Llewellyn Worldwide - Articles: Beltane Tarot Spread

From Tarot for All Seasons, by Christine Jette

Beltane: April 30
(May Eve)

The Beltane Ritual
Fragrant flowers, lush green foliage, and warmer temperatures celebrate the magical energies of love. It is time for splendor in the grass. Beltane is a bawdy holiday of love, sexuality, regeneration, and prosperity. We drink in the earth’s colors, aromas, and tastes. Appetites are keen. Beltane energy is powerful, and expectations of the future are high. It is the perfect time to focus on children and safety because spring captures the feeling of being young again.

When worn or placed upon the altar, copper, gold, emerald, malachite, rose quartz, and garnet will enhance the energies of Beltane. After deciding your magical working(s) for Beltane, focus your intention to realize your desire.

Beltane Tarot Cards
Place the Lovers, card 6, on your altar to symbolize commitment and responsible choice in ongoing relationships. The Two of Cups resonates with emotional balance, romance, and passion. The Ten of Cups relates to fulfillment, joy, and contentment in personal relationships. It is a card of emotional safety and security. Use the Page of Cups to represent a child or feeling young again. The King of Pentacles conveys prosperity, and the Empress or Queen of Pentacles celebrates your power to create.

The Scents of Beltane
Any fragrant flower—the choice is yours! Rose incense or oil captures the heady aroma of the season.

Magical Brews of Beltane
Herbs, spring berries, and flowers abound. Try strawberry, elder flower, rosebud, nettle, mint, or catnip tea. Add lemon and a slice of orange, if you like.

Candles of Beltane
Red symbolizes love, sexual passion, awakenings, blossoming, and marriage. Green projects the life force in nature, growth, and prosperity. Use pink or blue for children. Pink also signifies true friendship. White represents security and protection, and send out the energy of your pure intentions.

Position 1: Safety. Emotional security. What you need to feel safe. Where are you secure in yourself? A seemingly negative card describes a situation that needs your focused attention. Work with the energy of that card to produce feelings of safety.

Position 2: Abundance. Feelings of plenty. Abundance may encompass monetary prosperity, but it also describes the emotional breadth of your life that is full and sweet. A challenging card directs you to constricted energy flow; by releasing the block of a challenging card, emotional abundance will follow.

Position 3: Regeneration. Exploring the possibilities. The bold action needed to grow and flourish. A challenging card will show you the block that keeps you from your heart’s desire.

Position 4: Love. Emotions and relationships. All forms of love, from friendship to sexual passion. Only you know your heart. Look at the suit of the card: what does it tell you about your life right now? (Wands = passion or anger; Cups = love or friendship; Swords = loving the intellect, heartache, or painful decisions; Pentacles = sensuality, the body, or the value you place on love; Court Cards = personal characteristics in your relationships; Major Arcana cards = the big picture, karma, or the spiritual aspects of your relationships.)

Position 5: The Future. The present conceivable outcome based on the flow of cards one through four. What story do the cards tell? The lessons to be learned and the potential for growth. How does position three, regeneration, relate to the future?

Nothing in tarot is preordained, and you always have a choice. If you do not like the cards in this layout, honor the information they are giving you, for they offer great truths. Next, choose other cards that radiate the energy of your heart’s desire and place them over the original layout. Focused will remains the core of magic.

To complete the Beltane reading, you can meditate with the cards, write a journal entry, keep the cards on the altar until Midsummer, or simply close. Carry a card or two with you during the day to strengthen the connection between you and your heart’s desire. Affirm your power to reclaim abundance and safety: “I focus on the powerful energies of youth. Expectations for the future are high. This, or something better, is manifesting for me now, for the good of all, harming no one, according to free will. So must it be.”