The Tarot Diagnosis

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I’m exploring the psychology of shame, childhood wounds, and how our earliest experiences shape the way we show up in adult relationships - all through the lens of tarot. This episode was inspired by Come Closer by psychoanalyst Dr. Galit Atlas, a book I recently devoured in two days and immediately started recommending to anyone who would listen. Atlas explores six childhood wounds and how they influence our experiences of love, intimacy, and relationships. And, naturally, as I was reading, I couldn't stop thinking about which tarot archetypes might represent these wounds. In this episode, I focus on one specific childhood wound - the ashamed childhood wound (if you want me to explore more of these, please let me know!), and the card that immediately came to mind was the Nine of Wands. I know, not what we might traditionally think about, but I have my reasons, and you’ll have to listen to find out why I chose this card. The Nine of Wands acts as an anchor as I explore…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I’m pulling cards for our collective monthly tarot reading for October and this month, we’re exploring the psychological space between who we’ve been and who we might be becoming. For this October tarot reading, I’m revisiting a spread I originally created for my Tarot as a Transitional Object workshop, inspired by psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott’s theories of transitional objects, transitional phenomena, and transitional space. Winnicott was interested in the psychological territory between our internal and external realities, which he viewed as the space where play, creativity, experimentation, and growth occur. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, I think tarot fits beautifully within that space. Tarot can become a bridge between what’s happening inside of us and what exists outside of us - where we bring our memories, projections, emotions, desires, fears, and relationships to the cards, while the cards still simultaneously exist separately from us. In Winnicott’s language,…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis podcast, I’m exploring tarot clarifiers and a question I don’t think we ask often enough: Why are we pulling clarifying cards if we already understand the card in front of us? This episode came about unexpectedly after I pulled the Seven of Wands during my weekly tarot practice and immediately felt my body reaching for the deck again. But I already knew what the card meant and more importantly, I knew what it meant to me. I didn’t actually need more information. Eventually, I realized I was reaching for distance because the card made me uncomfortable and I wanted to get rid of that feeling ASAP. That moment got me thinking about how often this might be happening in your practice. So, I recorded an impromptu podcast about it. Throughout the episode, I explore how pulling tarot clarifiers can sometimes become a form of reassurance seeking or avoidance, especially when one clarifier becomes another and another until we finally find a card that gives us the interpretation…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I’m back with another collective monthly tarot reading, and for September, I’m exploring The Courage to Become, which is a four card tarot spread I originally created around identity, existentialism, and the often uncomfortable process of growth and change. Spoiler: Apparently, September is the month of Pentacles - I’ve been pulling them personally and three of them show up in the reading! Pulling the Knight of Pentacles, Six of Cups, Page of Pentacles, and Six of Pentacles, I explore who we may be becoming collectively, what frightens us about that transformation, what makes it exciting, and what remaining exactly as we are might ultimately deny us. The Knight of Pentacles kicks us off and I end up spending quite a bit of time with this knight, so if you struggle with this card, I hope this is a helpful episode for you. I also explore how in a culture that rewards urgency, immediacy, productivity, and reactivity, this Knight asks us to slow down and be intentional…

In this special episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I’m celebrating 200 episodes with someone who has quite literally been behind the scenes since the very beginning: my cousin and the podcast’s audio engineer, Anthony DiGiacomo. Anthony and I grew up together - our moms are identical twins, we lived a few blocks apart, went to the same schools, and spent our teenage years immersed in the local music scene. So, naturally, a conversation celebrating the history of the podcast turned into a much bigger exploration of something the two of us talk about all the time: nostalgia. Nostalgia is such a fascinating psychological and dialectical experience because it holds two seemingly contradictory emotions at once. It can feel comforting and painful, connecting and isolating, joyful and grief-filled all at the same time. While tarot doesn’t show up right away, I promise we talk cards! For example: We explore the Six of Cups as the traditional archetype of nostalgia, but I also look at Temperance as a surprisingly…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I’m exploring self-sabotage through a psychological and therapeutic tarot lens and challenging the idea that self-sabotage means we’re just getting in our own way. We tend to label procrastination, avoidance, staying in unhealthy relationships, overworking, turning down opportunities, or repeating painful patterns as self-sabotage. And when we notice ourselves doing these things, we tend to ask the same question: Why do I keep doing this to myself? But I think there’s a different question that actually might help us better understand our own self-sabotage: What is this behavior trying to accomplish? Or, what purpose does it serve? Because from a therapeutic perspective, every behavior usually has some sort of function that benefits us. Even behaviors that eventually hurt us may have developed because, at some point, they helped us avoid anxiety, rejection, shame, uncertainty, vulnerability, abandonment, or failure. In other words, what looks like self-sabotage may…

