Familiars: A Tarot Spread to Connect with Your Intuitive Allies

We are heading towards the deep valley of Samhain and I come to you again with what is becoming an annual tradition of a new tarot spread for the season. Whether studying the celestial energy of the season, connecting with ancestors or exploring the themes of reconciliation, transformation, and shadow work, Samhain is a rich time for practicing divination, in part, because the veil between the worlds is thin and the opportunity to connect with ancestors, descendants, and spirits alike are many.

For this year's Samhain celebrations I wanted to offer a tarot spread that helps us connect with the tradition of the witch's familiar. The following tarot spread helps those of you who want to connect with the magickal current of familiar relationships to do just that. If you have an established familiar relationship, this tarot spread can be one way of communicating with your familiar. If you are calling a familiar to you, the spread can be a casting of a spell, helping you call a familiar to you. For those who are not called to the familiar tradition, the tarot spread easily adapts to being one that helps you connect with your hidden but guiding intuitive and instinctive nature.

If you want, you can make a ritual of casting cards to connect with your familiar and/or intuitive-instinctive self. Light two candles from a common flame, make an offering of water, food, and sacred scent and/or song. Find four stones and hold them in your hands while whispering a spell that only your familiar (or intuitive self) will know, placing them in the four corners of your home helping to make steady the path by which your familiar (or intuitive self) can come home to you. Then cast your cards…

Familiars
A Tarot Spread to Connect with Your Intuitive Allies

Card 1. I Am Called…

Some of the most powerful works of magick are acts of naming. While this card might not offer a distinct name (but, it just might), it helps you understand the name your familiar wishes to be called. For an intuitive-instinctive spread, this is an interesting practice of naming a part of yourself yearning to be named. 

Card 2. By This Sign I Am Known…

This card acts as a descriptor for your familiar and may also indicate the signs they show you to indicate that they are about. For an intuitive-instinctive spread, the sign(s) or descriptive elements of the card indicate when you need to stop and pay attention.

Card 3. Welcome Me With…

This card helps you understand the ways that your familiar wishes to be taken care of. In other words, the feeding of your familiar on a magickal, energetic, practice-based level. The feeding of a familiar can take many forms through offerings of all kinds, breathwork, song, and more. For an intuitive-instinctive spread, this card is about the feeding or nurturing of your intuition.

Card 4. I Call You…

With this card we learn about what your familiar calls you, for it is not only an act of magick to name something, but to be named in turn. Often this card highlights an aspect of your magickal nature that calls your familiar to you. For an intuitive-instinctive spread this card names something important, interesting, inspiring about your intuitive gifts that is important to recognize about yourself.

Card 5. About You, I Know…

Following I Call You, this card further expands on what your familiar knows about you and a certain need you have that calls them to you. In a way, a familiar is an answer to a witch's question, and this card highlights what that answer (or another useful question) might be. For an intuitive-instinctive spread, this card represents something that you are hoping to discover through connecting more deeply with your intuitive-instinctive self.

Card 6. Together We Can…

This final card highlights what may be accomplished, developed or understood through working with your familiar. For an intuitive-instinctive spread, the card represents the same thing, except with your relationship to trusting your intuition.

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If you're looking for more inspiration for your Samhain celebrations, check out my might-do list for the season or my post on the herbs and astrology of Samhain (including Lunar Samhain!). If you're feeling haunted, there are some plant allies you might consider working with.

May your work with the part of you that knows before you know, be it familiar form, intuitive nature or a bit of both, be revelatory and healing.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Affirm + Manifest Tarot Spread for Your Business

For the first time since starting my business in 2010, I'm posting photos of myself on my about page and creating video content for my ecourses. It has taken me a while to get to a place where I felt that this change was not only necessary for my business but something which I wanted to do. The choice to be more visible online has pushed me way pass my comfort zone and there has been a lot of internal pep talks (and long tea breaks and cuddles with the apothecary pup).

Seeking some reassurance that the decision I was making to create more visual content featuring my face was a good one, I created the following tarot spread. If you have a project or change on the horizon that you know you need to do but feel intimated by, the Affirm + Manifest spread is for you. 

