365 Tarot Spells is a direct result of my passion for Janina Renée’s Tarot Spells. I began working with Janina’s book over a decade ago. Back in those days I held very different ideas about magical practice, witchcraft, and tarot. The first night I cast from Tarot Spells, two profound experiences occurred.
My desired goal was money manifestation. Nerves racked my belly as I sat at my kitchen table. The candles flickered; the tarot cards were spread out. About halfway through the process, I stopped. The air was different. The space looked different. I felt different. The environment I had created with my focused intention was so beguiling, so strong, and so remarkably different from the normal world that I sat inside it like a sun worshipper, soaking it in.
My original goal of manifesting money was tossed aside. I had discerned something more important than obtaining a future outcome or material gain. I sat inside the space where my interior and exterior met. It was the electric nature of sacred space. My actions had created the space. It did not stem from religious dogma, a Sunday church service, or a New Age bookstore. It blossomed from my intention. It was spectacular.
The second impactful lesson I learned that fateful evening was that Janina Renée brings the practitioner inside the tarot cards. She created an immersive experience in which you could converse with archetypes, explore the environment of the card, touch them, feel them, and see them moving about. This simple adjustment rapidly expanded my tarot experience beyond the practice of magic or divination. She brought the entire deck to life. It is my sincere hope that 365 Tarot Spells will offer you the same rich tarot experience.
Eventually, I took my magic practice outside. Why confine yourself to the kitchen table? Why sketch a pentacle on a sheet of paper when you can trace one across a snow-covered field? Why settle for a little pine incense when an army of pine trees await your call? Why stay indoors when you can see your magical intention crystallized as you whisper it into winter’s eastern wind?
Nature spirits soared above, reminding me of spiritual height. Fast, furry animals burrowed below the ground, reminding me of the underworld, darkness, and growth. Weeping willows demonstrated how strong and delicate the human spirit can be. A great buck’s white bones, plucked clean by scavengers, offered meaningful meditations on the nature of death. Vegetable and flower gardens offered valuable guidance on how to nurture my young daughter. Lessons appeared everywhere. The more I observed, the more I learned. You can move your consciousness inside of a tree or an herb the same way you can enter a tarot card: through observation and intention. You can align with the energy of anything. And you can work in tandem with the energy, be it the property of an herb or the collective resonance of an archetype.
Magic is based on the tapestry of interconnectivity between you and the natural world. It is a majestic interplay. Magic is best understood as a threefold process:
1. Desire (Thought, Idea)
An idea dawns on you. You realize you want something. You discover a truth inside yourself that must be made reality. You are ready to experience it. You realize you would like to live close to the sea. You want to change career paths. You desire more fun in life. You are ready to experience love. From desire you form a concise intention for your magical goal, i.e., “I will live next to the ocean” or “I am attracting an amazing romantic partner.”
2. Feeling (Align Yourself, Visualize)
You have stated your desire. Now it is time to align your energy with your desire. See it. Feel it. Smell it. Taste it. Bring it into focus. Act as if you have it already. If you want to live near the beach, smell the salt air, taste the fish tacos, and see the moonlight rippling across the ocean waves. This is also where magical accessories are selected—items whose natural energy align with your goal: roses and chocolate for love, caffeine for action, mint for money. Tarot cards are chosen: Queen of Wands for charisma, the Sun for health, King of Pentacles for money, and so on.
3. Action (Spell)
The fastest way to bring something into your life is to take action on it. Performing a spell is that action. It makes your desire known, your intention clear. It is your call and response with the universe.
Making magic is like making love. No two souls perform or experience magical practice in the same way. The magical act can be an intimate experience enjoyed by the solo practitioner or a shared experience with a friend, lover, or coven. The choice is yours. Some people achieve seemingly magical results without ever performing spells, but spellcasting is sensual, emotional, and always a discovery process.
Each of us has a unique magical fingerprint. Some of us are built for natural magic, finding that our talents and results soar in the rustling forest or amidst the wild winds of seascapes. Others may excel using the precise nature of ceremonial magic. Some of us are naturally drawn to gemstones and crystals while others prefer candle or crafting magic. Discovering and cultivating personal magic is one of the most exciting things you will ever do. It is the absolute delight and right of every person to find out where their magical ability lies.
Tarot is the perfect magical tool. Tarot cards operate at a different energetic level than herbs, food, candles, or incense. Tarot does not grow from the ground nor does it have a season in which it thrives. Tarot is a metaphysical machine that has sprung from human consciousness. It communicates through symbol. Archetypes of tarot are strong and embedded in our psyche. We may enter the card as if through a gate. We move into an altered state—the subtle world that exists between nature and imagination, where all things become possible. This is where true change occurs. This is where we alter the shape of the psyche. We are able to access and unlock hidden parts and pieces of ourself that might have otherwise lain dormant. This unlocks new possibility.
Magical practice will teach you that you are not separate from the natural world; you are part of it. It teaches that you are not separate from other people; we are all connected. Magic will teach you that the gateway to the supernatural and your imagination is found through the pleasurable cultivation of your five senses. Magic teaches that what you put out in the world via spells, words, or day-to-day interactions will come back to you. A magical practice will teach the value of living in the moment, engaging the present, and releasing the ego.
Magic doesn’t teach you how to “get” things from life. It teaches you how to embrace and experience it. It teaches you how to interface and play with your reality in order to make your soul’s intention/manifestation real, and the manifestation of your true self just happens to be why we are all here to begin with.
Venture out into the world. Break out of the conventions of those who have come before. Don’t be defined by books of magic. Discover your own archetypes. Make your own magical associations. Find out what resonates for you. Become your own guru. Let experimentation become your teacher. Magic is experiential. Experience it!
Magical practice offers everyone the opportunity to reinvent themselves from the inside out. Why? Because you are a sorceress who has already created the world you inhabit, whether you realize it or not. Magical practice and tarot give you the tools and opportunities to cultivate, explore, and expand that world, and its boundaries are infinite.
Just like you.
Sasha Graham
new york city, 2015