Tea-break Tarot School

Today we’re going to talk about daily cards.  As with everything else this is optional.  You might want to include this in your tarot practice.  You might find you do it some days and other days don’t have the time, or inclination. Please remember that tarot is a tool for you to use in a way that works for your good and this class is aimed at helping you find your path with tarot. 

I use daily cards and I find them really helpful.  The way I work is usually to light a candle, take a few deep breaths and draw my energy in so I’m actually present.  Then I shuffle my deck and ask in my mind what I need to know about today.  I draw my card, look at it, reflect (briefly) on what it might mean or what I might want to be conscious of, jot down which card I pulled.  I leave my card on my altar for the day so I see it when I’m back later. Then I blow out my candle and go about my day.  For me this takes about five minutes, usually around the time I’m getting ready for work.

I find it helpful to take the image and energy of the card into the day and see if I can notice it.  Sometimes I do, sometimes not.  For instance I might see a street performer with a drum, and that might remind me of the image of the magician in The Gaian Tarot.  Or I might see some friends laughing together in a coffee shop or pub and that reminds me of the Three of Cups. Equally I might set off somewhere unknown for work and remember that I am The Fool on my journey through life…so the cards inform my life and then my life informs my understanding of the cards (neat).

A health warning

Some cards in tarot have a traditionally bad rap.  I’m thinking specifically about Death and The Devil, though there are others too.  Cards, for me at least, are very much about the underlying meaning.  So the Death card is about change, and about the cycle of release and rebirth.  The Devil for me is about being trapped, and even that mindset which chooses to be trapped, what is keeping me chained up? Where am I allowing my patterns to hold me back? Where am I falling into “victim” mentality?  So if you pull one of these (or any other “dramatic” looking card) please don’t take it as a gothic portent…take a deep breath, look at your guide book and ponder.

Or you can just put it back in the deck (**winks) and leave it for another day.  Go gently x

Exercise 8.

We already talked about tarot rituals so you might like to link your daily cards (if you do them) with your tarot ritual and creating sacred space.  There are lots of options and the way you work will probably evolve as you do.  That’s life, right?

Jotting down your daily cards is a good way to notice if there are any themes coming up for you, for instance around the time I left my last full-time job there were lots of cards like The Tower, The Hanged Man and The Wheel of Fortune. If you’ve got any questions or thoughts drop by the group to share them, I’m usually lurking around near the biscuit tin 🙂