Smudging
Smudging is the ancient art of burning herbs, such as sage, to let the smoke purify and bless a space. It is believed that smudging will clear any lingering negative or heavy energy. Initially used as mystical practice among ancient civilizations, the benefits have since been backed by science. Burning white sage and other herbs releases negative ions, which has been linked to the physical cleansing of a space—clearing mold spores, bacteria, viruses and pollen—as well as its etheric properties.
While the use of smudging with dried white sage originated from Native American practices, the use of burning herb resins (aka incense) for spiritual purposes can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt. Catholic churches burn incense to symbolize the faithful rising to heaven. It has been used among the Assyrians and Babylonians to ward off evil spirits, and in Judaic Temple rituals. Similarly to tarot, to adopt smudging into your own personal practice is tapping into thousands of years of spiritual communion and ceremony.
The alchemy of smudging is one of turning the earth element (herbs) into the air element (smoke), thereby raising a physical experience into a spiritual one. Smudge sticks can be found at your local health food store, herb shop or metaphysical center. There are also herbalists who craft beautiful, locally sourced smudge sticks available in some gift shops and on sites like Etsy. While the price point is a bit higher, it ensures the ethical sourcing and intentional creation of your smudge stick.
How to use: In a heatproof container, hold a flame to the tip of the smudge stick until it begins to smoke. Using your hand or a feather, guide the smoke into the corners of your space and along the doorways and windows. If using the smoke to cleanse your cards, hold the cards directly above the stream of smoke, fanning them out to make sure each card makes contact. A note of respect for the herbs: This is not an air freshener, people. When you are burning a smudge stick, find a way to honor the earth medicine you are using. Say a prayer or mantra, or silently focus on your intention.
Florida Water
While the word water is in its title, Florida Water is actually an alcohol-based cologne widely lauded for its ability to remove heavy vibrations, protect a home and aid in spiritual cleaning. Named after the fabled fountain of youth purported to exist in Florida (the irony, amirite?), it is scented with essential oils of sweet orange, lemon, lavender and clove. Its bright citrus and floral scent awakens the senses and stimulates the crown chakra, making it an excellent aid in spiritual work.
How to use: Sprinkle some on your hands before handling your cards. Or douse a soft cloth and wipe down your cards for the occasional deep clean. When cleansing your space, add Florida Water to your mopping solution or an all-purpose cleaner.
Singing Bowls
Singing bowls are a form of sound healing that produce tones corresponding to the chakras. The sound induces a feeling of calm, relaxes the nervous system and helps shift both the reader and client into a more peaceful and focused mind-set. There are Tibetan singing bowls, usually forged of metal, and crystal singing bowls, which are made of pure quartz crystal. Some people have full sets of singing bowls, but for personal use and budgetary considerations, try starting with one that corresponds to a chakra you know you want to work on.
Singing bowls are a healing modality in and of themselves, with sound bath offerings available all over the country. However, they are also a powerful supplement to precede a reading or after a particularly intense spread.
Chakra by Musical Note
Root Chakra—C
Sacral Chakra—D
Solar Plexus Chakra—E
Heart Chakra—F
Throat Chakra—G
Third Eye Chakra—A
Crown Chakra—B
How to use: Tap the mallet against the outside edge of the singing bowl, and slowly, without breaking contact, run it along the bowl’s perimeter. Experiment with different pressures and speeds to modify the sound. Put your deck of tarot cards inside of the bowl to let the vibrations clear any stuck energy, or use for yourself or a client if feeling nervous before starting a reading.
Salt
The connection between salt and magic has been made repeatedly throughout history. From the Bible to Wiccan practices, its purification properties, healing capacities and the psychic protection it provides makes it an essential ingredient in any witch’s spell kit. Bear in mind that salt protects against all psychic phenomena.
Traditionally, witches sprinkled salt across thresholds and around the perimeters of dwellings to ward off outside negative energies, and magical practitioners gather inside circles of salt for both protection and the creation of a safe container. Because of its unique ability to transmit electricity, salt-based crystals are a popular choice to cleanse and amplify both environments and other stones.
How to use: Put a small pile of salt on top of your deck and leave in the sun. Take a salt bath or use a salt scrub to draw out impurities from the body.
Sun & Moon
The sun, with is natural antiseptic and antibacterial properties, can be used to cleanse cards, crystals and magic accouterments alike. The moon, with its gentler, ethereal glow, is used to charge.
