The need for human kind to explore places that are beyond ourselves, stretching beyond our own realities and our own geographical origins has always led us upon our quest for alternative worlds that are waiting to be discovered and narrated. The novel, science fiction, ghost stories and the like are all vehicles which our imaginations have used in order to help the fantasies within us to reveal a concrete outlet and – the more we go back in time the more our imagination uncovers – to blend our reality with our fiction. Naturally, the spoken transmission of these afore-mentioned means has further and increasingly water-coloured this demarcation line thus awarding us the opportunity to believe in the impossible, to connect one tale to another to create a new one, as if it were a narrative work that has sprung from more than one person and from more than one era.

Tarot cards are not exactly a novel. Their history and the way in which they have come down to us are most definitely deserving to be recounted in a book and, indeed, much paper has been spent upon them – and for a good cause, too. However, just like in a novel, sometimes in tarot cards, as well, the boundary between reality and imagination is blurred, between what we know (and has been revealed) and the subconscious. But, the subconscious on its own, is nothing other than a parallel reality and, in every single way, although hardly tangible, it exists.

Before I read the cards, the first thing I think – despite my years of experience – is:

“And what if the person does not see him or herself reflected in what I am saying?” which, after translation, is, “And what if what I see in the cards does not correspond to the reality of the actual facts?”. Nevertheless, at the end of each and every card reading, I realise that my fear is, as always, unfounded.

What actually happens during a consultation is not magic despite my being mistakenly accused by someone of being some sort of sorceress and not a card reader (the two things are completely different from each other although not wholly incompatible). The person who reads the cards becomes an instrument at the disposal of the cards themselves since they may express themselves through the voice of the card reader thus communicating with the person asking the questions. So, imagine the card reader as if he or she was Google Translate, the cards are the language to translate and the person consulting is all of you who are asking the questions.

The sitting is a moment during which a sort of reference to the past or reflection is created with the tarot cards since

the person who is consulting them is asking for the reader to recreate a story that speaks of him or her from another point of view. This is exactly what happens with those stories that are passed down through the generations over the centuries. In this case, too, the story resembles the original story but it will emerge with details that have been omitted, forgotten, concealed and distorted. The game is all about letting the truth come out, about bringing to light the original version of an episode which we desire to recall so we can solve it, or accept it, or to be able to take action and change the way the episode evolves. And all of this is played out in a card game.

Just think of the Court jesters. By taking advantage of pranks, of jokes and of disguises they were the only ones who could, however, always tell the truth. And in my opinion, this is also the case with tarot cards, too. Disguised as a simple Court – or social – pastime if we consider tarot cards in a more contemporary light they are one of the most powerful instruments that may be used to shed light upon our grey areas. They give clarity where there is doubt, they reveal an illusion and they let us confront the reality of the things around us. Obviously, all of this is allowed to happen only if we let it happen to us.

Therefore, when someone asks you, “But do you believe in tarot cards?”, with an attitude half-way between arrogance and disdain, just pass over the question with a touch of elegance. It will probably be someone who has mislaid the ability to be astonished, to listen to their story and who believes they know themselves enough already and who does not know that the most extraordinary tale to be told is the story of their lives, told by means of a deck of cards and a person who is able to read them.