New Moon in Capricorn Ritual

The new moon in the cardinal sign of Capricorn is an invitation to explore themes of building supportive and nurturing foundations. This timely Capricorn new moon usually falls around the new year on the Gregorian calendar, where you may already be exploring goals or new paths for your year ahead. 

The energy of Capricorn reminds you to pause and reflect on how you may need to nurture and care for yourself to grow in new ways. Because Capricorn is a cardinal sign, it carries an energy of initiation. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking direct action towards your goals but instead pausing to ensure that you have taken the necessary steps to build a structurally sound and sturdy foundation in which you can build upon. 

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. 

Themes for this full moon: Structure, stability, building foundations, planning necessary steps to begin a new phase, nurturing yourself

Element: Earth

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before the new moon, on the new moon, or the day after the new moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 20-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Comfortable place to sit or lie down

• Pen/pencil and paper

• Any grounding crystal or stone from outside

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too.

2. Sit or lie down, close your eyes, and begin to connect with your breath and body. Place your grounding stone in your hands, on your lap, or somewhere on your body.  

3. Take a few moments to reflect on something you’d like to initiate in the coming weeks or months. Because this sign calls you to build a strong foundation, this is an ideal time to reflect on something that may feel daunting or big to begin. 

4. Once you have something in mind, place your hands on your grounding stone and notice its weight, solidness, and structure. Think about the new adventure you have in mind to initiate and what you would need to feel supported, nurtured, and held as you begin taking action towards it. 

5. As ideas come to mind, imagine sending them into your grounding stone upon which your hands are resting. Allow yourself to think of as many supportive and nurturing things to support you in this new endeavor. Don’t worry about how feasible any of them are. Simply allow yourself to feel into this space of being held and supported. 

6. When you feel ready, slowly come out of the meditation. Take a few moments to write down suggestions or ideas that came to you around feeling supported and ways to build a strong foundation for any new endeavor. 

7. Close your ritual in a way that feels good to you. Thank any guides, spirits, or ancestors who came through. 

8. Ritual follow-up: Place your grounding rock on top of your paper under the new moon. Keep your rock with you as a reminder of all the nurturing and supportive ideas that came to you. Consider placing your list somewhere you’ll see it regularly so you can begin adding these ideas into your days. 

This new moon ritual can be adapted or used for any new moon or new moon in Capricorn. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. xoxo Cassie

New Moon in Scorpio: Exploring Your Depths

The new moon in deep Scorpio offers you an opportunity to explore your deepest desires and be curious about how to bring them into the world, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. A fixed water sign, Scorpio invites you to dive into the depths of your subconscious to help excavate your true purpose for being here.

Tune into the depths of this Scorpio new moon energy to explore the parts of yourself you often hide and find ways to bring them out into the open. There’s more beneath the surface ready to be known.

Ritual Support for the Scorpio New Moon

If you enjoy this ritual, I invite you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it as well. Themes for this full moon: Soul searching, shadow work, fears, desires, finances, death, transformationElement: Water

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before the new moon, on the new moon, or the day after the new moon. 

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Vessel of water

• Pen/pencil and paper

• Optional: amethyst

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too. 

2. Sit, close your eyes, and begin to connect with your breath and body. If you're using amethyst you can hold it or place it near you to inspire your intuition. 

3. In this meditative state, ask aloud or in your mind, “Show me my soul’s deepest desire.” Breathe and allow your mind to take you where it wants to go. Be open to visualizations, messages, or feelings that may arise. 

4. After spending some time with the first question, and when you feel ready, ask aloud or in your mind, “Show me my next steps to be in better alignment with my soul’s deepest desires?” Again, breathe and allow your mind to take you where it wants to go. Be open to visualizations, messages, or feelings that may arise. The subconscious mind often works through symbols. Be open and curious about anything that comes through to you, understanding that even though it may not make sense at the moment, it may later. 

5. When you feel ready to come out of your meditation, thank any guides who came through to offer guidance, then write down any insights that came to you. 

6. Place your paper in your vessel of water to remain there until the moon is full. Check in with your bowl of water with the paper in it each day to refill with water if needed, touch into the feelings you experienced, and as a reminder to take continued action towards your soul’s desires, even when it feels challenging. 

