My Favorite Evening Tarot Practice
Most of my (mostly) daily tarot practice takes place in the morning, fit in somewhere between waking up and making my tea.
But sometimes the fading light of evening draws me back to my cards, to shuffle through the day's energy, and make sense of what has come and gone. Often, when I’m called to an evening tarot session it means that I need some extra support in getting settled into my resting body, so that I can get some sleep.
What follows is a simple evening tarot spread to help us ground and center so that we can proceed with our evening and night feeling rested. Of course, while I've written this spread with the evening in mind, it can be used anytime your energy is feeling stirred up and you're having trouble settling down. Beyond tarot, it can be use in a journaling practice, your evening or morning pages, and even as prompts to consider during your evening meditation practice.
May you be inspired to shape the following spread into something that works best for you and your needs.
Settling the Spirit
My Favorite Evening Tarot Spread
Card 1. To set aside
You can be as broad or specific when you are casting your spread. If you want to focus on an area of your life that you're having trouble feeling restless about, you could ask, for example, "What worry about my school project can I set aside just for tonight?" Sometimes we can pinpoint where are restlessness is stemming from and so you can keep this prompt open-ended.
Card 2. To acknowledge
This card points us towards something that is useful to acknowledge - often, but not limited to, an emotional experience. If you pull the Five of Wands, for example, it might be important to recognize that today held a lot of conflict and to notice where you're feeling that conflict in your body. Often just acknowledging where you're feeling something can start to move and release that energy, helping you feel more settled. If you pull a really positive card here it's important to recognize that great stuff that happened and how that feels in your body, too! Let that joy settle in your bones!
Card 3. To practice
I like pulling a card that reminds me to connect to a healing practice. If my energy is feeling unsettled and I'm wanting to pull cards about it, there is likely a lot going on in my life and I might have lost sight of the simple ways I can help feel grounded and centered. Sometimes I pull only from the Major Arcana for this card (and reference my oracle of care), but other times I pull from the whole deck. More often than not, I'm not meant to jump up and do the practice the card pulled here indicates, but to be mindful about incorporating this practice over the next few days. I find that one of the ways we can start to settle our energy is to know that we have some healing practices to look forward to.
Card 4. To encompass
The final card helps call in the energy needed to help us settle right now. The prompt "to encompass" is inspired by Scottish blessings found in the Carmina Gadelica where holy ones are called upon to cover us with a mantle or blanket of protection. It's language that I use in my own nightly practices and the energy is very grounding, and not only feels protective, but very comforting. So this card helps us to connect with that grounding, protective, comforting energy needed to help our body to settle and rest.
᠅
If you're looking for more healing practices to help you have a peaceful evening and restful night, you might enjoy this tea recipe and get to know a sleeping and dreaming plant ally. I also enjoy this bit of lunar wisdom to help point us in the direction of where we might rest deepest. For those of you looking for my complete collection of community tarot spreads, come this way.
I hope this simple tarot spread inspires your own evening practices and helps you to feel settled and steady on your path to deep, restorative rest.
This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎
