A set of 78 iconographic Tarot Cards when picked up by its reader can predict one’s future and determine the state of mind with ‘amazing accuracy’.

They bear intricate drawings of ancient parables and religious allegories with a touch of mythology.

Captioned pictures of a sun, a magician, an enthroned monarch, lovers, a devil, and images of women holding golden goblets, a man next to a heap of leaves that have encircled stars on them, just deepen the abstractness of the discipline, which however can be interpreted by a trained reader.

The Covai Post spoke to one such Tarot Card reader who said this form of astrology is science and intuition in equal measure.

Sowmya Raghu, who is a banker by profession and passionate about astrology, has been practising Tarot Card reading for the last 10 years.

With her help, let’s get a peek into what happens at a Tarot Card reading session.

Once the fortune seeker’s name and his or her specific question is put forward, the reader shuffles the cards that are face down, picks out one and interprets its contents to predict the future and state of mind of the seeker, which helps in guiding him and in making important decisions and choices.

Now, in the absence of customary tools such as birth charts and planetary positions, how does this class of astrology decipher the future?

“Tarot Card reading is a prophecy that’s based on the law of attraction, a universal law that cannot be repelled, just like the law of gravity,” Sowmya explained.

The cards take the help of the energies that surround us, and the one that is picked out reflects whatever energy we attract, said Sowmya who uses the most sought-after Rider Waite brand of cards for her predictions.

“For instance, two fortune seekers have a question pertaining to the same problem, but the cards that are picked out will not be the same as the seekers’ beliefs, attitudes and genetic dispositions are different and attract different energy frequencies.”

So the third player in Tarot Card predictions is the supreme energy present around us!

Belonging to the European form of astrology, Tarot Card reading has been in practice for thousands of years with undocumented theories suggesting that it originated in India.

Sowmya, who pursues chartered accountancy as a career, said her journey into Tarot Cards began at a library in Mumbai, the experience of which was as ethereal as the predictions.

“A book I picked up at the library was on astrology that had listed birth predictions for all the 365 days. When I looked up my birth date, it said I will practise Tarot Card reading.”

Later a friend invited Sowmya to accompany her to Tarot Card reader, Vaishali, for predictions. An intrigued Sowmya later became her student.

Now she is a Tarot Card consultant for people from all walks of life and has managed about 2,000 readings amid a busy career in banking.

A new mother, Sowmya said she is planning to give up her banking career to take up full-fledged Tarot Card consultation, which she says can be done through even emails or telephones.

“My family has always been of great support, and now I have their backing for the new choice I made,” said Sowmya, who is also a reiki, pranic and theta healer besides practicing Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

Sowmya Raghu, whose hometown is Coimbatore and a resident of Chennai, aspires to start an alternative health care system, an integrated healing centre, as she calls it, offering Tarot Card predictions, which will be supported with energy healing techniques and mantras.

“Tarot Card reading is positive astrology, and its merit lies in a person walking away from a session feeling affirmative,” she says.