lavender magic

A tarot spread for helping decide if a new direction you’re considering is right for you.

What Am I Missing? Things typically don’t beckon us when we are 100% content. What hole are you looking to fill? What element are you seeking out? What are you hoping to gain from this?

What Does This Path Offer? This is both the response to the question posed in the previous card and a guiding signifier for the whole spread. What does this specific path bring you? Does it heal, look pretty, or empower you in some way? Does it compliment what you’re searching for?

Short-Term Look What will the beginning of this path be like during the first month or three? Will it require a lot of prep-work? Will it be enlightening or frustrating? 

One day something makes you wanna try it out. Then something clicks and you’re like “yeah, yeah this feels right.”

For those of us going through heartbreak and wanting a bit of divine guidance.

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Instructions:

Shuffle your deck until you find the 3 of swords. This is card 1. Next, pull the card on top/in front of the 3 of swords, this is card number 2. Then pull out the card on the bottom/behind the 3 of swords, this is card number 3. Shuffle your deck again and pull the last card, card 4, from the deck (top, bottom, middle, whatever calls to you).

Card 1 - The Current situation Heartbroken, sad, feeling betrayed or lost.

Card 2 - The Bright Side Q: What's the bright side? It's easy to look at the downsides when we're heartbroken. We tend to blame ourselves or others rather than look at the situation as a whole. Turning your attention towards growth, in what ways does this situation (as hard as it may be) actually benefit you?

Card 3 - Lurking Shadows Q: What can I learn from this situation? It's possible that the signs were already there, lurking in the shadows; perhaps they were hidden from view or maybe you were denying their existence. What can you learn from this situation to help with future relationships/situations to prevent this from happening again?

Card 4 - Next steps Q: How can I move on? Either an action (or actions) to take to or a mindset to adopt to help you move forward. Ask the cards, how can I move on?

Hi, Anon.

Star Spinner tarot looks lovely!

You don't have to use reversals. I don't use them sometimes. It depends on my mood and how much I want to deal with.

For anyone getting into tarot, I would recommend starting your own notes and adding information from many different resources.

For most decks, lots online information is available for each card. BiddyTarot.com is a popular resource for more general card meanings. If you'd really like to study tarot, I highly recommend The Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson.

As you study extended resources, contemplate meanings for a certain card as you look at the card. Consider not only popular contemporary meanings (BiddyTarot) and what your deck creator has to say (booklet with the cards), but also historical resources (Huson).

As you find meanings that resonate with you and stick out to you, add them to your notes.

Don't worry about trying to paint a complete picture of every card. Focus on the meanings that make sense to you. Most readers seem to find that their understandings of the cards are in flux and will always grow and evolve. So you're creating a starting point for where you're at right now, not the all-time ultimate meaning reference book.

Don't worry at all about trying to memorize the cards. Even professional readers you pay will still use their guidebooks and notes if they want to.

Common advice given to beginners is to start with only one-card draws and maybe do a 3-card spread if you're feeling bold, but this advice didn't work for me, and may not work for you either.

When I began reading I got so little information from each card that I had to do relatively large spreads just to get any information out of them.

It might help you to experiment with the number of cards drawn, and in what spreads you place them.

There are many exercises a person can do to try and connect with their cards more. Try forgetting the book meanings altogether and trying to craft story narratives based on what's happening in the pictures.

Another exercise that can be fun and helpful is to play with your deck while you watch a show. During the show, pull random cards and ask yourself how that card relates to what you're seeing on screen. You might want to pause and look at the book, but also look for other ways to connect:

The mood or atmosphere of the picture

The different characters on the card, what they're doing, and how they're acting

The location or setting of the card

The objects that can be found in the card

The goal of this TV show exercise is not to perform accurate readings on a TV show, but to stretch your mind and become comfortable relating the card to real world situations. As long as you can say, "this card matches because [...]," you have won the game.

If you were the caster and you have spell remnants (the thread that was knotted, the wax of the candle that was burned, etc.):

Bring the spell remnant back into Magical Space (whatever space, mindset, or rituals you require in order for your mundane actions to become magical).

Perform Undoing actions on the spell remnants. Cut or untie a knot, melt or pulverize wax, mix ashes with magically nullifying substances such as salt and iron, etc.

While performing Undoing actions, also give clear linguistic Instructions on what you expect to happen. These instructions may be spoken, thought, signed, written, read, or be imposed upon your Magical Space in any way you prefer.