In this month's collective tarot reading on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I explore one of my favorite concepts from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): the idea that two seemingly opposite truths can exist at the same time. Inspired by the emotional chaos of Mercury retrograde (but designed to be relevant no matter what's happening in your life) I use my Tension of Opposites tarot spread (below) to explore how we can stop searching for certainty and instead widen our capacity to hold ambiguity, complexity, and contradictions. Throughout this collective, DBT-inspired reading, I weave together tarot, psychology, parts work, and dialectics as I explore how learning to tolerate emotional tensions can become one of our greatest sources of growth and strength - all through the High Priestess, Empress, Ace of Cups, and Three of Cups. Ultimately, this episode is an invitation to stop searching for a single "right" answer. Tarot doesn't always ask us to choose between opposing experiences, it often asks what it can…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I ask: What actually deserves our emotional investment? This question, inspired by pulling the Ace of Cups and King of Cups, became the starting point for this episode and a much deeper exploration of why we emotionally invest in certain people, relationships, friendships, jobs, and family dynamics even when those investments leave us feeling depleted. Drawing from psychodynamic theory, attachment theory, and Parts Work, I explore why we unconsciously recreate familiar emotional patterns - often hoping that this time we'll finally receive the love, validation, consistency, or emotional safety we didn't receive before. Unfortunately, those old wounds can keep us emotionally invested in relationships that repeatedly fail to meet our needs. In this episode, I take you on an emotionally invested journey into: Why we unconsciously invest in emotionally unavailable people The connection between attachment, emotional investment, and relationship patterns How the King…

On this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I discuss how I believe we are collectively living through one of the most significant periods of disorientation in modern history. Between political upheaval, personal and collective loss, illness, trauma, and rapid cultural, religious, and spiritual change, many of us are finding ourselves in the liminal, and trying desperately to claw out of it. But…what if we’re not supposed to leave right away? What if there is something to gain from existing in this space of disorientation, so when we do find our way to the other side, we feel better equipped to navigate what lies ahead. In this episode, I explore the psychology and philosophy of disorientation through the work of philosopher Ami Harbin and consider what happens when we stop trying to rush toward certainty, the next experience, or healing. Rather than treating confusion and discomfort as something to fix, I mirror Harbin’s philosophy and ask whether periods of uncertainty might actually become some of the most…

