I do a lot of tarot magick on my own. Mostly, it’s pretty casual. Recently, at TarotCon (Florida) 2015, I helped create group magick using tarot, music and dance.

We were looking for a fun activity to immediately follow dinner. My colleague, Jenna Matlin, had recently attended a trance dance, where they danced the nine planets. How much fun would it be to dance the tarot?

As we discussed the possibility, it became clear that our Tarot Trance Dance should be a magickal spell. The goal we set was near and dear to our hearts; that tarot would be more accessible and acceptable in the world. As tarot professionals, we would love to enjoy the same respect and opportunity that other personal service professionals do.

We chose twelve Major Arcana cards to tell the story of a shift in the world’s consciousness, opening to honor tarot as the resource it is.

Jenna wrote an intention for each card. Together, we chose a song for each card. We wanted the music to reflect the magickal goal, so we chose a mix of pop music, world music and independent artists.

 About twenty people participated in this spell with us. Before we played each song, we held up the card, and together spoke the intention three times. Then, we danced the energy of the card. Those who didn’t dance held up the cards and held the energy.

The process of creating and executing this complex bit of tarot magick was thoroughly enjoyable and meaningful. There were a couple of interesting moments. I hadn’t considered the appropriateness of the line “I’ll put my cards on your table” in “Is this Love?” until we were dancing to it.

We performed this ceremony outdoors. It was an international crowd unused to the Florida heat. Oh, well. Magick isn’t always comfortable.

Here are the cards and songs we chose.

Death: “Salterello” by Dead Can Dance

Moon: “Jungle Holiday” by Tito Puente

Judgment: “Crystals” by Of Monsters and Men

Fool: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams

Magician: “Uprising” by Muse

High Priestess: “Blessed Be, Namaste” by Robin Renee

Hermit: “Spirit” by Dead Can Dance

Star: “Ray of Light” by Madonna

Lovers: “Is This Love?” by Bob Marley

Chariot: “I Ka Barra (Your Work) by Habib Koite and Bamada

Sun: “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves

World: “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong

At the end, we reached down to touch the earth and ground the energy. We continue to hold the intention of tarot acceptance in the world.

A practical take-away for me is the reminder of how easy and fun it is to incorporate tarot into all sorts of magickal work. Tarot magick doesn’t have to utilize only tarot. A tarot magick ceremony can include anything else you might do in ceremony.