Sacred Tarot Card Rituals
In this episode of the show, Karen speaks about approaching your work and play with the Tarot in a reverent manner, one that moves it from enjoyable pastime to sacred ritual.
She shares not three, but four specific processes, each of which can nourish the spirit, and move you into sacred space with yourself.
If you would like to learn the Tarot in person with Karen in Albury, check out the Courses page. If online training suits you better, see the Online Resources offering here. This is a great option for those of you who are geographically distant, or have a busy or moving schedule.
Karen offers in person and online Psychic Tarot, and Clairvoyant Readings from her Tarot Studio in Albury, and these can be scheduled online.
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Episode Transcript:
Hello!
It’s Karen here from Soulful and Wild, and we're going to talk about Tarot Card Rituals today. Now you're probably aware that I am a mad Tarot lover, and have been reading the Tarot for about 30 years, actually it's 30 years this year, and I've been involved in spiritual things for well before then. Today though, I’m talking about some sacred rituals that we can do with the Tarot. Now I guess the thing is, that working with the Tarot is a spiritual practice from my perspective, and that’s not so for everybody. It's a little bit like some people who are artists treat their paints and the process of the creation of an artwork like a spiritual undertaking, and for me reading the Tarot is the same. So a lot of this is about intention.
In the time we have here today, I'm going to try and fit in three different rituals that you can do. We'll see how we go time-wise. The first one may sound a little simple but it is not simplistic or regular unless you treat it like a mundane thing. So here they are;
A Daily Tarot Card Practice
Anyone can pluck a card out of the deck, but here I endeavour to describe how I think this can be done, and made into a sacred practice or sacred ritual. Now, I don't know if you have ever been into an old church or an ancient cathedral. If you do go into a place like that, a place where people have prayed and honoured God, and taken their their woes, and their hopes, and their dreams, and sat with all of those, in silence and in prayer. You know, you don't just wander into a place like that with disregard. A place of worship has its own energy, its own vibration. And when you enter into it, you move into that space yourself - on every level. I would suggest that when you do your Daily Tarot Card Practice, that you enter into it in just the same way that you would if you entered into an old stone church or cathedral, with a sense of reverence. You're not going to walk in there stomp, stomp, stomp with your muddy old gumboots and your dirty top and smelly trousers on. No. You're going to go in clean, and clear with that real sense of deference, of reverence.
There are so many benefits to a Daily Tarot Card Practice and you can just make it part of your life. So, I recommend that you have a very special Tarot deck that you use for that. If you've just got one deck then you know you will use that for everything, but if you can, if you happen to have a collection of Tarot decks, because you've caught the bug -and it is a bug, and It's kind of a fun bug, but you know you might end up with 50 of them before you know what's happened to you! You might choose to have one deck in particular that you use for this practice, and you might keep it in a special place. Perhaps you have a special table that you turn into kind of like an altar, or your sacred place where you can build that energy of communing with spirit, just the way you would if you were sitting on a particular cushion if you did a meditation on a daily basis, or went to church for prayer. Now with a clear mindset, and a nice calm energy, you are going to shuffle your cards. Once that is done, I recommend that you drop the deck into three piles moving towards your left, and then you put those piles back together into one stack, but you put them in a different order, so you're sort of mixing it up a bit. Then you cut the deck in half, and then allow your awareness to be drawn to one pile or the other. Spread the cards from your chosen pile face down on your table or your altar.
Before you select your Tarot card for the day, ask this question out loud, or just hold it in your mind, “What wisdom can I be shown today?” or “What is the teaching available to me today?”
Next you choose by allowing your hand to scan above the cards and just let yourself be drawn to one in particular, or you might scan with your eyes across the cards and one card will draw your attention, and that's the one that you choose.
Once you've selected the card, give yourself a few minutes to look at that card and just sit with it. Take a couple of easy breaths and notice what stands out for you. Tuning into the card, you can allow your eyes to fall to the image and notice what comes up to meet you. You might get one particular symbol from within that card that really jumps out at you, so pay attention to that. As you sit with it for a few moments, allow whatever is there to come. You don't have to turn this into a great big thing. Be still and allow the card to speak to you.
