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🔥 ✨Burn it Down: Banishing Yule Fire Burning Bundle✨🔥

Because this year’s Yule fire is a funeral pyre. Burn it down.

This is a bundle of herbs similar to what you’d normally use for smoke cleansing, only instead of lighting the end, this one is tossed into your Yule Fire.

If you don’t have the ability to have a fire large enough to toss herbs into, you can instead make this into and infused oil to anoint a Yule candle with or whatever you may use to represent the burning of the past year. ***

Gather:

🔥 Something that represents what you want to burn down and leave behind in the dark. It could be anything from a piece of paper with things written on it, to a cord with knots tied in it each representing a different thing to burn, or a tarot card that represents what you’re moving on from (though keep in mind, whatever you use will be destroyed in the fire.) 🔥 Pine or fir boughs. Enough to suite the size of your fire. I usually use 6-8" pieces for a campfire. Or, if you’re making this into an anointing oil, enough needles to fill your jar halfway. 🔥 Hawthorn thorns. For heart protection. Any funeral pyre brings grief, regardless of what’s burning down. Protect your heart and keep your boundaries with thorns enough to lay throughout your bundle. 🔥 Rosemary Sprigs. Banishing, cleansing, clearing the mind. 🔥 Cinnamon stick(s) - banishing but also sweetening the energy, softening the blow. 🔥 Black Candle 🔥 Natural cord of some sort, twine, cotton cord or hemp.

- Light your candle and do whatever ritual openings you usually do.

- Lay your thing to burn down, evergreen boughs, rosemary sprigs, and cinnamon stick(s,) out so that they’re in a ‘log’ or bundle shape that you could get your hands around tightly to bind it up with a cord.

- Start by tying the cord around one end and then slowly and snugly wrap the cord around the bundle working from one end to the other and back. You can tie knots along the way to help keep it securely bound together. As you wrap the cord around, every so often lay a hawthorn thorn into the bundle, careful to place them in a way that you won’t prick your hands.

- After it’s all bound and finished, drip wax from the black candle all over the bundle. Caution of the hot wax on your skin though, unless that’s your kind of thing.

- Then at whatever point in your Yule fire ritual it’s appropriate, toss in the bundle and watch it burn.

- Alternatively, if you’re making an infused oil, it’s best to dry your plant material first to avoid mold growth in your finished oil.  Cinnamon is a possible skin irritant so if you plan on using this anointing oil on your skin, either do a test patch first, or skip the cinnamon stick. Steep the herbs in enough apricot kernel oil (or other carrier oil) to cover the plant material by an inch or so for 4-6 weeks, then strain out the plant material, and you have a shelf-stable anointing oil for candles or your body (external use only.) Apricot kernel oil will go rancid in about a year, so only make as much as you’ll use up! You can further preserve your oil with vitamin e or other skin-safe preservative. Use this to dress your yule candle and witch it burn all the way down.

- You could also grind the herbal ingredients, along with the ash from burning the ‘something that represents what you want to burn down’ in your yule fire, into a powder and use it as a powder if that suits your needs. Though evergreen needs are /very/ resinous, so if you’re using an herb grinder of any kind, keep in mind it will get sticky and is difficult to clean afterwards. Which is why I have one electric grinder for coffee, and one for medicinal/edible herbs, that way my coffee doesn’t taste like pine in the morning.. though that doesn’t sound terrible in all honesty. 

*** Always practice fire safety! Know how to anoint candles with oil /safely/ and have a fire extinguisher near by because oil fires can’t be put out with water. If you’re having an outdoor fire, make sure you’re following your region’s bylaws and have water near by!

Stay Curious, Witches

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Who is Lucifer ?

I see many people talking about Lucifer, people that only “know” him from the bible and my question is how can you know who really Lucifer is if you do not inform yourself about his story, about what happened to him and the very essence of who he is. How can you lay knowledge if you only base yourself on one book who portrays him as the Devil ? 