7. At the time of the next full moon, bury your paper outside and pour the water on top of it, trusting that you will be guided in your soul’s journey. This new moon ritual can be adapted or used for any new moon or new moon in Scorpio. As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

New Moon in Libra Ritual: Sacred Connection

The new moon in Libra offers you an invitation to be open to bringing more beauty and connection into your world. 

New moons are always a time for being open to new ideas and ways of being in the world, our cosmic clean slate if you will. As a cardinal air sign, Libra energy is one of balance and initiation. The planetary rulership of this sign is Venus, bringing in the energy of love and beauty. Learn more about Libra energy here. 

The energy of Libra within a new moon calls you to explore themes of beauty, reciprocity, and connection. Here are some questions to focus on for this new moon. What areas of your life are calling out for more beauty? How can you allow in more beauty? In what ways can you be in more sacred and aligned reciprocity with yourself, those around you, and the world at large? 

Themes for the New Moon Libra

Themes: Justice, balance, beauty, love, connection, and reciprocity

Elements: air and water

Planet: Venus

New Moon in Libra Ritual for Sacred Connection

The best time to perform this ritual with the new moon in Libra is the day of or the two days after the new moon.

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Piece of rose quartz

• Optional: rose scent (incense, dried rose, etc.), guided meditation to connect with your guides (free for newsletter subscribers, click here to receive).

1. Ensure that you have 15-30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time. Create a sacred space in a way that feels good to you, for example, burning incense or herbs mentioned above, calling in the four directions, or casting a circle. Root into the space by connecting with your breath and body. Notice your body and how it feels. Begin to breathe more intentionally, sending your breath deep into your low belly.

2. Bring an area of your life to your mind that you feel needs more love and beauty. Holding your rose quartz in your hands, close your eyes, and visualize that area of your life being filled with love and beauty. Continue to hold your rose quartz as you meditate.

3. Close your eyes and prepare to journey to meet one of your guides to help you bring more love and beauty into this area of your life. State aloud or in your mind, “I’m ready to receive guidance around __________ and be in sacred reciprocity with a guide, please, make yourself known to me.” Click here to be taken to a free guided meditation to connect with your guides.

4. As you meditate, focus on your breath and your body. If you can visualize a beautiful location in your mind, do this now, as this can create a space to commune with a guide.

5. Be open to guidance, suggestions, and wisdom from spirit. Trust what comes to you.

6. If a spirit guide presents itself to you and offers guidance, ask what you can do to reciprocate the information shared with you.

7. Close your meditation by thanking any guides who came through. Consider writing down anything that came through to help process and remember.

8. If your guide made a request for reciprocity, be sure to act on it. If they did not, consider creating an offering on your altar to show your gratitude for the connection and wisdom shared.

9. Leave your rose quartz out the night of the new moon to carry with you afterward as a reminder of how to bring more love and beauty into your life.

If you enjoyed this ritual, please consider sharing it with someone else who may enjoy it too. New moon blessings! 

New Moon in Virgo: Aligning With Your Heart

The new moon in Virgo brings you an opportunity to connect with your heart space and find clarity around how you would like to be of service in this world. 

New moons are always a time for being open to new ideas and ways of being in the world, our cosmic clean slate, if you will. The energy of Virgo season is unique because it’s a beautiful blend of earth energy, as an earth sign, and air energy from its planetary rulership of Mercury. 

When earth and air combine, it yearns for a balance of spirit and physical in the heart space. 

Virgo energy brings a grounded approach to being of service and strives to be in flow with the current needs of the world. This energy also invites sensuous acts of devotion to both the world and the divine. Wrap all this up with the fresh energy of the new moon, and you have a delicious opportunity to gain insight into how best to devote yourself to being of service to yourself, the world, and all of its inhabitants. 

Themes for this new moon: Devotion, service, organization, groundedness, the heart space, balance between spirit and physical. 

Elements: earth and air

New Moon in Virgo Ritual

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen or pencil and paper

• Found pieces of plants or minerals like twigs, stones, leaves, or flowers (about 10-15 pieces.)

1. Take a few moments to prepare your items in front of you. Create a sacred space, ground into the moment by connecting with your breath and body. If your body allows for sitting, sit either in a chair or on the ground with a straight spine. Otherwise, lying down works fine too.