How to use: Place your sacred objects on a windowsill during a full moon or on a sunny day for natural energization, activation and cleansing.
IT’S BEEN REAL (AND SURREAL)
So, this is it. Everything I know. Every note scribbled on a napkin, every late-night thought typed into my phone, every profound insight I’ve heard from a student, every possible meaning I’ve found with each card since I first started using the tarot four years ago. I hope you found it lean but also generous, free of bullshit and ego and at least mildly entertaining. More than anything, I hope you now believe the thing that I believe so strongly that it compelled me to spend six months in a cave writing this fucking thing: that you are ready. Whatever it is, whatever longing is calling out to you in the dark, whatever power and bigness you have yet to harness—you have always had everything you needed in order to begin. All you have to do is say yes.
I hope that, through the tarot, you experience some crazy miraculous shit and are able to make sense of all the crazy miraculous shit that has come to pass. The cards will reflect that life has trained you completely for your healership. I hope you stand a little taller in your specific, perfect place in the universe. I hope there are moments you are so overcome by the presence of magic that you feel like you will break, and then you do break and find you are not broken. I hope you expand exponentially and unendingly. I hope you get your ass kicked by these cards and by life in all the ways you need to in order to be less of an asshole and the truest version of yourself. I hope these cards serve as a vehicle to move you forward and a lens through which you may intentionally view your human experience. I hope it allows to you bask in all of it, to recognize every moment of this life as the nourishment that it is.
Dance with the cards. Learn how to let something else take the lead. Be soft under their touch. They are just and only you.
And you. You are allowed to use magic. It is your birthright. It has always belonged to you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks first and foremost are owed to Madison Rootenberg and Lilliana Greenway, my two Empresses, whose friendship, support and love falls well beyond the confines of language. To Autumn Whitehurst, my birthday twin and co-pilot in all things magical, as well as her man and my soul-dad Chris McClelland, the most masterful holder of space I’ve ever known. To my agent, first client and favorite former intern Andrea Morrison: Thank you for holding me from the beginning, with this book being just one of the many milestones you cheerlead me through. To Writers House, thank you for my first and only real job, for letting me hang twinkle lights in the file room, and for growing me up. You guys are second to none in all that you do, including your choice in assistants. Special thanks to Maria Aughavin for being a mother as well as a boss; Melissa Vasquez for being a sister as well as a co-worker; Dan Conaway for being a brilliant albe
it unorganized genius; Simon Lipskar for the endless witty banter; and Brianne Johnson for being goals in your authenticity, fierceness and beauty.
To Marissa Giambelluca and the Page Street Publishing team, thank you for reaching out and giving me a) a crazy deadline that tested my sanity in ways I never thought possible and b) an opportunity to share my experience, sass and heart. Thank you for honoring my sometimes offensive voice and guiding me through the manifestation of one of my lifelong dreams.
Kate Scelsa, thank you for one of the most shining cross sections of magic and writing I’ve ever read, for holding me as I cried the first time we met, for leading me to Sherri and, by extension, absolutely fucking everything. Alex Diamond, Davis Harper, Lindsay Mack, Anna Toonk, Matthew Meier, kudos for making sure this book didn’t suck and for generally tolerating my existence.