Why the religion portrays him as the Devil and the bad one ? What did Lucifer do except fighting for his own rights, he refused to blindly follow the rules, he refused that someone dictate his behaviors, he wanted to have his own free will. This is his only crime. So, is that really a crime ? Think further and ask yourself if someone should be punished for that ?

Please, inform yourself about Lucifer, do not act as you know who he is if you only repeat what the bible wants you to think about him.

Lucifer is the morning star, he is kind, gentle, clever, caring and loving, but he is also destructor and revengeful. To me, he is the yin and the yang, he alone represents the bad and the good, because this is how the world works, we all have a part of good and a part of bad in us, do we have to be punished for it ? Does the bad in us make us bad people ? No. On the contrary it makes us more human. We need and we have to embrace all of our flaws as much as we embrace our goodness. We need to understand from where do the flaws we have come, why do we have them, we need to understand them in order to really know who we are and how we can improve ourselves on our spiritual journey. Why do we have to feel bad for having defects, for having flaws ? We can not be perfect and we are not, so give up wanting to be perfect and blaming, judging yourself and the others for that.

Lucifer is not a God you have to follow blindly, it is not what he is asking from us, he does not want a blind devotion. We all should consider him as a guide who enlightens all of us. He wants us to always improve ourselves on our journey, to improve our soul in our life mission, He is everywhere guiding, helping us, but he does not do the work for us. He only shows us the way, but we still have our free will and we can still decide to not follow this path without any punishment from him, because with Lucifer we all have the choice.

Lucifer understands us and accepts us in all of our complexity, because he is the duality between the good and the bad. He is not perfect and this is why he can understand us in a very deep level, how could he not ? He is the most beautiful and complex creation of the universe.

I do not believe all the bad things that are said on him, how someone who helps  us to accept all of our sides, how someone who helps us to be able to say “no”, who helps us to stand for our truths, who helps us to fight for our rights could not love us ? He places a part of him in all of us by helping and guiding us. Lucifer does not hate humanity or humans, he never did, on the contrary he helped us to free ourselves and to embrace who we really are in our complexity. 

Lucifer has been betrayed, many say bad things about the morning star without knowing anything about his story. Lucifer has good in him, Lucifer is light, Lucifer is all of us, he is not the archetype of the “good God”, he is more complex than that. 

When you learn to know more about him, you learn to know more about yourself and you start embracing who you are.

My life has never changed so much than since the day I started to work with him. He helped me to understand myself on a very deep level and I never stop learning about who I am, I have never been that humble, because luciferianism is learning to be humble, is learning to be the better version of yourself, is about standing for and only for yourself without feeling guilty. 

Lucifer is the light that illuminates my path.

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Tarot History: Fast facts

Divination with cards started as early as the 1420s

The word tarot originally translated to ‘foolisness’

They were originally intended for card games.

Some of the earliest decks had Christian imagery on them

Using cards for divination was originally done with basic playing cards. It’s thought that is why even today there are number cards 1-10 and 4 court cards, as well as four suits, mirroring that of standard playing cards.

Tarot cards as we know them were introduced in 1909, when the Rider-Waite deck became available .

The Rider-Waite deck has been continually in print and circulation since its first publishing.

Todays cards are split into two further sections, Major arcana and Minor arcana.

There are 22 major arcana, and 56 minor arcana. Making each deck 78 cards in total.

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@ the person naming these: who are you? what is your life?

source (x)

image description under cut:

Afficher davantage

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How Location and History Affect Spiritual Practices

So I’ve been feeling this for a long time, and I’m curious to see if anyone else feels the same.

I’m an Australian witch, born and raised down under. I started practicing witchcraft about three years ago. The first year or so of my practice was pretty smooth - I learnt about the basics: how to meditate, how to cast spells, pantheons and different belief systems. As I’m sure you’re all aware, the more witchcraft you practice, the more aware you become of energies around you. In my second year I began communicating with plants and animals through reading energy. It was then, when I started to advance beyond 101, that I encountered my problem.

