tarot decks may be the most recognized decks in the English-speaking world. But it is the Tarot de Marseille, known in tarot circles as the TdM, that has the furthest intercontinental reach and the longest history. Even today, it is the deck most widely used in European countries.

This week, tarot historian and independent scholar Sherryl Smith takes us on a journey through the origins and idiosyncrasies of the TdM.  Next week, we’ll have a discussion of how to actually use the TdM! which intimidates many readers with its cryptic woodcut imagery and non-scenic pips.

Be sure to listen through to the end of the episode for a demonstration reading with the TdM! Bonus TdM readings can be found on our Patreon website (www.patreon.com/thetarotpodcast), and we will have another set of readings to go with next week’s episode. If you’d like to submit a question for a future 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!

All images for this episode can be viewed on Patreon, or on the YouTube version of the show.

Sherryl Smith’s tarot journey began over 50 years ago when she saw David Palladini’s Aquarian deck in a bookstore and instantly recognized an important turning point in her life. She has been studying the history of tarot and reading with historic decks for 25 years.  Her website Tarot-Heritage.com tells the story of tarot’s 600-year history. The Cartomancy section of the website has everything you need to get started reading with historic decks like the Tarot de Marseille

Links for this episode:

Sherryl’s TdM Resources:

Books

Where to purchase decks in the US

US Games: https://www.usgamesinc.com/?target=search&mode=search&substring=marseille&including=all

Llewellyn.com:

Unique and whimsical decks:

Where to purchase decks in Europe

Yves Reynaud of Marseille makes facsimiles of historic Tarot de Marseille decks he finds in museums. The production quality and price are designed for the average card reader.

Marco Benedetti of Rome has a Facebook page—no website. Handcrafted decks at reasonable prices. Pierre Madenié 1709 is a favorite.