You might notice a colour, or a particular symbol. Notice what the picture is showing you. You might get a sentence or two. You might get a lot more. You may just get one word. Write it all down in your journal. Write it down. Then pop your cards away. I like to leave the card that I've chosen standing upright so that when I come home, I can see it there. And at the end of the day, make a little time, perhaps when you're having a cup of tea or a glass of water before you go to bed, go back to your Tarot cards and to your journal. Pick up the card again, and have a think about the day. Just revisit it, and just consider how this card has shown up for you. Perhaps read of what you wrote in the morning. Just see for yourself if there's anything else that you can add to it. I'm sure there will be if you sit with this for a few moments. Now this process does two things. It gets you really familiar with the cards themselves and It gives you an opportunity to gather to yourself your own symbols, your own meanings for each of the cards. This is invaluable. This brings deeper learning forward, reflection opportunities and wisdom. These tarot cards, you know, they really are quite magical in the sense that they they bring information to you. They can teach you so much about who you are, how you're operating, and how you respond, where you're triggered, all sorts of wonderful lessons and information can come to you through these Tarot images.
So thats your Daily Tarot Card Practice, and I would suggest that you do it every day of the week, for 12 months, and that you keep a record of these in your Tarot Journal. a book for a whole year.
Just a seemingly simple ritual, but you'll actually learn a lot about yourself, and knowledge is power. You know that when we know who we are, it's so much easier to interact with others, be present, and be compassionate with them. But this is for you, and it is all about the way you show up to do this, and the meaning that you give it. So that is practice number one done and dusted.
Tarot Feng Shui
Now the other Tarot Ritual, well, let's call it Tarot Feng Shui. Now I imagine that you either have an interest in the Tarot, you are a Tarot Reader or you'd like to know more about the Tarot. So whether you know lots about it or not, we both know that you can easily access what a Tarot card, it's meaning, it's standardised meaning is. You know you can google that, you can watch follow me on TikTok or anyone else for that matter. There are lots and lots of ways. You've probably got a book at home, and if not you can get one. There's heaps of stuff on the internet about the Tarot card meanings so thats no issue.
But let’s look at your home, and the things that you want to have happen there. I imagine that you know what Feng Shui is. It's about the use of symbols and the placement of things in your home to move energy through your home in a way that is beneficial for you and your intentions for your place. So you can actually use the Tarot card images or a symbol that represents the Tarot card archetype, and place that in certain parts of your house to create the energy that you're seeking.
Oh I'll tell you a funny story. I live in a little house which I adore. I think they call them Shouses. It's sort of a mixed race building if you will, shed plus house. Really cool, and fun to live in. It's smallish, and perfect for me.
Anyway, when it was being built, I thought, OK, let’s lay the right energy down, right down from the very beginning. So what I did is this; I got a Tarot deck and I sat with the Tarot and I thought about what was going to be happening in my home, what I wanted to have happen, how I wanted things to be in my office. I asked myself and thought about things like;
, What's the energy that I want this space to hold?
What energy should be resident in this room, in this part of my home, to really bring my work to life and make it be beneficial to individuals and groups and to the world, to the collective?
So I had a think about that, and I thought about all the different cards, and what it could be, and then I actually consulted the Tarot in the traditional way. I asked the question after shuffling the cards, and really being in the right space, I selected a card and I did that for each area of the house. In the kitchen I chose The Sun card. The Sun is about health and vitality and energy and joy. And I thought that is the perfect energy for for me to have in the kitchen area. And so I chose a card for each area of the home, even the front entrance, the verandas too. On my back veranda, I have an area for sitting and having cups of tea and chats, you know, a couple of chairs and a little table in between. I've got a lovely old timber table with some bench seats that friends gave me years ago now, and that sits on the other end of the veranda where we gather for meals. Sometimes I'll do a little bit of work out there, but mostly it's about social gatherings and family gatherings. So I was thinking about that and yes, the Nine of Cups, thats perfect. In some decks you see that card as literally depicting people sitting at a table sharing a meal. The 10 of cups actually went into the lounge room, into that lounge area.
