Category Archives: Tarot

How I do a Tarot Reading

05 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Readings, Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Weekly Tarot

This week I give away the proprietary secrets on how I read my tarot for the week. I am joking of course. My methods are not a secret by any means.

I prefer not to read tarot to learn about myself. I live with myself regularly, so I am well-versed with my shit side. I do need guidance when it comes to keeping motivated, and where I need to focus my efforts to get somewhere with my personal goals.

I’m all about goals, and Tarot is a multivalent tool that can not only help your psyche but your ability to get things accomplished. All ways are valid.

The Makeup of the Question

The first thing I do is focus on the dreaded question. Since I will be working on what to expect this week, I can ask about it a few different ways.

● What can I expect this week?
● What issues will I have this week?
● What can I do this week that will help with my long-term goals?
● What will happen?

I usually ask the last question for daily readings.

I chose:

“What issues will I have this week?”

I am keeping everything pretty vague, but I want to know the most important possibilities. I also do the reading in the third person to keep myself out of it.

The Reading

Now that the hard part is out of the way, I have drawn my cards. I use three cards, and this week, I am using the Deviant Moon Tarot because of its accuracy and emotional nature.

I pulled the Seven of Pentacles, the Six of Wands, and the Knight of Swords.

3 Card Spread

The Scan

The next step is to scan the cards and view how they play together. I want to see how they are interacting with each other or anything else that pops out at me.

So the first thing I notice is the knight’s face. He looks so angry at the other two. He also appears to be stopping in his tracks. His assault seems to have ended in a very awkward way.

I notice that most of the hands have something in them. Most are wooden, but the Knight has one hand on the reign and one on his sword ready to fight if needed.

The knight’s face has morphed from the initial violent assault vibe it was giving off in the beginning. I note this because this is significant. The face on the Seven of Pentacles looks a bit worried, and the Six of Wands seems over-whelmed, but that knight is determined to shine regardless of the difficulties ahead.

The Focus Card

Now, that I finished the overall feeling, I move to the middle card.

The middle card determines the theme of the week. I am of two minds with this one.

There are five wands in disembodied hands. They want to give these wands to the figure, but she has already picked up a baton. That was the decision made, and that was where this person wishes to grow. The person is metamorphosing into a butterfly and doesn’t necessarily need the multiple choices at its disposal. These are merely there to distract and seduce back into the complacency of the card to the left.

The Six of Wands lady has more hands and could handle all of the gifts. However, taking them would prove to be fatal to the decision made in the beginning.

All in all the focus is work on one thing at a time, and eliminate distractions.

The Meat of the Reading

The Seven of Pentacles appears to be in a hell hole of drudgery and is just a cog in the industrial machine. But she seems to want more than just the day to day grind. She is using what she has to make her dreams come true by sacrificing what she had worked so hard to build in the past. Now, she transforms into the figure in the Six of Wands.

She has just escaped and is like a newborn when it comes to this decision, but the path before her may be daunting. There are a lot of ways that her dream could go, and all of them are at their beginning stage. It is best to stick with what she has to avoid the sinking feeling of doom that comes with an overabundance of choices. Focusing on one thing at a time will ensure that all of these endeavors will be fruitful.

The Knight is looking back at the other two cards as if to tell them to stay to the task ahead. He is in charge, and he wants the Six of Wands to pay attention to the future. He wants her to get one thing done before accepting any more gifts from the disembodied hands before her.

He is stopping his dragon horse with one hand, and that implies he intends to turn the beast around and charge into the far away future. He just merely needs to bark his orders to the soldiers behind him.

While he seemed to be angry and mean at first, his real purpose was to keep the momentum going, so the others do not lag behind. His way to the future involves discipline and action.

The Wrap-up

Based on the reading, I will need to eliminate distractions from my life. I still have a ways to go. I know what I want, and I have started to grow it. There is a lot more fight that needs to happen to ensure success.

The quintessence of my reading was Death and the Empress. Transformation and the need to nurture it to grow something new are the themes with these two cards.

Death and the Empress

These are great things to remember throughout this week. I had already changed my plans a few times when I first decided on the change I finally implemented, but ultimately I am working towards one thing at a time. I will keep this reading in mind as I navigate life through the next seven days.

