Rule Of Thumb For Learning Witchcraft

Keeping this here for safe reminders

Your Life and the Suits in Tarot

Wands are your passions.            

The Ace of Wands could mean finding a new hobby, like painting or hiking. The Two of Wands could mean planning the renovation of your home, if interior design or woodworking is among your passions.

Passion is related to creativity. So the Six of Wands could mean your Instagram posts gaining a lot of attention, if you are into fashion or photography.

And we tend to be very passionate about our favorite celebrities and our crushes, so the Eight of Wands could mean receiving attention from someone famous or somebody you are interested in.

Cups are your emotions.

The Ace of Cups could mean the arrival of a new lover, while the Two of Cups could mean romance blooming between you and a friend.

Emotions are not always positive. Sometimes it is as if they do not even exist, like in the Four of Cups, where you are bored from feeling nothing. Other times they are negative, like in the Five of Cups, where you could be grieving a death or a breakup.

The Page of Cups could be an invitation to go out on a date. The Knight of Cups could be a marriage proposal. Both offers involve strong emotions.

Swords are your thoughts.

These thoughts could be mundane, like the Two of Swords asking you to decide between steak and salmon for dinner.

Other times, they could be of the higher kind, such as the Four of Swords conveying that your mind is at peace, because you have found your true spiritual path.

Most of the time, though, these thoughts are about day to day affairs, such as the Page of Swords confirming that you will get the job, or the Eight of Swords predicting how stressed you will be because of an exam.

Pentacles are your foundations.

Since we are living in a material world, most of our foundations are material. The Ace of Pentacles could mean starting at a new job, while the Six of Pentacles could mean receiving a bonus.

Foundations are related to stability. So the Five of Pentacles does not necessarily mean you will lose everything and become a beggar. It could simply be predicting that you will suffer a salary deduction because of the pandemic, causing you to feel less financially stable than usual.

For this reason, the King of Pentacles is the most stable figure in this arcana, closely followed by the Queen and the Knight.

They often overlap.

Because all of life overlaps.

If what you are most passionate about is money, then when the Suit of Wands talks to you, it would be speaking about finances, instead of hobbies. And if you are emotionally focused on spirituality, then instead of symbolizing a new lover, the Ace of Cups could mean a new religious journey.

The Three of Swords, for example, is about heartbreak. So why is it not under the Suit of Cups? Because when we are heartbroken, our heart is actually quiet. It is our mind that screams in pain, and that is the Suit of Swords’ domain.

common outdoor items & their uses

a guide to common outdoor items and their magickal uses.

acorns- luck, protection, wisdom, power

walnuts- healing, protection, self care

pinecones- fertility, masculinity, growth, nature

pine needles- cleansing, healing, strength, banishment

pecans- employment, protection, success, abundance, prosperity

grass- growth, learning, healing, new beginning, grief, recovery

maple leaves- feminine, travel, change, decisions, healing

oak leaves- truth, justice, knowledge, steadfastness, protection, guidance

birch leaves- protection, cleansing, fertility, purification

dandelions- calling spirits, divination, healing

dandelion seeds- divination, wishes, manifestation, dreams, luck

dandelion leaves- defeating negativity, steadfastness, growth, purification

2 leaf clovers- love, luck, courage, cleansing

3 leaf clovers- protection, luck, fidelity, divination

4 leaf clovers- spirit work, luck, psychic ability, attraction

5+ leaf clovers- wealth, luck, attracting money, sanity

wild clover flowers- animal magick, blessings, breaking curses, luck, love

apple seeds- love, secrets, knowledge, gateways, divination, prosperity

tree bark- protection, binding, banishment, cleansing, purification

rocks- many rocks have crystals hidden inside, the most common is quartz types. if unsure, rockcs can represent strength, stability, protection and banishing. if you suspect its a crystal, look it up and discover the correspondences that matter to you!

will add more as i can, feel free to add your own!!

