Caricature Artists, Cocktails & The Devil Card

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Confessions of a party Tarot card reader

People love to look at themselves.

That’s why at parties you’ll find caricature artists and photo booths

At one event I was reading Tarot at, there was someone doing live runway-style drawings of everyone in attendance.

But it’s the caricature artist I always watch.

In a few minutes, they turn a face into a story.

A marker glides across the page.
Heroic jawline.
Wild Einstein hair.
Big, buggy eyes.

It isn’t realism.

But it’s true.

By exaggerating what stands out, the drawing becomes instantly recognizable. It says something essential.

That’s what I’m doing at my Tarot table.

Portrait versus caricature

A portrait aims for accuracy.
A caricature aims for essence.

The commissioned portrait agonizes over skin tone, shadow, the precise tilt of the head.

A caricature exaggerates the very thing you’d normally edit out.

Party readings are done under string lights with music humming, drinks clinking, conversation swirling.

There’s no time to descend slowly into someone’s inner architecture.

When I read for myself, it’s reflective.
Or when I sit for an hour-long private session, we can go deep into history, emotion, pattern. There’s space to wander. To map. To feel our way forward.

A party reading is the sketch on the back of a napkin.

Essentials only.

The moment when someone says, “Yeah. That’s exactly what’s happening.”

From there we ask: what does the next panel of this graphic novel look like?

Here’s the secret party readers know

Party readings sharpen your skills faster than anything.

You see the card.
You feel the room.
You name the pattern.

--Next person.

It’s speed chess for the intuitive mind.

And the pressure doesn’t make it shallow.

It strips away your training wheels.

You stop trying to be profound.
You start trying to be precise.

You learn what lands.
Which archetypes light someone up.
Which phrases feel alive.
Which ones are just filler.

You get immediate feedback in someone’s face shifting.

There’s no hiding in abstraction.

And maybe that’s why it matters right now.

We’re drowning in polished insight.
Filtered faces.
AI-generated readings that sound wise but don’t really say anything.

“You’re stepping into your power.”
“Trust the journey.”
“Transformation is coming.”

Cliché is comfortable.
It costs nothing.

But at a party table, cliché dies fast.

You see it in the polite nod.
The half-smile.
The energy that doesn’t shift.

There’s no room for spiritual wallpaper.

The caricature artist doesn’t soften the jaw to make it flattering.

They make it bigger.

The party reader doesn’t reach for the safest meaning.

They name the pattern, the limiting belief, the secret they don’t want to admit.

And that kind of precision isn’t built in silence.

It’s forged under string lights,
with music in your ears,
and the nerve to draw the line anyway.

Want to know more about reading at parties and events? Put your “yeah but” in the comments.

-Cassandra the Card Reader
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