As business owners, personal and professional growth is part of the game, yet it can be really uncomfortable and challenging.  It’s been my experience that these growth pains can lead to some amazing opportunities and success. But these changes can feel so intimidating, making it hard to feel that we’re ready to start. 

The following spread helps remind you why the change is not only necessary but beneficial to your business as well as yourself, while also highlighting the next steps you should be taking to make it happen. I did this exact spread a week before I finally filmed my first video and it was just the sort of reassurance that I needed.

Slow Holler Tarot Deck

Affirm + Manifest Tarot Spread

Start by choosing a significator card that represents who you want to be on the other side of this change. If you’re struggling with trusting your intuition in business, for example, you might choose the High Priestess. Or if you don’t trust that what you have to offer is valuable, you might choose the Empress or the Nine of Pentacles. Or just choose whatever card stirs something aspirational within you based solely on its imagery, regardless of its traditional meaning. Once your significator is chosen you can proceed with the rest of the spread.

Affirmation

Card 1: What should I make sure to highlight in myself and my business with this change? 

Card 2: How will this change be of benefit to me and my business?

Card 3: What hurdles do I need to overcome?

Manifestation

Card 4: Step to take in the next week.

Card 5: Step to take in the next month

Card 6: Step to take in the next three months.

Card 7: When feels too challenging, remember…

Now you're ready to affirm and manifest! If you’re not sure yet what changes you need to manifest, I would recommend checking out my Conversations with My Future Self tarot spread for insight. Looking for all my tarot spreads? Come this way...

As someone who is in the thick of a big change in their own business, I just want to recognize how brave and hard-working you are. Change isn't easy, but you deserve what's waiting for you on the other side of your transformation. To all my boss witches and entrepreneurial agents of change - you got this!

The Three Most Common Mistakes Made By Tarot Readers

Tarot is an incredible tool of magick, self-reflection, and divination. With a pack of 78 cards we can travel through time, learn to flow with the seasons, deepen our relationships with others, and be better prepared for what lies ahead.

It can be frustrating when your experience with tarot feels less than fruitful. If you’re feeling stuck in a rut with your cards or like they are being snarky with you (a sure sign that there is a block happening), then you might be making one of the following mistakes.

It’s often said, but it’s very true - the great thing about mistakes is that they are opportunities for learning and growth. And believe me, I have made all of the following mistakes! I’ve learned from each of them and my tarot practice has become that much more clear and strong.

Truthfully, I’ve yet to meet any tarot reader who has not done at least one of the following mistakes.

Why? Because these are all very humxn mistakes. As you’ll see they all stem from a deeper yearning for certainty, self-knowledge, and a connection with something magickal - which is why many of us pick up the Tarot to begin with. I’ve not only written about the three most common mistakes made when reading tarot but how to avoid them in the future in a way that will hopefully make you a better tarot reader.

So without further ado here are the three most common mistakes I see tarot readers make.

The World Spirit Tarot

1. Doing too many readings in too short of time.

I see this all the time. The first spread seemed unclear so you cast another right after it. Or you didn’t like what the cards said so you want to see if you can cast another option. Maybe you weren’t really grounded and centered when shuffling and casting the cards so the first three spreads didn’t count and the fourth one will be “right.”

Casting multiple readings on the same topic within a limited space of time (as in hours or days) is not going to lead to further clarity or a better outcome. It’ll just muddy the waters and tangle the energetic knot of whatever it is you’re trying to discover. Often when folks are casting too many readings on the same topic it is because they don’t really want to know the answer - because deep down inside they already know it (more on this later). In fact, casting multiple readings in short succession only reflects what is going on inside you. Check-in with yourself before casting again - Where is the tension in your body? What are you feeling? Anxious? Fearful? Stressed? What do you really want to know? What, in fact, do you already know but don't want to acknowledge?

