Jessica Dore's Enlightening Tarot Readings Are Like Mini Therapy Sessions
Tarot and therapy? You heard correctly!
suppawit rmmabut / shutterstock It’s not often you hear tarot readings and therapy mentioned in the same conversation, but they may have more to do with each other than you might initially think!
Though the two aren’t traditionally considered related, Jessica Dore combines both practices in her daily tarot readings that are like mini therapy sessions.
Dore finds value in both therapy and tarot and has found a way to make them work in tandem.
Who Is Jessica Dore?
Jessica Dore is a 34-year-old writer, taroist, and social worker.
With a master’s degree in social work from the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Dore posts accessible and engaging tarot readings on her social media accounts. Her accounts have grown to a whopping 132 thousand Twitter and 49.5 thousand Instagram followers and it’s not hard to understand why.
People really connect with her readings and find them useful in their daily lives. Her comments are full of people talking about how relevant her content is and how what she posted was just what they needed to hear that day.
Her timely and thoughtful content has helped her gain popularity in recent years.
A New York Times profile of Dore reveals that in 2010, Dore worked as a publicist at New Harbinger Publications, an independent book publisher that focuses on psychology, wellness, and spirituality.
A coworker was the first to introduce her to tarot cards and Dore was immediately hooked. She picked up the book Seventy-Eight-Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack to help her study the cards and spent time every morning and night pulling a new card and journaling about what the meaning meant to her.
She now teaches tarot one-on-one and to groups online and in person.
She stresses that she doesn’t view the tarot readings as hard predictions and they don’t have a set meaning, each reading will be different depending on the person.
Dore also noticed similarities between tarot readings and therapy.
She told Shondaland, "when I started to read tarot for people, I recognized that there were a lot of similarities with what people come to tarot readers with and what people go to therapists with.
"A lot of times, people are stuck. They're at a crossroads in their life, they're afraid to make a difficult decision. They know they need to make a change, but they don't know how.
"So, that was a big thing for me, of: 'Oh, wow. People are coming to me as a tarot reader almost as if I'm a therapist.' So it just seemed natural that I'd start to use the cards in a way that would do some of what is done in therapy, which is help people make behavior change, help people make change in their lives and figure out what's getting in the way of living the life they want."
Dore likes to begin her day with coffee, yoga, journaling, and posting on her many social media accounts.
She also stresses the importance of self-care and setting boundaries for yourself. Getting in touch with yourself is a key part of self-care; making sure you are taking care of you is the best thing you can do in life.
She noted that it is important to "remember that when we're taking care of ourselves and tending to our own mental health, our own traumas, we're so much more able to do the work that we're meant to do in the world, but also to engage with other people in a way that's kind and healthy."
If tarot cards can help you with this, why not give it a go?
Therapy and tarot readings are tools to help you on your path, encourage you, and help you overcome challenges.
Erin Watson is an Editorial Intern. Her main focuses are entertainment, horoscopes, and relationships.