Postcard Tarot Project

An ongoing analog tarot experiment

A lot of tarot readings I provide these days are online via zoom or voice note. This allows me to reach and connect with clients without the limits of locality, which I’m incredibly grateful for… but the screen between us always adds a level of distance which isn’t present in a face to face reading.

Sharing my art on social media is encouraged and supposedly convenient for artists, yet I often find it soul destroying. Always wrestling with the algorithm and how to turn art into entertaining content for the short attention span encouraged by social platforms. Likewise, when exploring tarot or reading tarot for clients online there’s a disconnect through a camera lens. 3D presence is replaced by a 2D visual.

I’ve always advocated for making tarot accessible, experimenting with collective readings, pick-a-card posts and even spending months providing free short readings on TikTok live. But readings shouldn’t be that instant or disconnected. As an artist, I want to share my work — but I’d love for them to be pinned up or framed on walls, not squeezed in-between AI visuals on an instagram feed. I want my art and tarot readings to be present and absorbed more privately.

So, I’d been thinking a lot about how I can connect with people with my art and tarot readings in a way that feels more personal and tangible. Since the new year (and the new threat of AI on my job), I’ve rebelliously chosen to write and draw more by hand, rather than by keyboard and screen. I bought new notebooks/sketchbooks and my partner and best friend gifted me with beautiful fountain pens — one with a fine nib and one with a thick nib. I was horrified at how often I tap, swipe or pinch the paper out of habit, trying to zoom in or undo. Even worse, I could see how much the quality of my handwriting and drawing had been compromised through always typing and drawing digitally.

In this new zeal to get back to paper, I was inspired to start the Postcard Tarot Project. The slow and intentional medium of hand written postcards is nostalgic and far more exciting to receive than a DM. I decided to disperse a single tarot deck across 78 tarot readings, via post! Each person who requests a reading receives one card from that deck along with a handwritten interpretation on a postcard and an A5 art print.

I hoped that receiving a handwritten reading would land different. Slower and more intimate, lending itself to the special connection of a tarot reading that can’t be replicated digitally.

So, Impulsively I planned and launched this project within a couple of weeks — diving in like the fool, hoping people would resonate…

Thankfully, they did!

As of the time of writing this, I’ve had the privilege of conducting and posting 35 out of the 78 limited readings available! It’s truly an ongoing magical experience, taking moments of quiet throughout the week (often in early hours of the morning) before walking them to the post office to send them.

I’ve noticed the process of reading has been quite surprising too. It’s been meditative and almost like a form of automatic writing or drawing. The meaning seems to unfold through the act of writing itself. The message arrives as my hand moves, sometimes resulting in the occasional crossed-out word or spelling error. I’ve also noted how this format has unexpectedly pushed me to be more confident in my intuition, as I strictly won’t allow myself to rewrite or edit. It feels honest in a way typing doesn’t.

Not only has it been a joy to read tarot this way, but it’s also been an opportunity to plant my artwork physically into people’s hands. The A5 art prints I’ve included with the readings have sometimes come from my published decks, sometimes from unpublished work, sometimes even pieces from the new deck I’m still creating. Whether they are being tacked up, framed or gifted, it’s a pleasure to know they are getting seen by someone at a slower pace.

I can’t help but feel a little sentimental knowing that everyone taking part in this project is invisibly connected by one deck of tarot cards. That each card is destined for one person and them alone — and once they are gone, they are gone!

Something beautifully present and transient.
A personal, shared experience.
A thread running between myself and 78 strangers.

If you’d like to order a Postcard Tarot Reading for yourself or a friend, visit my website here for the details!