Sometimes when we cast cards too many time on one subject we are seeking the one thing that what we think we’ll be reassured by. Casting too many readings at a time often comes from a place of uncertainty and through tarot we’re trying to find something certain to hold onto. BUT, we’re often looking for a certainty that we’ve already defined strict parameters for (whether or not we realize it).

If I just knew that my crush loved me back, I’ll be ok. 

If I knew that I’m definitely going to get (what I think) my most perfect job, I can relax.

If only I had the obvious “do this” step then I won’t feel so anxious anymore.

Uncertainty isn’t a fun place to be in - especially when the stakes feel high. However, uncertainty is the gateway to mystery. What is mystery if not the ultimate expander of possibility? Uncertainty puts us in a place of unknowing. Mystery is the great unknown and we're called in our magickal work to know ourselves. We are, in short, called to mystery. And so we must engage mystery to become known. Since we don’t know what mystery holds, we’re actually left with the wondrous gift of possibility. Yes, we might not know everything right in this moment, but there is possibility which means we might know more about ourselves and the situation at hand in a way that reveals options we've not even been able to imagine yet.

Getting stuck casting readings over and over again about the same topic closes the gate to possibility. So what can you do instead when you’re feeling uncertain and looking for peace and reassurance?

The Greenwood Tarot by Chesca Potter

Instead of casting another reading, step away from your deck and try any of the following:

Take some soft belly breaths. Just as it sounds, spend some time telling your nervous system that you are safe by breathing gently into the soft space of your belly. 

Write it down. Take some time to journal and write down what's bothering you. Journaling can be a powerful act of clearing the fog from your brain and creating more space for hope to reside within you.

Go for a walk. Or if walking isn’t an option choose to move your body in another way. Nothing complex (unless that’s what you desire) but creating physical movement in order to generate spiritual movement. Uncertainty is an emotion of stagnation, so inviting movement into your life can help to unstuck your crossed situation.

Drink some tea. Or water. Or fresh juice. Something that feels wholesome and healing to you. Make a simple ritual of its preparation. Here’s my absolute favorite tea for stress and anxiety.

When is it appropriate to do a second reading on a situation? There’s no definitive guideline, but I typically suggest waiting for either a few weeks to pass or to do a reading when there has been a significant change that has happened regarding the situation in question. Listen to your voice within - if you feel like you might be doing too many readings in too short a time, you are. It’s that simple.

The Spirit Speaks Tarot

2. Expecting the cards to tell you what to do.

Wouldn’t it be nice if that every time you performed a tarot reading you were given straight forward answers with clear instructions on what steps you should be taking next? That would be incredible and everyone would read tarot. Heck, it could even bring about world peace. 

Yet that’s not how the cards work. Yes, of course, we can get really clear insight about a situation or ourselves from the cards. But it’s important to remember that such insight and knowledge can be read in the cards because we already possess it within us. We won’t see answers we don’t already have within the cards. 

Now, that’s not to say we won’t gain insight that we weren’t previously aware of. As one of my favorite magicians Lon Milo DuQuette says, “It's all in your head... you just have no idea how big your head is.”

I think the tarot can be many things to us all at once. It’s a collection of 78 pieces of paper with pictures on them that folks find aesthetically pleasing. It’s 78 pathways of magick and self-knowing. It’s a divinatory tool which helps us gaze into the past, present, and future. It’s the home of the spirits and guides of tarot which have their own personalities and wisdom. But all of this is simply (and most complexly) a mirror. 

As above, so below. As within, so without. 

The cards aren’t going to tell you what to do. You’re going to realize what needs to be done. And sometimes that takes a while because are perception is too limited or we’re afraid. Sometimes we’re just stubbornly resistant to necessary change. 

If you find yourself relying on the cards to “tell” you what to do and what choices to make, believing that they possess knowledge that you don’t, you’re giving your power away. Your power is much to sacred to give it away to bits of paper. 

To move away from the mindset that it's the cards that possess the answers and you’re just a passive reader, I suggest the following meditative practice and spoken charm.

