How tarot can help you get unstuck in your career
I get a lot of coaching clients who come in feeling stuck. Something is off in their careers, but they don’t know how to move forward. They want to make a change, but they can’t identify what change they want to make. I love working with stuckness–seriously! It feels like a place of no possibilities, but it’s actually such a great place to start.
Reframing the “I’m stuck” career story
First of all, “I’m stuck” is a story. I’m not invalidating how real it feels. I’ve been stuck myself, and it feels impossible. But when we have feelings we don’t know how to process, our minds love to create stories around those feelings. “I’m stuck” is one of those stories. The problem with the “I’m stuck” story is that it’s self-perpetuating. You say it. You believe it. You keep saying it. You keep believing it. It’s a story that makes action and clarity virtually impossible when you’re in its clutches.
So, let’s start with a reframe. Where you feel stuckness, you are often seeing what isn’t working. That is incredibly useful information. For instance, maybe you sense it’s time to leave your current role. You’ve started doing some low-key job searching on LinkedIn or Indeed, and you aren’t finding anything that excites you. You try to find other job search sites. Your friend tells you about a newsletter with cool job postings, but there’s nothing there that grabs you. You’re frustrated as hell. Your mind says, “Stuck!” Maybe. Or maybe, job searching isn’t the step you need to take right now. It’s not working because it’s not what’s needed at the moment.
Eventually, yes, you probably will have to look for another job. But that’s not the only next step available to you right now. You might need to first clarify what you want out of your next role. You might find it helpful to sit down with a career coach who can help you identify what these feelings of frustration are trying to communicate to you. You might need to find ways to incorporate more rest into your life. A slower pace can sometimes bring clarity. You might need to start reaching out to people in your network and having some open-ended conversations about your career. There are a lot of possible next steps. Your stuckness is simply telling you that the step you’re trying to take isn’t necessary at the moment. You can stop forcing it.
Using tarot to clarify next steps
And here’s where tarot comes in! Tarot is a great tool for identifying next steps. I don’t use tarot as a fortune-teller in coaching, and I don’t think tarot is meant to tell you exactly how things will turn out. But it’s really good at helping you explore possibilities and strategize about your immediate next move. Here are two different ways you could use tarot to clarify your next steps in your career.
Spread #1: Very open-ended - use this when you honestly have no ideas about what’s next
This is a riff on a past-present-future spread. Shuffle your deck. Draw three cards. In a traditional spread, the first card represents your past, the second your present, and the third, your future. Not in this version. You decide which card pairs with which timeframe. If the third card you pulled feels like the past, that’s fine. You can even play around with different arrangements of the cards and see what you like best. When you’ve settled on a sequence, use these prompts:
Past (this card gives you context for how you got here): Before I felt stuck in my career, I used to… (reflect on past beliefs, joys, ideals, attitudes - let yourself note if any of these may have led to your current stuckness. Or are they keys to getting unstuck?)
Present (this card reflects your current situation): I feel stuck in my career because… (what’s driving your stuckness? A lack of clarity? No motivation? A change in values?)
Future (this card offers a possible next step): If I stop forcing, I discover that it’s possible to… (focus on steps that don’t feel overwhelming or make you want to shut down. That will only perpetuate the stuckness. What ideas does this card offer that are accessible to you right now?)
Spread #2: Use this one when you’ve got some possible next steps in mind and aren’t sure where to direct your energy
If you’ve got some ideas of different ways you could move forward but aren’t sure which one makes the most sense, here’s a spread that lets you explore those possibilities.
Begin by writing out all the possibilities you’re considering. For example, reconnecting with an old coworker, finding a career coach, getting a therapist, taking some time off of work, picking up a hobby, whatever.
Shuffle your deck and choose a card for each option. Your prompt is simple: What possibilities does this step open up for me? Then read the card as a response to that question. Draw clarifying cards as needed.
Where do I go from here?
Once you’ve completed your spread, reflect on what insights you’ve gained. Journal about it. Tell a friend. Decide on a small next step you can take, and get going. Treat each step as an experiment–try a new move, see how it feels and what you learn, and re-evaluate your approach from there.