Tie your instructions to your physical actions, such as:

This spell is undone as this cord is cut, the magic binds no longer

This spell is melted and reduced as I melt and reduce this wax; the magic dwindles into nothing

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; my spell is consumed by this iron rust - the magic no longer functions

I highly recommend using clear and direct sentences to the effect of "I am undoing this spell and I don't want the magic to work any more" (for those who only use present-tense intents: "this spell is undone, the magic has stopped working."

Dispose of the remnants in a permanent way.

If you were the caster and you do not have spell remnants:

Consecrate a new object (new thread to be knotted, new candle, new piece of paper) to represent the old spell. Ideally, this object will be chosen or modified to resemble the vibes of the old spell as closely as possible.

Any consecration ritual will do. The goal is to give a new physical body to your old spell; you are making an "poppet" of the spell.

Once the new physical object has become synonymous with the old spell, perform the Undoing and Instruction method that was described above.

(New candles should probably be snapped in half or burned upside down; burning them normally is more likely to empower the old spell).

If you were not the caster:

The "poppet" method above will tend to work if you know what you're doing with things. However, one of these might be more reliable:

Method One: Bless a thread with binding, limiting energies (Saturn is ideal) and trap the unwanted spell by tying it in a knot. Then burn the thread, ideally while Instructing what is supposed to happen.

Method Two: Carve the end of a taper candle so that the wick is visible on the bottom. Treat this bottom as your new "active" end, and draw correspondences from the new active end, downwards.

Coat the candle with a pepper-infused oil, score the surface lengthwise with iron nails, or otherwise mark the candle with destructive and banishing correspondences.

While doing this, Instruct the candle that its job is to banish, burn away, and destroy the unwanted spell. Light the candle. (A temporary holder may be obtained for the awkward shape by filling a deep dish with sand, soil, or salt).

Notes and Bits (Beyond 101):

It is generally wise to construct all spells with "kill codes" in case you need to undo them. This is essentially a special sort of intent that you build into the spell which undoes the spell on your command.

To avoid intrusive thought anxiety, it is almost always best to have this "code" require a specific set of physical actions, such as writing "Spell Cast on [date], be undone and begone" seven times over on a piece of paper.

Undoing a spell does not teleport you back in time to before it was ever cast. Imagine a valley with a river. A spell is cast that dams up the river. The entire ecosystem of the valley changes because the river was stopped.

Later on we can dismantle the dam and let the water flow again. But the valley will not "magically" go back to what it used to be. The spell may be undone but there will also still be significant changes already affected on this valley.

Record keeping is one of your best allies in knowing how to undo your own spells. The more you know about your spell (or anyone else's), the easier it is for you to undo or counter.

Once a spell is undone, you may still have more work to do. Suppose someone hexes me. Even if I undo the hex, my house may still be filled with nasty energy and I can still have anxiety. I will have to do a good self-cleansing and home-clearing before the effects are fully erased. Undoing a spell is not the same thing as cleaning up after it.

Part 5 of 7 in a guide for buying crystals. Read the rest here!

We are finally at the wholly fake crystals! These crystals are either dupes of real ones, real crystals passed off as other crystals, or man-made crystals without a natural analogue. I'm excited to get into this because once you know what to look for, its hard to be scammed.

And to be clear, if you value any of these, either as collector's items or as spiritual tools, that's perfectly fine. My issue is when people try to pass off crystals (or not-crystals!) as something they're not.

A while ago was my first time making it properly, with alcohol, since I used dried herbs and didn’t want it to go bad (yes, I learned from experience lol). So I mixed herbs with 500 ml of alcohol, let it infuse for a week, strained it and done.

The only problem is that it became a strong green colour. Which isn’t exactly a problem, but then when I spray it, it stains things. I can just clean it up of course, but that’s unnecessary extra work and not ideal since I want to be able to spray it around without worry.

Now this is going to give you a concentrated green or green/brown liquid. For a spray, add enough of the concetrate to more alcohol, vinegar or water to get the scent you are looking for without overdoing the color. 

The oil you can use for annointing, massage or as a cooking infusion depending on the herbs. But you probably don’t want to go around spraying the oil. 

I definitely didn’t come up with these, but they’re worth repeating!

Interpreting the suits

The pip (minor arcana) suits can tell you what aspect of life is being discussed. Everyone can have their own definitions, but often –

Pentacles = Earth and reveal income and money, home life, all domestic issues, family, and platonic relationships.

Cups = Water and reveal emotions, romantic relationships, subjective experiences, and personal need.

Swords = Air and reveal mindset, objectivity, professional relationships, pain, and difficult or professional (“it’s just business”) choices.

Wands = Fire and reveal passions, desires, boundaries, sexual relationships, burdens, and choices borne out of inner need.