Personal note before you listen: To be honest, I sat on this episode for weeks. I almost didn’t share it - mainly because it felt too honest, too personal, too vulnerable. And I think there was a part of me that felt guilty. Despite the hesitation, here it is… In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I explore what it means to be an adult child of emotionally immature parents and how tarot can help us understand the roles, defenses, wounds, and longings that form in emotionally unpredictable homes. This conversation was inspired by my recent re-read of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson, as well as my own lived experience. I talk about the painful developmental moment when we realize our parents are not all-knowing, all-capable figures, but full, flawed, historically shaped human beings. When moving through the deck, I realized this experience mimicked The Hierophant (reversed) - that unsettling, yet necessary unseating of a caregiver from the archetypal throne of perceived…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I’m pulling for June’s collective tarot reading where I explore a Summer Solstice inspired spread designed to help us step out of the shadows and into the growth of the sun. As we move toward the longest day of the year, I wanted to create a spread that examines what we've been avoiding, the fears keeping us stuck, and the growth that becomes possible when we're willing to move forward anyway. Pulling the Two of Wands, Eight of Swords, and Seven of Pentacles, I explore the psychology of indecision, analysis paralysis, self-doubt, boundaries, and the often unavoidable and uncomfortable reality that growth sometimes means we need to release expectations. The reading begins with the Two of Wands, a card that challenges us to examine the difference between planning and stagnation. How long have we been researching, preparing, contemplating, and waiting? At what point does preparation stop being helpful and start becoming a means of avoidance, or a false refuge from…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore a question that has been lingering in my mind for months: What do the pillars in tarot actually symbolize on a deeper psychological level? Using Viktor Frankl’s famous quote - “Between stimulus and response there is a space…,” I reflect on how the pillars in cards like the High Priestess, Justice, the Hierophant, and even the Moon might represent more than just duality or balance. I explore the possibility that these pillars symbolize psychological thresholds or liminal spaces where uncertainty, intuition, morality, projection, fear, and meaning live. I dive into the symbolism of the flowing/airy tapestry behind the High Priestess and contrast it with the heavy, obscuring curtain behind Justice, exploring how these archetypes reflect the tension between flexibility and rigidity. Through a Jungian, somatic, and trauma-informed lens, I discuss how the body often senses something before the mind can, and before the brain can organize it into language, as well…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I walk you through one of my favorite creative tarot practices: building a tarot spread in real time and then using it for our collective month-ahead reading for May! Instead of starting with a pre-made spread, I decided to let the cards guide the questions. As a therapist, I’m used to being a professional question asker, so this felt like a natural way to show you how tarot spreads can emerge directly from tarot and the human experience. I pull cards one at a time, listen to what questions they seem to ask, and slowly build a cohesive spread that reflects themes many of us are navigating right now. The spread that emerged centers around the Ten of Wands, exploring the tension between what we carry that is necessary and what we carry that is unnecessary. From there, the reading moves into questions about avoidance, hyper-independence, emotional curiosity, and the challenge of allowing others to support us. What unfolded was a powerful reminder that many of us have…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore the Moon archetype through the lens of perception, ambiguity, and psychological insight. I also get super personal about my early experiences as a therapist. This episode was inspired by pulling The Moon after not seeing it in my readings for quite some time. That experience opened the door to a flood of memories from my early days as a therapist and the powerful lessons I learned about perception, symbolism, and uncertainty from a very dear, late supervisor of mine. I reflect on how working with ambiguous images, sand tray therapy, and expressive modalities shaped my understanding of tarot as a projective and deeply personal experience. I also share the lasting influence of this former supervisor who taught me the phrase, “the back is always bigger than the front,” a reminder that what we see first is rarely the full picture. This idea mirrors the Moon archetype perfectly: we only see what is illuminated, while so much remains hidden in shadow. When used…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I continue my monthly collective-reading tarot series with the classic Celtic Cross spread for April, using the truly stunning and special Earth Magick Tarot. This month’s reading felt intense from the start with multiple Major Arcana appearing throughout the spread (six in total omg), the themes that surfaced centered around uncertainty, systemic instability, collective exhaustion, and the deep craving for clarity and truth. The Hanged Man set the tone immediately, reflecting the liminal, upside-down feeling many of us are navigating as we find ourselves caught between the world we knew and the world that is still taking shape. As the spread unfolds, archetypes like The World, The Emperor, The Devil, and The Sun paint a layered picture of global tension, power structures, and the psychological toll of overstimulation and instability. At the same time, cards like The Lovers and the Two of Cups remind us that our individual choices, relationships, and values still…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I share what happened when I found myself in a creative slump and did what I often encourage others to do…just shuffle the cards and follow what shows up. What surfaced were court cards, which led me back to a recent workshop I created on understanding the Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings through the lens of psychosocial development and Jungian Psychoanalysis. This episode offers a glimpse into how I move beyond seeing court cards as simple personality types and instead view them as developmental archetypes that mirror real psychological stages across the lifespan. Drawing from Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, I explore how each court card reflects key human questions like identity, intimacy, contribution, and integration, and how we revisit these stages throughout life rather than moving through them in a linear fashion. I also introduce Jungian concepts of transformation, showing how the court cards can represent the unfolding of awareness - from…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I’m kicking off March with a new series for the pod: a monthly collective tarot reading. A lot of you asked for more frequent check-ins after my 2026 year-ahead reading, and honestly… I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this sooner. So, thank you for the suggestion! If you’ve been around my work for a while, you know I don’t read predictively. My relationship to tarot is rooted in its therapeutic components and how archetypes help us access unconscious material, think outside the box, and get curious about what’s happening inside us and around us. So, these monthly readings are meant to offer an invitation for us to think deeper, feel inspired, and spark conversation. For this first collective reading, I’m using one of my favorite spreads: “Why Is Everything F*cked?” Because…well, everything is f*cked. The spread: A card to represent the current chaos What have we not considered about this chaos? What role do I play in the resolution of the chaos? What might…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore why asking better questions might be the most important tarot skill you can develop. As a psychotherapist, I often joke that I’m a “professional question asker.” It’s half joke, half truth because the arc of a therapy session (sometimes even the arc of an entire therapeutic relationship) can hinge on one well-timed, well-crafted question. And I’ve come to realize the same is true in tarot. We spend so much time mastering card meanings, memorizing spreads, studying symbolism, and refining interpretations, but if the question we bring to the cards lacks depth, precision, or courage, even the most technically impressive reading can fall flat. In this episode, I explore: Why poorly crafted tarot questions limit insight How to stop outsourcing your authority to the cards How Socratic questioning can deepen tarot readings How vertical arrow questioning (a cognitive therapy tool) applies to tarot I also walk you through a live exercise after pulling the Nine of…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore a concept called “poisoning the well” and how it can inconspicuously shape the way we interpret tarot, often before we’ve even given the cards a fair chance to speak, or ourselves an opportunity to be curious about the card. Poisoning the well can happen when we learn to fear a card before encountering it in its specific context, which makes anything that follows feel threatening, prophetic, or untrustworthy. In tarot, this shows up when cards like The Tower, Death, The Devil, or the Three of Swords are immediately labeled as “bad” or “painful,” which shuts down curiosity, nuance, and the ability to experience deeper reflection. I walk through the three psychological patterns that tend to fuel this kind of tarot bias: First impressions: Where early fear-based meanings stick even when a card’s position or context suggests something more layered, or not so literal (e.g. Death). Confirmation bias: Where we unconsciously look for evidence that supports our fear…