So when they were laying the foundation for The Cottage (its a cuter name than shouse I think), I went and put the Tarot cards in underneath the metal stuff that they pour the concrete onto. I spoke to David the builder to ensure he wouldn't let the concreters remove the cards. So quite literally, the foundation of The Cottage has these Tarot cards in it.
It’s a very literal way of embedding energy into a place but I had the opportunity to do that, so of course I did. But we can do this in many ways, like placing a card in the room and leaning it up against a little crystal. You can also get these gorgeous little timber Tarot card holders where you can actually sit the bottom of the card into a slit in the timber and it'll just sit there beautifully. The other thing that you can do is look at your preferred Tarot card and pick out a particular symbol. For example, with the Temperance card, you could put two vases, you know two bud vases or or two goblets on a bench or a window sill as a representation of the Tarot card with the intention that these will ground that energy..
So Tarot Feng Shui, why the heck not?
Not everybody wants to have a poster of a Tarot card stuck on their wall or the back of the door and as I mentioned earlier, there are 'different ways you can do this to bring the energy that you're seeking to have emanate through the space, into the area in a very practical literal way. This is a genuinely lovely ritual that you can do that will bring significant benefits. You can make a list, do a meditation or think about how you want things to be, say for example in your bedroom. If you want beautiful sleep, or if you want intimate lovemaking happening in that room, then you might choose something like The Lovers card. I've got a gorgeous painting on the wall in my bedroom and it's not The Lovers card, but I've got that in the foundation of the building in this space, but on the wall I've actually got a painting above the bed that shows a man and a woman laying down next to each other. They are relaxing against a haystack. It's a famous painting, I can't remember what it's called now, but they're just reclining together on this haystack, you know, the work has been done so it's rest time. You can introduce the energy in that way. Yes, there's lots of ways you can bring in the symbology, but it's also the way you do it. So you can meditate on what you want to have happening in that room, imagine it. You can go through the cards, one by one, thinking about and holding that idea and that energy, and go through them one at a time. Look at them and really reflect on each card to see which of these cards holds that energy, or brings that feeling to you in your body, you know, in your heart. Then when you get the hit, that will be the one that you'll use. So you can do it that way, or you can shuffle the cards, hold the question in your mind and pick a card with your left hand as you would as though you were doing a reading. That's a more traditional way of doing it, but in many ways, it's all about the energy you bring, how you hold yourself. Okay, so we've done the Daily Tarot Card Practice, we've now done the Tarot Feng Shui. Now, lets do a three card spread.
Drawing in The Light
Think about a situation that you want to bring more light to, or more clarity to. Then, in exactly the same way I described with the two previous processes, it’s about the energy you are holding, and your intention. You want to bring in light.
Basically this is a three card spread, and there are two different ways that you might like to do this;
OPTION ONE:
Card 1 - What has caused this to be an issue?
Card 2 - The current situation
Card 3 - The action that you need to take to bring in the light.
OPTION TWO:
Card 1 - What the situation is (the situation that you need to bring light to or get clarity about).
Card 2 - This is the bridging card and it tells you what you need to DO to get the clarity you seek.
Card 3 - This is the outcome. It's shows how it will be when the light is there, when the clarity is received.
So this third ritual is a Tarot Reading, a three-card spread to work out how to resolve a problem or to bring more light in, more clarity into a situation. Okay, so that's three things. Let's do a fourth. We've got time for a fourth.
Commitment To Your Dream
Now dreams are funny things. People get a little bit weird about making a commitment to a dream. When we make a commitment to a dream, we're basically making a promise to ourselves, that we're going to take action. So getting clear about what our dream is, our major dream, (not a pie in the sky idea or a hope or a wish), but a commitment to a dream. When we make a commitment, we're basically making a promise to take action. That's why people get a bit freaked out about it. So how do you do that, make a Tarot commitment to your dream?
