Talkin' Tarot with Weston of Root Lock 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’ve been aware of Root Lock Tarot for some time. That’s not a surprise. After all, it’s easy to “bump into” fellow tarot folks online. Recently, I got my hands on his Tarot Book of Spreads, a PDF with 33 Original Spreads. BLOWN AWAY. These spreads are creative, healing, and highly practical. I needed to know the person behind this book. It was time to connect with Weston of Root Lock Tarot.

Weston is a thoughtful, intelligent tarot reader and teacher. His popular Root Lock Tarot podcast has been helping people all over the world learn to read tarot. When he’s not reading the Tarot, he’s busy working as a psychotherapist. I’m excited to announce that he will be joining me on a future episode of Tarot Bytes. I cannot wait to learn from him – and to share his wisdom with you all. Weston is a tarot reader with heart – and one that you need to get to know too. (Psst…get his Tarot Book of Spreads. NOW. You’re gonna love it!)

Bio:

Weston is a tarot reader and teacher based in New York City. You may know him as the host of Root Lock Radio: A Tarot Podcast. Weston loves tarot because it is a flexible and adaptable tool for self-reflection that anyone can integrate into their lives. He is also working as a psychotherapist.

Root Lock Tarot
rootlocktarot@gmail.com
Instagram: @rootlocktarot
Email list: www.rootlocktarot.com/contact

Root Lock Radio: A Tarot Podcast
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/root-lock-radio-tarot-podcast/id1207104366?mt=2
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/rootlockradio

Root Lock Tarot Book of Spreads: https://www.rootlocktarot.com/books

Check out Weston’s answers to my questions below:

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Q: What is your philosophy about tarot reading?

Weston: I try not to spend too much time trying to figure out how tarot works. I just trust that it helps people because, when I use it, it helps me. I think as humans there are so many things that we can’t ever understand and spiritual practices help us to grapple with this. That said, tarot doesn’t require us to believe anything in particular in order to use it and benefit from it. Unlike many religions, tarot is really flexible and adaptable to different belief systems.

At the most practical level, I think of tarot as a tool for self-reflection. When I turn to tarot, most of the time I am wrestling with a decision or some kind of internal conflict. This is something we all deal with because we all have different parts of ourselves that want different things. And then the people around us often want things we don’t. Plus we have emotional triggers and associations that make it hard to see things objectively and clearly. Tarot is one way we can untangle all of these conflicting ideas, get to know ourselves better, see our lives more clearly, and figure out how to move forward in the best possible way.

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

Weston: I tend to work more as a tarot teacher than a tarot reader. I love giving lessons and teaching workshops and helping other people to develop their own tarot practices. That is definitely the focus of Root Lock Radio (my podcast) and most of my tarot work. At the moment, I only offer tarot lessons, but I do of course read for myself and for people close to me. And I love teaching through demonstration readings so that is often a component of lessons with me.

When I do readings, I tend to focus on the client. How can you get to know yourself a little bit better? How can you get a better grasp of why things in your life are the way that they are? And, perhaps most importantly, how can you move forward in a way that is the most likely to get you to a place you want to be? I like to help clients explore within and get some new insight into their lives. My style of tarot can be a lot like therapy, which makes sense because I do also work as a therapist. However, I would always urge people to seek therapy if they are really struggling. There are a lot of situations where a tarot reading is not going to help you in the same way an ongoing relationship with a therapist would. This is especially true for trauma.

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

Weston: I am a huge proponent of the idea that there are no rules in tarot. Your tarot practice is yours and you get to develop it in a way that feels right to you. Of course it is helpful to use guidebooks and to learn from other readers and to use tools like our podcasts. I designed Root Lock Radio to be a learning tool for aspiring readers, so please do listen to it! But I would hate for people to take my podcast as gospel. Anyone’s ideas are just as valid as anyone else’s and people don’t need to rely on anything but themselves and their cards to be good tarot readers.

A lot of times, I hear new readers say that they feel like pulling cards is a pass-fail test: they either get the meaning of a card right or they get it wrong. I always push people to shift their focus away from that. We cannot understand how tarot works, but it is definitely not because of memorization. Instead, tap into your intuition, be creative, and have fun. Whatever message comes to you is the message your deck is trying to give you. If you’re stuck, you can draw on what you know about the card, the images you see, the numbers, the question being asked, the other cards around it, and – of course – your intuition. The meaning will emerge if you slow down and let yourself find it. So, mostly I would just urge people to trust themselves and trust their decks. Right from the start.

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I’m so grateful that Weston made time to chat with me. Learn more about him over at his site.

xo
Theresa