2. Tune into your breath, lengthening each of your inhales and exhales to be in equal balance. Visualize a golden cord coming up from the earth and connecting to the base of your spine, then visualize a golden cord coming down from the sky connecting to the crown of your head. 

3. Visualize these two golden cords slowing moving towards your heart space and eventually meeting in the heart space to form a brilliant ball of golden light. Imagine that with each inhale, this ball of light grows bigger and brighter until it eventually encompasses your entire body and fills the space of the room. 

4. In this space, ask aloud or in your mind, “What does my heart desire most for the lunar cycle ahead?” Continue to breathe and allow this question to marinate in your energy field. Notice if anything comes to mind. Next, ask yourself aloud or in your mind, “How can I move into greater alignment with my heart’s desires?” Continue to breathe, giving space and time for suggestions to come to mind. 

5. Stay in this space of golden light, continuing to focus on your breath for as long as you’d like. When you feel prepared to come back, slowly open your eyes. 

6. With the objects in front of you, take 5-10 devotional minutes to arrange your items from outside into a design or mandala. Focus on your gratitude for the earth, your body, and any ideas that came to you about being better aligned with your heart. 

7. When you complete your design, take a few moments to write down any messages or ideas you received about being in better alignment with your heart’s desires. 

8. Close your ritual by thanking any guides or ancestors who came through to offer guidance. 

9. Place your paper with any ideas somewhere you’ll see it daily for the next couple of weeks. Leave your devotional plant design out until the full moon. When you decide to disassemble it, dispose of it in a way that feels aligned to you. Some options are to burn, bury, or release it into a body of water. 

If you enjoyed this ritual, please consider sharing it with someone else who may as well. New moon blessings, Cassie. 

New Moon in Leo: Cultivating Joy

The sign of Leo calls for full self-expression, play, creativity, and showing your full and true self to the world. Every new moon is a time to be open to spirit for new opportunities, guidance, and growth.

This new moon is an invitation to tune into spirit around how you can step more fully into expressing yourself in a way that feels joyful and aligned. Read on for a ritual I crafted for you to enjoy anytime during the new moon.

Additional resources:

• Learn more about the energy of Leo season here.

• Find more new moon rituals here.

New Moon in Leo Ritual Support

1. Create a sacred space. Sit, close your eyes, connect with your breath and body. Root into the moment. 

2. Optional: Light a red, yellow, orange, or white candle. Hold it in your hands, infusing it with the intention of being open to spirit for guidance in the lunar cycle ahead. 

Additional resources:

• Learn more about candle magick here.

3. Ask yourself the following question, "How can I express myself more fully?"

4. Meditate for 10 minutes or more with the intention of being open to spirit for guidance.

Additional resources:

• Learn more about meditation here.

• Purchase my guided meditations for each moon phase here.

5. Using your favorite tarot or oracle card deck, ask the following questions: 

1. How am I being called to express myself? 

2. What’s blocking me from expressing myself more fully? 

3. How can I move past what’s blocking me from fuller self-expression?

4. How will me living more authentically change my life and the lives of others?

Additional resources:

• Learn more about tarot here and oracle cards here.

• Shop the Journey Tarot here.

6. Close your ritual by connecting with your breath and body again. Thank any guides or ancestors that came through to offer guidance. Consider journaling to process any.

If you enjoy this ritual, consider sharing it with someone who might also enjoy it.

The Moon as Shadow Work // How Aligning with the Moon Invites Shadow Work and Tips to Make Lunar Work a Daily Practice

The moon comes after walking through the tower and the renewed spark of inspiration from the star in the tarot. The moon serves as a portal between worlds, sitting in between the star and the sun. The star is the inspiring rebirth and the sun is the ego-self, shining bright. But in between them, the moon shows up to call you inward. It's an invitation to explore everything that's come to pass at the subconscious level.

It's within this portal that shadow work comes in, which could go by so many other names: soul work, subconscious work, "dark night of the soul," or emotional exploration, etc. Shadow work calls you in to peel away the surface and explore the parts of yourself that you often ignore, hide, or push away. 

Listen to this post on my podcast, Rooting into Wholeness, below.

