I fell into a rabbit hole over the week–one filled with the mystic and the divine, with spirits bearing message only for me, the universe itself is communicating to me among its infinite inhabitants, all through a middleaged woman in Ohio using a deck of cards designed with characters from the Star Trek franchise.
It started surreptitiously enough. I saw a tarot reading that demanded I stay. “Stop scrolling. This is for you.” I have always craved validation, and some stranger on the internet telling me they have something for me sounds exactly like the attention I crave. “Your spirit guides want you to hear this before you make a decision.”
The reading resonated with me. It hinted at some things I’ve been mulling about, it mentioned my initials, and somehow it knew I’ve been listening to the same LANY song over and over. I “liked” the video, and scrolled along.
Little do I know I opened the floodgates. Thanks to Tiktok’s highly sophisticated and ingenious algorithm, letting one Tiktok tarot reading into my life opened the passageway for the rest of its kin. Soon, my For You Page morphed into something I no longer recognize. Gone are the half naked college boys air sexing (like air guitar, but with copulation movements) to the latest trap beat, replaced by a parade of tarot readings that get eerily and eerily accurate through time. “Before you go to the gym,” one said, “listen to this.” I dropped my gym bag.
I am a man of science. I have long dropped the idea of a divine being that demands worship, relegating it to nothing more than a fairy tale used by monarchs to perpetuate abuse and justify their annexation of neighbors.
There are simple explanations why tarot readings resonate so much with us. In search of validation, it’s easy to inject ourselves in narratives that puts us in the context of grand things. While tarot readings are not a hundred percent accurate, they are ambiguous enough to leave space for us to fill ourselves. They talk about “longing for someone you lost” — of course, we all have lost someone, and typically, you only long for those you lost. “You want to make this decision, but past trauma is holding you back” — of course, in facing a dilemma, past traumas will always be considered, and who doesn’t have an (un)healthy amount of trauma?
They also trigger self-fulfilling prophecies. Because a tarot reading tells you “things are going to get better”, you start having a more optimistic outlook, perhaps you’ll also start doing healthier habits. The agency is yours, you act towards the prophecy you want fulfilled.
But here’s my bold perspective. Another reason why tarot readings resonate with us so much is because they’re a form of poetry.
Here’s a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The title is “To S.M.”, which can stand for Siege Malvar. It talks about the departure of SM and the author’s defiance against it.
Did Millay write this about me? Of course not.
But poetry resonates when you need it.
Not all poems will resonate. I don’t think anyone ever said “I can totally relate with everything Bukowski ever wrote.” But they do when you need them to. And that’s the beauty of poetry: they tells us more about ourselves than we thought we knew.
In poetry we find the articulation of our longing, of our joys, of our frustrations, of our bliss, of our peace. Of our anger at the government, of the relief we find in a beloved’s embrace, of the love we find riding the bus home, of the sadness that rides our back as we go through places that used to be places we share with someone we love.
Discovering a poem that resonates is a personal experience that the poet has created especially for us. Unlike pop songs that make personal experiences universally shared and enjoyable, a poem that really speaks to us feels like the work of the universe talking directly to us. Here’s a poem that speaks of the emptiness a lover has left, and it is yours, it is the spirits talking through the poet, and the algorithm that made the path, to make sure that this poem reaches you when you need it.
Tarot readings have their own sense of poetry. Each card is a verse, a chunk of detail, a part of the story. The Empress that sits strongly in her throne, as you sit at peace in a barstool. The Tower crashing down, you discovering some truth that’s giving you a new change of perspectives. Between the cards, between the verses, is a space to find yourself.
Now, it’s my turn to let the spirits use me as a channel and let you discover a message from the universe. This poem is for you, and specifically for you only. Stop what you’re doing and read this. Here’s an excerpt from a poem by the brilliant Singaporean poet Pooja Nansi. Read the poem in full in this page: Since you Scoff When I Say you are the Best Kisser I’ve Ever Met
Kissing you made me feel like I was a planet
orbiting around your anabolic warmth.No string of gravity to hold me down
but falling always, towards the darkof your opium tongue.
Pooja Nansi, Since you Scoff When I Say you are the Best Kisser I’ve Ever Met