 

Purchase the Deviant Moon deck and more at the artist’s website.

Advertisement

Life Cycles: The Dreaded Tower

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Random Thoughts, Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Life has its cycles, its ups, and downs. Sometimes you feel great, and you experience all that is wonderful in the world. Occasionally, however, everything that you knew before comes crashing down around you causing you to feel confused and sometimes hopeless.Death

Most of the time when doing a tarot reading for those people who have never had one done before say, “I hope I don’t get the Death card!” However, in my experience, the Tower has always filled my little heart full of dread to the umpteenth power. To me, that’s the “Oh Shit!” card. I have had the displeasure of getting this card on many occasions. I know every time I get this particular card, I am going to go through some colossal upheaval, albeit with a necessary end game.

Both the Death card and the Tower represent changes and transformation. However, the Death card is the type of transition that is the Winter to Spring to Summer to Fall type of change. It is the hibernation of the soul in the winter only to grow into the same thing but wiser in the spring. In essence, the old you dies and makes room for the new you. It is a metamorphosis much like a caterpillar to a butterfly.

The TowerThe Tower represents a more chaotic side of change that comes quickly and without warning. Your whole world comes crumbling down on you, and there seems to be nothing that you can do to ease the transitional forces that have laid siege upon the castle that is you. It comes in the form of outside powers that you cannot control and can be very devastating to an individual during the process and the aftermath. It may feel like a personal attack, but I assure you it is not.

However, you need not be too afraid. When you get this card in a reading, and it is not in the past position, then brace yourself. Remember, that when your Tower as crumbled and the dust has cleared, you can rebuild and make yourself a stronger “tower.” It is always important to stay positive.

Hope is all you have, but you still have to make things happen for yourself. The Tower is the Universes last resort to get you back to your proper purpose when you have lost your way. Sometimes, we get little nudges that we need to do something, and when we don’t listen for whatever reason, the Universe will give us a massive push over that edge that we were afraid to go over.

Usually, you don’t listen to your intuition because you just don’t believe that you can do the task that you were meant to do. Sometimes, you feel as if the thing you are drawn to do is illogical or you can’t do it. With self-confidence and trust in yourself, you can do anything you feel compelled to do.

The Queen of Dreams

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Random Thoughts, Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

If you ask it, she will answer

Queen of Cups with a shell

This passage is the first in a series where I allow a Tarot deck to pick the topic for me. A tarot topic if you will. I chose the Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. Lo and behold! Out came the Queen of Cups to grace us with her presence.

The Question

What topic is most important for people to know?

Keywords

Water of Water. Mysterious, Contemplative, Dreamy, Intuitive, and Tranquility. The woman who reflects the nature of the observer.

I picked two areas that I felt were most important for us to know.

Self-Reflection

This queen is asking us to reflect on our innermost emotions. A lot of times we do not do this. It seems too hard for us to take a second of every day and check in with how we feel about the going ons around us. We are taught to be humble; to say yes; to do what authority tells us; just watch TV.

Sovereign beings need to take a moment to check in with themselves. Everything else around us is not necessarily as it should be, and we need to make sure that we don’t fall into a complacency hole. Don’t do it, my friend! The future, your future, as an autonomous individual relies on you being at one with yourself.

You are not your worst enemy. That is a lie told to gaslight ourselves into a corner. You are the one that will always be on your side. If you do not have yourself to rely on, then what or who do you have? Not much and no one.

You need to look inside and make sure that you are okay with things going on around you.

  • Is how others treat you beneficial to both parties?
  • Is your future-self going to be happy with your present-self?
  • Do you see or notice red flags as they rear their ugly head?
  • Are you the one sabotaging your relationships?
  • Do your highest ideals and your actual life meet up in reality for coffee sometime?
  • Is your moral compass skewed?

Make sure you check yourself. You don’t want to be the actual asshole that everyone will be leaving behind. You don’t have to take crap from human bastards. Let them spread their shit somewhere else.

Dreams

Focus and dream of what is to come and what you want out of life. No worries about reality when you imagine a perfect existence. Go over the top while you visualize. Think of it as brainstorming about the world you wish to create.

