Shadow Work and Tarot: Facing Your Inner Truth

Shadow Work and Tarot: Facing Your Inner Truth

The Mirror We Fear to Look Into

When I first started offering intuitive guidance, I noticed something quietly profound. Almost every person who reached out to me was looking outward. They were searching for answers about someone else—"What are his true feelings?" "Will she come back?" "Is this job the right path?" The questions were varied, but the pattern was unmistakable.

And yet, time and again, when I pulled the cards, they didn’t point to them—they pointed inward.

The deck would unfold like a mirror: The Moon, asking what truths were hidden beneath the surface. The Hermit, inviting stillness and self-reflection. The Five of Cups, showing grief left unattended. No matter the external question, the deeper response always became: What are you not seeing about yourself?

It wasn’t criticism. It wasn’t even a “no.” It was a gentle, wise invitation—Come home to yourself.
This is where shadow work begins.

Shadow work is not just some trendy buzzword or spiritual side quest. It’s the heart of emotional and spiritual maturity. It is the deep and often uncomfortable process of meeting the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught to reject—our fear, our anger, our envy, our wounds, our insecurities. Not to shame them. But to understand them.

Because somewhere along the way, someone convinced us these parts were wrong. That crying made us weak. That anger made us unlovable. That needing reassurance made us “too much.” That standing in our truth would make people leave. So we learned to hide. To shrink. To disown pieces of ourselves just to survive or to be accepted.

But here’s the thing no one tells you: those disowned pieces never go away. They don’t disappear. They don’t die. They just get quieter. They go underground. And from there, they begin to run the show—through self-sabotage, anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, fear of intimacy, or endless cycles of abandonment.

Shadow work is how we stop running.

It’s how we finally say, “I’m willing to sit with this part of me instead of pushing it away.” It’s how we bring light to the dark, not to banish it—but to see what’s really there. Often, we find that beneath the shame is a deep desire to be loved. Beneath the fear is an old betrayal we haven’t healed. Beneath the rage is a boundary that was never honored.

And this is where tarot becomes something more than a spiritual tool. It becomes a sacred bridge—between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming. Between the conscious mind and the deeper, intuitive self. It’s a language that allows your soul to speak directly to you when words fail or when the noise of the world drowns out your inner truth.

The cards don’t lie—but they also don’t shame. They illuminate. They hold space. They reflect. In the presence of tarot, we’re not told what to do—we’re shown what’s ready to be seen. And often, what’s ready to be seen is not the other person’s truth—but our own.

I’ve seen it happen over and over again. A client will come to me heartbroken over someone’s silence, and the cards will say, “Let’s look at your voice first.” Another will ask about career decisions, and the reading will softly nudge, “What belief are you still carrying about your worth?”

At first, this can feel frustrating—because we want answers out there. We want the reassurance that they’ll call, that we’ll succeed, that the loneliness will end. But the real empowerment comes when we realize: I have agency. I can heal. I can choose again.

Shadow work reminds us that we’re not victims of fate—we are co-creators of our path.

And so, when people ask me what kind of readings I do, I often say: I offer the kind that don’t just predict your future—they help you understand yourself. Because once you do that, you stop waiting for clarity to come from outside sources. You realize it’s already within you. My job is to help you uncover it.

That’s why I created deeply introspective readings like Messages From Your Higher Self, Karmic Lessons You’re Meant to Learn, and the Psychic Energy Reading. These aren't just readings—they’re soul sessions. Invitations to meet yourself in truth, compassion, and raw honesty.

Because in the end, that’s what shadow work really is: not fixing yourself, but remembering who you were before the world told you to be something else.

And the more of yourself you are willing to meet, the more fully you get to live.

What is Shadow Work?

When people hear the word shadow, they often imagine something ominous—something to fear or avoid. But in the context of personal growth and emotional healing, the shadow isn’t something to be afraid of. It’s something to get curious about.

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst who gave us the term shadow, defined it as the unconscious part of our psyche that we tend to reject or deny. These are the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught are unacceptable—anger, neediness, jealousy, grief, desire, even our own brilliance or ambition. Somewhere along the way, society, family, school, religion—or just life—told us those parts were too much. So we learned to hide them. We tucked them away into our subconscious, thinking we were safer without them.

But here's the truth: what we hide doesn’t disappear—it just waits.

And when it waits too long, it shows up in other ways. Through self-sabotage. Through anxiety. Through emotional reactivity. Through patterns that repeat so often we start to wonder if we’re cursed. But we’re not cursed. We’re disconnected.