And last, but certainly not least, to my gorgeous clients, who taught me what the fuck Tarot is and who the fuck I am beyond anyone and anything else.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
0 (The Fool)
anecdote
meaning
readings
1 (The Magician)
anecdote
meaning
readings
2 (The High Priestess)
anecdote
meaning
readings
3 (The Empress)
anecdote
meaning
readings
4 (The Emperor)
anecdote
meaning
readings
5 (The Hierophant)
anecdote
meaning
readings
6 (The Lovers)
anecdote
meaning
readings
7 (The Chariot)
anecdote
meaning
readings
8 (Strength)
anecdote
meaning
readings
9 (The Hermit)
anecdote
meaning
readings
10 (The Wheel of Fortune)
anecdote
meaning
readings
11 (Justice)
anecdote
meaning
readings
12 (The Hanged Man)
anecdote
meaning
readings
13 (Death)
anecdote
meaning
readings
14 (Temperance)
anecdote
meaning
readings
15 (The Devil)
anecdote
Major Arcana
meaning
readings
16 (The Tower)
anecdote
meaning
readings
17 (The Star)
anecdote
meaning
readings
18 (The Moon)
anecdote
meaning
readings
19 (The Sun)
anecdote
meaning
readings
20 (Judgment)
anecdote
meaning
readings
21 (The World)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Ace of Cups
Ace of Pentacles
Ace of Swords
Ace of Wands
Advanced Magick for Beginners (Alan Chapman)
Adyashanti
Alex
altars
anecdotes
The Chariot (7)
Death (13)
The Devil (15)
The Emperor (4)
The Empress (3)
The Fool (0)
The Hanged Man (12)
The Hermit (9)
The Hierophant (5)
The High Priestess (2)
Judgment (20)
Justice (11)
The Lovers (6)
The Magician (1)
The Moon (18)
The Star (17)
Strength (8)
The Sun (19)
Temperance (14)
The Tower (16)
The Wheel of Fortune (10)
The World (21)
“Angels” (Chance the Rapper)
artists
Autumn
Bembo, Bonifacio
Beyoncé
Bright Eyes
Campbell, Joseph
cards
artists and
feminine energy
honesty of
imagery of
masculine energy
origin of
pulling
relationships between
reversed cards
shuffling
Chakras
Crown Chakra
Heart Chakra
introduction to
musical notes and
Root Chakra
Sacral Chakra
Solar Plexus Chakra
Third Eye Chakra
Throat Chakra
Chakra Spread
Chance the Rapper
Chapman, Alan
The Chariot (7)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Chris
consent
Court Cards
Daughter of Cups
Daughter of Pentacles
Daughter of Swords
Daughter of Wands
Father of Cups
Father of Pentacles
Father of Swords
Father of Wands
introduction to
Mother of Cups
Mother of Pentacles
Mother of Swords
Mother of Wands
Son of Cups
Son of Pentacles
Son of Swords
Son of Wands
Court de Gébelin, Antoine
Crackerjack
Crowley, Aleister
Crown Chakra
crystals
Cups
Ace of Cups
Two of Cups
Three of Cups
Four of Cups
Five of Cups
Six of Cups
Seven of Cups
Eight of Cups
Nine of Cups
Ten of Cups
Daughter of Cups
Father of Cups
Mother of Cups
Son of Cups
Daughter of Cups
Daughter of Pentacles
Daughter of Swords
Daughter of Wands
Death (13)
anecdote
meaning
readings
decks
Fountain Tarot
gifts of
indie decks
Lumina Tarot
purchasing
Rider-Waite Tarot
selection
Small Spells Tarot
Spirit Speak Tarot
Starchild Tarot
Thoth Tarot
Visconti Tarot
Wooden Tarot
The Devil (15)
anecdote
Major Arcana
meaning
readings
Eight of Cups
Eight of Pentacles
Eight of Swords
Eight of Wands
Einstein, Albert
Ellipse Spread
The Emperor (4)
anecdote
meaning
readings
The Empress (3)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Everyday Magic
Everything Spread
Fath
er of Cups
Father of Pentacles
Father of Swords
Father of Wands
feminine energy
Five of Cups
Five of Pentacles
Five of Swords
Five of Wands
Florida Water
The Fool (0)
anecdote
meaning
readings
“Formation” (Beyoncé)
Fountain Tarot
Four of Cups
Four of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Four of Wands
Gaiman, Neil
gemstones
Hafiz
The Hanged Man (12)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Heart Chakra
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermit (9)
anecdote
meaning
readings
The Hierophant (5)
anecdote
meaning
readings
The High Priestess (2)
anecdote
meaning
readings
intuition
Jenna
Jodorowsky, Alejandro
journaling
Judgment (20)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Jung, Carl
Justice (11)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)
Lisa
The Lovers (6)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Lumina Tarot
Madison
magic
altars
association as
Crown Chakra
crystals
Florida Water
gemstones
Heart Chakra
introduction to
journaling
meditation
moon
perception of
Root Chakra
Sacral Chakra
salt
singing bowls
smudging
Solar Plexus Chakra
space clearing
sun
Third Eye Chakra
Throat Chakra
Vedic Meditation
The Magician (1)
anecdote
meaning
readings
Major Arcana
The Chariot (7)
Death (13)
The Devil (15)
The Emperor (4)
WTF Is Tarot Page 19