I’m directly related to both convicts and officers who came to Australia on the First Fleet (the collection of ships that invaded and colonised Australia in 1788). I’m the most ‘Australian’ you can be without being Indigenous, and yet I’ve never felt connected to the land around me, because this land is not mine. My people have been here for about 200 years. Indigenous Australians have been here for about 50,000. Their spiritual practices are inseparable from their everyday life. Their connection to the land is part of their soul, which is why it was so devastating for Aboriginal people when the British invaded. Their land was stolen from them, industrialised and seen as an asset rather than something living. For Indigenous Australians, land is spoken of as a person. They speak to country, sing for country, long for country. This is not a bond my people can come close to understanding.

This is where my issue lies: I can engage with the land around me on a surface level. Spiritually, I can build a house here, but I do not feel that I can build a home. I know, on a deep level, that there are levels to the nature around me that I will never be able to explore. I’ve considered working with native plants and animals in my practice, but it feels wrong. The land here constantly reminds me that I am only a guest. Working with introduced plants like lavender and rosemary feels so much more natural than being in the presence of a gum tree. I know that, as much as I want to, I will never be able to fully develop my spiritual practice in Australia.

Recently, I went on a trip to Rome. I was curious to see if the energy there differed, and when I stepped off the plane it hit me like a truck. In Rome, you can feel the rising and falling of civilisations. The energy has movement in it, ancient tales to whisper in your ear. It was so different from Australia. Australia’s energy signature, to me, is linear. It has history, but that history is current. Its stories are still applicable, its sacred ground still in use. Rome gave me the feeling of treading through the dust of a fallen empire. Australia’s was still alive.

If I trace my family tree back further, I’m Scottish, with viking roots. I’m planning to go to Scotland at some point to see if my practice feels right there. Rome was different and interesting, but it wasn’t home either. Australian culture is familiar to me. After being in Rome long enough, I was homesick for the way I was able to subconsciously pick up on mannerisms from strangers in Australia. I was raised in Australia, so I understand the way it works. My spirituality is in conflict with my home country; but where my spirituality is at home, the rest of me is not.

Has anyone else, particularly witches who live in areas where Indigenous cultures have a strong connection to land (Australia, North America, etc.) felt this? What are your thoughts, your experiences?

p.s. I apologise if any of this seems jumbled or doesn’t make sense, I’m tired and this is mostly all word vomit. I tried to make it as coherent as possible.

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Spell Ideas that Aren’t Basic

1. A reverse knot spell to symbolize untying unhealthy relationships or removing obstacles (tie the knots before the spell and untie them during)

2.  A healing spell on behalf of the earth or a banishing spell to dispel pollution

3.  Use improve poetry or acting to represent your goal manifesting itself

4.   Fly an intention on a kite to charge the intention with the air element

5. Cosplay as a character whose traits you want to internalize or whose successes mimic your goals

6.  Imagine your issues settling and your life coming under your control as you brush your hair in the morning

7.  Draw your ideal life as a visualization exercise focusing on ideal habits, external situations, and relationship goals

8.  If you use cash often, charge money for a certain intention and imagine making purchases as releasing your intention to the universe

9.  Assign certain guitar cords or piano keys to one word intentions (love, success, peace) and play the note repetitively as a means of active meditation

10.  Create jewelry that represents something you want to obtain or become and wear it until that thing is achieved.  It will both serve as a means of attraction and remind you to work for your goal

[greymuse]

Took June bug out to forage through some local nature so we could make this coven wreath! ✨🌲

Had to make sure we got out there to gather supplies before it started snowing this season because it’s pretty much already started! 🌬✨

I had so much fun making this with my little family coven 🫀🥰

We used all natural materials no glue was used in the making of this. The apples were baked and dried by me with cinnamon topping for an extra fragrant touch ��🌞

We asked the plants for permission they were so generous! I think the lot of them enjoyed gaara’s presence and knew how pure of heart she is ✨🍁

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simple fresh start spells ♡

♡ write a list of things to leave behind, burn it to banish them.

♡ burn a white candle all the way through, and whisper a wish as it died out.

♡ cleanse with lemon water and rosemary on all windows and doors.