The shadow is not evil. It’s simply wounded. And like all wounds, it doesn’t want to be punished—it wants to be healed. Shadow work is the brave act of turning toward those wounds instead of away from them. It’s not about “fixing” yourself. It’s not about becoming someone else. It’s about making space for the whole truth of who you are—and giving yourself permission to exist fully, even in the mess, even in the mystery.

Through my practice at Tamas Medium Studio, I’ve come to see shadow work as a sacred portal—not a side quest, but a central path. I’ve witnessed people completely shift their lives not because they changed who they were, but because they finally met who they were.

Tarot becomes one of the most powerful tools for this meeting.

Unlike surface-level readings that chase answers, the deeper readings I offer are about insight, integration, and soul truth. Readings like Messages From Your Higher Self and Karmic Lessons You’re Meant to Learn aren’t designed to give you yes-or-no answers. They’re meant to uncover the why behind your experiences. They help illuminate emotional patterns, generational wounds, soul contracts, and the quiet beliefs that have shaped how you see yourself and the world.

Clients often tell me they come away from these sessions feeling like they didn’t just get a reading—they got a mirror. A conversation with their own soul. A gentle confrontation with their inner truth. And even when it’s raw, even when it’s emotional—it’s also deeply freeing.

Because when you finally see the full picture of yourself—the light and the shadow—you realize you’re not broken. You’re simply human. And that realization alone is a kind of homecoming.

Shadow work, when paired with tarot, is like having a lantern in the dark. It doesn’t eliminate the journey, but it helps you walk it with clarity, courage, and compassion. You begin to make peace with your past, forgive yourself for what you didn’t know, and choose differently moving forward.

It’s not always comfortable, but it is transformative.

It’s not always fast, but it is real.

If you’ve felt stuck, if your relationships keep echoing the same pain, if you’ve ever said “I don’t know why I do this to myself”—then shadow work is calling you. And I’m here to walk beside you through it.

Because you deserve more than survival. You deserve understanding, wholeness, and liberation.

And it all begins with a single choice: to stop running from yourself—and start listening.

A Personal Story: The Night I Sat With My Shadow

Years ago, I went through a breakup that cracked me open in ways I hadn’t anticipated. The kind of rupture that doesn’t just shift your daily routine—it shakes the foundation of how you see yourself. I told everyone I was fine. I told myself I was fine. I kept working, kept offering guidance to clients, kept showing up with a calm, collected face. But inside, I was fractured.

At night, when the world went quiet, the silence inside me became deafening.

I still remember sitting at my table, candles burning low, tarot deck in hand. I shuffled without thinking, asking a question I didn’t dare say aloud: Why does this hurt so much when I knew it wasn’t meant to last? I flipped the first card: The Moon. Then came The Tower. And finally, The Devil.

They didn’t offer comfort. They offered truth.

The Moon whispered about illusion, about the things I didn’t want to see. The Tower crumbled my defenses. And The Devil? It stared straight into my habits—my need to control, my tendency to seek worth in being “needed,” the quiet addiction to emotional highs and lows. It was a reading that felt less like a message and more like a reckoning.

I closed the deck and stared at the table, heart racing. For a moment, I wanted to put the cards away. Maybe forever. But instead, I asked the question I had been avoiding all along:

“What am I not seeing about me?”

No answer came in words. Only a wave of energy, like being cracked open at the center of the chest. I drew again. The Hermit. The Eight of Cups. And a card from a shadow work deck I had recently added to my collection: The Shadow Self.

I didn’t move for a while. Then I reached for my journal.

I began writing—not the curated truths I’d been telling others, but the raw confessions I hadn’t even admitted to myself. I wrote about my fear of being abandoned. I wrote about how deeply I craved to be chosen, and how ashamed I felt that I still equated love with worth. I wrote about the loneliness I hid beneath constant productivity. I wrote about the part of me that felt too much—too emotional, too intuitive, too intense for the world.

It hurt. It hurt to see myself so honestly. But it also brought a kind of relief I didn’t know I needed.

Tarot hadn’t fixed anything—but it had given me something far more important: a mirror. A language for what I couldn’t name. A permission slip to feel without explanation.

That night, I realized something that would change the direction of my work forever. The readings I offered couldn’t only be about what was coming next—they had to include what was already here. The hidden grief. The quiet questions. The ache we carry in silence.

That’s when I began offering more than predictions—I began offering reflection.

Because sometimes the future we’re hoping for can only emerge when we stop running from the past. And the version of ourselves we’re meant to step into can only rise when we make peace with every version we’ve been.

That night didn’t solve everything. Healing doesn’t work that way.

But it did show me the map.

