2022: The Lovers and Tarot Magick

Apologies for such a late post. 2022 already feels long, doesn’t it? But here we are! And numerology wise, add the numbers for 2022 up and you get 6. Key 6 in the Major Arcana is the Lovers card. The Lovers is ruled by the element of Air, and the card itself signifies many things including love, morality, choices, and a newness overall. So, what does that mean for 2022? Well, we came out of the year of the Hierophant, Key 5 in the Major Arcana and the sum of the digits in 2021. The Hierophant as 2021 represented orthodoxy and correctness, which makes sense when we think about the impact of 2020 (Key 4, The Emperor) and everything that came after. So, now where does that leave us in terms of something new? Let’s think about that as we focus on the topic for this post: Tarot Magick!

For more on the Tarot, you can read the three posts I did on the history of Tarot and its modern use. Today, however, I’ll be focusing on the esoteric uses and the sympathetic magick we can do with Tarot. First and foremost, no matter how you use Tarot, it can be beneficial. The images and meanings can help us in the same way that journaling and using affirmations can. So, let’s view Tarot through a similar lens for the purposes of this endeavor. One of my favorite things to do with a Tarot deck is to set my intention for the week. Let’s say that my intention for this week is to commit to an artistic activity every day. Imagine that the cards I shuffle and pull, are “scary” cards like The Tower, The Devil, and Five of Swords. Wait. Does that mean my art will suck this week?! Before pressing the panic button, let’s first look at this objectively.

The Tower represents a major upheaval or change. Think what goes up must come down. If we use this analogy, perhaps the tower can be a force for good in our lives. The Devil is a tricky one. Aside from Christian and/or Biblical imagery, this card can reveal hidden layers within us. Yes, on the one hand, it is associated with temptation. On the other hand, I like to view The Devil card as being able to recognize the various multitudes that co-exist within ourselves, the good and the bad, and the potential to give in to things equally. So far, we have a major change, hidden layers, and now onto the Five of Swords. Perhaps, this Five of Swords calls into question the competitive and cutthroat nature of human aspirations. This is especially applicable in a workplace scenario. Let’s put it all together for artistic intentions: major change, hidden layers, and cutthroat competition.

Now, we’re going to take it apart. What constitutes major change? Does our artistic intention equate an upheaval or perhaps is it a transformative exercise? To use the energy of the Tower, we need to look at what we are building and evaluate whether something must shift or move to make room for the new. The foundation of what we want to accomplish will stay strong. This is a renovation of sorts. The next card is the Devil. Maybe in the context of temptation, this is a scenario in which a little indulgence could be useful. We need to think in terms of the playful nature of temptation versus the all-consuming desire that could potentially cause harm to ourselves. This is an area where “everything in moderation and eat desserts sparingly” comes to mind.

Five of Swords is more ambivalent. Are we in competition with others in our artistic intentions? If so, perhaps the idea is to change our perspective to be more motivated to be better—to compete against our personal bests (but not to go overboard either). If we are not competitive with others and are feeling that others are cutthroat competitive with us, this is a reminder to make time for ourselves and focus the attention where it belongs. Sometimes competition in the workplace is a challenge, especially when we are not actually competing. We may be surprised to learn that others can be competitive regardless of our intentions. Again, that is a call sign for us to channel energy inwards and not let the competition weigh us down.

These are just suggestions for interpretation, not to be taken at face value. Your own interpretations will likely make more sense to you, after all! Now, onto the magick side of Tarot. I think the beauty of harnessing imagery, such as what we see in Tarot, is an effortless exercise in our spiritual designs. If we really think about it, we use imagery in virtually every aspect of our lives. The decks I tend to use for magick are the Luis Royo Black Tarot and the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot. Say what you will about Crowley, but that Tarot deck is definitely potent. Here is a ritual suggestion. I’ve given substitutions as well. Make it your own and have fun!

Items need for Ritual: Salt water, almond oil, (or any base oil) a few pinches of mugwort as a herb (if not, you can use a bay leaf or cinnamon stick), your Tarot card of the day (if you pull a card, otherwise, use the Star card for inspiration, or use both a card you pull as well as the Star card), any essential oils. You can also decide which moon phase suits your purposes for magick.