Noting which suit is dominant, absent, or balanced with another suit can provide instant context to a reading. You can actually provide really insightful interpretations just based on the suits and how they’re arranged next to each other, before ever considering what each card actually is.

Example: If you draw a 6-card spread about finances and there are 4 wands and 2 cups, you know the issue or blockage your client is facing is probably about what they really want out of life and how they feel about their job and current status.

Pip sequence

You don’t have to memorize numerology to use pip numbers. Each suit represents a progression from beginning (Ace) to end (10). If you look at a number 7 card, you don’t have to remember what 7 might mean numerologically. You already know that 7 is getting pretty close to the end of the suit, and this card is going to represent something already well developed and headed towards completion, but it isn’t quite there yet.

Example: You draw a 3-card spread about how someone’s relationship is going. You get an Ac, a 2, and a 9. You can interpret that this person’s relationship is still in the beginning stages, in the phase where a lot is still being worked out. However, there is an aspect of their relationship where they already feel like old friends.

Court cards

If you understand the numbered cards to be events and circumstances, court cards can easily become roles, identities, and behaviors. Switching court cards from having to be a person, and allowing them to be aspects of personhood, can make them easier to read. Using this interpretation, a court card can be:

- The role or persona a person feels they must take

- An aspect of someone’s overall identity

- The category or type of behaviors needed or displayed

- The resulting effect of a situation; the court card is how people are made to feel, act, or react

- Etc.

Generally, pages are beginners, learners, experimenters, and observers. Knights are in the thick of things, taking actionable steps and affecting the world around them. Queens represent the wisdom and knowledge of their suit. Kings represent managing, ruling, and delegating within their suit.

Example: In a spread about becoming a better person, one card is the Knight of Wands. The reader can’t think of anyone they know who is a Knight of Wands type and doesn’t know who it could be referring to. If the card is reframed as a category of behaviors, the reader might see that they should more often take action and stand their ground.

Exercise suggestion!

✨ LEARNING TAROT

General Tips

Explaining how tarot readings work using color gradient

Variables that influence tarot accuracy

How to strengthen your intuition (I)

6 things to do to improve your tarot reading skills (I)

3 basic things to focus on to improve tarot reading skills (II)

5 ways to incorporate tarot insights into your daily life

Tarot Notes:

Tarot Notes #1

Tarot Notes #2

Tarot Notes #3

Reading Techniques:

This is all you need to be able to read tarot

101: The first guide you need: the bones & meat of tarot

101: Dominant energy in a tarot reading

101: How to get the most out of a general spread

101: Reading court cards

The flow of tarot interpretation

Contradiction in a reading (people’s personalities)

What I’ve noticed about interpreting YES/NO questions

Two ways to interpret timing

Answering ‘first impression’ question

Find missing items by asking 4 questions

Possible meanings of the card at the bottom of the deck

If you get positive cards to answer negative questions 

20 Tarot Interpretation Series

The Hermit

The Emperor

Thoughts on the Cards:

Cards for travel & movement

Cards for work connections

Cards for soulmate, romantic & sexual relationships

The Devil as first impression

Cards for stalking and spying

The Hierophant & The Lovers

The Devil & The Tower

The World for career/jobs

Cards for choices

Cards for pregnancy

The Justice as divine intervention?

Cards for “you need to stop asking”

Cards to indicate relationship status 

The Hanged Man and divine intervention 

Tarot Prompts & Exercises

Tarot Practice I: Reading People

Tarot Practice II: Reading People

Tarot Practice III: Reading People

✨ NAVIGATING TAROT

All tarot asks I have answered

Tips for Tarot Readers:

When is the right time to buy a deck?

Which deck should a beginner buy?

Choosing Oracle Decks

Symbolism: Individual VS Collective Meanings

Your reading tells you about yourself

PAC reading VS personal reading

Dealing with biases in tarot readings

How to reject a querent’s paid reading request

If the same cards keep appearing...

Why we are encouraged to avoid tarot when we don’t feel well

When the cards do not make any sense

Someone else’s energy in the reading?

When a reading doesn’t answer the question

Start and end your reading with this

Should you use your deck’s guidebook?

Channeled readings

When you don’t get any answers

What’s wrong with tarot websites & guidebooks?

Tips for Tarot Querents:

What you need to know about PAC reading

How to know when a reader is for you

How to know when the message is right

All questions about PAC reading

Choose the right pile in a PAC

Determining accuracy in PAC

You can’t decide between two piles?

Why you choose more than one pile

Don’t get hung up on a specific term

Have you let tarot control your life?

Choosing a different pile the second time

If the same cards keep appearing...

What factors influence timings

Can wishful thinking influence the pile you choose?

Can you ask the same question again and again?

Go back to the master list