When Good Tarot Cards Go Bad: Why Context in Readings Matters
The Magician Tarot card by Pamela Colman Smith
Most of my tarot readings are done online and in the privacy of my office, under the glow of candlelight and in swirls of frankincense and oud. However, in August, I read for small groups of women on two separate occasions, and it was lovely to be reading in person and interesting to note how those familiar with the tarot would sit up straighter and smile, or even sigh with relief, at the sight of the so-called good tarot cards.
Cards like The Magician, The Empress, The Lovers, or The Wheel of Fortune are often interpreted as benevolent and kindly. But the truth is, these cards don’t always bring easy or positive messages.
The Magician: Trickster or True Manifestor?
The Magician by Pamela Colman Smith and The Magician in the Marseilles Deck
Context is everything in tarot. For example, if you’re asking the cards to describe your new lover and you pull The Magician, and this person works in sales, the tarot is probably on point. But if you’re asking about your lover’s character and The Magician appears, you may want to pause and ask if there’s more to this person than their love-making prowess.
Remember: The Magician is Mercury—the trickster, the psychopomp, the lock-picker, the creator of code and also the decoder.
There are two types of Magicians:
The illusionist, skilled in sleight of hand and psychological manipulation.
The true magician, who works with the Cosmos and the Elements and, as Crowley says, “causes change to occur in conformity with Will.”
Sadly, many embody the first category rather than the second.
The artwork makes it clear: a mage stands before a table strewn with tools. This is someone who is resourced. Whether these resources or tools are used benevolently and constructively or manipulatively depends entirely on context.
The Magician in hat,
and the Magician card.
The Empress: Abundance or Excess?
The Empress card is often celebrated as a symbol of nurturing, creativity, and abundance. Yet even she can reveal shadows when pulled in specific contexts. On her own, the Empress resists shades of gray. But when paired with pip cards, her softer qualities can quickly take on sharper edges.
Here’s an example reading I recently did with a client, whom I will refer to as L, shared here with her blessing.
The Question: Why am I always broke?
The Spread:
The Empress, The High Priestess, The Five of Pentacles
(Rider Waite Smith deck)
The Interpretation
Together, the cards revealed that L, a poet and online marketer, was wasting money on unnecessary extras, such as subscriptions, apps, and journals.
The Five of Pentacles in the Rider-Waite deck depicts injury and poverty. In the Thoth deck, it is called the Lord of Worry. The crutches in the artwork suggest unhealthy supports—habits or expenses that have become burdens rather than benefits.
Her response? She admitted she had recently been considering cancelling most of her marketing software subscriptions and even letting go of some literary journals precisely as the High Priestess and Five of Pentacles suggested.
This string of 3 cards points to an Empress with empty coffers.
Tarot “Good Cards” Aren’t Always Simple
This is the beauty of tarot: even the cards most associated with abundance, love, and luck—The Magician, The Empress, The Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune—can reveal challenges, illusions, or excess.
The key takeaway: context is everything. Without it, even the most radiant tarot cards can lead us astray. With it, they guide us toward deeper awareness, accountability, and transformation.
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