In this episode of ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I'm exploring something that’s been stirring in me since a recent book club event inside The Symposium: the way we unconsciously project motherhood onto tarot’s female figures. After an insightful conversation in the book club (shoutout to Darcy for naming it so clearly: “Tarot doesn’t need another mother”), I couldn’t stop thinking about how often cards like Strength, the Empress, and all four Queens get flattened into maternal archetypes. And of course, we’re not just doing this in tarot. We’re doing this everywhere, all the time. In this episode, I explore: Why the Strength card has become one of my least favorite cards (for now) How projection and cultural conditioning shape our interpretations of female-presenting figures in tarot The dangers of turning all gentleness and emotional regulation into compulsory/female/motherly care What it might mean to view Strength as discernment, regulation, or even female rage instead of caretaking I also talk about the…

In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I discuss an epiphany I had after pulling the Three of Cups. It led me to reflect on the feeling I have when I’m in the middle of a crowd at a concert. Or, back in the day, when I’d wait in line for hours to be front and center of the stage at the barricade. It was such a euphoric feeling, everyone sharing in excitement and joy at the same moment in time for the same reason. And then it hit me…the three of cups is collective effervescence. I explore the psychology behind collective effervescence and why shared experiences feel so much more intense than solitary ones. Research shows that in group settings, our nervous systems synchronize (so our heart rates align, attention focuses intensely, and emotions amplify). The Three of Cups just so happens to capture this perfectly because it marks the point in the Cups suit where emotion becomes a shared social experience, where our feelings spill out into the collective container and move through a group. I also talk about…

In this last episode of 2025 for ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, and I’m offering a collective reading using my annual New Year spread. This reading is for all of us - a shared reflection on what we’re carrying forward, what we’re releasing, and how we can meet the coming year with more awareness, regulation, and intention. At the center of the spread is our 2026 collective year card: The Wheel of Fortune, an archetype that speaks to change, movement, uncertainty, and the reality that life keeps turning whether we feel ready or not. Throughout the episode, I walk through each card in the seven-card spread and explore it through a therapeutic, nervous-system–informed lens. We begin by looking back at 2025 and naming something to be proud of, which arrives in the form of the Four of Cups which I realize feels like emotional discernment and learning where our energy no longer belongs. From there, the Two of Wands invites us to continue exploring curiosity, vision, and expansion in 2026, especially by gently stepping…

This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore 2026 as a Wheel of Fortune year, with The Magician as its companion archetype - an invitation to step into the new year embracing change, adaptability, resilience, and meaningful participation. I keep returning to the idea of finding the center of the spinning wheel: not perfect stillness like we’re often led to believe we should be finding, but nervous-system regulation that allows us to observe, reassess, and respond with intention rather than react. I also unpack key symbols from the Wheel of Fortune that feel especially relevant for the year ahead. Clouds represent the liminal space between the known and unknown, reminding us that not seeing the full picture is often just the nature of change. The snake speaks to shedding skin and renewal, framing downward cycles as preparation rather than punishment. And at the heart of it all is the center of the Wheel, which I liken to the eye of a hurricane - a place of presence and regulation where we learn to stay with…

I’ve had “Timekeeper” by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals stuck in my head, and it sent me down a rabbit hole about how we experience time - psychologically, somatically, and through tarot. In this episode of The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I explore why time isn’t a single, objective thing we all live the same way. Instead, our nervous systems, mental health, creativity, grief, and even neurodivergence shape how fast or slow life feels. Plus, tarot gives us language and imagery to work with that reality. I explore how time is deeply subjective and shaped by the nervous system, noting how ADHD, anxiety, trauma, grief, and even creative flow can dramatically alter our felt sense of time. I also look at how capitalism, calendars, and the constant pressure toward productivity hijack our internal rhythms and distort our perception of urgency. Through a tarot lens, I consider how the cards function as mirrors for our temporal experience: the Wheel of Fortune becomes a symbolic clock that reflects cycles, seasons, turning…

This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I'm taking you behind the scenes of writing my new book, Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow (available for pre-order now, out December 8, 2025!). In this deeply personal episode, I share what happened the day I received my author copies: yes, including the moment I froze and couldn’t open the box. But more than that, I offer a director’s cut of the book itself - reading passages aloud, reflecting on what surprised me as I wrote it, and unpacking the emotional and psychological process behind writing about the shadow being an act of personal shadow work. Together, we explore: What it really feels like to be seen, exposed, and published The existential terror of transparencyHow magical tools like crystals became sacred support in therapy The Queen of Swords as persona and protector (hello, favorite archetype) A real-life case study of shadow integration in therapy What Sartre, Jung, Brene Brown, and tarot have in common And yes, I do a bit of spontaneous exposure therapy by reading…

This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, in honor of my upcoming book Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow, which releases on December 8, 2025, I’m reading a portion of chapter 2 (Roots of the Shadow) right here on the podcast. In Roots of the Shadow, I dive into the foundations of shadow work through a deeply therapeutic and psychologically grounded lens. I explore how Carl Jung’s original concept of the shadow intersects with Internal Family Systems (IFS), Freud’s ideas of the id, ego, and superego, and even Brené Brown’s research on shame. Throughout this chapter, I explore academic theory, personal reflection, and practical exercises, because shadow work is just as much about theory as it is about application. You’ll also get to experience one of the tarot spreads from the book, the Psychoanalytic Shadow Spread, designed to help you explore your inner world using tarot as a reflective tool. I walk you through each position in the spread and provide an example interpretation using cards like The High Priestess, Ace of…