It did teach me how to sit with myself—not just the polished parts, but the messy ones. The ones I once called “broken.” The ones I now know are simply unmet.

If you’ve been in a place where nothing outside seems to give you relief, maybe it’s time to go inward. Maybe, like me, you’re being invited not to escape your shadow—but to sit with it. And I promise, on the other side of that sit, there’s more softness, more clarity, and more power than you can imagine.

How Tarot Helps Us Face the Shadow

When most people think of tarot, they imagine it revealing the future: love, career moves, new chapters. But tarot isn’t just about what’s coming—it’s also about what’s already here, buried just beneath the surface. Tarot is one of the most powerful mirrors for inner work, and when it comes to shadow work, it holds up that mirror with astonishing clarity.

Certain cards in the deck are obvious invitations into the shadow. The Moon, for instance, is often misunderstood. It's not just a card of illusion—it's a portal into our subconscious. It calls out the parts of us we don’t understand or don’t want to understand. The Devil reveals the chains we place on ourselves: addictive behaviors, limiting beliefs, toxic patterns, or relationships we can't seem to break free from. The Tower, jarring as it is, doesn’t just signify destruction—it’s the collapse of what was never built on truth.

Even the less obvious cards have their darker shades. The Five of Swords can reflect inner conflict, the stories we tell ourselves to win battles that leave us emotionally hollow. The Nine of Swords? It speaks of sleepless nights and intrusive thoughts—the silent suffering we often don't speak about. Reversed court cards frequently show up to reveal distorted roles, inauthentic behavior, or projections of authority or helplessness.

But here’s the real insight: every single tarot card contains a shadow side.

Take The Empress, so often seen as the embodiment of nurturing, beauty, and abundance. In her shadow, she becomes the martyr—overgiving until depletion, loving to the point of losing self. The Magician, a card of manifestation and power, in shadow can signal manipulation, illusion, or the misuse of one's gifts. Even The Lovers, a card many yearn to see in love readings, can reveal enmeshment, indecision, or a loss of self in pursuit of another’s approval.

This is why shadow readings aren’t “dark”—they’re deep. They aren’t about predicting something bad. They’re about making space for what’s real. When I do a reading with someone who feels stuck, anxious, or like they keep repeating the same painful patterns, we don’t bypass. We go there.

We ask:

  • What am I not seeing clearly about myself or my situation?

  • What part of me is asking to be heard, not hidden?

  • What wound is driving this fear, this need, this silence?

  • And what would it mean to meet that wound with compassion instead of resistance?

One of my favorite readings for this kind of exploration is the Psychic Energy Reading. It's gentle but deep. In it, we explore where you've been emotionally blocked, what karmic lessons may still be playing out, and what old belief systems you're holding onto that no longer reflect your truth. We examine what you're unconsciously carrying—expectations from childhood, inherited fears, or stories about your worth—that are shaping your present reality.

Through this kind of reading, you begin to see the threads. You start connecting the dots between that breakup you never fully healed from and the way you struggle to trust new people now. You realize that your fear of being seen didn’t start with your last job—it started when you were told to “be quiet” as a child. Shadow work through tarot doesn’t just uncover the hidden—it reclaims it. It says: You are allowed to bring all of you to the table.

When I offer a shadow-focused reading, I don’t do it with judgment. I do it with reverence. These are the parts of us that have been waiting the longest to be acknowledged. They don’t need to be fixed—they need to be seen. And in that seeing, healing begins.

The Psychic Energy Reading isn't about fate. It’s about choice. It's about realizing that you are not your past, but you docarry it—and with awareness, you can choose to carry it differently.

At Tamas Medium Studio, I’ve designed each reading not just to “answer questions,” but to provide soul-level clarity. My readings like Messages From Your Higher Self, Karmic Lessons You’re Meant to Learn, and Your Milestones Ahead all weave shadow work into the framework—because real guidance doesn’t skip the hard parts. It meets them, sits with them, and helps you move through.

Shadow work with tarot is less about uncovering your darkness and more about discovering your depth.

And once you start doing that, you stop fearing the unknown—because you’ve already begun to know yourself.

What Clients Experience

In readings focused on shadow work, I hear certain phrases over and over again. And each time, they remind me just how profoundly this work resonates—not because it’s comfortable, but because it’s real.

“This was tough to hear, but it made so much sense.”

“I didn’t expect to cry, but I feel lighter now.”

“This reading gave me language for something I’ve been struggling to put into words.”

Sometimes, clients come in thinking they need answers about someone else—why a partner left, why a job feels wrong, why they keep feeling stuck. But shadow work doesn’t point fingers. It holds up a mirror. It says: What in you is ready to be healed? What story have you been carrying alone for too long?