The moon's light is not her own. Its light is reflected by the sun. The moon is the mirror. What shadowy areas within your soul need to have a mirror held up to them? 

Shadow work, like the moon, is a portal to wholeness. One cannot exist without the other. Your shadow work is still there even if you are not addressing it. It does not just go away. It remains untouched and undiscovered. A powerful healing tool waiting to be utilized and waiting to bring you to wholeness. 

So many want to skip over this important portal. Here's the thing, though. You can't. The opportunity will keep repeating itself until you decide to walk through the shadowing realms of your subconscious. In my experience, I've learned that if you ignore your shadow long enough, it will come crashing down and force you to examine what needs to be learned and seen. No amount of love and light can keep you from knowing all facets of life. We're human. It's why we're here.

How to work with the moon to honor your shadow

How can you embody the energy of the moon, her wisdom, to approach this inner shadow work? It starts as noticing the moon in her phases and turns into allowing these phases to influence your rituals. The shifts will be subtle, but eventually, shadow work will become a regular part of your life. Here are three ways to start weaving more lunar energy into your daily practice.

Much of this work is observational and feeling work that needs to happen within the mind and body. All other tools (crystals, herbs, cards, etc.) and are ancillary allies. Use them if you feel called, but do not let them be prohibitive to your growth if you do not have them handy. 

1. Become more aware of the moon. Let's first start by connecting with lunar energy regularly. Track her, notice her, and notice how you feel in her different phases. If working with the moon is new to you, start by solely noticing when the moon is in her waxing phase vs. waning phase (I find this more helpful than tracking the new/full moon.) Learn more about waxing vs. waning lunar energy in a past post here.

When you begin to adopt the moon's cycles into your daily life, you will begin to understand the necessity of living more cyclically. Rather than shaming yourself for needing to go within, you will appreciate it as a natural phase. Here's a non-exhaustive list of some ways that I connect with lunar energy regularly. 

• Look for the moon anytime you are outside at night or consciously decide to go outside and seek her out regularly. You will soon learn where the moon lives in the sky during different parts of her cycle. 

• Track her with an app. I like to keep a pulse on when the moon shifts from waxing to waning phase and vice versa. Using an app is an easy way to know when these shifts happen. I also like to know what astrological sign the moon is living in as this also affects her energy. My favorite app is The Moon App. The free version is great, but I prefer the paid version. 

• Wear a specific piece of jewelry is a reminder of whether the moon is waxing or waning. I have a moon-shaped ring that I flip, so the moon is facing inwards or outwards according to whether the moon is waxing or waning. However, there are many ways to do this. You could wear a specific necklace, ring, or bracelet for waxing vs. waning energy. Doing this brings the energy of the moon into the physical and offers you a daily reminder. 

2. Bring the moon into your rituals. If your ritual practices only include rituals to make you feel good or to manifest, you're missing out on some big growth opportunities and magick-making. When you invite lunar energy into your rituals, you open the door to more profound transformations through shadow work. The moon does not stay stuck in her growth, waxing, manifesting phase, and neither should you.

Everyone's ritual practice varies, but there are ways to bring lunar energy into just about any ritual. Bringing lunar energy into your rituals will require you to be more mindful about your ritual practices. Here are a few ways to work lunar energy into common ritual practices.

• Burn candles and herbs in line with lunar energy. If candle magick, incense, or herbs are a part of your ritual practice, this is an easy place to honor the moon. How can you be more mindful about what candle colors or herbs you're working with? For example, I would avoid more energizing plants and colors like peppermint, citrus, and candle colors like red, orange, and yellow during a waning moon phase. I will often burn a simple white candle during a new moon, and during a dark moon, phase black. 

• Invite lunar energy into your meditation practice. Honoring the moon in your meditation practice can be done for each phase or just waxing and waning energy. If you already have a meditation practice, this will be a simple way to begin engaging with the moon's energy on a deeper level. In my meditation practice, this looks like doing more energy clearing at the end of the waning moon phase, being more open to guidance from Spirit at the start of the waxing phase and around the new moon, and focusing on gratitude during the full moon. I wrote a full post about it here.