Tarot - Minor Arcana Suits ✨

in a reading, if you have mostly…

…WANDS 🔥

conditions are primarily in the realm of thought

situation is in the very early stages of development 

you are being provided insight into the core of who you are 

they represent intention and consciousness 

you are being inspired to take action 

element: fire 

key words: ideas, growth, ambition, expansion

…CUPS 🌊

conditions are primarily felt in the realm of emotion or spirit 

you need to pay attention to your intuition for this situation 

thoughts and feelings are blending together 

things may not be manifesting outwardly yet 

element: water 

key words: emotion, desire, inner experience, spirit

…SWORDS ⚔️

conditions are in the realm of action 

there is a lot of activity, acceleration, and/or agitation 

associated with power and conflict 

you’re in the last stages of effort and/or difficulty before the final result 

swords do have a double edge - be cognizant of your thoughts/ambitions/actions 

element: air 

key words: action, movement, struggle, keenness 

…PENTACLES 🏅

conditions are taking form, you’re in the realm of manifestation 

dealing with the physical plane of life 

situations surrounding work, health, finances, material possessions 

you are being presented with the end result - what’s come to fruition 

element: earth 

key words: manifestation, realization, proof, prosperity 

Let’s talk about ●●●

●●● Warding II

★ As with almost everything in magic, there are countless ways to create protective barriers around objects and places.

☆ Wards need to be effective and powerful, so choose methods you can relate to, and avoid experimenting with things you don't know or have a lot of experience with.

❗ Before creating a protective barrier anywhere, physical and spiritual purification is necessary, because in the same way that wards are able to prevent certain energies from entering, they also prevent all energies that are already inside from leaving. Ideally, the physical space should be clean and purified, to prevent existing energies from influencing the expected final result.

→ Warding Methods 101

• Spray warding

   This is a simple method that doesn't require much visualization, and is recommended for beginners. The intention placed at the time of creating and applying the flavoring, and choosing the right herbs is enough.

   Wards made from air fresheners are not as durable, and need to be redone every month or so. There are ways to enhance the effect, at the time of creating the flavoring, by combining it with sigils, crystals and using a good amount of herbs with protective properties.

• Incense

   For warding, it is recommended that only natural resin incenses are used, made from herbs with protective properties. If that's not possible, make an herbal smoking stick, but don't just use incense sticks to create energy barriers. Avoid using them, but if you still want to, combine them with other methods, or your ward will have low energy and will quickly deactivate.

• Sigils

   The best thing is that you create a specific sigil for the warding of the object or place you want to protect. You can adapt bindrunes for this purpose, but beware of runes that will be formed unintentionally during the process, as they can weaken or get in the way of the desired end result.

• Energy targeting

   If you're already experienced with energy manipulation and directing, this is a great way to work on these aspects and make your ward exactly the way you want it to look. It's also a very customizable way, so it's great for creating your own personal way of making energy barriers.

• Containers

   Barriers made using containers as a base have good longevity, and need to be reinforced less frequently. Choose a variety of fresh or dried herbs with protective properties, and add other ingredients that can boost energy, such as properly purified and energized essential oils and crystals for protective purposes.

• Salt

   Works well for creating temporary barriers. The salt used can be coarse salt, sea salt or table salt as a last resort. For more intensified protection, I recommend black salt

★ Warding I | Free Witchy Newsletter  |  Tip your witch ★

How to read your birth chart (basic)

Part 1 – Reading the Planets/Objects

For this, the only important part of the chart is the box with the planets and corresponding zodiac signs. I’m using my own chart as a reference.

Each planet (eg. sun) and object (eg. rising/ascendant) governs a specific portion of your personality.

The planets each have corresponding symbols, which are standardised for everyone’s birth chart (☉☽☿♀♂♃ ♄⛢♆♇).

The chart will show you what zodiac sign each planet and object was in the moment you were born, which is personalised for you.

