Today I’m going to tell you what my tarot practice has been up to lately. I’m in a lull right now and don’t read as often, nor do I use as many decks. In fact, I’m trying to declutter by selling and donating decks that definitely deserve a better home. (I love to leave decks inside those little neighbourhood library boxes in front of people’s homes.) In this post, I’m sharing three readings/practices I’m currently working with.
something old
This pairing (see featured photo above) of one oracle and one tarot card has been a staple in my practice for years, though I’ve lost touch with it recently. In the past, I used to select two decks to read with for a whole week, pulling cards each morning. It worked really well for that time, but these days I prefer a slower pace. In essence, I keep the same pairing for a few weeks and pull new cards when I feel called. For this Autumn season, I chose to pair the Mabon Oracle with the Herbcrafter’s Tarot. I love how these two decks talk to one another, both in terms of visual aesthetics and messages. Sometimes I have a harder time connecting with the Mabon Oracle because of the flowery language, but the Herbcrafter’s Tarot has an uncanny ability to ground any deck it is paired with.
*Fawn: See yourself as a blank canvas on which anything is possible. Soon a hesitant step on weak legs will turn into a giant leap of strength and graceful power. (Mabon Oracle)
The Tower/Mushroom: Let tragedy nourish the soil of rebirth. Everything is food for growth. Let the current crisis consume the false narratives you have created and rewrite your story. Once the first shock of profound change has passed, let new energy be released. (Herbcrafter’s Tarot)
*Please note that I am sharing what I wrote down from the guidebooks, though sometimes I paraphrase or only select key passages.
something new
I had a dream during the Angelus hour of the morning: I was sitting in a seminar room in uni and we were discussing some theoretical interpretations of the black dakini. It was suggested that the beautiful form of a dakini was a representation of the Eternal, while her ugly form was that of a human throwing a tantrum. I on the other hand argued that the monstrous form is divine precisely because we as humans cannot comprehend it.
My undergrads & master’s were spent in art history, and this scene certainly brings back a lot of memories. Although I don’t think I was as intellectually sound and outspoken back then. I like the general idea of working with deities (Buddhist is one identity of mine) but I’ve never actually committed to building a strong relationship with any. I like that the black dakini came to me intellectually; it’s something I know very well. Had she come to me by evoking a visceral reaction, I might have forgotten the dream very quickly. Upon awaking I wanted to obtain more guidance regarding this dream, to know whether I could work with her. She seemed to come from a closed practice, you know? Vajrayana is not my forte and I’m a particularly lazy spiritual person. So I turned to the cards for guidance. The Intuitive Night Goddess Tarot and the Flowers of the Night Oracle form a lovely pair and are quite befitting a world of dreams, don’t you think?
Intention/Chinese Star Jasmine: You may be satisfied with what you currently enjoy but there is a part of you that longs for more. (Flowers of the Night Oracle)
Nine of Cups: Enjoy the many gifts you possess: emotional abundance, love, connection. Thanks is a tool of infinite resource, helping us shift our perspectives and realise we are enough. (Night Goddess)
Reclamation: Our labour will be hard but worth it. We have the choice for steadier footing. We are all marked with a darkness inside to help us grow and learn. We are not always the monsters we fear. (Night Goddess)
The message is so on point and I have a lot to say regarding this reading, but for now I’m going to let it marinate in the energetic melting pot of whatever I’m going through right now as I’m undertaking Kundalini YTT (santosha, anyone?). Will I begin working with the black dakini? Honestly, I don’t know. But I like to think there is something here for me. More thoughts later.
something in between
I’ve been working with these three decks together since August 2022. Every so often when the time feels right, perhaps on a specific moon phase or during an auspicious moment (or when I’m bored hey), I will pull a card from the Wild Moon deck that corresponds to that day’s moon. Then a goddess card and a constellation are chosen to obtain guidance for the times ahead.
Some cards have stayed on my altar for months and I’ve observed that the messages continue to be relevant. It’s almost as if the readings were “predictive,” but they’re not. I’m simply spiraling through the cycles of life and the same energies ebb and flow.
Waning Crescent: We’ve now entered the void. We may feel like the ground has dropped beneath us, but it is here we discover our latent strengths. (Wild Moon)
Goddess – Alcestis: While you may give too much of yourself, the mythic narrative reminds us that noble acts are supported by the heroic parts of ourselves. We give something of ourselves in order to transform. (Ancient Feminine Wisdom)
Constellation – Argo: When we relate to others outside the familiar circle, we unwittingly replay family patterns. (Celestial Tarot)
🌔 ♋
Featured decks:
Seasons of the Witch: Mabon Oracle (Lorriane Anderson, Juliet Diaz, Tijana Lukovic)
The Herbcrafter’s Tarot (Latisha Guthrie, Joanna Powell Colbert)
Intuitive Night Goddess Tarot (Linzi Silverman)
Flowers of the Night Oracle (Cheralyn Darcey)
Ancient Feminine Wisdom: Of Goddesses and Heroines (Kay Steventon, Brian Clark)
Wild Moon Lunar Phase Deck (Tamed Wild)
Celestial Tarot (Kay Steventon, Brian Clark)