Before you perform a reading, be still and take a deep breath in. Let your gaze grow soft as you gently close your eyes and focus on the point between your brows. At the place of your third eye feel and see a light begin to grow. It grows brighter and stronger until it extends beyond and around you completely. 

Within the brightness of your wisdom, recite the following charm:

Blessed be the mirroring of the cards before me
Let what needs to be perceived be seen
Let what needs to be understood be experienced
Let what needs to be known be revealed
I already possess the answer
May I now re-member it
Blessed be.

You are now ready to cast your cards!

The Greenwood Tarot by Chesca Potter

3. Buying all the decks but not working consistently with only one.

I have to say that this is a relatively modern problem. We are experiencing an incredible renaissance in tarot right now. New independent decks are appearing every week and there has been an increase in the variety of mass market decks available. The fear-of-missing-out and the magpie-mind is all too often tempted into purchasing a new deck - whether or not you really need one. 

When your professional life involves tarot decks it’s very easy to always have an excuse to purchase a new one (especially when you’re supporting rad indie artists). Still, I'm so grateful that I when I started to learn tarot I began with one deck and it was my only deck for years. Working with one deck for an extended period of time (such as a year or more) shaped my tarot reading skills for the better. I am not saying that there's no place for using multiple decks at once (either in the same reading or switching up decks on your reading table with greater frequency), but the benefit of working with one deck intimately and extensively cannot be denied. 

Tarot is a magickal language. If you want to learn a new language the best approach is not to try and learn three new languages at once. Or to abandon one language before you’re conversational in it to try another one. I encourage you to connect with one deck for the long haul and work with it until you know it as a friend and familiar. Until you are fluent between each other. Because that is when we can engage more readily with the mysteries that may be revealed within us through tarot. 

Choosing not to buy all the decks and instead working with one is, in part, a practice in self-discipline - a great skill for magickal work in general. It’s also an act of rewiring our beliefs so that we're no longer attempting to find our spiritual intuition and power “out there” and “in that thing” (whether that thing is a new tarot deck, a beautiful crystal or the latest superfood elixir wonder pudding), but to recenter our search within ourselves.

The Elemental Tarot

“For if that which you seek you find not within yourself you shall never find it without…”

- The Charge of the Goddess -

I find the asking my students to work with one deck for at least a year to typically be the hardest task I suggest. It is less hard for those beginners who already feel wary of getting overwhelmed by the imagery of tarot, so sticking with one deck feels comfortable for them. It is often much more difficult for those folks who already have a sizable deck collection and/or are caught up in the non-stop social media driven #mysticore culture. Here’s what I have found though - once folks give themselves permission to working with one deck and one deck only there is not only relief (they no longer feel like they have to keep up with it all), but they find that their practice becomes more profound and enlightening. 

Reading with only one deck of cards for a while one of the quickest ways to get your magick back that I know of if you’re feeling uninspired by your tarot practice.

So what deck should you work with? That’s entirely up to you. It can be a deck that you’ve owned for years or one that you’ve recently acquired. If you’re an absolute beginner I recommend purchasing a deck that is based off of the imagery of Pamela Coleman Smith's deck (marketing as the Rider Waite or Rider Waite Smith Tarot). Smith's deck is the framework for most of our modern decks and learning to read a deck based off of her design will allow you to have a great foundation for understanding most other decks they come across. This was my first deck and it continues to be my most beloved. I particularly love the centennial edition of her deck which brings the art back to her original renderings.

Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Edition Tarot

There they are - the three most common mistakes I see folks (myself included!) make when reading the tarot. May your practice benefit from tuning into what it is you're really seeking and overcome the distractions that pull us from the pleasure of our spiritual path.

What are the common mistakes you see when it comes to reading tarot cards? Let me know in the comments!

I have a whole other post in the works regarding untruths about reading the tarot - sign-up for Magick Mail to be notified when it gets published. If you're needing more tarot in your life asap, check out the rest of my posts on tarot. And to all of you tarot readers and oracle diviners, happy card castings!

Tarot as Your Best Friend : A Simple Guide

I recently taught a mini class on self-care with the tarot.