Each planet and object has its own meaning,

☉ Sun: your core identity, ego

☽ Moon: feelings, emotions, aesthetics

Rising: how you are perceived by others (technically the 1st house, not a planet)

☿ Mercury: communication, intelligence, socialising

♀ Venus: love, romance, affection

♂ Mars: sex, passion, anger, drive

♃ Jupiter: luck, fortune, ideals

♄ Saturn: restrictions, limitations

⛢ Uranus: changes

♆ Neptune: dreams, sleep

♇ Pluto: transformation, deep meanings, destiny, your soul

and it takes the characteristics of the associated sign.

♈︎ Aries: active, initiating, leading, independent, aggressive, impatient, combative, energetic, pioneering, naive, assertive

♉︎ Taurus: persevering, down-to-earth, stable, stubborn, possessive, prosperous, dependable, physical, sensual

♊︎ Gemini: talkative, mental, adaptable, flexible, changeable, responsive, sociable, superficial, versatile, inquisitive, witty

♋︎ Cancer: gentle, conservative, feeling, nurturing, defensive, contemplative

♌︎ Leo: magnanimous, generous, hospitable, caring, warm, authoritative, active, open

♍︎ Virgo: analytical, intelligent, reserved, critical, helpful, conscientious

♎︎ Libra: just, sociable, refined, accommodating, kind, fair, diplomatic, likeable, indecisive, respectful, artistic

♏︎ Scorpio: passionate, perceptive, resourceful, possessive, psychological, prowling, determined, probing, fixed, focused

♐︎ Sagittarius: optimistic, restless, enthusiastic, adventurous, honest, irresponsible, outspoken, independent

♑︎ Capricorn: tenacious, conservative, resourceful, disciplined, wise, ambitious, prudent, constant

♒︎ Aquarius: individualistic, assertive, independent, humanitarian, inventive, original, eccentric, opinionated, intellectual, idealistic, cool, friendly, detached

♓︎ Pisces: intuitive, dreamy, artistic, humane, sympathetic, sensitive, compassionate, perceptive, tender, impressionable

For example, my sun, which governs my core identity, is in Capricorn. This shows that my core identity is tenacious, conservative, resourceful etc.

My rising/ascendant, which governs how I am perceived by others, is in Taurus. This shows that I am perceived as persevering, down-to-earth, stable etc.

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Now just replace this out with your own info and congrats! You now know the basics of reading the planets and objects in your birth chart!

I’m still working on learning to read the houses, but I’ll link it when I’m done!

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Chart made on https://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?btyp=w2gw&rs=3&usechpref=1 (more accurate)

Information gathered from my book of shadows and https://astro.cafeastrology.com/ (better info)

Keeping this here as well-

Tarot & Oracle Spread Masterpost

This is a masterpost of tarot & oracle card spreads. None of them are mine; this is solely a compilation of various spreads found on tumblr. I’ve broken them down into sections to sort through them with ease. This is not a full list, but do enjoy the spreads listed below. Note: Witchcraft is NOT a replacement for medical care. Seek the services in your area if you need help.

Enjoy!

Daily Spreads:

Good Morning Spread

Harmonious Day Spread

Daily Brew

Morning Mug

One Day At A Time

Love/Luck/Truth:

Soulmate Spread

Relationship Insight

how to make friends

Luck Ducky

Illuminate the Truth

Bat Tarot Spread

two halves of the same heart

confusion in a relationship

Love Tarot Spread

Single and Looking

A Way Back into Love

Where is my love life going?

Self Love/Self Care/Spirituality:

The New You

What’s Up My Dude?

The Unicorn Spread

Mirrored Heart Spread

Breathe Deeply

Inner Empress Spread

Shine Like a Star

Self-Love Spread

Self-Exploration Spread

May Your Self-Confidence Rise Like the Moon

Self-Care Spread

A spread for healing from hurtful words

Forgiveness Spread

For Gaining Closure & Letting Go

Let Your Soul Shine

calm the f@%k down

hierarchy of needs

Pyramid of Present Introspection

Unlock yourself

Walking Away

Stop Being Bad To Yourself

For Empaths

I Can’t F@%king Sleep

Up All Night

Reprogram your Subconscious

Higher Self & Purpose Spread

Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Check-up

Spiritual Progress

connecting with the gods/goddesses

The Baking Sun

Enlightened Perspective

Temper Temper

Loneliness Spread

Self Love Spread

Personal Protection Spread

Self Image Spread

Wholeness Spread

Aphrodite’s Pearl

Hidden Self

Change/Fear:

The New Adventure Spread

Evolve Your Blog

The Tree of Life & The Sprout of Fear

Go With the Flow: A Guide for Change

Keys to Courage

Terrified

Classic Tarot Spreads/Based on Tarot:

Classic Tarot Spreads

Star Spread

100 Variations of the 3-Card Spread

Simple and classic spreads

The Empress

The Fool

The Tower

Eviction Notice

The World

Connect with your Tarot Deck:

Bond with Your Tarot Deck

Hello New Friend (Tarot Deck)

Get to Know Your Deck

Pop Culture: 

Harry Potter Hogwarts Houses

Rapunzel Spread

Happy Little Trees

The Princess and the Pea

The Princess Bride

Brainstorming/Productiveness/Success:

Achieve Your Dreams

Plan Your Goals

Job Search

Solution Spread

The Right Choice

for busy motherf@%kers

Busy Bee

Toxic Workplace Spread

Quick Coffee Break

growth and goals

Problem Solving Spread

Focus Spread

Holiday/Specific Time Period/Date:

August 2017 Solar Eclipse

New Year’s Spread

Imbolc Spread of Growth

Imbolc Spread for Goal Setting

Valentine’s Day Spread

Valentine’s Day Self-Love Spread

Be Your Own Damn Valentine

Galentine’s Day Spread

Ostara Tarot Spread

For Beltane

Lammas Spread

Back to School Bag

Holiday Survival Spread

Tarot Spread for Yule

Neptune Retrograde

Embracing Mercury Retrograde Part 1 & Part 2

How to Survive Mercury Retrograde

Beginning, Middle, & End of the Month

New Moon Reflection Spread

New Moon Spread

New Moon New Start Spread

Full Moon Spread

Near to Distant future Spread

Creativity:

Paint Palette Tarot Spread

Protagonist Spread

Sunny Creativity

Storytelling through Tarot

The Artist Spread

Find Your Muse

writing tip

Realize Special Talents

Quick Tarot Fixes/Tricks:

Fix My Wifi

Goals & Desires

Stalker Stand Still

Spiderweb Spread

for when you’re stuck between two choices

Easy Tarot Tricks

The Hermit

doing the right thing?

fix a f@%k up

Wheel of Fortune

goals and desires

41 Quick Spreads for any situation

For When You’re Lost/Going through a Hard Time:

Putting the Faith in the Universe

Well, Now What?

Finding Balance

A Light In the Dark

Radical Acceptance

Fork In the Road

When You’re Laying On Your Bed Wondering Where the F@%K You’re Going In Life

What are my next steps?

Self-Discovery

When the World is Cruel

This Too Will Pass

Bottled Up

“Strongest Person I Know”

Difficult Conversation Spread

What the Actual F@%K?!

Past-Lives:

Pyramid of a Past Life

Past Life Spread

A Glimpse into Past Lives

Miscellaneous:

RGB Spread

Conquering a Bad Habit

12 Olympians Spread

Spread for Hobbies

Zodiac

Planetary Tarot Spread

Seven Sisters

Setting Intentions

The Lessons

How to Handle a Situation Getting Out of Hand

Remove the Blinders

I Want to Know You

Chakra Spread

What You’re Attracting in Life

Mending the Communication Gap

Crystals: Card Reading Aids

GROUNDING ☀️

Howdy! I’m back with another installment in my protection series!! Today I’m gonna be talking about something a little bit less magickal and more mundane: Grounding!

What Is Grounding? 

A quick google search will bring you to a plethora of pages talking about the phenomenon known as…grounding. Be wary that some of these sources will talk about autoimmune diseases and other chronic illnesses as if they can be cured by grounding- that is NOT the case! 

Grounding is talked about in two capacities: as a practice that can help you pull away from flashbacks, unwanted memories, and negative or challenging emotions..or the other way grounding is mentioned in modern day witchy settings is as: a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth. 

I honestly think these are one in the same, but I think of grounding as “centering” myself to protect myself from any malicious energy that may intend to harm me, and as a way to dispel any unwanted energy. 

How To Ground Yourself

Put your hands in water: focus on the temperature, the feeling of the water, etc. 

Breathing exercises: By bringing focus to your breath, you can help calm and center yourself. I personally favor an app called “Breathwrk” that has guided breathing exercises. 

Take a short walk: You may not always be able to take a break to walk, but this is an amazing way to get in touch with the earth and your surroundings while also giving yourself a little “reset” to get back to a healthy mindset. 

Hold ice: Like with the water technique, holding an ice cube and letting it melt in your hand gives you a sensory focusing tool to bring your mind back to the present 

Light a candle: Or something to that effect. If you put on your favorite diffuser scent, or light your favorite candle, you can focus on the scent and draw your attention to the scent that fills the room

Play a “challenging” game: I think this one may just be me but I love to do the daily mini cross word, or a similar game like solitare, when I’m feeling overwhelmed. It brings me back to the moment and gives me a second to reset while stimulating my brain 

Think in categories: Choose one or two broad categories, such as “musical instruments,” “ice cream flavors,” “mammals,” or “baseball teams.” Take a minute or two to mentally list as many things from each category as you can.

List your favorites: Listing is something I thoroughly enjoy, and by listing your favorite ______ (insert category) you are bringing your mind into a thankful/uplifting headspace 

Close your eyes and focus on your energy. Get it under control so that it’s manageable—and then, using your hands, push it into the ground, a bucket of water, a tree, or some other object that can absorb it.

Why Do We Ground?

Grounding is useful in multiple mundane situations, like when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, etc. But we use grounding in magickal situations…especially surrounding energy work. For example: If you fail to center yourself properly before you preform a spell, ritual, or something that is highly demanding of your energy, you can feel kind of “amped up” or jittery afterwards. When you preform any sort of magick, you can get a rush of energy afterwards if you didn’t properly center yourself. Grounding is extremely useful because it can help get rid of that extra energy you’ve stored up. 

Sources/Citations/More Resources

Remember it’s always important to cross reference your information, for this post I used multiple sources I knew have been vetted by much more experienced witches than I am- but still! You need to make sure what you’re reading is credible

Grounding Techniques: Healthline

Magickal Grounding

Grounding 101

What Is Grounding: Healthline

Getting Grounded

im moving into a dorm for the first time in the fall so i wont be able to burn things. that means no candle spells. this whole summer i’ve been researching different ways of doing spells, since candle spells and jar spells are very popular right now and both are difficult without fire. knot spells and sigils have been piquing my interest, but as i looked at my glass of water, ice half melted, i had an idea.

ice spells!

the ice melts just as a candle will. you can add herbs, food coloring, sigils in water and freeze it. once it’s frozen you can melt it and that will be the spell! ingredients can also be added to already formed ice, which would be easier for closeted witches.

depending on the ingredients, the water leftover could be drank and used to make sure that the spell it attached to you. it could also be refrozen and reused!

i hope this helps other witches who live in places where they can’t burn candles!! if you can, maybe this will provide an example of other types of spells too.

WHERE TO START!

(The fundamentals of witchcraft)

I often see this asked and since there are so many places you could start I thought that it may be helpful to create a less overwhelming version of my “welcome” post of with a more specific lay out of some of the beginner fundamentals! If you like this post please interact and check out PART 2 🥰 and please feel free to hit that follow button✨

Merry meet ~ B (Phae)

COMMON WITCH VOCABULARY ^^^

THE FOUR ELEMENTS ^^^

DAYS OF THE WEEK^^^

MOON PHASES^^^

THE 7 CHAKRAS^^^

COLOUR MAGIC^^^

FULL MOONS OF 2022^^^

Follow for more

Help! These D*** Cards Don’t make sense!

What To Do When a Tarot Reading Seems Like Nonsense

⭐️ First of all, we need to get a few things clear. Tarot won’t always make sense. You will make mistakes. Sometimes, you won’t get any messages at all no matter how hard you try. If this sounds similar to your experience with the cards, don’t feel bad. It doesn’t mean you’re a “bad” reader. As soon as you get more comfortable with the idea of being wrong, you’ll find that your confidence (and subsequently your readings) will improve a lot! Got that? Great! Let’s move on to the topic at hand.

Confused by your tarot cards? Don’t get discouraged.

⭐️ I’m just going to tell you plainly. There isn’t a single tarot reader in the world who hasn’t been completely baffled with their cards at some point. This is natural and a completely normal part of the learning process. What’s more, Tarot is one of those things that you never really stop learning more about. There is always room for growth, and for finding deeper meanings within the stories each card tells. So if you’re hoping to be a “Tarot Master” with omnipotent vision and 100% accurate readings about everything, then I’m afraid I must be the bearer of bad news: There’s no such thing. We’ll all be wrong or confused sometimes, and that’s ok.

Even so, there are a few things to consider if you find yourself bamboozled by your cards more often than not.

Reasons why your tarot cards don’t make sense, and what to do about it.

1. You’re cards haven’t been shuffled properly.

⭐️ This is a common culprit for readings that aren’t making much sense. If you don’t shuffle your cards enough, either straight out of the plastic wrapping or after too many readings, you won’t get any clear messages. This is especially true if you’ve been doing a lot of readings, and just quickly shuffling your pulled cards back into the deck afterwards. If you notice that you are getting a lot of cards from previous readings, and they aren’t making much sense, it might be time for a good shuffle.

What to do: If your deck is new, you’ll want to spend several days shuffling and getting to know the cards. This will mix up the cards enough for you to actually get messages, and help you become more familiar with the imagery of the deck (which will improve your intuitive readings).

⭐️ If you deck isn’t new, it’s likely that you just haven’t shuffled well enough in between readings. It happens. Just give them a good shuffle, and you’ll be set.

2. You don’t know the card meanings well enough.

⭐️ Wait! Don’t get upset yet! I’m not saying that you have to memorize the traditional meaning of every card, and use only that definition as the “be all, end all” of card interpretations. Far from it! That would be super boring. I’m also not saying that you can’t use the guidebook (you totally can). In fact, if you use your guidebooks, you’ll be able to learn the subtle nuances that each deck author attributes to the card meanings. It’s pretty neat stuff!

⭐️ However, a basic understanding of your cards and their key meanings will help you read accurately with consistency. A big part of intuitive reading is being able to recognize the symbolism within the cards. If you know a keyword for each card, you can use them as a starting point for your interpretations.

⭐️ For example: Let’s say you have the 4 of cups. Traditionally, it shows a moody figure, staring off into the distance, with spilled cups before them. Above the figure is often some sort of offering that they can’t see. If you know that a keyword for the 4 of cups is apathy, you could use the symbolism in the card to read it as “having lost interest in a situation”. The figure feels apathy for the situation he’s in, and is not interested in what is being offered. That’s an example of the traditional, symbolic meaning of the tarot in action. Ready to take this a step further? Once you know the traditional meaning, you can combine it with other cards, as well as the details of the situation, to “springboard” into other interpretations.

