Consulting Cards While Making Choices: Intuition and Rationality Should Be Equal Partners

“Do you use tarot to make all your decisions?” I was asked recently.

The answer is no. I probably don’t even use tarot to make most of my decisions — because when you think about it, we make decisions all day. I’d be even more punctuality-challenged than I already am if I pulled out a deck constantly to make decisions with.

Even for the more major decisions where I do pull out the cards, tarot does not make my choices for me. The outcome of the reading becomes one factor that I weigh into my decision-making process. Intuition is an important tool and an important part of who we are. But we also have free will, and rationality. And I believe in letting rationality and common sense weigh into my decisions as well.

That’s what today’s cards from the House of Night deck are about: intuition, represented by the High Priestess of Water, Choices, and rationality, represented by the High Priestess of Air. Though I randomly pulled these cards, I couldn’t have consciously chosen three better cards to represent the framework of the decision-making process at its best. Some people make a list of pros and cons — but I would prefer to ask, what does my intuition tell me? and what does my rationality tell me? Both should carry equal weight. Intuition does not open to us for the sake of shutting rationality down. Rather, it complements what the rational mind has to say.

I like the image on the House of Night Choices card: a man with wings. Intuition and rationality are our two wings. If we allow them to work together, we can spread our wings and fly. If we insist on using only one wing, we are in grave danger of crashing to the ground.