We all have this thing called an inner child. This child never leaves us but will hibernate if we take life way too seriously. Most will think that the world is a dark place where there is no hope and no room to move. This aspect of the world is merely an illusion. A prison we create for ourselves.

When we choose to move throughout the world as if the world is our toy, then the shackles fall away, and we can move freely in our life. Why be so serious about it all? What will anything that is beneath our highest ideals do for us? It does nothing. Break the chains that bind you, and dare to dream.

Conclusion

We are going to meet shit people in our life, but there is never an excuse to become one. We don’t have to step on toes or put people down. We merely need to lift ourselves up, and the rest will stay at the level where they are. They won’t even seem to notice you, and that’s the best.

We attract those per our own Will. If those around you do not act according to our ideals, then a need is there to check in with our purpose. Consider them course correctors as you navigate through your life.

At the same time, we have to live in the material world. While daydreaming is fun and beneficial when it comes to figuring out where we see our future, action is better when it is rooted in practicality. Not all ideas are good ideas in practice. Someone dreams up these dumb challenges that involving a poisonous substance, and it never works out well.

Tarot Blog Hop: New Tarot Deck

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Instructional, Tarot

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Previous | Master | Next

This blog post is a part of a monthly Tarot Professionals Blog Hop. Please click the links above and the links below the post to see how other Tarot Readers interact with a new Tarot deck.

So…you’ve received a new deck in one way or another. Maybe, it was a gift or you acquired it from a proprietor of some sort, it doesn’t matter, you still want to use it. The deck itself may seem like a lifeless paper product with a weird factory smell when you first get it, and that may put you off to using it for readings. This can be disheartening if you are like me and must use everything you own. Otherwise it was a waste of money, and a waste of an artist’s hard work and dedication. With a lot of great decks being a good chunk of change, you may expect your new magickal item to be instantly, well, magickal. The pictures may ‘call’ to you (aka you love the artwork), but when you open the box, you become a nervous wretch and forget everything you know about Tarot.

I have been getting new decks lately, even though I don’t really necessarily want them. Mostly, these have been given to me as gifts or as rewards for my participation in fundraisers. I have most of the ones that I want, and I am very particular about the type of artwork I prefer. However, I feel like I should work with these decks, because it seems that I should be able to read most any deck. Plus, it keeps your skills fresh, and it’s kind of fun to play with a deck that you have no connection to at all. Here are my techniques of transforming a deck of cards into powerful allies in your magickal arsenal.

Get Acquainted

The first thing I do after freeing my new friend from the confining restraints of its

The Court cards for the cups in the Tarot Illuminati (top), Thoth Tarot (middle), and the Michelangelo Tarot (bottom)

The Court cards for the cups in the Tarot Illuminati (top), Thoth Tarot (middle), and the Michelangelo Tarot (bottom)

packaging is take it out and feel it in my hands. I like to get a sense of how the card stock is in my hands when I shuffle or just take a card out of the deck. I take note of how slippery the deck is, because this will produce a ton of ‘jumpers’ while I shuffle.

I like to look at each individual card and familiarize myself with the order of the Majors, as well as the names of these Trump cards. In some decks,the Devil may be named Oppression. In Waite-Smith based decks, Strength is numbered as VIII and Justice is XII. In other decks, the Strength and Justice cards are named something else completely and their order is flipped. Sometimes, the Court cards may be in a different language than one you are familiar with or they aren’t what you are used to. For

example, you might have only used decks whose Court cards are Page/Knight/Queen/King, and now you have a deck that has them as Princess/Prince/Queen/Knight. This is when that little booklet included with all new decks becomes your best asset in becoming acquainted with your new deck.

Shuffle…A LOT!

One of the best things to do is shuffle your new deck. First, these cards are in order, and will clump together if not shuffled enough. It’s kind of like making cookies, but only stirring the ingredients 3 times with a small spoon then trying to bake them. Secondly, this simple action stirs life into your new found friends. You start to incorporate your essence into them, and this starts to charge your cards. I will usually play with a new deck for a good hour before using it for readings that I would put any stock in. While I am stirring the cards, I will think about a million things, and I may even be anxious or excited. I will also periodically lay out the cards as I think of questions. I keep the spreads very simple, and I do not ask super serious life changing questions. I will ask questions that I know, or I will even ask the cards about their personal tastes. Asking playful, yet respectful, questions calms my own anxiety, and allows me to fully connect with my new deck. I will use the booklet if need be.