I shared one of my favorite techniques for accessing a powerful and personal sacred space at any time and any where through the tarot. The class started off my early spring teaching season (I’m teaching again in person - yay! - be sure to reserve your spot) but it also got me thinking on other easy self-care tarot techniques that I could share with all of you, my amazing far-flung internet family. Because, apparently, I’m just writing about self-care these days (even my tarotscopes are checking in with me about it). Actually, a lot of folks are writing and teaching and sharing about self-care these days and I love it. It is so much easier to take back the streets and topple empires when you’ve had some lunch ahead of time. I thought about how else tarot can be used as a tool of self care and, thus, the following spread was born.

The Best Friend Tarot Spread is the you-affirming, pep-talk, I-love-all-of-you, empowering, weirdness-adoring and sovereignty-recognizing sort of hug-in-a-spread we all need right now.

It’s also really easy to cast because, bless, I don’t always have the energy after a long day to pull out my cards and tell myself an in-depth story. Which brings me to another element of my self-care tarot magick - ease. Let’s make it easy for ourselves for no other reason than we deserve things to be easy sometimes.

The easy part of the spread comes from the fact that it uses a mad-libs or fill-in-the-blank style interpretation guide which allows the cards to deliver their message as your esoterically-inclined best friend. So let's begin!

Make yourself some tea, coffee, hot cocoa, iced lemonade or delicious drink of choice. Put on something comfortable and find a cozy spot to cast cards. Center yourself and shuffle your deck in the usual way. 

For the Best Friend Tarot Spread you’ll be casting three cards. Instead of the cards answering a particular question, they will be filling in the blank of the following sentence (aka best friend style pep talk):

You have the incredible gift of {card 1}.
Remember to {card 2},
so that you can {card 3}.

Now, you can choose the cards at random or you can turn the deck face-up and choose whichever three cards jump out at you (If choosing face up scares you a bit, you should go for it. Get your vulnerable on and sink into your power). I also suggest only using the Major Arcana for the spread if you’re experiencing some big life feels and need deep support. For those of you on my Magick Mail list, you’ll receive a keyword guide for the Major Arcana next month that you can use to help you complete the sentences.

If you have a friend that needs some cheering up, offering to do this spread for them can be a tender way of showing support. 

That’s it. Sweet, simple, and you-affirming. If you're looking for more tarot inspiration, head this way. Be sure to share the pep talks you received in the comments below and remember to be gentle with your heart - just like your best friend would.

3 New Ways to Read Tarot

Tarot was born of experimentation.

A court card game became a divinatory tool become a path to the cosmos became a path to the self became a tool of revolutionary change. Such experimentation is what makes tarot so exciting and a living book of mysticism. 

Let's continue to write the story of tarot by finding new ways to read with these old cards. Have fun exploring the following three new ways to read your favorite deck (or two!) of cards.

Collective Tarot + Amethyst

Face-Up

Let’s start with the most obvious and often opposite way of reading tarot cards - pulling cards face-up. Traditionally, tarot cards are chosen face-down and at random which allows for a great deal of mystery to reside in a card casting. When we choose our cards by casting them face-up we enter into a new relationship with ourselves and our decks. The reading becomes less about fate, the guidance of the spiritual beings or randomness (depending on your tarot philosophy) and more about you and your ability to know yourself clearly. 

Begin by choosing your question and shuffling your deck in your typical way. Let’s say you want to gain better insight into a recent conflict between you and your best friend. First, choose one card that represents you in general and one card that represents you within the conflict. Do the same for your friend. Place your cards side by side so that the cards that represent you are beside the cards that represent your friend. Be honest but kind in your choice of cards. Pulling cards face-up is a practice of integrity (a skill that is essential to insight). Choose another card that represents your relationship with your friend in general and beyond the moment of this conflict. Take time to reflect on the gifts of this card. Next, pull a card that represents your current conflict and place it between the cards that represent you and your friend during this moment. Notice the interplay of all cards on the table. What insights can be gleaned when you look at them from a bird's eye view? Pull one final card that represents your ability to move from the state of conflict to the place of contentment with your friend. What are the tools that you have to repair the situation?