• Place specific items on your altar or sacred space for certain moon phases, or consider an altar refresh for specific moons. If an altar is a part of your ritual practice, be open to how you can weave lunar energy into your sacred space. I usually update my altar based on the seasons. However, some lunar events warrant a full altar refresh. I invite you to trust when you feel called to do this. Even if you don't want to refresh your altar completely, placing specific herbs, candles, or tarot/oracle cards on your altar for specific phases can also be a powerful way to connect with the moon. 

Simple changes like these begin to make working with the moon a part of life and a way of living. You can find many blog posts here about working with the specific energy of each moon phase. However, I do find some of these basic things just as impactful as they make honoring and connecting with the moon more of a daily practice rather than something you only do on new and full moons. 

3. Study the moon card in the tarot (any deck.) While studying the moon card, notice what comes up for you? Each deck will bring a different kind of flavor, but the energy of the moon card will remain consistent from deck to deck, as will the placement of the card amongst the Major Arcana. This may not be true if working with moon card in an oracle card deck (learn more about the difference between tarot and oracle cards here.)

Notice the cards around the moon in the tarot and the story they tell. Where does the moon sit in the Major Arcana? What cards are nearest to it? I discussed this a bit in the introduction. But one way to view its placement is as a portal between the star and the sun. Like all wisdom from the tarot, allow yourself to be open to different teachings and ideas. This is just one viewpoint. The wisdom in this step will come from finding your own meaning from the moon card in the tarot. Here are some ways to work with this card.

• Place the card on your altar or somewhere else where you'll see it regularly. 

• Journal or meditate on the moon card. What comes up for you when you look at it? What stands out? What does it mean to you at this moment? 

• Read about the meaning of the card from different perspectives. Some of my favorites are Rachel Pollock's book 78 Degrees of Wisdom and teachings from Lindsay Mack on her podcast Tarot for the Wild Soul. 

• Draw your own version of the card. What comes to your mind when you think about creating your own version of the moon card? Allow yourself to be a channel for its wisdom. 

If you find these offerings overwhelming, begin implementing what feels the most aligned and appealing to you. Or, if you feel up for a fun shift in perspective, select the one that feels the scariest to you! 

Working with the moon as a spiritual practice is an invitation to honor all phases of life, including death, shadow, and transformation. These are necessary phases of all life, even yours. When you open yourself up to being in alignment with all of these phases, you open yourself up to being whole, flawed, and simultaneously perfect. The shifts and changes to living alongside the moon will happen slowly over time. Until one day, you realize you allow and honor all of your phases. 

This shift is the magick of embodying shadow work, living cyclically, and aligning with the moon. For more on shadow work, check out these past posts. 

7 Tarot Myths Debunked

In our culture, there is no shortage of myths about tarot. Many of us were raised with the perspective that tarot cards are “scary” or that they have something to do with the devil.

Misinformation is rampant, but the truth is, tarot can be a powerful tool to help you hone your intuition, connect with yourself, deepen your relationship with spirit/universe/guides, make decisions, and more. 

In this post, I’ll be debunking some major myths about the tarot so that you can feel freer to work with the tarot in a way that feels really good to you. Check them out below!

MYTH 1: YOU MUST BE GIFTED YOUR FIRST DECK

This is a super common myth! Have you ever heard that you can’t buy your own deck and you must be gifted your first deck? 

Tarot reader and author Theresa Reed told Refinery 29 that this myth is “total rubbish.” She says, “If I would have waited around for that to happen, I might not have started working with the tarot as soon as I did — if ever.” 

I feel the same way. To me, this myth is just a form of gatekeeping in the tarot community. No one is exactly sure where this myth comes from, but it may be a legacy of 19th-century closed occult societies. 

Regardless of where it comes from, there’s nothing wrong with buying a deck for yourself — tarot is a folk magic practice, and it belongs to the people, so you don’t need permission from someone else in the form of a gifted deck to start your practice. If you feel attracted to working with the cards - pick yourself up a deck! 

Give this post a listen here.

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MYTH 2: TAROT IS EVIL

Another variation of this myth is that tarot cards have something to do with the devil. I believe this myth originates from Christianity. There are various verses in the Bible about divination, “sorcery,” and mediumship that have been translated to be a condemnation of all occult, divination, and spiritual tools outside of Christianity.