⭐️ Example 2: Maybe you know that “apathy”, the traditional meaning of the 4 of cups, doesn’t completely fit. In this imaginary reading, the client is asking you about an argument they had with their partner. They are hurt and upset, and have asked you if it’s worth it to stay in the relationship. Clearly, they are not feeling apathetic toward the situation! In this case, we would go beyond “apathy” or “loss of interest”. What is the energy of this card? Combining the imagery with the traditional meaning, we can generate other meanings. Stagnancy, miscommunication and an inability to see another perspective are all alternative, non-traditional interpretations. In this situation, I might tell this client that there is some confusion between them and their partner. Neither one has a clear understanding of how the other feels. Therefore, it might be a good idea to discuss the current situation with each other once they have both had time to calm down. The surrounding cards will usually help you fine tune your interpretation.

What do to: There’s no way around this one. Study the cards. In particular, the imagery of your deck will be very useful to become familiar with. Read your guidebook, read other tarot books and blogs, journal about your readings. If books are not your thing, there are countless YouTube videos and podcasts that cover tarot these days. My favorite tarot podcast is Tarot bytes by Theresa Reed. Pace yourself. You don’t have to learn everything in a week. Most importantly, read, read, read with your deck. The more you read, the more you will begin to understand how your deck communicates and how your intuition picks up on this subtle energy.

3. You are too emotionally invested in the outcome of the reading.

⭐️ This mostly happens if you are reading for yourself, but it can also happen when reading for close friends or family. Sometimes, if we are hyper focused on a particular outcome or in a state of reaction, it’s easy to project our own personal feelings onto the cards. This skews the interpretation. Its not a bad thing to read for yourself, your family or your friends. However, it’s a good idea to keep this point in mind.

What to do: If you are nervous, upset or in any way unable to remain objective about the outcome, it’s probably best to not do the reading. You can try again later when things are calmer.

4. You’ve ignored the focus question.

⭐️ This happens when a reader fails to take into account the “focus” or theme of the reading. For example, if a client asks you about work, and The Lovers card comes up, you should not tell them that they will meet their soulmate soon. This has nothing to do with what they were asking about. You’re more likely to encounter this problem when reading for others, but it can happen when reading for yourself.

What to do: An easy answer, stay on script. Keep the original question in the forefront of your mind during the entire reading. Like our example above, if you are reading about work, don’t start interpreting anything about romance. The cards are nuanced and varied enough to have multiple meanings. Instead, if The Lovers card appears in a work related reading, consider how the energy of the card might show up within the context of the reading. Instead of a “soulmate”, you might say that this client needs to find a harmony and balance between their home and work life. This is just one of many possible ways to interpret this card within the context of a work-related reading.

5. You’ve asked a question that is too specific OR that the tarot cannot answer.

⭐️ This can happen with both self-readings and readings for other people. Tarot is a powerful tool of self reflection and insightful divination, but it is not omnipotent. Further more, tarot readers themselves are not mind readers. We have to have context and understanding in order to see the connections clearly enough to interpret them with accuracy. With tarot, the more context we have about a situation, the better a reading will be. So for vague questions like “what will happen next Tuesday?”, a reader would need to supplement the reading with their intuitive abilities. It can be done, but the chance of misinterpretation is much higher if a reader is unsure how to weave the tarot and clair senses together.

⭐️ Some types of questions are ill-suited to tarot. Generally speaking, these would be questions that limit the ability of the seeker to act. “Will I pass my exam?” would not be a good question because it leaves no room for change or growth. A reader might struggle to interpret this correctly unless they are very experienced.

⭐️ Another type of question that you might see a lot are third party questions. For example: “Is person A having an affair with person B?” This type of question that doesn’t directly involve the seeker in any way is not useful with tarot. Most likely, you won’t get a clear answer or any useful information. Tarot is not a tool to be used to spy on others. In fact, it’s quite disrespectful to use the cards in this way.

What to do: A lot of this boils down to personal preference and reading style, but a good rule of thumb is to ask open ended questions. In this sense, questions that begin with “how” or “what” will be better than questions that start with “is”. Remember, tarot does not deal in absolutes. It reflects energy of situations and projected futures, and energy can change. Nothing is 100% certain with tarot.