365 Tarot Spreads, a book I wrote in 2014, contains a tarot spread for every day of the year. As I crafted 365 Tarot Spreads it dawned on me that the structure would make an excellent premise for a spell book. You may notice that interesting historical factoids are cross-referenced between the two books. This was done intentionally. Feel free to use the books in conjunction, first performing a tarot spread for clarity, then performing the spell to manifest your desired outcome.
You need not perform the spell on the date it is listed. The calendar simply supplied an excellent framework for a collection of spells I hope you will find useful for a lifetime.
Anyone Can Use This Book
You do not need to know anything about tarot or have magical training to use this book.
Choose Your Deck
Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot was selected to illustrate this book. Its vivid, colorful images will bring the viewer straight into the heart of the arcana.
You should use any tarot deck you feel a strong magical connection to for spellwork. It is a good idea to select a separate tarot deck, one used only for the purpose of magic. There are two reasons for this. First, you will foster a specific energetic connection with the magical deck. Second, it will free you to carry your magical or charmed tarot cards with you and keep your spell mandalas in sight (as is often advised), while a separate deck will be available for readings and other uses.
Read Each Spell All the Way Through
and Gather All Tools
Mise en place is a French cooking expression meaning “everything in its place.” Preparing recipes and casting spells retain similar principles. You should be thoroughly familiar with each spell before preparing and crafting it. Have all required tools at your fingertips. Read each spell all the way through. Visualize yourself performing each step as you read the spell. It will pave the way for improvisations and additional elements you might add to provide a personal touch.
Every spell in the book requires a tarot card. If an item suggested is challenging to find, either discard its use, find a substitute, or let the procuring of that item become part of the spell.
Pick, Choose, and Improvise
Magic is an art form, not a science. Each spell offers different ingredients, incantations, and cards. Some spells are simple and use only the tarot; others are more complicated and use accessories.
Just because I wrote it doesn’t mean it is right for you. Change and adapt the spells as wildly as you see fit. The more emotionally intuitive your connection with your tools and accessories, the stronger your magic will be. Consider each spell a base, a guideline. Let it inspire your own interpretations. Built upon what I wrote. Make it your own.
Create Sacred Space
It is assumed that each practitioner will open their personal sacred space before casting any spell in this book. That may be as simple as lighting a single dedicated candle or as complex as invoking the elements or guardian angels, burning incense, and working with lunar cycles, astrological timing, etc. The opening and closing of the space in the spell is left for you to determine as you see fit.
Responsible Magic
1. Magic is not a substitute or a replacement for medical treatment, financial responsibility, or psychotherapy.
2. You are required to do the work to back up your spell. Magic is never a quick fix.
3. Remember the magical rule of three: what you send out to the world will come back to you three times as strong. Never, ever, ever cast harmful or negative magic on another person, place, or thing.
Enter the Card
Many guided meditations and spells will ask you to enter the card. Entering the card means literally bringing your consciousness inside of the arcana. Due to the wide variety of deck availability, some elements I describe may differ from the image you are using.
Become the Figure on the Card
Tarot is seventy-eight reflections of you. There are many instances when I suggest you become the figure—the Empress, the Queen of Cups, the Hierophant, and so on. Inhabiting the figures of tarot and looking through their eyes is a unique way to experience their lessons and the higher and lower, outer and inner aspects of yourself. Embrace this process, then try this practice in your regular life. Look at your boyfriend through the Knight of Wand’s eyes or sip tea with your mother and look at her through the Hierophant’s eyes.
Connection Rituals
Scattered throughout the book are seventy-eight connection rituals to each and every arcana of tarot. These rituals are to foster a deep connection between yourself and the arcana. It will expand your tarot practice and your experience of the cards. This is your opportunity to climb smack-dab into the heart of the arcana.