This myth is also often perpetuated by the media, whose portrayals of tarot readers and cards have often been abysmal. Media is intended to be sensational, which means tarot cards are portrayed as evil or used for devil worship. Common tarot scenes show the “scary” cards with literal meanings - like the death card when someone is going to die or the devil card when something evil is going to happen.

This myth is easy to debunk when I ask myself a few questions:

• Who benefits from me believing this myth (whether it’s dogmatic religion that wants me to rely on their truth rather than find my own through a tool like the tarot or a TV show that wants to make interesting TV and get viewers)? 

• Do I really think that Barnes and Noble are selling a tool to connect with the devil? 

• What have my experiences with the tarot been like?

Like with most things, we can use tarot in helpful ways and not so helpful ways. But the cards are not inherently evil, and we can use them in ways that support ourselves and our highest good.

MYTH 3: THE DEATH CARD MEANS YOU’LL DIE

Ah, another TV myth. Like I mentioned above, this card is often portrayed as a super scary card, and when it shows up in a reading, it could mean you’re going to die. 

All tarot cards are neutral. There are no good or bad cards. Some cards may be more uncomfortable than others (and this will change depending on every person!), but no cards are in and of themselves bad. 

So no, the death card doesn’t mean you’ll die. Usually, it means a transformation of some kind. It refers to deaths of a different kind - deaths of relationships, ways of being, of selves you have been, dreams, etc. 

In the United States, we have a cultural aversion to the idea of death, and I think we disconnect from the idea of death happening all around us all the time throughout our lives. The death card breaks this fiction and reminds us that death is a natural process unfolding throughout the seasons and throughout our lives and that it clears the way for our evolution and growth. 

That can be scary, too, of course - change is often hard. But next time you pull the death card, you can lean into that kind of scary and not worry that you’re going to die literally. 

MYTH 4: TAROT IS ONLY USED TO TELL THE FUTURE

Tarot can certainly be used to predict the future. But in my belief, the future is not set. The future is always changing, and we are actively creating it with our energy and our decisions each day. 

When I pull more predictive cards, I like to remember that I have the power to change the future and make different decisions if I don’t like the outcome card in front of me. This is a way to use tarot that feels more empowering and more honest.  

But more often than not, I’m not using tarot cards to tell the future, and I think many modern readers will tell you the same. Fortune telling is one powerful way to use the tarot. Still, there are many other ways to work with the cards that can be even more powerful, in my opinion: to connect with yourself, to understand your inner world, to process feelings, to understand current energies, to make support decisions, to connect with your intuition, to heal, and more.

MYTH 5: YOU NEED TO BE PSYCHIC TO READ THE TAROT

I think this myth is rooted in the previous one: that tarot is only used for fortune-telling. When we know that tarot has many purposes, we understand that you don’t need to be psychic to read the cards. 

You don’t need to be psychic to connect with your intuition, which is the most important piece of reading cards, in my opinion. Intuition can sometimes require some uncovering and trust work (click here for 3 daily actions to improve your intuition and here for 5 tips to learn how to trust your intuition), but it is innate and available to us all. 

Reading the cards with your intuition could look like noticing how you feel about certain cards, paying attention to memories or images that come up around cards when you pull them (even if they don’t match with the traditional meaning of the cards), or meditating with cards to receive messages from them. 

But regardless, tarot cards have meanings. You can study those meanings from different books and teachers and develop a rich and fulfilling tarot practice this way! As you learn to trust your intuition a bit more, weaving that practice into your work with your cards can add another meaningful layer.

MYTH 6: YOU CAN NEVER LET ANYONE ELSE TOUCH YOUR TAROT CARDS

This myth is rooted in the idea that the cards themselves contain magic or are magical. In my opinion, the cards themselves are a neutral tool and conduit. They don’t contain their own magic; youare the magic. So it doesn’t matter if other people touch them because they can’t take anything away from them. 

If you don’t like other people touching your cards, that’s totally fine! But there’s no need to keep others from touching your cards out of fear that it will take away the deck’s magic or shift the cards' energy irreversibly. 

In fact, many readers (myself included) like to have the querent shuffle the cards to infuse their energy and intention into the deck for a more powerful reading. If you feel the same, a regular cleansing process with your deck (click here to learn how to cleanse your cards) is all you need to keep your deck’s energy clear. 

