Tarot reading spells out students’ foretold feelings

Souls were searched and findings were foretold yesterday during an online tarot card reading, held on Zoom by the Student Events Team partnered with Michael Foster, longtime tarot card reader.

Foster has been a self-taught tarot reader since 1986, according to his website. Originally, his interest in cartomancy was a secret kept behind closed doors, but when a pack of cards fell into his lap, literally, he knew it was written in the stars to start tarot reading officially.

“[I] kept my interest in The Cards a secret from everyone, lest they think I am ‘weird.’ Then, when helping my grandma pack for a move, she gave me an old Tarot deck in a marble box, and said I was “supposed to have it,” Foster said.

Spearheading the event alongside Foster is Jaycey Horton, the Vice President of the Student Events Team. She works mainly with online student events, opting to include students who can’t make it to campus events in-person.

“I’m reaching out to the community that’s not able to come to campus. It was a really prominent role when Covid was really big. We could reach out to our international students who aren’t able to come and people that just weren’t able to be on campus, to just be still a part of campus life,” Horton said.

For those not in the know, the Tarot is a pack of cards with pictures on them that are used to gain insight on what has happened in the past, what’s happening in the present, or what will happen in the future. 

The cards don’t give concrete answers, but more so ideas for the tarot card user to think about and apply to their own life.

“Tarot cards can be a lot of things, based on what you ask. They can be a reading of your past, present, and future, and what’s happening in your life. It could be if you really want a love reading, you could do that,” Horton said.

This is the second time that Minnesota State has offered students a complimentary tarot reading, and Horton hopes that the event this year proves to be as popular as its predecessor.

“We did tarot card readings one other time during Covid and it was wildly popular, and so I wanted to bring it back and see if there was a demand for it. It went pretty well, so I was like, ‘why don’t we try it again?’” Horton said.

A common misconception regarding tarot card reading is that its roots are innately evil, and linked to the dark occult. The supposed severity of the activity can drive potential consumers away, but according to Horton, the cards are nothing more than a simple activity and nothing to ponder too deeply about.

“It’s not there to stress you out, it’s just to have fun and be light hearted,” Horton said.

“Sometimes doing tarot card readings can get your mind off things. I know spring semester, a lot of professors hit you really hard with the homework. I had so much homework that first week. It’s just a really nice fun thing to lay back, you don’t really have to do much.”

Header Photo: Minnesota State is not a stranger to the act of tarot card readings; last year the same event occurred. Michael Foster spearheaded all the activities, with great success. (Lilly Schmidt/The Reporter)

Write to Joey Erickson at joseph.erickson.2@mnsu.edu