Episode 61: Interoception—the Body Reads Tarot, with Siddharth Ramakrishnan

Neurobiologist and tarot reader Siddharth Ramakrishnan returns to the Tarot Podcast to talk about interoception—your awareness of what’s going on inside your own body. When we’re doing a tarot reading, what’s happening in this internal sensor system? How do the things we’re hearing from our body affect what we see in the cards and say to our querents?

For more Siddharth, and more on the intersection of brain biology and divination, check out this week’s bonus content, where Siddharth and I speculate about what’s going on neurologically when you’re trying to detect whether your tarot reader is a fraud!

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, PhD, is a neuroscientist, artist, and educator. He is the Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound and a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research spans developmental biology, neuroendocrinology and neuroethics. A Fellow of the UCLA Art|Sci center, his collaborations with artists have led to exhibitions and documentaries that blend the worlds of art and science highlighting topics like Hox genes, animal umwelts and biomimicry.  An avid Tarot reader, he has designed and created the NeuroTarot deck based on the major arcana of Tarot and infused with neuroscience. He was the keynote speaker at NWTS 2023, StaarCon 2025, the UCLA Art Sci Center, and a panelist at the Masters of Tarot workshop (2023) with Mary K. Greer at Omega, Rhinebeck NY. In addition he has been featured at various scientific conferences, art museums and tarot workshops. His book "The Neuroscience of Tarot", is out with Llewellyn Worldwide. "The Neuroscience of Magic" will be out in 2026!

Instagram/BlueSky/Threads: @siddbits
Youtube: @brainmystic
Email: [email protected]
website: www.brainmystic.com

Links for this show:

• Bonus post: The Neurobiology of BS Detection
• Episode 55: Tarot and the Predictive Brain, with Siddharth Ramakrishnan: 
• Chekhov’s affect grid  
• Emotional contagion quiz
• Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (Take the MAIA assessment!)
• Freeing the Genie Within, by Debra Lynne Katz

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