MYTH 7: REVERSED CARDS ARE BAD

When a card is reversed, that simply means it came out of your deck upside-down. Reading reversed cards in the first place is a matter of preference: some readers read them, and some will just flip the cards right side up and go with that meaning. As with most things tarot and intuition, there’s no right or wrong answer. Just do what works for you!

But whether you choose to read reversals or not, reversed cards are not inherently bad. They bring a different energy, certainly, and can add a layer of clarity to a reading, but they’re nothing to be afraid of. Reversed cards can mean blocked energy, more introspective energy, a softer meaning of the card, or maybe some fear around that card’s theme. 

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TAROT?

Check out some of our other tarot blog posts:

• Getting Started with Tarot

• Tarot Vs. Oracle: What’s the Difference and How to Choose

• How to Learn Tarot Card Meanings Quickly

• 6 Ways to Work With the Tarot Besides Divination

• The Ultimate Guide to Caring for Your Tarot & Oracle Cards

6 Tips to Learn the Tarot Card Meanings Quickly

So you got your first tarot deck, did a couple of solo readings, and then never picked it up again? Or, you work with tarot regularly but find yourself frustrated with being so reliant on the guidebook? One of the biggest hurdles people face when getting started with tarot is learning the card meanings. This kept me from diving deep into the tarot for years, too; I get it!

There are much easier techniques to learning the meanings of all of the cards besides memorizing a guidebook word for word for 78 different cards. Not only is memorizing a guidebook of 78-card meanings not very feasible, but it’s also an intuitive disservice in working with the tarot.

What if I told you that you could have a robust knowledge of all 78 cards by learning only 36 correspondences? I know 36 is nothing to sneeze at, but here’s the thing, the 36 correspondences I’ll layout in this post will not only help you understand the energy of each tarot card but will also help you in nearly all other facets of spellwork and magick.

What are correspondences?

Correspondences are simply energies that play well together or match. Each card of the tarot has at least a couple of correspondences, and when you better understand each card's correspondences, you’ll also understand the energy of each card. The correspondences associated with tarot are not unique to tarot and relate to numerology, astrology, witchcraft, and more. Plus, there’s a good chance that you’re already familiar with some of the correspondences that I’m going to outline in this post. If you are, that’s great! You’re already a step ahead. 

Before you dive in, correspondences and their meanings can be rich and deep. They can also vary somewhat from person to person. What I share here is enough to get you started to build a strong foundation, but I recommend digging deeper into the ones you’re less familiar with. 

Dive deeper into tarot correspondences in my book, Understanding Tarot. You might also find that reading an introductory book on numerology or astrology will really deepen your understanding of those specific correspondences. You can also read up on numerology and the four elements right here on the blog! Click here for more on the elements and here for more on numerology. 

Let’s dive in. Here are 6 tips to help you learn the tarot card meanings quickly. 

1. Understand your learning style! 

Before we jump into understanding the correspondences of tarot, you need to get super clear about how you learn and use that method as we dive into the correspondences. If you’re a visual learner, get a journal and start drawing and writing down what the correspondences below mean. If you’re an auditory learner, consider listening to an audiobook about the correspondences listed below. If you learn by doing, continue working with your tarot deck to weave this knowledge into your readings. Not sure how you learn best? Try a few different ways listed above and see what sticks. 

2. Understand Basic Numerological Meanings 

The largest part of a tarot deck, and for many, the trickiest cards to learn, are the numbered suit cards of the Minor Arcana (think 2 of cups and 4 of wands, etc.) Understanding the basic numerological meanings will make you feel MUCH more confident with these cards. There are ways to use numerology in the Major Arcana too, which you’ll be able to learn more about in my new book. For the minor arcana, use these numerological meanings to give you clues about what each card means.

1. New beginnings

2. Balance

3. Creativity

4. Foundations

5. Change

6. Partnership

7. Intellect 

8. Mastery

9. Endings

10. This one is kind of unique to tarot because, in traditional numerology, you always reduce down to a single-digit between 1-9. Fortunately, the meaning often in regards to the tarot is pretty obvious. It points to an end of a cycle and transitioning to a new phase. It has a slightly different feel than 9 in that it signals a willingness to move on. 