♡ rub one side of a coin with ash and the other with moon water, place above your door.

[greymuse]

spiritnectar on ig

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🕯️ Candle Magic 🕯️

Candle magic is one of my favorite type of ritual, because it is relatively simple to setup, and non-expensive. You just need a candle, and fire to light it up. If you want the spell to be even more powerful, feel free to carve symbols or sigils on the candle before lighting it. Then sit down, observe the flame, and think about a question that is worrying you. 

–

Color correspondences

⚪ White candles: healing, purification, innocence, meditation, peace

⚫ Black candles: strength, negative energies, resilience, self-control

🟤 Brown candles: intuition, animal protection, stability, decisions 

🟣 Purple candles: ambition, power, focus, concentration, inspiration

🔵 Blue candles: happiness, calm, laughter, relaxation, harmony, water

🟢 Green candles: luck, love, fertility, birth, health, success, earth 

🟡 Yellow candles: imagination, divination, intelligence, energy, air

🟠 Orange candles: authority, changes, control, support, versatility

🔴 Red candles: love, brave, blood, passion, death, sex, fire 

– 

Candle reading 

🔥 Candle will not light: the question cannot be answered anymore, because things are already in movement, you cannot turn back now. 

🔥 Strong, stable flame: the answer to your question is “yes”. 

🔥 Weak, small flame: the answer to your question is “no”. 

🔥 Dancing flame: there is chaotic, undisciplined energy present. You need to focus and meditate before taking any decision at the moment. 

🔥 Crackling flame: spirits might be present in the room, and they would like to speak to you. Be open to their message. 

🔥 A lot of smoke is coming out: the universe is helping you cleanse yourself and your room, leaving space for new opportunities and energies. 

🔥 Candle will not go out: the spirits are telling you that the ritual is not over. Ask yourself if your question was the right one, or if there is anything that needs to be further discussed. 

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Lunar Phases

🌑🌘🌗🌖🌕🌔🌓🌒

🌑New moon:

New beginnings

Cleansing

Creation

Resetting

🌒Waxing crescent:

Strength

Fertility

Healing

Creativity

Manifestation

🌓First quarter:

Attraction

Bonding

Taking action

🌔Waxing gibbous:

Energy

Strength

Renewal

Determination

🌕Full moon:

Power

Psychic ability

Celebration

Rejuvenation

Divination

🌖Waning gibbous:

Cleansing

Protection

Gratitude

Closure

Repelling

🌗 Third quarter:

Transition

Balance

Calming

Release

🌘 Waning crescent:

Banishing

Removing negativity

Rest

Surrender

[greymuse]

🐚 Seashell Correspondence (masterpost!) 🐚

This is my near completed masterpost of shells which I tried listing up some common and uncommon shells for the past few days! I might add more shell info in the future💕

Disclaimer: This list is of associations collected from various sources around the internet and a mix of my personal ones!

     ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧      ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿       ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Abalone: love, healing, prosperity, luck, wealth, balance, peace, cleansing, meditation, psychic abilities, self-love, feminine energies, earth + water element

Angel’s Wing: determination, freedom, angelic energies, positive spiritual guidance, protection, aid in receiving and sending energies, air element

Auger: fertility, strength, courage, power, masculine energies, fire element

Ark Shell: safety, protection, finding strength in the outer world 

Bear’s paw: power, strength, vitality, nurturing, protection, warmth, feminine + masculine energies, earth + fire element 

(Banded) Tulip Shell: binding, friendships, relationships, social life, water element

Bonnet Shell: secrecy, the unknown, protection, mystery, trust, beauty, air element

Button Shell: connections, gatherings, friendships, spirituality, divination, air element

Bubble Shell: inspiration, creativity, happiness, curiosity, wished, intuitions, cleansing, psychic abilities, divination, air element 

Carrier Shell: overcoming shyness, helps getting out of your shell, courage, protection, strength, escaping from negative thoughts