What if the real root of evil isn’t money, but power? This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, I take a deep, psychologically grounded look at the Six of Wands, a card typically associated with success and recognition, and reframe it through the lens of shadow work, power and control, neuroscience, and social dynamics. Inspired by a spread I pulled during a recent shadow workshop and influenced by current global events, I found myself asking: What happens when power becomes addictive? When does celebration become complicit? How does unchecked power erode empathy, justice, and even our sense of self? Throughout this episode, we will explore: Why the shadow side of the Six of Wands reveals themes of envy, domination, and the intoxication of being celebrated How power alters the brain, impacts empathy, and mimics addiction, which is supported by neuroscience research What tarot archetypes like The Devil, Queen of Cups Reversed, The Hierophant Reversed, and The Tower teach us about the darker side of social influence…

What does it mean when tarot archetypes are blindfolded or their vision is obscured? In this week’s episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I explore the often over-looked symbolism of obscured vision in tarot - where sight is blocked, avoided, invited or even denied. Inspired by six cards (Two of Swords, Four of Swords, Eight of Swords, Nine of Swords, Ten of Wands, and Strength), I take a psychological and symbolic deep dive into what it means when our eyes are closed. Together, we’ll unpack: Why blindfolds might represent clarity over confusion (Two of Swords vs. Eight of Swords) The difference between chosen vs. imposed limitations on sight How anxiety and panic (Nine of Swords) make us unable to see clearly, even if our eyes open What closing our eyes can teach us about nervous system regulation and rest (Four of Swords) How over-functioning and burnout distort our ability to see what’s truly happening around us (Ten of Wands) Why Strength might be less about control and more about titration and sensory input…

This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, we’re exploring one of the most commonly misunderstood behaviors that exist in many of us: people-pleasing. Inspired by real conversations in the therapy room and the archetypal patterns of tarot, I explore people-pleasing through a trauma-informed, psychological, and tarot-based lens. While people-pleasing is often viewed as a virtue and praised as kindness or empathy, the truth is way more complex. From a clinical perspective, people-pleasing is often rooted in early childhood conditioning, or what therapists might consider as part of the “fawn response,” as well as the development of what psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott refers to as the false self. I shed light on how people-pleasing is actually a survival skill - a way of staying safe by tending to others' needs, moods, and perceptions, often at our own expense. In this episode, I explore how tarot archetypes reflect the nuance and shadow of this survival style. Drawing from both psychological theory and tarot…

This week on⁠ The Tarot Diagnosis⁠, we’re getting delightfully nerdy. Inspired by a conversation with a dear friend, I explore tarot through the lens of developmental psychology, focusing specifically on Donald Winnicott’s concept of transitional objects, transitional space, and transitional phenomena. Traditionally, transitional objects are things like blankets, stuffed animals, or toys that help children move from total dependence to early independence by offering emotional regulation and symbolic comfort. But what happens when we grow up? We don’t stop needing comfort. It turns out our transitional objects just evolve… Enter tarot. In this episode, we explore how tarot functions as an transitional object, or what psychologist Mark Brenner refers to as a “sacred keepsake” that helps us self-soothe, regulate, and bridge our inner world with our external world. Drawing from both developmental theory and therapeutic principles, I unpack the psychological richness of the cards as mirrors, containers, and…

After a rejuvenating break in nature, I'm back…and tarot wasted no time in offering a message that couldn’t be ignored. In this reflective episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I share how three cards - The Devil, The Three of Swords, and The Lovers - kept showing up across multiple decks, pointing to a powerful arc about relational stuck-ness, emotional pain, and the freedom of conscious choice. We explore how The Devil archetype can represent cognitive distortions like all-or-nothing thinking and overgeneralization, which are those internal thought loops that keep us locked into outdated stories about ourselves or our partners. Then the Three of Swords becomes the bridge of clarity and discomfort when we realize just how much our thoughts have shaped our emotional experience. And The Lovers is where the healing begins: through reality-testing, reframing, and choosing a more balanced story. I also guide you through a practical, step-by-step therapeutic tarot exercise, using a real-life example I see in couples…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I pulled two seemingly contradictory cards (the Knight of Wands and the Seven of Pentacles) and found myself reflecting on the very human tension between urgency and patience. At first glance, these archetypes appear at odds: one races forward, fiery and eager; the other waits, steadies, and tends. But beneath the surface, they share a common root: passion. In this episode, I explore how both cards express passion differently - one through movement, the other through stillness. I unpack how this polarity often shows up in relationships (think of the couple where one is impulsive and driven, while the other is methodical and calm) and how both partners are often acting from the same place: care, longing, and a desire for connection. The challenge is in learning how to integrate their styles rather than battle over whose rhythm is “right.” We then zoom out into the lens of neurobiology by pairing the Knight of Wands with dopamine and the Seven of Pentacles with…

