Tarot with Lady Saoirse Beltane 2023

 

(Photo by Viva Luna Studios on Unsplash)

 

Bright Blessings!

Some of you may have read my previous column Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times or my film and tv show reviews on Witch & Popcorn. I decided it was time for something new, and at PaganPages.org we are blessed with plenty of people who do Sabbat articles so I don’t have to do another one. I am beginning a Tarot column this issue.

Various different topics will be covered, and there are just so many wonderful things to explore about Tarot and card divination in general. I thought for the first article I would like to discuss some approaches to using Tarot cards for divination and a few things to keep in mind, most especially for beginners.

When you are fascinated by beautiful Tarot cards, you might wish to master them, but not everybody who has psychic abilities can use cards to get answers and no amount of classes or practice can change that. This is because although all human beings have psychic abilities, not everybody has the exact same psychic abilities, and that is okay. Some people’s psychic powers allow them to have prophetic dreams, and others can look at someone and know they are pregnant and if the baby will be a boy or a girl. Other people’s abilities make them great card readers.

Tarot is certainly popular and perhaps the most glamorous form of divination. The dazzling imagery on the cards is a feast for the eyes and everybody loves to behold beautiful things. A deck of divination cards holds a plethora of different images, and it is almost like touring an arts museum in the palm of your hand! Gatherings where people exchange readings are a lot of fun, but perhaps the second most disappointing thing is when somebody gives you an inaccurate reading. The very most disappointing thing is discovering that you are unable to give accurate readings. How could that be? If you took classes, and read all the guides, how can you possibly give a bad reading?

The secret to good Tarot or oracle card readings is not classes, or reading- it is talent. Skills are taught, talent is what you are born with. It may take years to know what your talents are, but you cannot learn how to do something like this. You can learn what the written guides say cards mean, but each guide has multiple different meanings for each card in Tarot. Some people say it depends on the cards around the card what it will mean, but what happens when you do what is called a “one card draw” for somebody?

You have to have intuitive ability to tell what the meaning of the card is. If you can’t do that, it means reading cards is not your psychic gift, and there is nothing wrong with that. I have known two women personally who gave perhaps the worst readings on the planet. The one was good at knowing what things needed done. She was not good at getting up off her backside and doing it, but she knew who to talk to in order to get things done, so that counted. Because of her, good things began. That’s a gift few have. Another woman was an excellent officiant of ritual and a historian of lore- but she gave even worse readings than the other woman.

If all of us would stick with the spiritual gifts we have been given instead of trying to force the hands of the gods to make us into people we were not meant to be, our Pagan circles would be even stronger. Before I do anymore articles, I ask you to please ask for guidance from your gods and spirit guides to your personal gifts and an easy way to do that is to give offering and pray if you are new to learning about your abilities. Then be patient and wait for their answer. Sometimes, such an answer comes after trying different things and finding that you cannot accomplish them. There is nothing wrong with being lousy at something new and after giving it your all, and admitting you need to move on from it to something else. Just move on to something else afterwards.

As Pagans and as psychic people, we are always learning about ourselves, and our gifts. After blessings, prayers, and changes, sometimes our gifts change, and we are called to just go with the changes. The only thing constant is change, and like Mother Earth, we go through different stages and at each stage, our magic changes and grows. One day your psychic powers may manifest as prophetic dreams, and the next, you may indeed be a Tarot reader.

Learning to read Tarot or other cards will entail some reading about the ascribed meaning of your cards, but a trick is to choose decks with images that speak to you and just allow the decks to tell you what the answer to the questions are. The answers should instinctively come to you and the cards will illustrate what you are being told. At some point, you will find yourself able to do psychic readings with no cards at all, but the truth is, people who come to you appreciate the images on the cards. They tell the story of what you are revealing to them.

If cards are not what works for you, don’t dismay. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are unable to do divination. There are many things you can use including pendulums, charms, runes, watching for signs and omens, scrying, casting lots, automatic writing, looking at patterns in smoke or fire, tea leaf and Turkish coffee reading. The list is endless. You can do unstructured things like pay attention to the patterns in the food somebody leaves on a plate, and look at the shapes in something that is spilled to get answers as well. Sometimes a spill is a spill and smoke is just smoke, but at other times, they hold answers.

When doing any form of divination, it is imperative that you listen to your gut and let it guide you. One very important thing to keep in mind if you read for other people is whether you feel safe being alone with them. Since many readings are private, make sure whoever you are alone with is somebody you trust won’t pull anything. Video call readings with strangers give the client face to face time but doesn’t compromise their safety.

One last thing to keep in mind is that doing divination is a gift and when you have been gifted that ability, you share it with other people. This is a gift you can use to counsel people about their lives, or to even decipher the voices of their ancestors or gods for them. That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be compensated. Be wary of people who want one free reading after another, most especially people who don’t follow advice or want to argue with you.

In some societies, divination is considered a sacred practice only Priestesses and Priests are capable of, and people don’t get those positions if they don’t have powerful psychic abilities. We may be modern people who are not in Pre-Christian times, practicing in groves and temples, but divination is still a sacred practice. It’s not something done for fun or as a game when you are bored, and no, you don’t have to entertain drunk girlfriend parties and give them all a package deal for readings while they snort and giggle. Not unless you want to. No, I won’t do it, myself. My gifts are not for entertainment.

What are your tools of choice that you use to get accurate answers? What are your short term goals, and what are the long term goals you have? Most of all, what does doing divination mean to you, and what does it mean to the people who ask you to practice it for them?

Until next time, keep practicing,

and Blessed Be

**

About the Author:

Saoirse is a practicing witch, and initiated Wiccan of an Eclectic Tradition.

A recovered Catholic, she was raised to believe in heaven and hell, that there is only one god, and only one way to believe. As she approached her late 20’s, little things started to show her this was all wrong. She was most inspired by the saying “God is too big to fit into one religion” and after a heated exchange with the then associate pastor of the last Xtian church she attended, she finally realized she was in no way Xtian, and decided to move on to see where she could find her spiritual home.

Her homecoming to her Path was after many years of being called to The Old Ways and the Goddess, and happened in Phoenix, Arizona. She really did rise from her own ashes!

Upon returning to Ohio, she thought Chaos Magic was the answer, and soon discovered it was actually Wicca. She was blessed with a marvelous mentor, Lord Shadow, and started a Magical Discussion Group at local Metaphysical Shop Fly By Night. The group was later dubbed A Gathering of Paths. For a few years, this group met, discussed, did rituals, fellowship, and volunteering together, and even marched as a Pagan group with members of other groups at the local gay Pride Parade for eight years.

All the while, she continued studying with her mentor, Lord Shadow, and she became a Third Degree High priestess in 2022. She belongs to the Black Dragon Clan.