A reflection on how spirituality and career ambition can coexist, exploring how astrology, tarot and manifestation can offer perspective but cannot replace self-awareness, critical thinking or taking action. Through career setbacks and questions of self-worth, this piece examines how to use spiritual practices intelligently to navigate life's uncertainties without losing touch with reality or handing over your judgement to someone else.
By: Ophelia Wu
Why are more and more people turning to spirituality, tarot readings or astrology for answers? Sometimes, we want a reason, closure or an explanation for why we are going through what we’re going through. We want to know what's next, whether we're on the right path or why things aren't working out the way we hoped. And sometimes, we want someone or something else to give us the answers.
The use of astrology, tarot and other spiritual practices is hardly new. Rulers throughout history have consulted astrologers for guidance, including when making important decisions. Today, people turn to all sorts of tools to help them understand themselves and navigate their lives. Some turn to career coaches, others to therapists, and others to astrology, tarot or Human Design. Of course, this is a grey area. There are plenty of readers and healers out there, and not everyone necessarily has your best interests at heart. As with choosing a career coach, finding someone whose approach makes sense to you and whose guidance you can use constructively is a personal decision. Discernment matters, regardless of which tool you choose.
Spirituality itself is often misunderstood as something woo-woo or wishy-washy, or automatically associated with religion and witchcraft. Yet the idea of examining ourselves and questioning how we live goes back to ancient philosophy. Socrates argued that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. To me, spirituality is a much broader concept. It can be a personal philosophy or daily practice that helps us navigate life when things don't go according to plan. It is about returning inward, tuning in to yourself and finding something to hold on to when the answers aren't immediately obvious. And that has a place in our careers, too.
A little woo, a lot of self-awareness
Career is important, but knowing yourself is just as important, if not more so. We want to know why we're not the chosen one, what makes us not good enough. The 100 whys.
In my experience with tarot readings, I've encountered many people asking about a specific job they didn't get. They were fixated on why it didn't work out, when the question underneath was often closer to Why am I not enough? Or, put another way, Why did they pick someone else over me? These are questions about self-worth, and the hurt behind them is something many of us can relate to.
Tools such as astrology, tarot and Human Design offer different frameworks for exploring our patterns, preferences, strengths and potential blind spots. They can give us another perspective on our circumstances and help us reflect on things we might otherwise overlook. The value lies in what we take away from that reflection, rather than treating a reading as an unquestionable answer.
Knowing yourself won't guarantee that you'll get the job. But understanding what you bring to the table can help you put rejection into perspective. Recruitment is also a matter of matching and suitability. The person who got the job may simply tick a few more boxes that align with what the company needs at that particular moment. It doesn't automatically mean they're better than you. That distinction matters. When your self-worth is tied to every professional outcome, every rejection can feel like a verdict on who you are. Knowing yourself gives you a better foundation from which to assess what happened, decide whether there's something to learn from it and work out what comes next.
Manifestation won't pay your bills
We hear a lot about quantum leaps, manifestation, affirmations and alignment. These have become popular terms and, in many ways, marketing language around self-help tools.
There's nothing wrong with using these tools. But what happens after you've set your intentions?
A quantum leap doesn't happen through drinking a glass of water.
Becoming a money magnet doesn't happen through chanting “I am abundant” 100 times.
An affirmation is just repetition of words if you don't follow through with relevant actions and plans. No one wakes up one day and becomes a CEO just by telling themselves they already are one.
Spiritual practices can help us clarify what we want and become more aware of how we think. But awareness alone doesn't change our circumstances. We still need to make decisions, learn new skills, put ourselves forward and take action, even when we don't know how things will turn out.
No spell can replace self-awareness
This is where spirituality can become emotional bypassing or wishful thinking. It can be much easier to tell yourself that you are manifesting something than to look honestly at what you need to change, what you need to learn or what might be holding you back.
Sometimes, we want an answer now, particularly when we're going through a difficult period. We want reassurance that things will work out, that the opportunity is coming or that we're on the right path. But what happens when the reading doesn't give us the answer we want? Do we keep asking different readers until someone tells us what we want to hear? How many signs do we need before we're satisfied?
This is where discernment comes in. A reading might offer a useful perspective, just as a conversation with a career coach might challenge the way you approach a job search. But we still need to think critically about the advice we receive and decide what makes sense for our own circumstances. Spirituality should bring us back to ourselves, not further away from reality. It should help us navigate uncertainty, rather than become another way to avoid it.
You can be a witch and a CEO
There is sometimes an assumption that being spiritual means being delusional or unrealistic (and there’s some truth to it!). Yet, spirituality and career can go hand in hand if practised intelligently and correctly. Being grounded doesn't mean giving up your ambition. It means understanding what you're pursuing, why and what it takes to get there.
You can be interested in astrology and still negotiate a better salary. You can have a daily meditation practice and still be competitive in your industry. You can believe there are things beyond your understanding while taking responsibility for the choices you make.
I'm not suggesting that you need to turn to astrology, tarot or any other spiritual practice. It's a personal choice, and what works for one person might not make sense to another. But if you're already on that path, as I am, there's no need to dismiss it or feel that it makes you any less ambitious, capable or grounded.
The key is to use these tools intelligently. Take what offers you a constructive perspective, question what doesn't make sense to you, and use the insights to navigate life and make things work in your favor. A reading won't do the work for you, but it might help you see a situation differently, recognise a pattern or approach a decision with greater awareness. What matters is what you do with that insight.
Don't blame the planets, they go retrograde every year
We are living in a time when we increasingly turn to technology for answers. AI can help us process information, organise our thoughts and find solutions. Spiritual tools offer a different way of interpreting our experiences. Both can give us another perspective, but neither should replace our own judgement. The more we outsource our thinking and decision-making, the more important it becomes to stay connected with ourselves, our intuition and our awareness of who we are.
Know thyself. Two simple words, yet perhaps one of the hardest lessons in life.
Our careers will have their ups and downs. There will be opportunities, disappointments and things that don't happen in the way we expected. It’s not always the retrogrades or sextiles of planets, sometimes its us making bad decisions. Having a personal philosophy or daily practice to return to can help us navigate those moments without losing sight of ourselves.
Ultimately, you can use the tools that resonate with you, remain open to different perspectives and still make your own decisions. You can be spiritual without being passive, and ambitious without losing touch with yourself.
The universe will offer you a sign or two. What you do with it is still up to you.