Cat’s eye Shell:  protection against jealousy, gossips and negative energies

Cerith Shell: sexuality, fertility, masculine energies, fire element

Clam: purification, love, friendships, abundance, communication, healing, stability, vitality, protection, protecting emotions, truth, balance, peace, grounding, feminine energies, water element

Cockle: love, friendship, relationships, emotions, centering, gateway to a new life, new beginnings, feminine energies, water element

Conch: love, beauty, friendship, communication, feminine energies, truth, art , beauty, clarity, freedom grace, movement, speech, spirituality, strength summoning, trust, truth , vanity, feminine energies, air element

Cone Shell: protection, control, motivation

Cowrie: abundance, prosperity, fertility, love, wealth, pregnancy, growth, divination, sexuality, protection, beauty, menstruation problems, feminine energies, water element

Crown Conch: associated with crown chakra, meditation, divinity, intention, confidence, intuition

Drupe Shell: reflecting oneself, discover and being comfortable of who you are, self trust, confidence, bravery

Fig Shell: wisdom, creativity, peace, love, luck, fertility, divination, fortune, water + air element

Fighting Conch: aggression, defense, warding/shielding, protection, masculine energies, fire element

Frog Shell: moving forward, starting over, new beginnings

Harp Shell: secrecy, beauty, art, protection, feminine energies, water + air element

Helmet Shell: grounding, protection, strength, honor, masculine energies fire element

(Horned) Turban: protection, faith, trust

Horse Conch: beauty, freedom, grace, strength, progress, water + earth element

Jackknife Clam: (inner) strength, speed, warding, secrecy, masculine energies, air element

Janthina Shell: faith, peace, trust, moving forward, going with the flow, trust in the universe, air element

Jewel Box Clam: beauty, vanity, glamour, passion, (self) love, self care, feminine energies, water element 

Jingle Shells: wealth, prosperity, cleansing, positivity, trust, intuition, earth element

Junonia Shell: strength, beauty, marriage, fertility, childbirth, feminine energies, named after the Roman goddess Juno/Hera (Greek)

Keyhole Limpet: finding a way in/out in a situation, meditation, unblocking psychic/divination abilities  

Limpet: courage, confidence, strength, nurturing, self  trust, peace, endurance

Left-Handed Whelk: making drastic / positive changes in life, transformation, air element

Lightning whelk: awareness, banishing, intent, trust

Lion’s Paw: strength, courage, protection, inner strength, victory, pride, masculine energies, fire element

Miter Shell: peace, spirituality, grounding + centering, calm energies, spiritual introspection, lunar magick, feminine + masculine energies, water element

Moon Shell: purification, peace, protection, meditation, clarity, vitality, rebirth, cleansing + charging energies, psychic awareness, cycles, progress, warding, lunar magick, feminine energies, water element

Murex: protection, defense, binding, masculine energies

Mussels: communications, friendships, luck, health, travel, abundance, dedication, determination, community, life giving stability, enduring life’s hardships, feminine enegies, water element

Nautilus: focus, intentions, clarity, wisdom, growth, peace, endings + beginnings

Olive Shells: healing, hope, love, friendship, hope abundance, opportunity

Oyster: love,luck, good fortune, prosperity, banishing, fertility, (hidden) beauty, vitality, passion, turning pain into beauty (pearls), lunar magick, feminine energies, water element

Oyster Drill: curses, warding/shielding, protection

Pearl Whelk: control, life, progress, trust, strength, manifestation, fire element

Pen Shell: beauty, confidence, creativity, self-love, art, love, inspiration, feminine energies, water element

Periwinkle: grounding, intuitions, focus, friendships

Purple Snail Shell: beauty, divination, psychic abilities, air element

Pyram Shell: determination, hope, strength, air element

Scallops: travel, love, friendships, movement, beauty, grace, change, fertility, peace, healing, travel, spirituality, happiness, communication, patience, diversity, openess, all-purpose shell, feminine energies, water element

Slipper Shell: balance, generosity, transformation, healing, peace, community, helping others, air element

Snail Shell (Garden Snails): fertility, sexuality, travel, protection, home, feminine + masculine energies, earth + water element