Everywhere I Go…

One of the most important things I do is take my new deck everywhere with me if it’s portable. It goes to work with me, and it goes to the grocery store. It is not uncommon for me to have at least 4 different divination tools on my person. This may be a little harder for menfolk as they may not have a knapsack that they carry with them. Another way is to sleep with the cards nearby you. This continues to aide you in not only strengthening your intimate connection, and continues to charge your cards. This will also remind you to keep working with the cards. I feel that by doing this, you really establish the cards as a magickal tool that you can trust and work with on a daily basis.

While with ritual tools you want to consecrate these items for specific purposes, because you do not use them on a daily basis. I do not do this with my cards or other divination devices. I establish them as a tool for this purpose by passively attuning them to my energy. They then become a part of me, and my cards are a trusted member of my life.

I hope this was helpful! See the other blogs to get different ideas, and try them out to see what works best for you!

Previous | Master | Next

Exciting Kickstarter Tarot Project!

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

1507111_10152770646015677_5145591447671887611_n

Tarot Fundamentals Kickstarter Campaign

Lo Scarebeo Tarot and other names in the Tarot world are currently working tirelessly to create a complete work centered around the subject. There is a Kickstarter campaign going on right now! If you are interested in the project, please visit the campaign for more details!

Tips: Tarot Reading for Yourself

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

tarotWhen I first started to learn how to intuitively interpret Tarot cards, I did a ton of readings for myself. I was going through a very hard time, and I would do a “million” readings every day. However, the massive amounts of readings I was doing were only useful in helping me quell my anxiety. The readings themselves were of no use due to the bad questions and sheer number of readings. While this helped me learn Tarot, it did not produce valuable readings. There is definitely an art to reading the cards for yourself, but it’s not impossible.

The key to doing a reading for yourself is to put your feelings aside for the “outcome” of the question. Fear or excitement towards what the reading is going to “say” is why people have a hard time reading cards for themselves in the first place. An Intuitive or Psychic can read all day long for other people because they have nothing invested in the outcome of the reading. However, some may find it difficult to do a reading for themselves until they learn to trust exactly what they are seeing within the reading, and not focus on what they want the reading to tell them about the situation. That sort of manipulation of the outcome is what makes the reading you gave yourself incorrect, and this can be discouraging to someone who is just starting to learn Tarot.

Any and all of the tips below can be used to help keep yourself neutral during a reading, and they will also help with many other intuitive readings as well.

  • Meditate: It is helpful to meditate thoroughly before doing a reading for yourself. This helps you get rid of any anxiety that may contribute to manipulation of the meanings. When you do a reading you should feel neutral and keep your emotional feelings or fears of the outcome out of the reading. Remember that the future can be changed if you do not like something. The cards are a great way to guide you to the help you need if your reading is less than desirable.
  • Blind Reading: You can perform “blind” readings by writing down questions, and placing them in an envelope. All you need is several questions, and similar envelopes to place the questions in. Mix the envelopes up, and mark the envelopes with numbers. This way when you are writing your reading into your journal, you can determine which answer belongs to the envelope. You can mix them up again after you put the numbers on them or flip them over. Pull one envelope out at a time. (Make sure that you are only putting one question in each envelope, so that you are not getting confused as to which question goes to which answer. It works best if you wait a few days so that you have forgotten what you asked.)
  • JournalingJournal: It is always a good thing to write down all your readings that you do for yourself. This way you can look back at them at a later date and analyze the outcome. This will give you confidence, and your accuracy will improve. Also, sometimes we interpret a card a tad bit differently than what it meant to say. You will be able to see the exact outcome of the reading that you had given yourself, and make changes to what a Tarot card means to you.

In conclusion, if you do readings for others there is no reason you cannot do them for yourself. If you are just starting out, doing readings for yourself is a great way to learn Tarot or any other form of divination. It is easier for you to check your progress, and gain the necessary confidence to begin reading for other people without the aid of a book. Feel free to use a book for your own readings while you are learning. Eventually you won’t need it!