First of all, you need to get clear about what that dream actually is. What is that dream? So begin by dropping yourself into a really calm, relaxed place. You might like to do that with me now. “So just get really comfortable wherever you are. If you're driving, don't do this, but if you're still somewhere and you have the opportunity, you might like to close your eyes, take a couple of lovely relaxing breaths, just allowing your awareness to travel with your breath. Just breathing into your body and releasing that breath naturally and easily. Just keep breathing and relaxing. Let your awareness travel with the breath as you breathe in, and as you breathe out, just gentle, gentle breathing …and you'll find that your mind does settle, and you do get a little bit calmer. Just calm enough, and just let your mind begin to move, to float, to travel, to wander. into dreamland …and in your dreamland, you might find that there are clouds that move, or mist, and as you breathe, gently and easily, that mist, or the clouds, begins to shift, and as they do now… you'll notice before you some scenarios… and if you look over that way, you'll see a particular scenario. A certain idea, a concept or a dream, and then allow your awareness to move in a different direction. Notice what you notice there, and you can do this for a few more breaths now, allowing different scenes to come into your awareness… Keep breathing and relaxing. And as you do, just allow your attention to be drawn more fully towards one of those scenes…. and there’s that one that has more colour ,with more movement, and perhaps sound, or a sensation, and as that becomes more evident to you, begin to notice the details around that scene. Noticing more and more details, it becomes clear to you that this is the dream. This is the one that you can make a commitment to for now, and as that settles within you, you can just let your breath continue to move into your body, and out. Just notice how you're relaxed… being with that, enjoying it.
And when you're ready, in just a few moments, very gently open your eyes.
So you've identified in a very gentle, easy way, a scenario representative of your dream. The dream for now, because dreams can change. As more information becomes present, if you want to, you can change your mind. More information sometimes will make you do a lane change. You haven't changed, you haven't gone off the highway, you've just changed lane perhaps, but for now you've got your your dream. It’s clear.
Now that you're going to commit to it, get your Tarot cards and shuffle them in the normal way. Asking yourself “How many cards do I need to get more information about my dream?” You might come up with three, so choose three cards if that is the case (you might get a different number, whatever number you get, you're going to choose that number of cards). Turn them up one at a time, and look at them. Sit with them, notice them, pay attention and record them in your Tarot Journal.
Now, the important thing is the cards that come next. And these are the cards that are action oriented because there is no commitment until action is taken, right? So you're going to choose a number of cards.
The first one is what is the first action I need to take, to move this dream into reality .What is the first action I need to take? Turn the card over, write it down in your journal and sit with that. Make a little note of what comes to you. What is the action I need to take to bring this into reality?
The next card is, in what time frame do I need to take this action? You will get something from the card, and even if you don't get a lot straight away, write down what you get because you can revisit this.
The third card is what will the outcome be if I do these two things? Okay. And depending on what your outcome card is, you may or may not need to choose some more cards.
Rituals are not solid things. They can be for some folk, but we don't live in a black and white world. We don't live in a static world.
So we've talked about four different rituals that you can do with the Tarot cards. The first is a Daily Tarot Card Practice. We make it sacred by our intention, how we do it. We've done the Tarot Feng Shui for your home. We've done the three card spread to Draw In The Light and a Tarot Commitment To Your Dreams.
Now you might choose with that Tarot Commitment To Your Dreams process, you might like to choose one Tarot card that actually represents the dream, you could keep it on your altar so that you revisit it, and if you've got a long time frame that you're or you need to do a number of steps to actualize your dream then that will be very helpful because some dreams don't happen overnight, some of them are long-term.
This is actually quite a lot of information that has been shared with you in this episode of the show, and I hope it’s not too much. I would love to hear how you find it, which processes you've done, which ones you haven't done, but intend to do. So do let me know. I'll be very interested to hear from you on this.
All right, well that’s it for today. Enjoy using that reverent, sacred approach to working with your Tarot cards.
Warmest to you.
Karen xxx