r/TarotVerbatim

We all focus on the skeleton in armor riding the horse. But look at the literal reactions of the four living people in the card. The King (ego/status) is dead on the ground. The religious figure (belief/negotiation) is pleading on his knees. The young woman (attachment) has completely fainted. But the tiny child is standing perfectly upright, looking directly into the skeleton's face, and handing it a white flower.

My read: The only way to survive this collapse without being crushed is to approach the ending with the absolute curiosity and lack of ego of a child. If you try to negotiate, fight, or cling to your status, you will be knocked over. You just have to stand there and hand a flower to the inevitable. Do you guys use the child in this card as a model for radical acceptance?

I asked the deck how to find any sense of stability when my entire external life feels like it is spinning wildly out of my control. I pulled the Wheel of Fortune.

We always look at the mechanical wheel in the center, and the snake and jackal clinging to it as it spins. But look at the extreme corners of the card. There are four golden, winged creatures sitting on solid clouds. They are completely ignoring the massive spinning wheel in the middle of the room. Instead, every single one of them is intensely focused on reading a heavy book in their lap.

My read: You cannot control the chaotic spin of your current circumstances. The card is literally showing you that the only way to find stability right now is to pull back to the corners, detach entirely from the drama of the spin, and focus strictly on your own private study and long-term knowledge. Have the cards ever told you to just sit down and read a book while the world spins?

Throw away account since I feel I am saying a lot of details. My extended family is large, I have 4 aunties, 5 uncles and 19 first cousins on my dads side alone. Since 2022, my cousin has gotten very anti-everyone. It has really weighed down on how I view her since then and it’s very common for my loud mouth dad and I to get into heated arguments with her over this. This is more common since my dad just walks up to her and starts on her over whatever bigotry she was spouting on instagram at the weekend. No one else in my family is like that yet no one will stand up to her, they will just tell her “that’s not nice” and then scream at my dad for causing trouble. She is 35 and depressed so that’s the main excuse everyone has for her actions. She can be confusing though, since she made multiple posts about how gay people are p3d0s and then greeted my gay cousin, asking him how his boyfriend is and that she’d love to go bring her kids to see them perform together (they are theatre actors). It’s like she’s a different person on the internet. Around the same time she started posting anti brown people content and how Muslims are gonna take over the world. She’s a Christian (has 3 kids out of wedlock and still isn’t married) but claims to be one anyways.

I meet my beautiful Indian boyfriend as we were both studying anthropology in America. We dated for 4 months before I brought him home to my European country (don’t really want to share too much since I am going into greats detail). My boyfriend is a walking sunshine, and I’m not just saying this because I love him, everyone can feel how effortlessly he connects with people. He is so civil and kind and charismatic that I shouldn’t have been surprised with how ok he was when I told him about my cousin. He met my cousin and she was all open arms over the top lovely to him and was asking about him about Islam. I don’t know if maybe because his accent was clearly American that made her like him more but she acts in person different than on the internet.

I asked “How do I approach my racist cousin, now that I have an Indian boyfriend?”

My interpretations

1. 9 of cups-That she was wishing to get under my skin?
2. 7 of cups-warning that I may be Letting myself be overwhelmed and emotional instead of logically explaining what she is doing wrong.
3. 10 of swords- a fight that may end in being split from family

If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it

I pulled the Five of Pentacles, and this card always hits in a very human way.

It is not just about money or bad luck. It is about standing outside the warm room. Seeing the light. Knowing help exists somewhere, but still feeling like it is not meant for you.

The mother and child walking through the snow say a lot. They are not only poor. They are tired. Excluded. Barely holding it together. The church window is glowing behind them, but they are still outside.

Prediction: If you chose this card, you may be moving through a season where support has felt missing, delayed, or conditional. Someone or something you expected to protect you may not come through the way you hoped. But the card also says this: you are not meant to freeze outside forever. Help may come from a different door. A different person. A different choice.

Stop begging for warmth from people who keep you in the cold.

i’ve known him from school days and it’s been 6 years since i last met him but he’s coming to meet me next month and i’m confused as of why now

what do y’all think he thinks of me?

it’s weird bc we’ve been friends but he’s never expressed his feelings for me i do know deep down he thinks it’s fated but i don’t know what he wants from me

10 months post breakup, but him making things official with his actual gf (that he dated 2 months after he ghosted me) broke my heart again and sent me back to square one. I don’t even know if it’s ok to ask this question. But this is where my heart is now ❤️‍🩹

The Fool says you may be worrying too much about the road ahead. This card carries that “born yesterday” energy. Not careless in a bad way, but fresh, open, and strangely protected because he has not filled his mind with fear yet.

He is standing at the edge, yes. The dog is warning him, yes. But The Fool still moves forward with the sun above him and almost no baggage on his back.

If you chose The Fool, the thing you are scared about may turn out lighter than you expect. You may be overthinking a new start, a message, a move, a risk, or a choice that requires trust more than control.

The card is saying: do not worry yourself into stopping before life even has a chance to open the door.

I asked the cards how I am supposed to find any peace or meaning after my entire life basically fell apart this year. I got the Ten of Swords.

It is the most brutal, gory image in the deck. The man is face-down in the dirt with ten blades in his back. But if you look very closely at his right hand resting on the ground, his fingers are arranged in the exact same two-finger Papal blessing sign that The Hierophant uses.

My read: Even at absolute, devastating rock bottom, physically pinned to the dirt, there is a conscious gesture of granting grace. You are making peace with the disaster. You are actively blessing the ending of this cycle, even as it crushes you. Have the cards ever pointed out such a tiny detail to completely change the tone of a tragedy?

Together for five years, just broke up this week. What is this spread saying about our future together. Thank you x

Not the small kind of worry you can talk yourself out of. This is the kind that wakes you up, sits on your chest, and makes every thought sharper than it should be.

The figure is upright in bed, face covered, surrounded by swords hanging across the black wall. That image says it all. The pain is mental, but the body still feels it. Fear, grief, regret, guilt, anxiety, overthinking. All of it shows up here.

That is why I connect the Nine of Swords with worried, worrying, distress, sleeplessness, dread, sorrow, and mental anguish.

It is the card for the night when the mind will not let you rest.

We always talk about this card as moving away from danger. But look at the literal physics of the boat. There are six heavy steel swords stabbed vertically directly into the wooden floorboards.

My read: If you pull those swords out right now while you are still in the middle of the water, the boat will flood and you will sink. Those heavy, painful defenses are literally plugging the holes in your life right now. You cannot safely pull them out and heal the wood until you actually reach dry land. Does anyone else view the swords as necessary structural support during a transition?

I don’t see Tarot as just fortune telling.

To me, Rider Waite Smith connects the conscious mind, which thinks in words, with the subconscious mind, which speaks through images and emotions.

When you ask a question, the card’s picture gives your subconscious something to respond to. Your mind then turns that image into words that connect with your question.

That is where the message comes from.

Tarot works because the images help bring hidden thoughts, feelings, and patterns into language.

I asked the deck why I can't seem to fully detach from a highly toxic dynamic even after I formally ended things and walked away. I pulled the Seven of Swords.

We usually focus on the guy awkwardly sneaking off with his arms full of stolen weapons. But look at the literal physical placement of the two swords he left behind. They didn't fall over in a chaotic rush. They are driven perfectly upright, side-by-side, deep into the yellow dirt right next to the enemy camp.

My read: You didn't actually make a clean break. You packed up most of your emotional baggage, but you deliberately planted a piece of yourself right back in their territory. You left an anchor. You are keeping a door propped open, leaving obvious loose ends just in case you ever decide you need an excuse to go back. Do you ever use the planted swords to call out an intentionally incomplete exit?

This card says you are not meant to sit back and wait for life to sort itself out. You are being asked to take the reins, make a clear decision, and guide the situation with focus. The road may not be calm, but you have more control than you think.

Prediction:
If you chose The Chariot, you are about to step into a stronger position. Someone may look to you for direction, or a messy situation may finally start moving because you stop letting other forces drag it around.

This is a victory card, but not an easy one. It comes through discipline, strategy, and staying firm when everything around you wants to pull you off course.

Nine of Cups - Eight of Pentacles - Chariot

For you,the most satisfying job is truck driving.

For you, the most satisfying - Nine of Cups

job - Eight of Pentacles

is truck driving. - Chariot

Nine of Cups Check him out: All by himself he ate and drank whatever he wanted as much as he wanted, and shows us nine empties lined up behind him to prove it. He is wearing the biggest grin ever, saying to himself about this meal: "For you, the most satisfying."

Eight of Pentacles is the job, anyone's job, and is anything at all about labor, employment, work, etc.

Chariot is driving a vehicle. When it represents a job, it is truck driving, cab driving, or other driving.

Look at the road. It is straight, narrow, clean, and guarded by lilies. That gives the card a feeling of purity, discipline, and staying on the right path. The hand is offering the pentacle above it, almost like a reward for choosing that road and walking it properly.

Then at the end, there is the rose arbor. That matters too. Roses often carry victory, fulfillment, and arrival. So the card shows the whole idea in one picture: a pure beginning, a correct path, and a reward waiting at the end.

That is why I read the Ace of Pentacles as the “straight and narrow” card. Not just success, but success that comes from taking the right road.

Because this card is literally the moment something gives way.

Lightning hits. The crown is knocked loose. The tower cracks open. People fall from what once seemed safe. Nothing bends gently here. It breaks, splits, collapses, shatters, and comes apart all at once.

That is why I connect The Tower with the whole break family: break, breaking, broken, breakup, collapse, crack, rupture, split, snap, and falling apart.

The Tower does not whisper change. It forces the structure to show where it was already weak

Most of the time, we are taught to look at Tarot cards as vague, mystical suggestions. But what if we treated the deck like a structured, symbolic language instead?

In Tarot Verbatim, the core principle is simple: The question determines which meaning the card activates.

Think about the word "Run" in everyday language. The definition completely changes based on the context of the sentence:

• Run a race 🏃
• Run a business 🏢
• Run a machine ⚙️
• Run late ⏰

It’s the exact same word, but different contextual activation.

Tarot Verbatim applies this exact same linguistic principle to the cards. Let's look at the Ten of Wands.

Look at the literal ink on the card: a man deeply hunched over, struggling to carry a massive bundle of heavy sticks. Instead of guessing at a mystical vibe, look at how that exact physical action changes meaning based strictly on what your client asks:

• A question about team dynamics at work? It activates as carrying the entire workload by yourself.
• A question about a physical symptom? Look at his posture. It activates as literal back pain or spinal strain.
• A question about weekend chores? It activates as moving day, hauling heavy boxes, or carrying literal firewood.
• A question about running a business? It activates as taking on too much overhead or carrying too many responsibilities at once.

It is a single card with different contextual activations. You aren't guessing; you are reading a visual vocabulary.

If you want to learn more about how to read the cards like a fluent language?

Join us this Friday for an exclusive Free Demo Class and learn the literal translation method directly from the creator of Tarot Verbatim, Emily Sandstrom.

📅 When: Friday, May 22, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 11:00 AM ET | 📍 Where: Live on Zoom

🌸 RSVP Here to secure your spot: https://forms.gle/mQSk3U2KVAAi9UXR7