One of the great things about tarot is that no matter how long you practice, there is always more to learn. There are new applications, new decks, new nuances to each card and new meaningful insights to your life. In this issue, we’ll explore some techniques that may provide some new experiences for you and your practice.

Time, time, who’s got the time?

The Complete Tarot Reader by Teresa Michelsen is appropriate for beginners, but includes exercises to take your studies deeper as well. Using the tarot to predict the timing of events is an interesting study. Teresa provides several techniques to try. I find the following method to be particularly intriguing.

From The Complete Tarot Reader:

This approach uses only the Ace-10 cards of the four suits as timing cards. The suits are ordered in terms of their volatility or permanence — you can choose any order that makes sense to you, for example switching Swords and Wands if you like. I chose this order intuitively, and by looking at the movement and speed of the horses in the Knights cards.

If you want to be specific, the numbers on the cards can be used to give an indication of the number of days, weeks, months or years. As with any methods, reversals should also be examined, because these can represent obstacles to resolution of the issue. The timing only provides a potential for when things could happen, if any obstacles are removed. A spread that is mostly or entirely reversed may represent a situation in which the event being asked about may never happen, or in which there are many obstacles to overcome.

Who are you?

Tarot Journaling by Corrine Kenner is an in-depth exploration of one the tarotist’s favorite activities: journaling. She uses the familiar Celtic Cross as the structure of the book. Each position in the Celtic Cross forms the basis for journaling on various aspects
of your life. As most of you know, position 7 is the Self. Let’s see what Corrine tells us about ourselves:

In tarot, the four realms of everyday experience are represented by the four suits of the Minor Arcana. Wands represent your spiritual life, cups depict your emotional affairs, swords conceptualize your intellectual ideals and pentacles embody your physical existence.

You can use your tarot journal to analyze those four realms of your experience, both separately and as a whole. You can see where most of your focus lies, where your experiences overlap and where you have room to grow and change.

Your Spiritual Self

The fiery wands cards, which usually picture freshly cut branches from leafy trees, represent the world of spiritual existence. They symbolize inspirations and drives, passions and primal quests.

Think of the wands cards as you work with the following journaling prompts:

Spiritually, I believe …

Spiritually, I feel …

Spiritually, I think …

Spiritually, I am …

Spiritually, I value …

Spiritually, I have …

Spiritually, I need …

Spiritually, I would like to …

Spiritually, I am becoming more …

Spiritually, I secretly …

Spiritually, I express myself …

My greatest spiritually skill is …

The card that best depicts my spiritual life is …

Corrine goes on to include prompts for journaling about your emotional, intellectual and physical experiences.



Extra, extra

Designing your own spreads or adding extra cards to existing spreads gives more freedom to your tarot reading experiences. In Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads, Teresa Michelsen takes you through the entire process of creating your own spreads. Even if you have a selection of spreads that you like to use, you can add a few bells and whistles. Teresa suggests:

Comment Card

A comment card is what I call a card that jumps out of the deck while you are shuffling, falls to the floor or otherwise attracts your notice. Many readers believe these cards are significant, and should be held out and set aside. These cards provide additional commentary on the reading. “Commentary” may be too bland a term for it; at times these cards may seem to be shouting, lecturing or even making a sly joke about a situation.

Foundation Card

Some readers draw a card from the bottom of the deck at the end of the layout or after the interpretation, which is called the foundation card. This card provides further commentary on the reading by showing what is hidden or what is at the foundation or bottom of the situation.

Bias Card

One of the most interesting special cards is a bias card, which is used to show any possible bias the reader may be introducing into the reading. A bias card can be especially useful when reading for ourselves, as it can be hard to be completely objective. If you get a positive card, don’t assume the situation is really gloomier than you think. Instead, think of the card as a pair of glasses you are looking through that colors everything you see. For example, if the bias card is the Two of Cups, you may be missing the fact that some of the cards in the reading actually have to do with work and not your recent engagement.

School of hard knocks

Sometimes when faced with a problem that we can’t see our way out of, there’s a fair chance we need to learn something before we can find resolution. These problems can be opportunities to learn important life lessons. The tarot is a great tool for helping us navigate through these difficult times. Combined with objectivity and honesty (with one’s self), this spread can help define the problem more clearly, offer solutions and provide guidance to understanding life and karmic lessons.

Where are you?

Your life is a journey. On this journey, it’s as important to know where you are (and where you’re going) as it is to know who you are.

Go through your tarot deck and find a card that represents the phase in your life that you are currently in. This card can depict where you are in your life as a whole or in a specific aspect — physical, emotional or spiritual. How do you feel about the card? What do you like or dislike? What would you change? Is there anything in the card that would help you to make that change? If there is a particular aspect that you’d like to focus on changing, follow up by selecting a card that shows that change. What do you need to do to accomplish that change?

I encourage you to try any or all of these techniques to give new life or added depth to your practice and your journey. Happy travels!