Approaching the tarot is an art unto itself. Traditionally, a master or teacher gave tarot cards to a student who was deemed ready, and thus the idea was born that one shouldn’t buy their own deck; however, as long as you clean, energize, and set your deck with clear intention, there is no issue with buying your own. That said, I do believe receiving a deck is a powerful part of the path as well, and at times have gifted used decks or bought new ones for people to continue their practice.
Used and new decks carry very different energies; I would advise starting with a new deck. However, receiving an older or used deck from a trusted tarot friend or teacher will also carry with it the wisdom and power of working the cards through time. Either way, you will want to clear a new deck by placing the cards with clear quartz crystals or near a bowl of salt water for a few days during the new moon phase. You can also use a cleansing smoke of your preference to set the cards to a neutral energetic place. Use a special cloth or pouch to wrap your cards in: silk, cotton, or other natural fibers are preferable, but any fabric or cloth you feel a connection to will work to hold and contain your cards. When we wrap our cards each time, we create a sacred boundary between the time of opening the cards or giving the reading and storing them for safe keeping.
Once the cards are cleared and the moon is waxing, you can decide on your intention for your deck. Is this for self-practice only? Will you be giving readings to others? Is this a deck you are learning from? Will you have it out for others to randomly pick up in your home? These are important things to consider as everyone who touches your deck will leave an energetic imprint on the cards. Over the years they become carriers of a living history of all who have contacted their deepest desires, secrets, thoughts, wishes, hopes, and dreams. This is not light stuff! My fifteen-year-old Crowley deck is precious to me and has been touched by hundreds and hundreds of people. However, I never allow anyone to randomly touch that deck—it is only for readings in specific moments. Other decks in my home are out for anyone to pull from, and still others are teaching/learning decks. Once you set your intention around your deck, the cards will hear your intention and begin to read through you.
How to Give a Successful Reading
Like anything, giving readings takes practice. It is helpful to have a partner or tarot friend to work with as you begin your study, especially as practicing on yourself can be very challenging. The mind is tricky and will convince us of a variety of outcomes when we are trying to approach the card ourselves about situations that we have strong feelings or attachments towards. For self-practice, I suggest minimizing readings to one or three cards, so you have the opportunity to carefully track the related events and happenings in your life with the cards you pull. Sometimes the cards are very obvious in their meaning, other times they are more subtle and will take more careful examination.
Once you have established the use of your cards, you will want to create a good space in which to practice your readings. You can read anywhere—just be sure to set up an intentional space before you begin. It’s helpful to be in a quiet area free of distractions. Use a cloth over a table or on the floor to place your cards on (separate from the cloth used to wrap your cards). Light a candle, burn some incense, and place crystals or shells you work with in addition to perhaps an offering to the ancestors and/or helper spirits such as a small bowl of water, flowers, or a sweet. Take a moment to tune into your breath and yourself and whomever you are reading for before you begin.
The next step in giving a reading either for yourself or someone else is to think about your intention, focus, and question. This may be something you or your client has thought about long before coming to the reading or it may be something spontaneously arising in the moment. Either way, it is helpful to touch into what is up for you or the person you are reading for. Often when I read in shops, people want me to psychically tune in and “read their mind,” but I encourage them to share what is on their heart first as a way to direct the reading. I approach tarot readings as more of a conversation or dialogue between me, the client, and spirit who works through the archetypal energies of the cards. I also firmly believe that in our dialogue, through attentive co-created participation, a client will have deeper discoveries that affect their path more profoundly than me simply telling them what I see. Readers are also fallible and human, so concrete predictions can be less than helpful for a client. At every moment, there are limitless possibilities; while the cards will certainly point out the trend of patterns in your current mythic life story, they are not the only influence on your life. The cards are more like arrows or sign posts pointing the way; your feet still have to carry you along the path.
When working to find a good question, it is important to only ask one at a time. You can always do more readings or pull further cards for clarification later. Create an open-ended question, one that leaves room for interpretations. Yes or no questions are closed questions and lead to a kind of dead end that doesn’t allow for deeper explorations and reflections on the issue at hand. You could use a yes/no question in a pinch for a fast answer, but you would need to determine fairly clearly what a yes card feels like and what a no card feels like, which is not always as simple as it sounds.
Instead, work on creating an open ended question. For example, instead of asking, “Will I ever fall in love?” perhaps ask, “What is blocking me from falling in love?” or “What do I need to know about being open to partnership?” These questions are more inviting into a place of discovery and also orients you toward potential actions. Open-ended questions start with how, why, or what. Avoid asking questions that start with will or when, as those lead to more limited answers.
Once you have your question, choose the layout that fits. If the question is about relationships, you can use the relationship layout. For more specific issues, the five-card layout is appropriate. For a general, overarching look at big life issues, the ten- or eight-card Celtic cross layout is helpful to see several different aspects of the question. But don’t discount the power of a one-card reading! I have often found these to be immensely helpful in pinpointing the essence of the question in a single image.