Another way of working with the face-up method is as a meditative ritual practice to help you move from one state of being to another. Pull a card that represents you in the current moment and then choose a card that represents where you would like to be. Perhaps you want to find inner peace and sanctuary and so you choose the Star card. The card that you chose to represent you at the moment, however, is the 10 of Wands because you feel so overburdened by what seems like endless stress. What would be the path between these two cards? Choose one to three cards and line them up between the card that represents you now and the card that represents where you want to be. Perhaps you choose the Page of Cups to help you get in touch with your inner intuition and stillness and the Four of Swords to help you quiet your busy thoughts and find more time to rest. These cards can become magickal steps that you make to attain your Star-like state of being. The Page of Wands can be a simple everyday water ritual where you anoint your brow, heart, and belly with sacred water to remind you to remain connected to your intuitive wisdom. The Four of Swords might turn into you going to bed a little earlier every night. 

The face-up method is a lot of fun in addition to being a great way of learning tarot card meanings and offers us an opportunity to be more proactive in our tarot reading. 

Spirit Speak Tarot + Topanga Canyon quartz crystal

By the Elements

Casting cards by the elements is a great way to do a quick weather report on your state of being or the energetics of a particular reading. To begin you need to sort your deck by the elements. Put aside the Major Arcana cards for the moment and sort the rest of your deck into the four suits of Swords, Wands, Cups, and Pentacles. Shuffle each suit individually and then pull a card from each stack. Your Sword card will give you insight into your current mental state as well as highlighting current messages and communicative focuses. The Wands cards looks at your passion and desire as well as your current levels of inner fire or burnout. The Cups card is a snapshot of your emotional temperament as well as a peak into dreams and visions bubbling to the surface. The Pentacles card looks at your physical state including not only the home of your body but your overall home environment.

Another variation involves the Major Arcana cards. You can either pull a Major Arcana card at random or choose one purposefully. Let’s say that you choose the Empress card because you’re starting a new business and want some elemental insight into next steps you should be taking. Lay the Empress card out and then pull one card from each one of the suits. Each card from each suit will offer elemental insight into your business path. The Swords card might speak to your need for a new way of communicating with your client base while the Cups card offers some clarity around certain feelings that you've been having about your business lately. The Pentacles card might suggest where you need to be putting your investment of time and effort at the moment, while the Wands card is a check in on your creative fire.

I love elemental spreads for their simplicity and ease of reading. Reading by the elements is a great technique if you are a beginner as it helps you to learn the basics of the Minor Arcana in a personal and insightful way.

Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Tarot + Jolanda Den Tredjes Tarot or Swedish Witch Tarot

Tarot Mapping

The subject of Tarot Mapping deserves a much longer post which is what I’m working on. In the meantime, I’ve written an introduction to the technique focusing one aspect of Tarot Mapping. Tarot Mapping requires at least two decks. The first is the mapping deck and the second is a reading deck. Pull out the Major Arcana of your mapping deck and place the Fool card at the top of your reading table. Then place the remaining cards in order in three rows of seven. 

This is your map. And now you get to play! Perhaps you have a question of what needs to change in order for you to find balance. Cast a card from your reading deck straddling Death and Temperance. Looking for advice on how to catch that lucky break you know you deserve to move your business forward? Cast a card on the four corners of the Empress, Emperor, Wheel of Fortune, and Justice cards. 

Maybe you’re interested in an epic snapshot of your Major Arcana journey. Pick out only the Minor Arcana cards from your reading deck and shuffle them so that some cards will come up inverted and others upright. Cast one card on each of the Major Arcana cards. If a card is inverted, remove it. You’re only focusing on upright cards which will help you to hone in on the current big issues of your life. Then read the upright Minor Arcana cards in context of the Major Arcana cards that they have been cast on. 

As you can imagine, there is a lot of possibility with Tarot Mapping! How will you use it?

Looking for more creative ways to read tarot?

Happy card casting!