When you think of the Wheel of Fortune, you might focus on the wheel itself - the chaos, the symbols, the turning of fate. But what about the soft, billowy clouds that frame the card? In this week’s episode of The Tarot Diagnosis, I take a journey into the symbolism of clouds in tarot, exploring how they quietly anchor some of the most profound archetypes in the deck. Far from being just background art, clouds emerge as powerful metaphors for transition, liminality, and the unknown. Together, we’ll explore: Why clouds in tarot represent thresholds between the known and the unknown How their mutability contrasts with the fixed zodiac signs in the Wheel of Fortune What clouds reveal in cards like the Aces, Four of Cups, and Seven of Cups How darker, jagged clouds in the Swords suit mirror mental turbulence and grief The surprising role clouds play in The Lovers, Judgment, The World, and The Tower From “your head is in the clouds” to having “clouded judgment,” our language reflects how deeply clouds connect to…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m unpacking why “just think positive” advice often backfires and offering a more sustainable approach rooted in both Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and tarot. Together, we’ll explore why lasting change doesn’t start with your thoughts, and why it actually starts with your actions. I’ll walk you through how trauma wires the brain to anticipate harm, how DBT helps us hold two truths at once, and why micro-moments of safety and agency are the real building blocks of healing. You’ll learn how tarot can be more than just a tool for insight and how it can be a guide for new experiences. Along the way, we’ll explore: The problem with the phrase “Change your thoughts, change your life” Why action leads and thoughts follow when it comes to rewiring your nervous system How cards like The Fool, Eight of Pentacles, and Page of Cups can guide you into new behaviors A 3-card “Micro Wins & New Paths” spread to help you notice small glimmers and create change 🌙 Stay Connected…

