78 Magickal Tools: Bringing the Magick of Tarot to your Pagan Path

Tarot is more than a tool of divination; tarot is a book of spiritual wisdom and a set of magickal tools. Explore new ways to use tarot in ritual, magick, meditation, self-discovery and attunement.

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Time, Tarot and Magick

Have you ever noticed that none of us perceive time in a consistent way? An hour at the dentist seems to take forever, while an hour-long massage seems to slip by in an instant.

 For me, the past few months have flown by. Since my last post I was excited to be a headliner at Florida Pagan Gathering Samhain 2016, and to be named “Tarosophist of the Year” for 2016 by the Tarosophy Tarot Association.

Both of these were great honors, and FPG was a blast.

These events happened against a backdrop of elder family medical issues which caused my husband and I to suddenly move home and office to be closer to his ailing parents.

Being involved in eldercare has given me yet another way to contemplate time as I consider the very-finite minutes in every human life.

Recently, I received an email asking me to clarify something I had previously written about using specific tarot cards to help speed up magick and make your intention happen more quickly.

Here’s the email I received:

Read your article on speeding up the results of a spell with either the Knight of Swords and the Eight of Wands in your spells. How would I use them? Do I place them under the candles, under or next to the focus of intent, etc.? Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

So often we tarot aficionados will speak about how we “use cards” in a spell – but rarely do we talk about precisely how we do that. I am excited that this email gives me an opportunity to explain some of the practical side of tarot magick.

I love that the question is specifically about using the cards to change the timing of something. As I mentioned, I am feeling of the scarcity of time right now. I want a “make time” spell, rather than a “speed up” spell!

The magick of time and timing, with or without tarot, is tricky. That’s because our experience of time is so subjective; so determined by perspective.  There is a certain quality of spiritual surrender associated with time as something over which we have very little control.

Time is a teacher. Sometimes things need to take the amount of time they take, and no force in the universe can change that. Sometimes it is easier to do magick to cultivate our own patience than it is to try to make something move before it’s ready to move.

However, there are situations where we need something quickly.  Our local botanicas are filled with oils to help bring “fast money” or “swift justice”.

As the email I received mentioned, my favorite cards for swiftness are the Eight of Wands and the Knight of Swords. Predictively, in a tarot reading, these cards can say that something will happen very soon. As advice, these cards kick us into immediate action.

In magick, these cards can add the adverb “quickly” to whatever our intention may be.

If you want to add the Eight of Wands and the Knight of Swords to manifest a spell more swiftly, or to release an energy more immediately, here are ways to incorporate those cards in your spellwork.

 

If you have an altar set up for your magickal work, you may simply place the cards on the altar along with your other magickal tools, like statues and candles.

When you place the cards on the altar, or at some other meaningful point in your work, acknowledge the cards by speaking their name, and your intention for them. You can be as simple or as poetic as you would like.

For instance:

“With the Eight of Wands I bring swift results.”

Or

“Let the Knight of Swords fly quickly to bring the results I desire”.

If you do not have a tarot deck with you, or do not want to remove a card from your divining deck for magick, you may print out the images, or even write the name of the cards on a piece of paper and use that instead.

If you are not working with an altar, you may simply hold the cards in your hand. You can focus your eyes on them as you state your intention for them.

It’s important to remember that speed is not the focus of your spell; it’s not what you want to create, it’s the way you want your creation to move.

Are there magickal workings we can do to slow things down, or to create time in some way? I would be nervous to do such a thing lightly – so often time is created when we lose something that we value, like a job or a relationship.

Rather, if more time is what we want, we may need to do magickal work for balance, and for the rational ability to prioritize and delegate.

In a case such as this, time really does become the subject of the spell, rather than an adjunct, or adverb, to it.

When we are asking for “more time” what we are really asking for is peace, patience, reason and balance. There are many cards that carry those energies for me. My favorites are The High Priestess, the Hermit, Temperance and the Two of Swords.

To create a “more time” spell, you might arrange these cards on your altar while burning appropriate candles. Just as we did with the speedy cards, acknowledge each card by name and intent. Visualize yourself living a more balanced life as you think about the cards, and the energies you are invoking.

Since these cards represent what you are actually working to manifest, you might choose to meditate with one or many of them by focusing on the card, and putting yourself in the scene of the card. Perhaps you become the High Priestess and embody her wisdom. Perhaps you climb the snowy mountain to have a conversation with the Hermit.

You can strengthen your manifestation by holding each card to your chakras, and breathing the energy of the card in.

I tend to hold cards to my heart, my solar plexus, my throat and my brow.  (Truly, I have contemplated making “tarot card underwear” to make it easy to hold an image like the Ace of Pentacles to the root chakra for grounding.)

There is an intuitive energy that can happen when you do tarot magick. You may simply feel that you want to place a card near a candle on the altar, or near a statue, or in the center. When you work with tarot in any capacity it is important to let intuition guide you.

Now that I’m settled in my new digs (which the Ten of Pentacles helped me manifest) I’ll be posting here more frequently. If you have questions about how to use tarot in magick, please send me an email!

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Christiana Gaudet, an eclectic Pagan, has worked as a full-time tarot reader and teacher since the early 1990s.  From her home in South Florida she offers readings and private instruction by Skype and telephone, as well as tarot and spiritual webinars.  Christiana's first book, "Fortune Stellar: What Every Professional Tarot Reader Needs to Know" is designed to help each tarot professional build a unique and successful tarot business.  Her new book, "Tarot Tour Guide: Tarot, the Four Elements and Your Spiritual Journey" explores ways of using and understanding tarot by understanding the Four Elements. Christiana is a popular speaker at festivals and conferences, and has done a great deal of psychic work on broadcast radio and television.

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