3. Understand the 4 Elements

Earth, air, water, and fire are, in my opinion, foundational in any magickal or divination practice. The elements are the energies that we’re made of and can be utilized in nearly all facets of a spiritual and magickal practice! Each of the four elements corresponds with a suit of the minor arcana, shown here.

• Cups- Water

• Pentacles- Earth

• Swords- Air

• Wands- Fire 

Now that you know more about the meanings associated with the numbered cards of the minor arcana, you can also apply the corresponding element. Now you have two things to go off of to understand the energy of each card better. Here’s a list of how the energy of the elements express themselves. 

• Water- Emotions, intuition, subconscious

• Earth- Work, money, materiality

• Air- Communication, the mind, expression

• Fire- Action, energy, momentum

There are ways to apply your understanding of the elements to both the minor arcana's court cards and the major arcana. I discuss these more in my book, but this is a great place to start! 

4. Understand Zodiac and Planetary Meanings

We’ll begin to transition more to the major arcana for this one. Each of the major arcana cards corresponds with either a planet or a zodiac sign, giving it a unique energy.

1. The Fool - Uranus

2. The Magician - Mercury

3. The High Priestess - The Moon

4. The Empress - Venus

5. The Emperor - Aries

6. The Hierophant - Taurus

7. The Lovers - Gemini

8. The Chariot - Cancer

9. Strength - Leo

10. The Hermit - Virgo

11. Wheel of Fortune - Jupiter

12. Justice - Libra

13. The Hanged One - Neptune

14. Death - Scorpio

15. Temperance - Sagittarius

16. The Devil - Capricorn

17. The Tower - Mars

18. The Star - Aquarius

19. The Moon - Pisces

20. The Sun - The Sun

21. Judgment - Pluto

22. The World - Saturn

Here are examples of how these energies express themselves. Zodiac Signs

• Aries - Leader

• Taurus - Grounded

• Gemini - Charming 

• Cancer - Feeling

• Leo - Outgoing

• Virgo - Organized

• Libra - Balanced

• Scorpio - Deep 

• Sagittarius - Growth

• Capricorn - Hardworking

• Aquarius - Eccentric

• Pisces - Intuitive

Planetary Meanings

• Sun - Ego

• Moon - Subconscious

• Mercury - Communication

• Venus - Love

• Mars - Warrior

• Jupiter - Expansion

• Saturn - Restriction

• Uranus - Revolutionary

• Neptune - Dreams

• Pluto -  Transformation

5. Learn how Astrological Energies Correspond with the Elements

I imagine correspondences as a web of intersecting energies that play off of each other. When you understand how these different energies match up or repel each other, it will take your understanding of the tarot cards' meanings to a deeper level.

Each of the zodiac signs and planets corresponds to an element. Now, with your understanding of the elements and basic astrology, you can weave these meanings together. Here’s a list of how the planets, zodiacs, and elements correspond with one another. 

• Aries - Mars - Fire

• Taurus - Venus - Earth + Water

• Gemini - Mercury - Air

• Cancer - Moon - Water

• Leo - Sun - Fire

• Virgo - Mercury - Earth + Air

• Libra - Venus - Air + Water

• Scorpio - Pluto - Water

• Sagittarius - Jupiter - Fire

• Capricorn - Saturn - Earth

• Aquarius - Uranus - Air

• Pisces - Neptune - Water

With this information combined, we can see that the Empress corresponds to Venus, the earth element, and Taurus. Therefore the Empress card relates to love, beauty, and creation from an earthly and material perspective. 

6. Pair this Knowledge with your Intuition

Think of all of this correspondence knowledge as a way to bolster your intuition. They’re not the end all be all of learning the tarot, but they go a LONG way! The more comfortable and confident you become in understanding these correspondences, the easier it will be for you to intuit the card meanings for yourself and others without a guidebook. The correspondences are better than a guidebook because they give you nudges and insights about what the cards have to tell you, rather than a definitive answer.

Learn more about building up your intuitive muscles here in this previous post. 

Now it’s time for you to put these tools into practice. Find a way to learn them that works for you, and watch your ability to understand the tarot card meanings flourish!