How to Read Tarot for Someone who may be Autistic

This post is a number of pointers for how a tarot reading can tend to come across when the subject may be on the autistic spectrum, because it can tend to trip up the reader. Being an ancient divination tool, of course there isn't an autism card but the experience of it can come across loud and clear.

Ethical note: you really can't diagnose autism or anything else with a tarot reading and anyone wanting that should not have a reading and should be pointed to their doctor. Rather, this would be about how things can look in a reading if the person may be on the autistic spectrum. It also would not be ethical to suggest that the tarot indicates the person has autism if they have not been diagnosed. Otherwise I think you could ethically talk about the experiences an autistic person has with someone who is not diagnosed as long as this is about the experience, not the label. For example, 'It looks like you often find it difficult understanding what this person is saying to you,' because then it's about a common human experience and there isn't an assumption it comes from a specific neurodevelopmental condition.

The information about autism here is all taken from the National Autism Society website: autism.org.uk, and they have an excellent introduction to autism here.

Communication difficulties

Biggie, this one. People on the autistic spectrum can find it very difficult to read situations and other people's emotions or intentions. The major way this affects a tarot reading would be that if you are seeing things in the reading as they do, the feeling of perplexity can be the thing that comes across rather than the actual situation. With their airy nature, Swords can indicate communication and thus communication, and similarly the watery Cups represent emotions and problems understanding them. Otherwise specific examples would be High Priestess (something hidden), 10 of Pentacles (being excluded from the conversation), and 9 of Wands (just finding every conversation overwhelming).

This one is relatively easy to deal with in reading because seeing things differently is the whole point of divination, simply pull clarification cards or pull cards to see the subject of the reading from a different perspective. Without diagnosing autism you could phrase this as, 'It looks like you're finding this difficult to understand. Shall we see what [Name] thinks?' If the person is finding it difficult to understand what you are getting at as a reader, obviously you can ask them what helps with communication but generally try to say it as literally as possible, avoiding metaphors, use concrete terms and don't be afraid to name emotions. You know what, we've all asked tarot why the hell someone else is behaving the way they are, so this is actually something we can all appreciate.

For example I have had people with autism tell me that they like my communication because I've got all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. People without autism tell me I'm a rude cunt. Hey, my gifts are unique.

You may have to adapt the reading slightly to give more time, and of course there's nothing wrong with returning to a point to create clarity.

Anxiety

Autistic people can have very high levels of anxiety (often triggered, as anxiety often is, by something apparently not anxiety-provoking). This can come across in the reading as an apparent over reaction to minor things and can confuse the reader. Anxiety comes across in any of the fairly distressing cards, although tarot doesn't depict anxiety very well in my opinion. That said, it would be hard to deny that the man in 4 of Pentacles is anxious about money, or that the man in 7 of Wands is anxious about what will happen to him. 

Avoidance

Many autistic people avoid normal everyday situations, either because of anxiety or sensory overload. In a reading this will come across as the person turned away from or unable to look at a situation, so obviously we have 5 of Cups, 2 of Swords, 8 of Swords and 9 of Swords. If you get The Fool for avoidance, that could be a special caution not to avoid any warnings about things they're getting. The direction the characters are looking in could also indicate avoidance.

Routines

Many autistic people find sudden changes to their normal routine very distressing. Again, as a reader it is essential to be aware that if you are seeing things from the autistic person's perspective in the reading, things may come across as much more distressing than they would be for a neurotypical person. Similarly, many autistic people have a return to routine or repetitive behaviours as their standard coping strategies so don't think you've gone off your head if these appear in the reading. Tarot tends to communicate options with cards featuring a number of something, and rather annoyingly, that's also how it communicates repetition, for example I think 4 of Cups and 8 of Pentacles represent this.

Highly focussed interests or hobbies

These can come across in a way which may confuse the reader, and may appear to be obsession. You may get one of these appear as a 'stalker' card for example, which just keeps on appearing. That said, I think the 9 of Cups is of great relevance here - just look how satisfied he is!

Meltdowns

A meltdown is an intense response when the person finds a situation overwhelming and in the moment loses control of their behaviour. If you get a meltdown appearing in a tarot reading it will look like all the varied ways a meltdown can look; shouting, screaming, crying;  kicking or lashing out; or as total withdrawal with no interaction. Naturally the varied experience of meltdowns would make them look very different in a tarot reading. The more outgoing type might be Page of Swords, Knight of Swords or 5 of Wands. The overwhelm itself might be represented by 10 of Swords and withdrawal by 4 of Swords.

The point of all this, of course, is so that the reader is prepared for the things they might see in an autistic person's reading. Surely nobody tells the querent everything they see in a reading?

My own limited experience of autistic people and tarot has been totally positive, in fact they've always taken to the idea like a duck to water and been seeing all sorts of deadly accurate stuff in no time. I don't want to generalise, so in case your querent - not just autistic querents but anyone - finds it difficult to engage with the cards there are three techniques which almost always open things up again. 

The first is to ask the person to describe the card, just describe it without interpreting in any way. This always always brings out a unique meaning for them and has always left me gobstruck as a reader.

The second is the dramatic technique attributed to Pamela Colman Smith herself, which is to get the person to assume the posture of the character(s) in the card. This creates a physical rather than emotional sensation of what is happening in the card, which then can move on to an emotional sensation.

Finally, the Tarot School of New York's Voice in the Card technique turns the conventional ways of reading on their head. You let your eye drift over a card and pick up on some detail which is then the meaning for you. For example, you had noticed that the 9 of Pentacles could mean things being slow, going at things slowly and carefully or being protected by a shell, hadn't you?

Happy reading!