TikTok Tarot Readers Are Collectively Healing the Internet

Take what resonates, and leave what doesn't. Stumble into a TikTok Live tarot reading, and even the utmost skeptics may start to notice signs and synchronicities. Readers themselves are both vessels of hope and a new order of content creators, tasked with delivering spiritual messages from across a For You page. They communicate with a collective audience waiting for guidance with bated breath, pulling from a deck of 78 cards with 78 different meanings to predict success and disappointment, true love and betrayal. A flurry of red hearts bursts in the chat to "claim" positive messages, with individuals marveling at the accuracy . . . one person out of thousands in a nondescript live stream. But as these platforms continue to grow and followers become more curious, what is it that everyone is still waiting to hear?

Miss Honey Bee, a self-described Trance Medium with close to 370K followers on TikTok, hasn't found the answer just yet, but it's not for a lack of trying. She brought her gifts to TikTok in 2020, sometimes going live for as long as nine hours a day with upward of 9,000 people watching in real time. Once live, she'll shuffle the cards and start to read, intermittently conducting personal readings for a select few and cleansing the virtual space with incense and breath work. She points out areas where the collective may be struggling and reminds her followers to ask for help when they need it, encouraging them to manifest their desired reality. "I used to just be on Live for ages just because I have the energy," she says. "Today, people won't catch me on Live for nine hours, but I channel [from] the moment I wake up, [to] the moment I go to sleep."

For Miss Honey Bee, seeing the impact of her channeled messages is one of the most rewarding parts of the job — confirmation that the internet can still be harnessed for good. "When I started doing TikTok and then started going viral, people were messaging me telling me about how their lives were saved," she says. Amid darkness, fear, and a viewership swept up in the pandemic, Miss Honey Bee's messages brought light. "I learned that the world was so loving because of the responses I got from TikTok," she says.

"I'm seeing here that the home life needs some help," Miss Honey Bee advised one follower in a TikTok Live reading. "There's room for organization, there's room for flow." For another viewer, the message was more about self-discovery and self-care. "You've got to relieve yourself of the pressure. You put a lot of pressure on yourself," Miss Honey Bee said. "Let's be a little bit kinder to ourselves as well, knowing that you're being phenomenal, OK?"

Despite all the good that's come from readers like Miss Honey Bee, many aspects of tarot remain misunderstood. Outsiders confuse the practice with black magic, beseeching tarot readers to repent in comments sections. Others simply aren't convinced, calling believers delusional for putting so much trust in a stranger (let alone their cards). "One-hundred percent, what people say as soon as they hear tarot cards: 'Oh, that's the devil,' 'Oh, that's witchcraft,' 'Oh, you're a witch,' 'You're crazy,'" says Rashida, known as ShiTheMedium on most social platforms. "I know that I'm not crazy. I know that my intuition is spot on."

The reality is that tarot began not as an occult practice but as a game played in Italy in the 1400s. Tarot cards — first known as "trionfi" and later "tarocchi" — were ascribed a more spiritual meaning in late 18th century France, after a French clergyman named Antoine Court de Gebelin wrote an essay explaining tarot's esoteric uses and connecting the cards to Egyptian mythology. Tarot was then used by fortune tellers to help answer specific questions.

Reading for thousands on TikTok is a lot different than reading for an intimate secret society in the 1700s. Instead of addressing just one person's inquiry, online tarot readers communicate more general subject matter for their collective viewers, encouraging people to apply the messages as they see fit. Surprisingly, most of the tarot readers we spoke to agreed that speaking to a collective isn't as overwhelming as you might think . . . so long as you can handle the energy.

"I'm very connected with my third eye, so I get sent images," tarot reader and content creator Soledad says in reference to channeling online. On her page, Soledad offers clarity regarding true intentions, hidden feelings, and whether it's time to move on. "I can see people's energies, so it hasn't been difficult for me, connecting with people," she continues.

That said, the process can eventually take a toll. "It can be draining as you feel the eyes of so many upon you," says Blake, another tarot reader known as DivinelyStalked on TikTok. "There are people who take the time to comment negative things, and you just have to learn to ignore them and deliver the message no matter what, because somebody needs to hear it."

Rashida counts herself as one of these somebodies. She was initially drawn to tarot during a difficult time in her life and regularly watched online tarot readers like Stars by Jada and Death and Rebirth Tarot. "I would watch them literally every day when I was going through what I was going through, and they gave me hope," she says. "Something was like, 'Get some cards. Get some cards.'"

While there's no guarantee every reading on your FYP will resonate perfectly, there are still some messages we all deserve, regardless of circumstance. "Everyone's going through things," Rashida says. "People need light. People need love." It doesn't take cards to know that.