As I’ve navigated my spirituality over the years, I tend to align with teachings from the Left-Hand Path. I was intrigued when The Left Hand Path of Tarot by Cherry Parra was brought to my attention. It’s my first time coming across a book on tarot presented from the Left-Hand Path perspective. It’s a text that encourages practitioners, from novices to advanced readers, to lean into the shadow to ignite self-growth.
The author is a Mexican witch who operates a spiritual practice in Mexico and has a special connection to the occult. Her great-grandmother was a curandera (healer) from Oaxaca, Mexico, and this lineage has inspired Parra’s devotion to her work. She offers readings to select individuals who come to her from across the globe.
The Left-Hand Path is often misunderstood and written off as evil or Satanic. Parra dispels this and seeks to reclaim the phrase and its meaning in how she applies it to tarot. She explains, “The Left-Hand Path reader approaches tarot with utter transparency and cuts to the chase” (p. 1). She also makes it clear that this kind of tarot “deals in discomfort” (p. 2). The book is written for those who provide tarot readings as a service to the public and those who read solely for themselves. I am very much a beginner and while I have no plans to read for others, I’m eager to learn how to perform clearer, more insightful readings for myself.
I appreciated the author’s transparency regarding tarot scammers and the need to be discerning about where we’re getting information. Like many other niches, tarot has also experienced its share of content creators who get wrapped up in the superficiality of calling oneself a tarot reader because they’re chasing clicks and follows. Parra maintains and prioritizes honesty in how she approaches tarot. While the practice can be enlightening, it should also be used as a tool to dig up uncomfortable truths about ourselves and get up close and personal with our triggers. She highlights how tarot readings can lead to self-alchemy:
“Devoting our lives to shadow work, witchcraft, and spiritual practices is a way to elevate ourselves to our ultimate best expression, fully encapsulating and enacting the divine spark that dwells in each of us but that usually fades or even extinguishes over time unless we acknowledge it and put in the work so that it can be (re)ignited, and…truly burn and shine in a way that it lights our personal path and even those of others.” (p. 24)
-Cherry Parra, The Left-Hand Path of Tarot
There are chapters dedicated to the significance of each card within the Major and Minor Arcanas. The interpretations are told from a Left-Hand Path point of view, offering a greater perspective. Since I’m a novice, I found the author’s breakdown of each tarot card’s imagery and its connection to the card’s Left-Hand Path meaning beneficial. Her explanation of The Devil card exemplified a point she makes early on that something shouldn’t be labeled evil just because it deviates from the norm. The Devil lives within each of us and isn’t here to lead us to our demise but to challenge us and help us improve. There’s plenty of eye-opening information to be gleaned in these parts of the book.
Parra also provides several spreads to get one started reading Left-Hand Path tarot. They fall under different categories, including “For the Flesh,” “For Money and Business,” and “For Everything Taboo,” to name a few. It was important for me to try one of these out. Some are more complex than others, so I went with one that had a simpler layout called My Anxiety D(a)emon for shadow work. Now, just because the layout is simpler doesn’t mean the reading doesn’t dive deep.
I won’t go into detail about my reading since it’s personal, but I will say that it helped me view my anxiety in a way I hadn’t before. It shed light on its source and how my anxiety has been trying to protect me. I journaled the reading, recording the cards I pulled, the interpretations, and how I think they relate to my experiences. I need more time to sit with them to fully understand the interpretations, but it’s made me rethink how I perceive my anxiety.
Cherry Parra lays out the purpose of her book beautifully when she says, “If we are on the Left-Hand Path, our duty as tarot readers is not to comfort our querents: it is to challenge them” (p. 150). And I feel the same applies when we’re reading for ourselves. I’m so grateful this book came into my life, especially because it’s written by a Mexican witch. As I’ve been rediscovering the indigenous spiritual beliefs of my Mexican ancestors, resources such as this one help me integrate diverse practices into my life.
The Left Hand Path of Tarot is available for purchase through the publisher Red Wheel Weiser and through various online commerce platforms.
Where to Stalk
The Left-Hand Path of Tarot on Red Wheel Weiser
Vamp Jenn's Corner 
Reading this post reminds me of an author of whom two of his books I stopped reading because his opening chapters in those books I found utterly terrifying.
The author’s name was Charles Williams who wrote a series of 7 supernatural novels from the years 1930 to 1945.
The 2 books I started to read but couldn’t finish were called Descent Into Hell – and – All Hallows Eve respectively.
Lately I’ve been doing research on Charles Williams and his novels.
I’m feeling drawn towards finishing the two books I didn’t finish and also reading his 5 other novels that I didn’t read.
But one of his novels called The Greater Trumps (published in 1932) was about the Tarot and tarot cards.
The premise was a British civil servant inherits an ancient deck of tarot cards and what happens to him when he inherits it.
Reading the plot’s synopsis, it sounds like a very intriguing book.
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