Take Tarot out of the box, literally and symbolically.

I invite you to think outside the Tarot box and open yourself up to the magic held within those powerful images. Working with the Tarot is a lifelong journey, a spiritual practice, a way of engaging spirit and your higher consciousness.

About my own journey

Traveling back in time to the 1980’s…I got my first deck on my sixteenth birthday as a present from my best friend (we actually had the same birthday; born four hours and one town apart). We would frequent a local mystical/pagan shop together and pour over the tarot decks for hours.

Unbeknownst to us, we each had picked out a deck to give as gifts for our shared birthday. (She gave me the Morgan Greer Tarot, which I still have, and I gave her the Aquarian Tarot).

Fast forward in time to my first decade working with the tarot; it was a love-hate relationship. During those early years, I would make several strides forward and then several strides back as I struggled to learn how to “really” read the cards. It wasn’t single card understanding that stumped me; it was the more detailed spreads…grasping the deeper conversation, navigating the subtle nuances. Tarot spoke a language and I could interpret parts of it but not enough to cross over into true fluency. It drove me nuts.

Then I met an inspiring tarot reader and teacher. She taught me to incorporate Tarot as a daily practice. She was the first to give me the empowering permission to get out of my own way and to stop second guessing the messages Spirit was sending. This was the key that revolutionized my relationship with the Tarot.

 Permission is now granted to hear the conversation in the cards.

 You can expand your understanding and relationship with the cards when you invite them further into your life. Many myths and “rules” surround when, where and how to work with cards. It is up to you, the reader, to decide what guidelines will uphold and serve your journey.  Bear in mind that too many restrictions and limitations just end up creating barriers to becoming fluent in the language of the Tarot (and this extends to any oracle deck).

I give you permission to throw off those restrictions and to hear the conversation in the cards. Bring your deck into every day life and ordinary moments. Don’t have a deck of your own? There are so many great decks out there.  Look for decks that speak to you both visually, spiritually and energetically.

How do you fit the tarot into ordinary moments?

Larger spreads tend to be more involved, take more time but are great for deeper wisdom. However, there are times when we would benefit from a quick check-in, instant guidance or a re-direct for our energy. Consider Tarot in bite size snippets for these moments of daily guidance.

Here are some questions you can use with single card draws for quick insight:

What is helpful to know about setting my priorities today?

What strengths do I bring to my day?

What energy could I engage to be more focused on the project or task at hand?

What energy will help me get back on track in my current task?

What grounds me?

 Here are some other ways to engage the cards as a daily practice

Choose just one aspect of the Tarot to work in depth with such as the Major Arcana or narrow it further down to just the first seven cards, Magician to Chariot, and then the next seven and so on. You could work with just one suit over a short period of time.

Whichever you decide, you can start with pulling one card a day, reflecting on the insights your get from the imagery and journaling them. Then head on into your day and observe how your card of the day is manifesting in the world around you