I’ve been reading the tarot since I was 13 years old, and over the 20 years that I’ve grown acquainted with the cards, the one undeniable truth about them that I know for sure is that the tarot is a mirror. While rooted in a shared symbolism, each tarot pull is intensely personal, a way of looking into the abyss of your mind and hearing the scream, whimper, yelp, or whisper that echos back out at you. This understanding of the deeply personal nature of the cards is a big reason why the Twenty Two Zines tarot series by Wesley Sueker has become a favorite.

In each issue, Wesley chooses a tarot card to examine,explaining both the traditional symbolism, as well as his own associations with it. He illustrates each issue’s cover with his own take on the card and shares personal stories that helped him deepen his understanding of the card’s messages. It’s this balance of the universal and the personal that makes the series so effective. For instance, in the issue covering the Six of Swords, he explores the way the card depicts melancholy, perspective, and baggage, and how he relates to the card as a goth and a survivor of trauma. And in Judgement, he see’s the card as “a reality check… not good or bad, just what’s real” that showed up for him as he adjusted to a move, and how it is sorta like Mufasa’s ghost in the movie “The Lion King.” As a seasoned tarot reader, I thoroughly enjoyed these zines, but I can see even a newbie witch or tarot skeptic appreciating them. Wesley does an incredible job breaking down each card, getting to the root of what they mean and how they can help us better see ourselves and our way in the world. As he says in the outro of “Judgement” – “that’s the whole fucking point of these pieces of cardstock – to try and hack away at who you are. And try not to worry; you have your whole life to do it.”