And here’s the beautiful, often unexpected truth: it’s not about blame. It’s about freedom.

Your shadow isn’t your flaw. It’s not your shame. It’s not the part of you you need to hide or fix or “get over.” Your shadow is your teacher.

It carries the wisdom of every version of you that had to survive something difficult. It’s the voice you silenced when you learned it wasn’t safe to express yourself. It’s the sadness you buried to keep functioning. It’s the anger you swallowed to be liked. And it’s the unmet needs that echo through your choices, waiting to be heard.

You begin to recognize the why behind your patterns. Why you shut down in love. Why you overextend in friendships. Why you fear being seen even when you long for connection. And the moment you bring light to it? You’re no longer controlled by it.

I often tell my clients: the most powerful readings aren’t the ones that promise you a fairytale.

They’re the ones that help you write your own truth—chapter by chapter.

They’re the ones that show you: your story didn’t start with heartbreak, and it doesn’t end there either. You’re not just the wounded version of you—you’re also the wise one rising from it.

That’s the essence of my work. I don’t just offer predictions. I offer reflection. I hold space for your transformation, for your unfiltered honesty, and for the sacred task of becoming whole again.

You don’t have to hide the parts of you that feel “too much.” You don’t have to fear the feelings that don’t fit the highlight reel. You are not broken. You are becoming.

You Are Not Broken

If you’ve ever felt like your darkness makes you unworthy, I want you to hear this from me clearly: you are not broken.

The parts of you that you’ve hidden, silenced, or been ashamed of aren’t defects—they’re parts of you that were once trying to protect you. That fierce independence? It may have been born from abandonment. That constant people-pleasing? It might’ve grown from a deep need to feel safe and loved. That tendency to pull away when things get too close? A scar left from trusting too early, or too hard.

None of these parts make you unlovable. They make you human.

Shadow work isn’t a one-time ritual or a final destination—it’s an ongoing relationship with yourself. It’s the conscious act of meeting your pain not with judgment, but with curiosity. Of saying to yourself, “I see you. I’m listening now.” And every time you do that, even for a moment, you soften a layer of shame. You get closer to wholeness. You become a little more free.

Clients sometimes ask me, “Can I clear my shadow? Can I get rid of it?” The answer is no—and that's actually a blessing.

We don’t erase the shadow. We integrate it. We honor it. We begin a dialogue with it instead of locking it away. And through that conversation, something remarkable happens: we become stronger, softer, wiser. Our reactions change. Our relationships deepen. We stop abandoning ourselves.

That’s the path I walk with so many of you inside my readings. If you’re ready to begin—or continue—this journey, I’ve created offerings specifically for this purpose. Readings that don’t just skim the surface or sugarcoat, but go deeper, gently and truthfully.

Here are a few you might be drawn to:

What makes these readings powerful isn’t just the information—it’s the reflection they invite. They’re tuned into your energy with depth, sincerity, and care. I don’t use scripts or templates. I listen, I feel, I read. I tune in. Because you deserve to be seen—not just for your light, but for your whole self.

And you don’t have to do this alone.

You’re allowed to be both a work in progress and a masterpiece at the same time. Your sensitivity is not your weakness. Your shadow is not your shame. It is your doorway back to self-trust.

Let this be your reminder: you are worthy of love, connection, and inner peace—not someday, not when you’ve “fixed” yourself, but right now. As you are.

What would change in your life if you believed that your pain had purpose? That your story mattered, not in spite of the shadow, but because of it?

The Light That Follows

Shadow work doesn’t just help you face your truth—it helps you reclaim the parts of yourself that hold creativity, intimacy, and joy. The very emotions you long to feel more fully.

And yes, it can be messy. It can feel heavy. But it also opens the door to profound transformation. I’ve watched clients step out of toxic patterns, release guilt, forgive themselves, and fall in love with life again. Not because someone “fixed” them. But because they saw themselves clearly and chose to stay anyway.

That’s the power of tarot. That’s the heart of shadow work. And that’s the soul of what I offer through Tamas Medium Studio.

Start Small, Start Real

If you’re not ready for a full reading yet, that’s okay. Start by journaling with a card a day. Ask: “What part of me does this card invite me to acknowledge?” You’ll be surprised by what comes through. The more honest you are, the more healing flows.

And when you're ready for guidance—personalized, tender, and true—I'm here. You don’t have to face the shadow alone.

So here’s the question I’ll leave you with:

What part of you have you been avoiding that is quietly asking to be seen, accepted, and loved—right now, as it is?

—Tamas

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