Talkin' Tarot with Mantis Tarot

Talkin’ Tarot With is a monthly feature designed to introduce my readers to different tarot readers from our wonderfully diverse community! Each month, I’ll be asking various tarot readers three questions about their tarot philosophy and style, plus pointing you to their websites and blogs so that you can learn more about them! I like to hand pick tarot readers that I feel are talented and interesting.

I love a good introduction. Like my introduction to Mantis Tarot (thanks Seth!). As soon as I was clued into his work, I knew this was somebody I needed to know. You need to know Mantis too.

He’s talented and compassionate. And he’s bringing tarot readings for the collective over on his Instagram account. We discussed this over on my Tarot Bytes podcast recently and I gotta say: he’s offering something up that might just heal the world. These readings for the collective deliver wisdom that we all need right now. Which means Mantis Tarot is the reader we all need at this time too.

Keep your eyes trained on him because he’s going places and making a true difference. I’m happy to make this introduction – and I think you’re going to be glad to know him too.

Bio:

Mantis is a mystic and tarot reader hailing from the Southern California desert. Most of his practice revolves around collective offerings, and motivational readings online aimed at spiritual awakening. He also has a private tarot practice, where he seeks to guide people through their spiritual journeys, life cycles and personal empowerment. He is a big believer in humor, beauty and mystical awe in the path of evolutionary growth. In his work, Mantis highlights the interconnectedness among the individual, the collective, and the cosmic; using that as a framework for mental, emotional and spiritual development. He is currently creating the Oracle of the Desert, an oracle deck using the desert’s flora, fauna and landscape features as archetypes for divination and inspiration.

Mantis can be found via his website, MantisTarot.com, or through his main social media platform, Instagram, @mantis_tarot. For more information on the Oracle of the Desert, check out his deck’s Instagram account @oracle.of.the.desert.

Check out Mantis’s answers to my questions below:

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Q: What is your philosophy about tarot reading?

Mantis: I will preface this by saying that my philosophy on tarot is evolving as I go further down my path! But, my heartfelt philosophy about tarot reading is that it allows us as living beings to tap into, connect, and gather insight from our individual subconscious, from the depths of the human collective subconscious, and ultimately perhaps from the mind of the universe itself. When we deal with divination, we realize that the universe is pretty informational in nature, down to the lowest levels of matter.

I don’t know how it works, but I think that the tarot cards, in the random way in which we shuffle them, and in the deep subconscious responses that they evoke, have a way to bring to the surface language and messages that come from the depths of reality. By connecting our conscious mind with the Big Mind, the tarot can elicit answers and action that are in the greatest alignment not only with our own highest good, but with the highest Truth for all. In short, I believe that the tarot is a way to connect with Spirit and obtain information as to our circumstances and the underlying causes, including guidance on how to go on, and even the trends and probabilities of the future. I also think the cards are an incredible pathway into mystical awareness, giving us a trustworthy practice that fosters inner healing, deep realizations, personal revelations, and even unification with the Divine.

Q: How do you feel a client might get the most out of a reading with you?

Mantis: Clients often ask me how much information they should give me. On one hand, they want me to be informed of their circumstances. On the other hand, by seeking a reading they are also wanting the power of confirmation and wonder that comes from messages delivered by someone else, but that speak to intimate details of your own mind and heart. You know that feeling of awe that comes from someone speaking of an inner issue of yours, unprompted, that you thought no one else knew about? That touch of mystery is part of the wonder of tarot. I totally understand and respect that.

So, a client might get the most out of a reading with me when they give me a general overview of what’s going on, while allowing room for the unprompted signs to come through. In practical terms, I would ask a client to just tell me what’s going on and maybe a bit of what their concern with the issue is, but that’s it! I get really good results with that. Other than that, I feel people benefit the most from a reading when they are open minded about what may come through, and open to adapting the message to their circumstances if at first it doesn’t completely resonate. Oh, and it is also important to give the reading room to breathe, and to let time make its revelations. A lot of what comes through in a reading only matures and comes to pass as time goes by.

Q: What is your best piece of advice for an aspiring Tarot reader?

Mantis: For me, the best thing you can do to grow in the practice of tarot is to immerse yourself in its magic and language for a while. That for me would include at least a daily one-card pull, seeing how that card may realize itself in my day and in my life. This immersion also entails reading up and learning from our established teachers, by also leaving room for our personal flavor to come through. I would say, get out of your comfort zone a bit and read for others! Read for your friends if you can! Let them tell you how your reading realized itself in their lives, and how it didn’t, and learn from that. The thing is, tarot has such breadth, that at first our readings may feel choppy and unsure, and that phase may last for quite a while until we gather enough knowledge and experience to give more confident readings (or to read more confidently for ourselves). But for me, an immersive period allowed me to understand and speak the language of the tarot in a way that kept my personal practice alive until I was doing it more confidently. So, my best piece of advice for an aspiring tarot reader is to dive deep!

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Big hugs to Mantis for taking time to answer my questions. What are you waiting for? Get over to his site and nab a reading!

Theresa