I put the mugwort (you can use basil, cinnamon sticks, chamomile leaves, bay leaves, depending on your intention) in hot water like a tea, then strain it, add a few drops of an essential oil or added herbs, (lavender for calm, eucalyptus for healing, etc.) and then make it a mist. I spray my sacred space or altar and cleanse the area using incense or ringing bells. I find that both purify and protect my space. I say an intention prayer and call in the deities or guides. Then I shuffle my deck and pull out a card, whatever that card may be, interpret it, and make another intention based on the card. For example, if you pull a 10 of Wands or Five of Cups, think about whether there is a heaviness in your life where you’re feeling bogged down. What can you do about it? What would be the intention there? If it’s Five of Cups, how do we move past that sorrow? You can also keep the Star card on hand for inspiration and hope.

I then meditate and create a sigil for whatever workings I feel called to based on the Tarot magick I just did. Then dip your hands in salt water for added cleansing. Use an anointing oil afterwards (some will say you should do this at the start, but I find this method works for me. Try and see what works for you!) If you don’t have oils, you can substitute using herbs or make teas to drink for calming. This often helps ground me after ritual. I close the ritual with a prayer and gratitude to the guides. You’ll find as you start doing these rituals, you will interpret things your own way and craft your own magickal workings. That’s it for now. I will post more on herbs and oils next! Again, please make sure to check for safety, allergies, etc. and be careful around pets. **Disclaimer, none of what I’m proposing in this, or previous blog posts should ever be used in lieu of financial decision-making, medical and/or psychological treatment, and life-changing alterations.**

Thank you for reading so far and for being patient with me as I know this post was long overdue! If you are interested in my readings and creative writing Tarot courses, head over to my site:

https://www.thetarotstories.com

Until next time, have a blessed rest of the month. Namaste. With love, the Foxy Witch.

Tarot Part III: 21st century Tarot

Imbolc blessings! We are just about budding into spring. I hope everyone had a good January. Last month strangely felt like an extension of 2020, and it feels like the New Year is only beginning now. We are experiencing enormous shifts in terms of consciousness. We are in the first Mercury Rx of 2021. And today’s date is 02/02/2021. The repetition of the sequence of numbers, 02/02/2021 give us pause to reflect as well. Numerology wise, the addition of these numbers equals 9. Key #9 in the Major Arcana is the Hermit which symbolizes personal journeying, wise counsel and your inner guide. The number 9 is unique because it takes on the energies of the numbers 1-8 and is the last number before double digit 10. The 9 is the final push which makes sense for us today since we are building up our immunity and getting our vaccines soon. The end is in sight! Different numerology systems have other interpretations which may resonate better for you, but this is just mine. With that said, let’s move on to the topic, the relevance of Tarot in the 21^st century. We already looked at its history and development. Now, let’s look at why it is such a beloved form of divination and more importantly, why it endures.

When I first started dabbling in Tarot in high school, I kept seeing certain images crop up in my life. I thought nothing of it at first. I assumed it was wishful thinking or pure coincidence. But soon, I began to recognize the images as symbols of things to do—things to forget, and things to remember. I was surprised at the effect of that recognition. It was as if I had just tuned in—I had to distinguish between myself assigning meaning to things versus actual signs. Once I did that, I paid more attention to details and synced up better with my intuition. With Tarot, it was easier to do that. There is something about the visual medium of Tarot that allows us to dream, allows us to hone into the specifics, because it lets us see things we would have otherwise missed or dismissed. The beauty of Tarot lies in its ability to create, invoke as well as evoke an emotional response in each of us. When we think about the Tarot as a divinatory art, we employ a mode of channeling to perhaps connect with our guides and call on Source energy to help us receive and divine messages within the cards. It is the act of creating, opening, and receiving that makes Tarot so memorable, potent, and one of the best loved methods of divination. It is neither too abstract nor too revealing. It has just enough to pique the interest of our innate, subconscious mind to tap into our Source and into (to use Carl Jung’s terminology) the collective unconscious.