Every question can be broken down into follow-up questions that explore the different elements of the original question. For example, a question such as, “How can I live in alignment with my soul’s purpose?” can be broken down into the following questions:
• What is coming into my conscious awareness about my soul’s purpose?
• How can I discover my soul’s purpose?
• What is my soul’s purpose?
• How am I presently living in alignment with my soul’s purpose?
• What inner work do I need to do to be in alignment with my soul’s purpose?
• What resources are available to me that will help me live in alignment with my soul’s purpose?
• What will bring me closer to my soul’s purpose?
• What may stand in the way of me fulfilling my soul’s purpose, and how can I overcome it?
After you have formulated your question and decided on the layout, it is time to pull the cards. I encourage clients to shuffle themselves first so they connect with the cards. I then fan the cards out, have them choose the decided number of cards, and lay them out. Having a client choose lets them embody the process of choice. I encourage clients to take their time and feel into the cards, allowing their hand(s) to be drawn to the specific cards.
Lay the cards out and begin reading. First, note how many major arcana appear in the reading and which cycle(s) of seven they fall into. This observation helps anchor the reading into the querent’s spiritual unfolding. Next, notice if there is more than one number in the minor arcana. It is often striking for a reading to contain repeated twos or sevens, for example. Use the numerology reference to determine the energy of what is currently happening. Also take note of which suits appear. Are there mostly cups or wands, for example, or did they receive some of each? Several court cards may indicate a client is doing a lot of learning with and through other people. An absence of court cards can signify a more solitary path.
Take note of what jumps out at you from your own cards. If you are in the beginning phases of reading tarot, it may be helpful to take a few notes on the cards. Allow your intuition to guide you and see which colors, symbols, and qualities are obvious. Ask the querent if anything stands out to them. Begin a dialogue around the cards to dig into the journey’s mythic aspects. Try your intuition first—notice what arises in response to the card before turning to a resource, book, or the instructional booklet that accompanies cards. This book provides descriptions for each card as well as ceremonies for many of the cards. If you have never done any ceremony, this following section on creating a ceremony may seem overwhelming at first with so many steps. I encourage those new to ceremony and ritual to take time and also note that many of the ceremonies in the book are quite simple and do not necessarily involve all the steps described below. However, as you begin to work with more complex ceremonies and for those who are adept at this work, you may use the steps to help guide your creations. Once you have determined some qualities, pull a specific “Action to Take” or “Ceremonial” card with the intention of finding a way to embody the reading’s essence. Using the steps that follow to create ceremony with guidance of the cards in this book, you can take time to create an inspired ceremony that will help you embody the tarot as a living oracle.
Creating a Ceremony
Creating a ceremony or ritual to connect more deeply to the cards is the essence of this book and bridges the ancient oracle of tarot into an embodied, practical, and celebratory form. When we create a ceremony—which can be as simple as lighting a candle—we are creating a direct link to our soul through symbol, forms, and elements. The Fool’s journey is used as an inspiration to discover the progression of archetypes found in the major arcana from one card to the next. The elements of the minor arcana are used to create ceremonies and rituals that connect us to the situations moving through our lives.
By setting an intention and performing a symbolic action that incorporates the sensory elements, we communicate directly to our soul. Since ancient times, humans have used this kind of soul technology to find, share, and cultivate gratitude for our resources; connect with the unseen; honor major life transitions; and connect to the ancestors. Using the ancient practice of ceremony with the tarot effectively deepens not only our connection to the oracle but to life itself. The following steps are a guide to creating your own ceremonies that are found here. The ceremonies are purposely kept simple and accessible but can be developed further in your own practice.
1) Set a Clear Intention
First, decide your intention in creating ceremony. Which card are you creating a ceremony with? Which suit and element are you using as a focus to guide your intention? Setting an intention is akin to pointing an arrow directly at an intended target. The clearer our intention and the more focus we can bring to the purpose of our work, the more powerful the result. Some intentions for creating ceremony could include the following:
• balancing and restoring harmony in relationships, environment, self
• healing for self, family, earth
• manifesting a new job or relationship
• clearing or letting go
• honoring and or celebrating seasons or moon cycles, such as full moon gatherings or solstices
2) Planning and Preparation
The next phase of creating a ceremony is to plan out how you want to put your intention into symbolic form. If you are new to creating ceremony, first look to how you might have done something symbolic in the past. Perhaps you cleared away an old lover’s things once? Or made a wish, even on an eyelash? In a simplistic form, these are actually ceremonies. You are setting an intention (or wish) and then putting it into form. Use the guidance from the book to create a ceremony or create your own in alignment with the tarot card you are working with. Once you know your intention, you can design a way to put the intention into form or a symbolic gesture. This communicates directly to your soul that you are committed to your intention. For example, if you are doing a clearing ceremony to let go of something, you may want to make a fire and burn a paper list of negative patterns, ideas, or relationships to clear. Once you have designed your ceremony, gather the items needed and place everything on your altar or a clear space until you are ready to perform the ceremony.