Spider Conch: maturity, responsibility, self-defense, maintaining your position, fire element

Spindle Shell: inspiration, meditation, fate, change, karma, destiny, vitality

Strombus Shell: truth, communication, divination, speech, trust, air element

Star Limpet: strength, growth, beauty, art, water element

Sundial Shell: hope, success, victory, the sun, fire element

Thorny Oyster: defense, creativity, intuition, focus, beauty, art

Tooth Shell / Tusk Shell: wealth, business, abundance, strength, aggression, masculine energies fire element

Top Shell: spiral energies, centering, helping energy flow, control, air element

Triton Conch: happiness, intentions, prayers, helps clearing your voice/intentions, use to seek help/attention, air element

Turkey Wing: freedom, happiness, emotions, lifts bad moods, change emotions, water + air element

Venus Comb Murex: vanity, beauty, glamour, love, feminine energies, water element

Wentletrap: creativity, inspiration, art, water element

Whelk: taking control, get a hold of a situation, life changes, good fortune, wisdom, guidance, control, positivity, understanding, spiritual development, air element

Whelk Egg Casing: abundance, new beginnings, faith, luck

Worm Snail Shell: tenacity, hope, life and death, creation, overcoming obstacles, hope, changes, earth element

                          ❤ Note: Please use/collect your shells ethically! ❤

    ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧      ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿       ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ 

[greymuse]

November Pines, Somerset UK

Photographed by Freddie Ardley

[greymuse]

my altar 🌛🔮✨

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[greymuse]

💙New Year Eve Blessings 💙

Nearly there magickal ones. Get ready to leave 2020 behind and welcome 2021. Sending love and light to you and your loved ones. 💙💙

#mooncraftmagickstore #magick #newyearseve #wicca #pagan #smudgingprayer #smudging #cleansing #spellwork #ritual #blessings #lovedones #light

[greymuse]

Beginner Tips for Interpreting Tarot (with Real Examples)

There’s this game called Powerpoint Karaoke. In the game, someone makes up a short series of powerpoint presentation slides. They will give the whole presentation a title, and then pick related or unrelated images to go on the slides. Another person has to give the presentation to the audience - basically improvising along the way the best they can to turn a random topic plus random images into a coherent presentation.  Reading tarot is a lot like doing Powerpoint Karaoke. The title of the presentation is the question you ask, and the cards are the slides. The better you are at stringing disparate images into a coherent narrative on the fly, the better you will be at making sense of tarot spreads.  For each of these tips, I will illustrate it with a real question that I am genuinely asking my tarot, the card I pull, and how I interpret it. 1. Ask clear questions. It is ten times harder to interpret an answer when the question was muddled in the first place. Your questions can be general, or specific, but it’s best to only ask one question at a time. I think about the wording of my question for a while before I actually answer it. I might think at first, “How is this new creative project thing going to go? Should I start it on the New Moon, or am I going to be an unproductive mess this week? Is it a bad month to start it? Why have I been so unproductive?” I’ll take that and cut it down - for instance, removing my own speculations about myself and how it will go and all of the different options. If that stuff is relevant, it will come up in the cards. I end up with a straight-forward question that is open to lots of different answers: “Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon?“ Example: Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon? Ace of Pentacles. Ooh. This seems like a good omen to me. It is not particularly hard to interpret because it feels very on the nose, because Aces are about beginnings. And it indicates that whatever I do could eventually become profitable, even though that’s not explicitly my intention.  2. Get rid of any preconceived notion of what the answer will be. Sometimes you turn over the exact card you are anticipating - like me the time I flippantly asked my tarot deck what my persistent headache might be from and thought, “I’m probably just dehydrated and it’s going to be Temperance or some shit like that.” But other times the card you get will not fit into the mold of what you are expecting. The answer you get is not always going to be the answer you want. Sometimes you are just looking for a “Should I keep going with this story or scrap it and start something new?” but that assumes that one of those options is the correct answer. Your cards may think that you should keep going with the story, but change it in some way. Or maybe you should scrap it and not start on something new right away. If you are expecting a purely yes-or-no type of answer, you may feel confused by the result you get. I often ask questions that could have a whole range of answers, instead of expecting a specific type of answer, so instead I might say, “What should I write about?” Example: What should I write about? The Chariot. This card is about overcoming obstacles, and maintaining control. It’s not really at all what I was starting to write about recently. This is definitely a card where the interpretation isn’t obvious to me. I’ve just been sitting here and had flash of realization that I think maybe I was asking the wrong question - ironic for an example about having preconceived notions. But this actually illustrates the “having preconceived notions” thing perfectly. I asked it what I should write about, and the flash of realization I just had about the message of the Chariot is, “You worry too much about what you should write about, when you will only succeed by actually putting in the effort of writing. Stop worrying about the content - write about anything as long as you are actually writing instead of pacing and contemplating.” So yeah - sometimes the answer you need is not the answer you want.  3. Read interpretations of the cards online. Yes, this is obvious. But it needs to be said because a lot of people have strong, contrary ideas about how tarot should be done. You don’t have to read only the pictures, or have a list of associations memorized, or expect the answer to come purely from your intuition. Lots of sites online offer long and detailed explanations for each tarot card upright and reversed. Often cards can have several meanings, and while reading on a few different interpretations a meaning may jump out at you as obvious.  Example: What’s going to happen this week?  The Moon. This card always seems hazy to me, so it’s a good one to look up. This site says, “On the New Moon, set your intentions and plant the seeds of opportunity so they can grow,” which feels relevant given that the New Moon is this week. This site says, “The towers on the opposing ends represent the forces of good and evil, and their similarity in appearance can allude to the difficulties that we face in distinguishing between them,” which frankly sounds like America to me right now. It also says, “the negative energies must be released and turned into something constructive.” I wouldn’t necessarily gather all of that just from relying on my own ideas about what this card means, but seeing it written here feels very apt for what Americans are going through - both last week and I guess maybe the upcoming week. 

