SINCERELY, ME: A FIELD GUIDE TO INTENTIONS

I was doing yard work on a beautiful spring day recently, listening to the Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack, when a thought occurred to me. We need to acknowledge a universal truth: Evan Hansen might be the world's worst human being.

It is a complicated musical, and while I love it, the kid's choices are deeply questionable. But his bizarre journey is actually a perfect case study in intention. He started out by trying to help a grieving family. Then he pivoted to helping himself. Eventually, he ended up trying to help the memory of someone he barely even knew.

Were his intentions good at the start? Yes. Were they good at the end? Yes. Were they good in the middle? Absolutely not.

This brings us directly to tarot, magic, and how we make decisions in general. Intention is the entire foundation of the practice. Before you make a choice or pull a single card, you have to stop and be completely honest about your intentions.

Let us look at it from both sides of the table.

The Reader's Burden

When you are giving a reading to someone else, what is your actual intention? It cannot be to tell their future. It cannot be to give them exactly what they want to hear. Your intention must be to offer guidance.

You have to take yourself and your ego entirely out of the equation. Your job is to focus solely on the seeker. You look at what the cards are showing and translate what that person needs to hear so they can come to their own discoveries. Tarot is a tool that gives you a path forward and pieces together where someone is on their journey. It is not going to give them all the answers, and pretending it will is a disservice to the practice.

The Seeker's Trap

If you are the one asking the questions, your intentions are just as critical. If your goal is to have your fortune told, you are setting yourself up for failure. A horrific tarot reader will happily take your money and tell you exactly how to make that guy love you again. They are a bad person, and they are playing you.

Run in the opposite direction.

You are allowed to ask complicated, messy questions. But you need to evaluate your intent before you ask them. Instead of asking, "Does he like me, and how can I force him to come back?" your intention should be to seek guidance. The better question is, "How can I move forward from this situation?" The reader, the seeker, and the cards all have to work together to map out that path forward.

All That It Takes Is A Little Focused Intention

Evan Hansen wanted people to like him. To achieve that goal, he went on a wild ride that involved falsifying emails and watching a lie snowball completely out of his control. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we cannot control the outcome. The universe introduces chaos. But we can control how we start. We can control our goals.

Before you cast a spell or ask the cards to solve your life, make sure you know exactly what your intentions are.

Also, "Sincerely, Me" is an absolute bop. I will take no further questions at this time.