3) Create an Altar
The next step for creating ceremony is to make a central sacred space that functions as the place of power for your sacred work. Using the guidance from the Magician chapter, you can create an altar using images, colors, items from nature, and the tarot cards that you are working with to reflect your intention. For example, if you are doing a cleansing ritual, you could use bowls of salt water, healing crystals, and images that portray clearness or cleansing. If you are going to perform the ceremony outside, consider creating an outdoor altar made of natural items. You can choose a specific direction you feel connects to your intention. For example, the west is often associated with sunset, death, and letting go. If you are creating a letting go ceremony, perhaps you could build an altar in the west. If you have the time and wish to create a more elaborate ceremony, you can build altars in each cardinal directions in addition to sky and/or a central altar. The important part is to be creative without thinking it out too much—just allow the ideas to flow through you into form.
4) Make Offerings
The act of making offerings can be performed throughout the entire ceremony at the altar, for each direction, or during a symbolic ceremonial act. For example, you may wish to burn things to clear in a fire and then give offerings as well to honor the process itself. The act of offering is a symbolic gesture of opening your heart and honoring the guidance, help, and nourishment that comes from our helpers, teachers, and the earth.
5) Cleansing and Purification
Once you are ready to perform your ceremony, it is important to cleanse the space and purify yourself in preparation for sacred work. Just before the ceremony begins, purify the space. This can be done using saltwater, smoke, or smudging with cedar or other herbs; sending healing energy to the space and visualizing it as clear healing light; or any other method. Simply make the intention to cleanse or purify the space. Similarly, you will want to purify your body and aura to prepare for entering ceremonial space. Again, you can use any of the methods mentioned here or another way that feels right to you. This step should be done for every person involved in the ceremony before the directions are called in.
6) Ground and Settle In
Once you have prepared and cleansed the space and yourself, it is helpful to take a moment to ground everyone and/or yourself into the space. This can be as simple as focusing on the breath for a moment or perhaps asking participants to silently call in their helper spirits or guides. You may wish to visualize a cord of light extending into the earth as a way to deepen your awareness of the connection to the earth or hold stones as a symbolic and literal way to ground. Grounding brings awareness into the space and sets a natural container that allows for opening up and readying for the imminent ceremony.
7) Create Sacred Space
Call in the directions and create your sacred space. Inspired by the ceremony of the five directions in the Magician card you can create a personal way of calling in the directions. You may want to give offerings to call in the directions and your helpers. Be sure to give physical or sound/musical offerings as you call in the directions and your helpers. You may choose to also invoke a specific energy or deity to assist in your work. For example, you may wish to honor the earth as a witness and support for your work in helping to heal. It is important to give offerings to the local land spirits when doing healing work to rebalance the earth or waters.
8) Perform the Ceremony
After the preparations, purification and grounding, and creation of sacred space have been completed, you are ready to perform the main part of your ceremony. You will want to go as deeply into this process as possible, which means allowing your doubting self to subside for a while so that you can connect with the multidimensional aspects of your being. When we connect in this manner, we help loosen that smaller sense of self and reconnect in with our expansive self, our relations on earth, the unseen helpers, and in the Dreamtime. There are three components of the ceremony itself:
a. Raising energy: After creating the sacred space, you can raise the energy of the directions, elements, and guides you have called in. You can do this using sound makers, song, movement, dance, and making more offerings. You can continue to add offerings to your fire or the earth, whistle, sing, and make movements to further increase the space’s magical power. Try to let go and allow your actions to flow through you without overthinking or worrying about what you look like.
b. Sacred gesture or action to symbolize the intention: This is the act of the ceremony that will symbolize your intention. You might burn a letting-go list here, perform an energy healing on yourself or a friend, cry tears into a bowl of water and flowers, or send an intentional prayer for the earth. You may wish to do a specific dance to honor or celebrate or open up to the ecstatic part of your being.
c. Sealing the action: After you have performed your gesture, you will want to seal in the gesture with final moments of silence, a song, or water blessing.
9) Gratitude and Closing the Space
Before you close the space, be sure to give thanks to all the spirits, helpers, people
who have attended, the earth, and the land. After giving thanks, you will want to settle down, rest, and then close the space. This is an important step before moving onto celebration, conversation, eating, and so on. This step can also be the moment to bless the food and drink that will be shared.
10) Celebrate!
After ceremony, it is important to feast and connect. Especially if this is a community gathering that involves many people, this is the opportunity to celebrate, make music and dance, or simply connect. This step helps ground people after a ceremony and enjoy one another’s company.