Things have been a little crazy recently in the world.
How are you feeling? Do you feel that sharp edge of existential panic at times like I do?
Fear in the face of police brutality, authoritarian governments, war, civil unrest, and all the other chaos we witness is a normal, healthy, and human response.
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But here’s a question I don’t see asked much:
How do we find a sense of groundedness, calmness, and sanity when the world around us feels broken?
How do we find inner clarity and stability when we’re filled with stormy emotions?
This is where I turn to one of my favorite tools of healing, self-growth, and clarity: the tarot.
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Table of contents
Tarot is a Therapeutic Tool Perfect For Anxiety Sufferers
Tarot [is] not meant to predict the future but rather offer guidance and insight into the present moment. – Gillian Witter
I first began my journey with tarot back in 2015 – an emotionally volatile time when I was in the depths of healing from religious trauma and trying to put myself back together again.
What immediately struck me about this fascinating collection of 78 cards was how it mirrored every aspect of my inner and outer world. It helped put words to my experience, process what I was feeling, and provided me with a daily anchor of clarity and sanity.
There is something about having your feelings, experiences, and inner self externalized in a physical object that you can hold, gaze at, and reflect on that is tremendously therapeutic.
(Note here that I use tarot in a present-moment sense. Using it to “predict” the future can actually do the opposite for anxiety sufferers, and backfire into paranoia. I believe the future isn’t set in stone, so I use tarot to empower me with choice rather than narrate a supposedly predetermined path.)
But the tarot isn’t just some wishy-washy new age tool. In the words of lawyer and tarot scholar Benebell Wen,
The tarot represents the spectrum of the human condition, the good, the evil, the light, and the dark. Do not fear the darker aspects of the human condition. Understand them. The tarot is a storybook about life, about the greatness of human accomplishment, and also the ugliness we are each capable of.
Light and shadow, birth and death, happiness and sadness – all coexist within the tarot. That is what makes it so powerful for dealing with life issues, and in this case, existential panic.
Surviving Existential Panic: 5 Tarot Cards ‘Allies’ For When Everything Feels Broken
I know of no other spiritual tool as exciting, empowering, and healing as the tarot. – D. Cunliffe
What I love about the tarot is how visually evocative it is and how it often sparks immediate insight and mirrors our Soul’s deeper wisdom.
Your task is this:
Take a centering breath, then scroll through the list of tarot cards below and notice which one you have a visceral reaction to (e.g., a tingle, sense of expansion, recognition, or intrigue).
Next, read the description and apply that knowledge to your life for the next week. You may even like to right-click or screenshot the image to save it on your phone or computer, or include it in your journaling.
If you want to get your own deck of cards to use for meditation and reflection, I recommend the following: Crafterian Tarot (what I’m using below), Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck, or the Ethereal Visions Tarot.
Please note that tarot isn’t a substitute for therapy, nor am I a therapist (I’m a psychospiritual educator and guide). But we are using it “therapeutically” in this post.
Here are the five ‘Tarot Allies’ you can call upon to help you through existential panic:
1. The Magician
The Magician is the archetype of creation, will power, manifestation, and channelling divine consciousness into form. He possesses yang or active energy.
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Used in a therapeutic way, The Magician reminds you that you’ve got the power to transmute the anxiety you feel into a form of art. You have the ability to create something from your pain, which is tremendously grounding and healing. Don’t sit on your laurels and passively wither away in a cesspool of anger and suffering. The Magician asks you to create!
2. Three of Swords
The Three of Swords represents heartbreak, sorrow, trauma, grief, and betrayal. Yet what I find so surprisingly beautiful about this card is the rain clouds in the background. These symbolize letting yourself grieve and release the pain that has burdened your heart. Also, notice that the heart doesn’t bleed even though it is pierced, symbolizing the soul’s true strength.
Therapeutically, the Three of Swords asks you to let yourself grieve and not hold in the pain. Cry, shake your fists, pound your pillow (in a safe environment). Doing so will help to relieve that inner heaviness.
3. Queen of Pentacles
The Queen of Pentacles represents the part of you that is homely, nurturing, practical, abundant, security-minded, and connected with the earth. Whether you identify as male or female is beside the point; we all have this down-to-earth ‘mothering’ energy within us.
Therapeutically, the Queen of Pentacles asks you to ground your nervous system in the daily practical tasks of life. That means, get the f*ck off social media and go out in nature. Care for your body, make your home a safe nest, and ground yourself in the here and now.
4. Four of Swords
The Four of Swords symbolizes mental rest, meditation, silence, solitude, and reflection. This is a card that most of us need in this hyper-stimulating, overwhelming, and loud world. Again, the message here is clear.
Therapeutically, the Four of Swords asks you to slow down, reduce external noise, and make more time to rest. Stop doom scrolling and dedicate that time to journaling, meditation, or simply sitting and doing nothing for a while. Reset your mind and body and see things from a higher perspective.
5. Queen of Swords
The Queen of Swords represents many qualities, but those I’ll highlight are discernment, strong boundaries, clarity, independence, and truthfulness.
Of all the “NO BS” cards in the tarot, the Queen of Swords is right up there. One hand clasps the sword of discernment and truth, and the other is open, symbolizing fairness and openness. I see this as the “healthy boundaries” card. We don’t want rigid or porous boundaries; we want discerning boundaries.
Therapeutically, this inner archetype asks you to set better boundaries around your time and energy. Feeling existential panic and anxiety in life is often due to letting in too much negativity from social media and unsavory types of people in our personal lives. Here is your invitation to start saying no more, notice thinking traps, and start being more no-nonsense in how you give and receive energy.
Two other cards you may like to explore are the Six of Cups (the caring for your inner child card) and the Three of Cups (the reach out to others for support card).
***
Tarot is an extremely powerful tool for healing, clarity, and direction.
You don’t need to have memorized all 78 cards to benefit from this centuries-old practice. Simply gaze at the picture and notice what emerges within your mind and body – that’s how I first approached the cards. I haven’t looked back since.
Tell me, which of these five tarot card allies spoke to you the most? I’d love to hear below in the comments!
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$3Other recommended reads related to this article:
- Tarot Shadow Work For Beginners: 5 Steps to Unveil Your Dark Side
- How to Use Oracle and Tarot Cards For Deep Inner Work
- Existential Dread: 7 Ways to Regain Sanity and Peace
- What is Existential Depression? (15 Signs You Have It)
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I never gave much importance to tarot, partly because of the pejorative connotation many people attribute to it, but thanks to these wonderful texts, I began to take more interest in the subject. As a highly sensitive person, I have always had a deeper perception and possibly a “third eye” that allowed me to see beyond what others see — this is because I have always had accurate intuitions and premonitions about events that occurred, but I was afraid to speak openly about it, since it was always considered taboo or something related to occultism.
Well, after coming into contact with texts and ancestral wisdom, I began to understand things and realized that I was not the only one experiencing such events, nor was it madness on my part. However, even though evaluations and tests did not indicate any kind of disorder, conventional therapies were still unable to help me with my difficulties. The therapeutic programs and techniques had no effect; on the contrary, it seemed that I felt more distressed, insecure, and lost. That was when I began to have closer contact with the works of Carl Jung.
Nevertheless, Jung’s thought seemed too complex to me — especially because I perceive that Jung himself was an “out of the box” person due to his ideas that go beyond the more empirical standards of psychology. That was when I began to delve deeper into more mystical and spirituality-oriented ideas: it was a turning point! That is why I always say: psychotherapy plays a very important role; however, many times it encompasses only one single dimension of human problems. And, in my view, there are people who need something much deeper, something that goes beyond the human psyche.
And, surprisingly, many ancestral wisdom traditions bring this kind of knowledge, which is often dismissed as mere mysticism or superstition. Yet, for those who witness or live experiences that challenge vain philosophy (what Jung calls synchronicities), this kind of wisdom makes our understanding of such events so much deeper, leading us to rethink and realize that there is much more beyond our physical perception of things.
All five tarot cards presented are powerful allies against anxiety, panic, and even depression. However, in my case, I would place them in the following sequence: Three of Swords, Four of Swords, The Magician, The Queen of Pentacles, and finally — though no less important — The Queen of Swords. All of them have been part of my journey up to this point, and I would also like to make an honorable mention of Arcana VIII, Strength. I believe that the balance among these cards can bring fantastic results to those seeking grounding in these troubled times of so much uncertainty.