[TW: Discussion of death, grief, suicide.] This week on The Tarot Diagnosis, I sit down with the Five of Cups and a whole host of other cards, but not in the way we usually expect. Instead of offering a clinical take or a tidy metaphor, this episode is more of a free-flowing love letter to the messiness of grief: the kind that arrives with dreams, dead batteries, wildflower fields, and the unshakable ache of remembering (those will all make sense once you listen, I promise). Inspired by a recent pull of the Five of Cups (which you may have seen on Instagram), I reflect on decades of lived experience with loss - starting with my Uncle Barry and a stopped clock, winding through stories of my TT, childhood concoctions, and the ghosts of the selves we never got to be. This isn’t just an exploration of death-related grief, but of all the quiet, complicated, and cumulative forms grief can take: missed opportunities, dissolved friendships, the unspoken distance between people, the lives we didn’t live, but could…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis, I had every intention of doing a neat little compare-and-contrast between the Five and Seven of Swords. But in true Swords fashion, what began as a tidy intellectual exploration turned into something much more raw, spiraling, and unexpectedly revealing. In this episode, I invite you into a descent through the second half of the Suit of Swords: from the Five through the Ten. What emerges is a psychological narrative about the cost of self-protection, the seduction of avoidance, and the long-term consequences of abandoning ourself. We begin at the Five of Swords with its hollow victories and relational fallout, and journey through the Six’s dissociative escape fantasies, the self-deception and silent bleeding of the Seven, the imprisonment of the Eight, and the mental reckoning of the Nine. Finally, we arrive at the Ten of Swords, which proves it’s not only a card of collapse, but one of catharsis and clarity. There’s a throughline here about the ways we try to outrun pain and…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m unpacking the emotional aftermath of the Summer Solstice Summit and diving deep into one of the most powerful psychological and tarot-based concepts I explored there - the Golden Shadow, which I expand on as a type of abandoned archetype. I begin by reflecting on the special magick that unfolded during the Summer Solstice Summit and how a weekend meant for learning and connection blossomed into something collectively sacred and transformative. From heartfelt comments in the chat box, to “aha!” moments during presentations, it became clear that this space wasn’t just about tarot, it was about holding space for each other and ourselves. ***Skip to 9:57 to avoid hearing me gush about the Summer Solstice Summit.*** That leads into the theme of this episode: the golden shadow as the abandoned archetype. Using both therapeutic insight and Jungian psychology, I examine how the golden shadow holds our disowned potential… all of that creativity, boldness, and joy that…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m diving into the nuanced and often-confused archetypes of Judgment and Justice (especially for newer readers). Plus, these are two major arcana cards that are especially relevant given the state of the world. Fun fact: this episode was inspired by a listener request, and I went full nerd-mode by pulling out lots of books I thought had unique perspectives on these archetypes in order to dig into these cards from psychological, therapeutic, and archetypal lenses. After a brief life update about my recent trip back to Florida, I shift gears into the cards. Using frameworks like Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Jungian psychology, I explore how Justice and Judgement invite us into a deeper state of reckoning with both awareness and action. I discuss how Judgment functions as an inner awakening, a self-led moment of reflection, integration, and individuation. It’s less about condemnation and more about liberation, calling us to…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m sitting down with the Two of Cups, but not in the romanticized way we often think about with this card. Sure, this card speaks to connection, mutual care, and being seen, but in this episode, I’m more interested in what is hiding underneath all that sweet relational imagery. Inspired by a lively (and opinionated!) book club discussion inside The Symposium, I revisit Jessica Dore’s take in Tarot for Change, where she explores the Two of Cups as a mirror - one that reflects not just the other person, but all of our unconscious projections, unmet needs, and early attachment wiring. Spoiler alert: we had a lot to say about her interpretation. I also spend time honoring Paul Quinn’s more relational lens from Tarot for Life, and some attachment theory to explore how this card hits differently when you're someone with a dismissive-avoidant style. We talk about the storylines we pick, as Esther Perel says, when we pick a partner - and how intimacy can feel like a…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I invite you to step away from your Eight of Pentacles bench of productivity and join me on the stone slab with the Four of Swords - a card I kept circling back to while creating a workshop on the architecture of stability. After pulling the Eight of Pentacles (yet again) I realized this card that’s been following me around for two months now was in desperate need for a session on the couch. So, I paired these two cards and asked: Why does pressing pause feel so threatening? And what happens when relentless mastery meets restorative stillness? I also brought the Eight of Wands into the mix because I know we have all experienced a sense of urgency when it comes to creating, checking off a to-do list, or simply just by existing. In this episode I touch on: Why rest feels unsafe. First we look at the knight in the Four of Swords with three blades suspended overhead and one tucked beneath him. I talk about how many of us lie down “at the ready,” never fully releasing…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I have a timely and tender conversation with my friend and favorite financial educator Mimi Cirbusova to explore what it means to find stability when the world feels like it’s crumbling. Whether it’s rising rent, global uncertainty, or emotional exhaustion, we’re all navigating something right now. This episode is an invitation to pause, reflect, and reimagine what stability looks like for you. Mimi walks us through her Money Mountain framework, and together we explore how tarot (especially the Fours) can help us ground ourselves, soften financial shame, and build emotional resilience in real, accessible ways. ✨ In This Conversation, We Explore: Why “stability” looks different than it used to and how to meet yourself where you are How the nervous system and financial anxiety are deeply connected The symbolic (and somatic) energy of the Four of Swords The tension between the Four of Pentacles and Four of Wands (survival vs. joy) Reframing saving, spending, and…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m stepping back into my music-journalist roots (yes, I share a tidbit of my personal lore in this episode haha) and I’m leaning hard on my therapist brain to do something I’ve been dying to do: a Jungian-tarot psychoanalysis of Sleep Token’s new single, “Damocles.” Beyond dissecting the song itself, this episode journeys into the artist’s mind and unpacks the relentless push to outdo one’s last creation, highlighting the unique ache of making art under capitalism. In this episode, I look at how a seemingly stripped-down metal track can crack open huge psychological themes of coping with fame, creative and emotional burnout, cognitive dissonance, and the inevitable collapse of any persona. Drawing on Jung’s ideas of the Persona and Shadow, I unpack Vessel’s lyrics line by line, explore the myth of Damocles, and show how the song mirrors key tarot archetypes like The Tower, The Moon, Seven of Wands, and The Emperor (but specifically The Emperor from the Somnia Tarot…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m continuing my monthly Tarot Therapy series by exploring a topic I’ve been wanting to discuss for ages: How tarot and witchcraft function as Psychodrama. Specifically, I explore how tarot and witchcraft can be understood and practiced through the lens of psychodrama, a powerful therapeutic method developed by Dr. Jacob Moreno. Psychodrama is essentially theater for the psyche. It’s an embodied way of working with emotion, memory, and healing through role play, creativity, and storytelling. If you’ve ever lit a candle for someone you love, pulled a tarot card that made your stomach drop, or cried while drawing a protection sigil - then you’ve already engaged in psychodrama. In this episode, I share why I believe tarot and magick aren’t just symbolic or ritualistic, but active, expressive healing tools. I talk about how tarot spreads become psyche-inspired stages, how tarot becomes characters, and how we can use these practices to externalize our inner world in ways…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast I’m exploring a delicate identity that many people carry without ever naming: the wounded caretaker. Inspired by a social media trend that says, “I probably just needed a hug, so I became a therapist,” this episode takes a deep dive into the lifelong emotional patterns that develop when we’re asked to care for others before we’re ready…and before we've been cared for ourselves. In this episode, I unpack the concept of parentification - when a child is placed in the role of caretaker, whether emotionally or physically, and what that does to their developing sense of self. Through the archetype of the ⁠Queen of Pentacles⁠, we examine how this card (often celebrated for her nurturing energy) can also hold shadow traits of burnout, over-functioning, and self-neglect. I explore how tarot archetypes like the Ten of Wands, Page of Cups, Six of Pentacles, The Devil, and The Star offer a rich map for understanding the cycle of exhaustion, grief, and hidden hopes of those who…