Most importantly, relax and have fun!

A Tarot Odyssey

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Tarot

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

We all have our “on” moments. I am really happy with what I did here, and would like to share it with all of you. I haven’t read my cards in almost a year, and I usually do not read for myself anyway. You tend to be too close to the outcome when you read cards for yourself. You are too attached your emotions of what you want to happen, and you need to be like Switzerland when doing any type of intuitive reading for yourself or others. Basically, I came up with my own spread, and went with it. I was on a roll today.

The thing I love about tarot is the fact that you can be creative if you wish, and it is a wonderful tool to see where you have been, where you are now, and where you may end up if certain things come into play. You can change the course of your future by changing the course of the present. Anyway, on to the reading itself because that is way more fun than preachy sounding words on a screen.

I tried to be in depth with what I am presenting here, but I am not going to tell you what the question I asked was, just the resulting answer. I used the Thoth deck for this reading and the moon is 95% waning in Virgo.

I laid out nine cards after shuffling and concentrating on my question. I put them into 3 rows. The top row being the present factors, the middle row being the transitional influences, and the bottom row being the future factors.

With this part I laid out my notes for what I came up with for each card.

1.Knight of Swords: Swiftness to get things done, but too swift. Maybe fighting a losing battle. Grasping at thin air.

2. 6 of Cups: Trying to build a pleasurable experience for my life.

3. 8 of Wands: Not being able to decide which direction to go in.

4. The Sun: Attaining a true sense of happiness. Learning to see the bright side of the world around you.

5. 3 of Cups: Emotionally feeling grateful of the things that surround you. Being able to spread out in a positive manner.

6. Prince of Swords: The ability to focus on a few goals.

7. Ace of Disks: Starting of material stability. The starting of something more concrete.

8. Queen of Cups: Reflecting upon what may be the hidden factors concerning the matter. Also, may be hiding some aspects of myself that do not need to be hidden anymore.

9. Knight of Disks: Concentrating too much on what is yet to be achieved instead of moving toward the goal itself. I see it as the vehicle to get there is stalled, so to speak.

Now, I put it all together in a comprehensive overview.

At the present moment, my goals of a better world for myself are stuck in between too many choices to make and fighting a battle I am not prepared for on many levels.

In the future, I will find my place and then I can continue the fight while making sure that it is a battle that is meant to be fought.

What the transitional influences are trying to tell me is that self reflection and patience are key at this time. Although, I can’t seem to get this ship in motion, it will eventually start going somewhere on the physical plane. Also, the Knight of cups is a warning not to become overwhelmed with the barrage of decisions coming at me.

Notice that the second vertical row is all cups. These cards represent the emotions. It seems that emotional issues need to be dealt with. The search for the perfect life (6 of Cups) needs to be reflected on in a logical manner (Queen of Cups), then emotional expression can be achieved (3 of Cups). The numerological aspect is that 6’s are the decisions that we must make and 3’s represent creative expression. Being able to express oneself is essential to anyone who is not a robot.

The first vertical row tells me that though I may have the idea that I am grasping at straws at the moment and I am fighting a losing battle, there is a more concrete result underlying my failure due to lack of knowledge. Everything that isn’t working in my favor right now will begin to start showing results on the material plane. It seems to indicate a positive result even though waiting and patience are involved.The 1 and the 19 (1+9= 10, 1+0= 1) both indicate individuality. Staying true to myself is imperative for future growth.

The third vertical row starts off with being spread too thin and the need to take a step back and reflect more upon the goal. Then, I will be able to charge full speed ahead toward the goal itself.

Now, I add up the numbers of the cards to get the quintessence or theme of the reading itself.

Fortune and The Magus: You must dedicate yourself to the matter in question. You now have the strength and skills to master the tasks at hand.

Okay, so that was my reading in a nutshell. I didn’t use the book, so any meanings of cards that did not correspond should not get any purist panties in a knot. I like to read tarot intuitively, and books are not intuitive as they are not living a living thing in my opinion. Only the atoms that make the objects are alive to some degree.

Thank you for reading and have a great night!