Tarot Templates: A Card A Day Creates Magic

Tarot can be used for many things including futurecasting. This blog will focus on Tarot as a tool for introspection including spreads, readings, individual card explorations and investigating themes of Tarot. You can expect discussions of magical uses of Tarot as well. If you have a question, please send it for possible inclusion in a blog topic.

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Arwen Lynch

Arwen Lynch

Professional Tarot conversationalist, Arwen Lynch has worked with Tarot as a vehicle for personal transformation since 1980. Her personal philosophy is that Tarot is best used to correct your life course. She is a published author (in romance, as Marilu Mann) as well as past president of the American Tarot Association (4/1/2007-4/1/2014). She specializes in helping people who are determined find their joy and writers who want to finish their book. She's an initiate of Wicca.
Party With Housewives And Zombies? NEVER!

There are just some combinations you should never do. Like inviting Aunt Tessie's ex-best friend and new husband who just happens to be Uncle Jack formerly of Jack and Tessie. Or pajamas with hiking boots. Or like bringing the wrong Tarot decks to a public event. Yep, I think there are some things that would be flat-out wrong to bring. Consider the social pitfalls of housewives and zombies and brides for instance.

b2ap3_thumbnail_Zombie_8Swords.jpgI like to have choices. With close to 300 decks, I have a lot of choices when gathering things up to work an event. Recently I was packing up to work a bridal shower. I had to figure out which decks to take.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    I got to keep most of my favorites. I will not bore you with the complete list but one of them is Chesca Potter's deck. I really l
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    I love the Potter deck. It's gorgeous.
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Yes, she was ahead of her time. Sigh, no way am I giving up her deck.
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    If you ever lose it, let me know. I'm pretty sure I have two Wild Spirit in my current collection.
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Arwen, you are so sweet. Thank you! You should sell the extra one, then you'd have a few hundred bucks to buy even MORE tarot deck

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Not to date myself, but I remember when we didn't have answering machines. Now I let almost everything go to voice mail. Before though, I had to stop and decide if I wanted to answer the phone. I can see some of you scratching your heads...what on earth does an answering machine or lack thereof have to do with Tarot? Well, sometimes I do that with my Tarot readings too. I just let my inner answering machine take over.

There are cards in the tarot that, for me, have instant meanings. Those are the ones that are so embedded in my brain that they seem automatic. But that may not be the best answer for my querent. They may require a bit more than a rote Tarot reading. So sometimes I like to turn my brain upside down so I can't do the auto-answer. I yank myself out of that Tarot rut I can sometimes get into when I'm doing endless readings.

It's not fair to my client. They don't know I had three people before them asking similar questions. They aren't to blame for my reaction. But I cannot drop into automatic mode. I have to prevent my inner answering machine from picking up.

Here are just two ways to kick yourself out of the "that always means" rote reading technique. I'd love to hear your own if you have some as well.

1. Odd Fellows

b2ap3_thumbnail_SixSwords_Compare001.jpg

By using a deck I'm not familiar with, I have to back up and take another look. I've been loving two self-published decks lately that really force me to let go of the automatic and search out the intuitive answer.

From the Wild Unknown Tarot, this Six of Swords is not your typical dude rowing a boat. Nor is the image of Scathach as the Six of Air from the Dark Goddess one I can immediately see the "moving from troubled times to calmer places" meaning I have tattooed into my brain.

I have to stop. I have to become more present in my Tarot reading.

When I put the two with the Rider Smith Waite (Radiant) Six of Swords, I see color similarities immediately. In a way, my desire to let go of the old meanings for the new is represented by the meaning of this card.

2. Same Old, Same Old

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This post was previously published as part of the 2014 Ostara Tarot Blog Hop.

 

Previous Blog | Master List | Next Blog

 

Our topic this time is creativity and what springs forth. Well, that’s my loose interpretation of our Blog Wrangler’s theme. Joanne Sprott charged all of the Tarot Blog hoppers to discuss creativity.

 

There is so much I could do on that subject.

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SPREAD: Inner Stillness

--Stephanie Arwen Lynch-Poe

b2ap3_thumbnail_ArtofLife_9Pentacles.jpg“When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”

—  Eckhart Tolle

I read this quote a few years ago. It stuck with me. I wanted to use Tarot to explore how to regain that state of being in touch with my inner stillness. I see it as a breach of faith with myself when I lose this quiet place in my spirit.

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Magically Unsticking

Tarot readings aren't magic, but they can create magic. I've been doing a lot of three card readings via email lately. Normally I do SKYPE or phone or in person sessions but have been guided towards more email readings.

These are short readings since they are only three cards, but I'm finding that the questions asked are creating magic for my clients.

In these readings, I'm getting asked many things but one question keeps coming up.

How do I get unstuck?

To that end, I wanted to share a three card spread you can use for yourself. I will also show you how you can craft a spell using the three cards you get.

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  • Kasey Leavitt
    Kasey Leavitt says #
    I tried this one and loved the results. Thank you so much. I felt stuck on my novel, so I asked about that. I have a non-standard
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    Is that the Vision Quest deck? I love that one. I love your reading on this.
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    Agreed. It's a fabulous thing!
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Rock on, my dear. It is interesting that "How can I get unstuck?" is such a regular question from clients. I see the same from my
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    LOL, I remember the Pagan Tea Room. I do readings via SKYPE now too. Love technology.
Revealing The Blind Spot: A Tarot Spread

b2ap3_thumbnail_SunMoonJustice.jpgA lot of my work as a professional Tarot conversationalist involves helping others see their blocks. We all have them. Many of us spend a lot of time ignoring them then falling over them. One of the most useful things to do with Tarot can be digging into those blind spots. They say Justice is blind, but I don't think they meant this.

I've developed a spread to help find the blind spot. It asks five questions to investigate what we are blind to in ourselves. More importantly, the spread focuses on why and how to integrate it into our selves to become more whole. This spread is meant for those of us who want to

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  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Arwen, so glad u r blogging here, it makes me feel at home as a new blogger here myself. Big hugs and love. And, yes, you know I a
  • Emily Mills
    Emily Mills says #
    I adapted this by focusing it on what I'm not seeing about my chronic illness. It was extremely enlightening in a surprising way.
  • Lisa Hunt
    Lisa Hunt says #
    Wonderful post, Arwen! I'm very glad you brought up the "shadow". This is such a misunderstood aspect of our psyches. Ignoring it
  • Chloe
    Chloe says #
    Gorgeous-looking spread, Arwen, though not for the faint-hearted! And I love your T-Rex in PJ's ;D

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The Gods Themselves

It used to be able to be said that the system known as Tarot is completely unrelated to paganism. Many of the symbols are Christian and there is a tie to the Catholic Church. I could argue that Tarot is an essentially secretive, coded system designed for an esoteric following. And that may have been true up until the early 1900's when knowledge began to shake loose from the tight-lipped orders of that time. With the advent of A.E. Waite's The Pictorial Key To Tarot, things began to shift.

Now it can be said that Tarot is a useful tool for pagans as well as other paths. Where before only Christ was on the cross for the Hanged Man and the High Priestess represented Sophia, wife of God, now we have more flexibility.

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  • Cathie Rayes
    Cathie Rayes says #
    Congrats on your new blog! I've not thought about the suits corresponding to gods and goddesses before, except that for me Venus

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