Tarot can help us dig into that reservoir of hidden intuitive potential the same way that meditation can for others. The more you shuffle the cards, the more your energy becomes embedded in them. The more you look at the cards, the deeper your connection with yourself. I’ve been keeping a Tarot diary for a while and doing mini readings every so often, along with in-depth readings for phases of the moon and holidays. Through this, I was able to establish a pattern of thinking and habits to assess, change, or keep. I believe this is one of the main reasons Tarot has endured for so long. Another reason has to do with the fact that a lot of the cards align with the elements, with the moon phases, and holidays. With numerology, the Major Arcana and the Suits may align with dates in the calendar. Sometimes we can use the cards for manifestation rituals, for self-love, for guidance, and for daily mantras. We can also use the cards to represent emotions, thoughts, spiritual guides, and even deities depending on the deck.

We are in no way limited to how we can use the Tarot. It has evolved since its inception through the Middle Ages and Renaissance from art to games, to a divination system, to a psychological tool, to artistic mediums as well as ritual representatives. Tarot takes on a timelessness here. If it calls to you, you may find yourself undertaking a lengthy study, because it is a fascinating journey! It also does not have a religious dogma attached to it, nor does it require a belief system or even a belief in a deity or higher power in order for anyone to take up the practice of Tarot. The purposes for utilizing Tarot are individuated and adaptable. These are primary reasons as to why it is such a treasure to have in our toolbox. Oracle cards have a similar effect as well, and we will talk more about that in another blog post.

For the month of February and through Mercury Rx, let us turn inward and give ourselves the love we would give others. Thank you for reading! The next blog post is on Pamela Colman Smith. Future topics are going to discuss rituals, esoteric knowledge, metaphysical mindsets, and much more! If there is a topic you wish to see discussed, drop me a line in the comments and let me know. Until next time, be well beloved readers. Namaste. With love, the Foxy Witch.

Tarot Part II: The Mystique.

Key 8: Strength, the Major Arcana from my Waite-Smith deck.

Hello again, lovely readers. As I sit down to write the second blog post on Tarot, I do so with a heavy heart. Before we get into our topic today, I want to say something about what we witnessed a little over a week ago. Perhaps others can relate, but I felt like I was watching the Tower card playing out in real time on the news, and it also made me feel like my own house was violated. And that was heartbreaking. A symbol of hope was subject to property damage, theft, and vandalism. I recall what I felt intuitively when we were entering 2020 from 2019. I felt a sense of portentous, negative energy on its way. It just did not feel like it was going to be a good year. To contrast, I felt differently coming into 2021. While I do not feel like this year is going to be as ominous as 2020 was, I believe that the major changes taking place are going to be uncomfortable—the battle is uphill, but we are already familiar with the storm, so perhaps we can navigate differently. This leads me to our topic on the Tarot.

First, I want to give you a collective forecast for 2021. So far, the running themes seem to be the Chariot, Justice, and the Wheel of Fortune. These three cards have been on my mind lately. I keep thinking about how we are each the storytellers of our destinies. We hold the reins to the chariot, and sometimes it can be challenging to maintain them. We have fought hard to get where we are through right actions, just causes, and tempered behavior. The tides are turning and changing with the wheel of fortune. Yet we sometimes feel bound by external forces and circumstances. Coming out of a tumultuous 2020 into what feels like a polarity shift on shaky legs in 2021 can leave us disoriented. This confusion and lack of control we sense are major reasons why we may consult Tarot or other methods of divination. Ultimately, the three cards above are positive cards. While things are difficult, there is hope. Fighting for justice, balance and fairness, achieving victory over adversity, and changing our tides/fortunes for the better are good omens for the collective. I also pulled an additional card yesterday, the Four of Wands. This card is about prosperity and renewal. Things are changing even if there are hardships. I see the overall message of the cards as one of hope. Be true to who you are and remember that the wheel of fortune is always in motion.