4. Generate a bunch of different ideas for what the cards might mean. If the answer doesn’t seem obvious or immediate, write down three or four things you think it could be saying. Write down all of the associations that spring to mind, even if they seem stupid, and then whittle them down later. You may have some intuitive sense of which interpretation is correct, or one interpretation will grow on you the longer you sit with it. Sometimes the answer may have shades of all of the interpretations you came up with.  Example: What is the best way to spend my Sunday? Three of Pentacles. For me, this could go a few different ways. I asked my deck once what someone thought of me and got this card. So I associate this card with that person. It is that person’s birthday today, so it may be indicating that I should actually reach out to them. I have some good reasons for not doing that though. Or it may be a much less personal interpretation, telling me to do something collaborative. The more that I think about it, the more I think it may also relate to the first card. I’m drawing a connection here because the suit is the same. I’ve kept my ideas about my new creative project entirely to myself, but maybe before embarking on it I should get feedback from someone else on the aspects of it I’ve been struggling with. I think that’s the interpretation I’m going to go with.  5. Ask your cards silly, simple, or non-consequential questions. If you only ask serious questions where you really need an answer, you may feel way more pressure to interpret the cards correctly. As practice, it can help just to ask casual questions like “What should I eat for dinner?” and see what it says. In fact, I’ll do that right now just to show how I would interpret it. Example: What should I eat for dinner tomorrow? Six of Wands. The meaning of this card is ‘success’ and ‘praise’ and things like that, so it kind of reminds me of how I would always choose lobster on birthdays, or after my choir concerts, or middle school graduation and those types of events when I got to pick what to eat. It is definitely a celebration food for me. This is actually a card that is like ‘the answer I want but not the answer I need,” because I don’t know where I’m going to get lobster for dinner tomorrow. Maybe seafood in general will do, because I have salmon I could make. Overall - interpretations are very personal. In the examples I’ve included, someone else may not draw the same conclusion just from the card and the question because they don’t have all of that background knowledge about me to draw from. One of the best things to do when interpreting tarot readings for yourself is just to know yourself - and be able to look at yourself honestly.