This week on ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast⁠, I’m discussing a tender and often overlooked habit many of us carry: over-explaining. In this episode, I explore the psychological roots of this behavior through the lens of the Page of Swords, an archetype that is curious, alert, and sometimes altered by experiences of gaslighting or a lack of conflict resolution. We’ll unpack how early experiences with unresolved conflict or emotional invalidation can lead us to constantly seek clarity, not just for understanding and being understood, but also for safety. I explore how the Page of Swords becomes the internal part of us that can't rest until everything has been said just right, and how that habit, while protective, can also be exhausting. From there, we journey through the Swords court to see how our communication style evolves over time: from the anxious explaining of the Page, to the defensive urgency of the Knight, the discerning clarity of the Queen, and finally the peaceful detachment of the King. Each…

I’m doing something a little different this week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast! I’m re-releasing an episode from a few years ago on Tarot and Parts Work, where I get nerdy about the therapeutic model of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jungian Depth Psychology through the lens of tarot. I have a few reasons for this: First, there’s been a surge of interest in this intersection, so I want to bring more visibility to the topic for newer listeners. Second, I’ll be traveling over the next few weeks and won’t be able to record a new episode. So, whether this is your first time listening or a revisit, I hope you find new insights in this conversation. 🚨 Exciting Announcement! 🚨 I’m hosting a Summer Solstice Summit from June 20th to 22nd, featuring more than two dozen of my favorite tarot and astrology practitioners! These are brilliant minds—therapists, psychologists, astrologers, and innovative tarot thinkers—coming together for a three-day immersive experience. I’ll be sharing more details soon, but for now,…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m continuing the new Tarot Therapy series, where I explore tarot through the lens of therapeutic theories and modalities. In this episode, I’m nerding out about Motivational Interviewing (MI) and the Suit of Wands and uncovering how the fiery energy of Wands aligns perfectly with the psychology of change, motivation, and burnout. At its core, Motivational Interviewing is a therapeutic approach designed to help people work through ambivalence and move toward change. I spend time talking about how the four fundamental MI processes (Engaging, Focusing, Evoking, and Planning) mirror the journey of the Suit of Wands, making this an exciting and dynamic pairing. Join me as I explore how each card in the Suit of Wands maps onto different aspects of MI, using a fictional client case study to illustrate these concepts in action. From the Ace of Wands igniting motivation to the Ten of Wands warning us about burnout, this episode walks you through how tarot can help us better…

This week on The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I explore how the brain’s dopamine system drives us to feel intoxicated by toxic relationships. Inspired by conversations with clients, I discuss the science behind intermittent reinforcement and how tarot cards like The Devil and the Two of Swords reversed perfectly mirror these psychological patterns. Join me as I walk you through the neurobiological and emotional mechanics behind toxic relationship cycles and share insights from the minor arcana that represent these forces. I also talk about the reversed behavioral characteristics of the Knight of Cups, the role of cognitive dissonance, and the pointed, yet nurturing guidance from the Queen of Pentacles for reclaiming stability and self-worth. The Moon, Wheel of Fortune, and Eight of Swords make their role known in this process as well. If you’ve ever wondered why you find it so hard to walk away from a toxic relationship or want to develop a healthier relationship with yourself, this episode is a must-listen!…

This week onThe Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, I’m wading into the intersection of tarot and cognition with Dr. Thomas Brooks, a research psychologist, educator, and tarot enthusiast. Together, we explore how tarot fosters cognitive flexibility, promotes self-reflection, and helps us hold complex dualities. We discuss the power of projection, the role of archetypes like The Emperor, and how pattern recognition can guide deeper insights. Thomas also shares his journey of blending tarot with academia, how this tool can reframe our thinking, and why he doesn’t currently read tarot for himself. Don’t miss this thought-provoking conversation about tarot as a cognitive tool! You can find Dr. Thomas Brooks on Instagram@impulsegnometarot, or check out his podcast,The Psychosocial Distancing Podcast. Want to find out all of the ways you can connect with me live this month? Join us inside⁠ The Symposium⁠! If you love The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast, please consider leaving a 5 star review on whatever platform you listen to us…

This week on ⁠The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast⁠, I am nerding out! I explore the concept of Tarot by Omission: what it means when a particular suit or archetype is missing from a reading, and how that absence can guide deeper self-exploration. To bring this concept to life, I introduce a fictional, therapeutic case study, analyzing a tarot spread where Cups and Swords are absent, revealing deeper emotional and cognitive blocks. I also offer practical applications for identifying and working with omissions in your own readings. Side note: I didn't explore the absence of court cards, but I will be exploring this in an upcoming workshop inside The Symposium! Inspired by my clinical musings on silence in the therapy room, I reference the following study in this episode: Koudenburg, N., Postmes, T., & Gordijn, E. H. (2011). Disrupting the flow: How brief silences in group conversations affect social needs. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(2), 512–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.12.006 Want to…