As promised, this post delves deeper into the more mystical aspects of Tarot from personal experience. I wanted to discuss Pamela Colman Smith’s contribution to modern interpretations of Tarot imagery for the twentieth century, but there’s so much more to include. So, I will honor her in a separate blog instead of alluding to her in small snippets. At the moment, I want to focus on the magick of Tarot. We had but a brief overview into the long and extremely interesting history of Tarot in the last post. Now we can look at Tarot in terms of the modern use of cartomancy. It is important though to keep the history of divination and the inception of Tarot in mind. It enriches our experience with using the cards for psychological and spiritual purposes. With that, let’s dive right into our topic of the day.

In terms of the way we use cards for divination, we can see that there is an intuitive process involved. Each person has a different gut reaction to the cards. Have you ever held a card and instantly felt as if it had some kind of magnetic pull on you? I have that with several specific cards, especially when I do readings for myself with the cards I’m directed to draw. It’s as if the energy is pushing or pulling me in certain ways. Sometimes, the pull is so strong that I feel like the card is going to attach itself to my hand. It truly has a vibration. I liken it to a sound or light wave. If I could measure what that feels like or typify it with another example, I would say it could qualify as an EKG graph too. It goes up and down and sometimes flatlines. The flatline occurs when the same cards keep coming up. It happens when we hit a roadblock and seek repeated clarification. Who here has pulled cards and then not liked said cards, then shuffled and pulled new cards only to get a similar reading or the same cards? I know I did many times! It is the proverbial backhanded slap of “what did I just say?”, except in the form of Tarot cards. Intuitively, you probably already knew the answer. Sometimes, it helps to see it validated in the cards—and other times, it is important to look at the best direction to take, especially if there are too many variables.

With the many decks available to us, it may seem at first daunting to figure out which deck you want to get. Why are there all these decks? I think the answer lies in how we evolved as a society. Cartomancy may not have been as popular before nor were they mass produced on a broad scale like today. Once they gained momentum, the demand rose. Initially, the first modern deck, the Waite-Smith Tarot, provided a gateway allowing both Christian imagery as well as the esoteric for what felt like a relatable approach at that time. It stands to reason that people over the decades and into the 21^st century also wanted something relatable and thus created decks based on interests, diversity in imagery, themes they believed would resonate with lots of people—not aiming at a singular audience necessarily, though some are likely to appeal more or less to others. The decks I have are vast and diverse: The Lovers Tarot, the Universal Waite-Smith deck, the Mystic Dreamer Tarot, the Ukiyoe Tarot, the Archeon Tarot, the Margerete Peterson Tarot, the mini-Secret Tarot, the mini-Manga Tarot, the King Arthur Tarot, True Heart Tarot, and a Celtic Lenormand deck. I know, I know! I have a lot of decks. One could say I developed a habit. And each of these decks have such a unique vibratory resonance. This brings me to the magick. When we start to talk about Tarot magick, we can look at how to invoke them during rituals.

I like to incorporate the Tarot with manifesting. An excellent card to use is the Nine of Cups. It is a very fulfilling card. Nine is also a special number, the last one before double digits—I also believe that nine embodies the traits of one through eight to carry forward. The Cups suit is about intuition and water energy. The combination of the two and the significance of traditional plus modern meanings make Nine of Cups a card of rewards, of the cups being filled, and wishes being granted. The World card from the Major Arcana is a great one as well—we can think of this card as completing our journey and reaping the benefits in multiple ways including the spiritual. When we see ourselves or deities perhaps in the cards, we can invoke and evoke them during rituals for maximizing the energy of the moon phase or planetary alignment in addition to what we put out as well. I believe Tarot magick is one of the most wonderful forms of visualization, because it provides us with an image to focus on easily. And with that, I conclude this post. More to follow on Tarot!

Once again, thank you for reading my post. I will be making a Part III to my Tarot posts, a separate post on Pamela Colman-Smith, and some future blog post topics will include hereditary and folk magick practices. Thank you again, beloved readers! Have a blessed rest of your January. Be safe. Be well. And invoke the Strength card to get you through the day and through the upcoming Mercury Retrograde. Namaste. With love, the Foxy Witch.