Morning, loves!

Today on the playshop I want to talk about creating intentional space for your tarot adventures! Here are some of our favorite ways to clear your physical and energetic space as well as your deck:

Before you pull take a moment to settle in. This might not always be possible. We know there have been times when we need a card immediately and juggle a bit to find space at a tiny crowded coffee shop table! Generally though, we try to find somewhere that is both energetically and physically spacious. Pulling on your bed? Take a second to flatten out the top sheet. Pulling out doors? Dust away debris or put down a towel. Pulling in front of your computer around work (definitely, not something we do way more often than we'd like to admit)? Push aside your keyboard, stack your papers, clear your post-its.
If you believe in a little energetic clearing take some time to burn sage or palo santo, light an oil burner, or perhaps sit with your deck wrapped up, close your eyes, and take a couple deep inhales and open mouthed exhales. Open yourself up to what you might need.
Pulling with others? Help clear the space together. Sit in a moment of silence while you both contemplate what it is you want to pull around and how you want to pull.
Know your spreads before you shuffle. These can be spreads you make on your own. However, placement is important to the meaning of your pull so make sure that you are contemplating each spot as you shuffle.
Some folks feel like there is a certain way or amount of times you have to shuffle. I'm sure my high school AP Stats teacher would have a few things to say about this. I say shuffle for as long as you need to contemplate your question|s and trust your gut intuition. I also like to cut for every person pulling or cut for every card position. It's up to you but be a conscious participant in trusting the relationship between your subconscious, your energy, and your deck.

These are just a few of our favorite ways to get ourselves ready to pull! You can read more about building intentional space here. How about you? What are your favorite ways to get ready to pull tarot?

Trusting the shuffle,

Traci

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Traci {She|Her|Hers|They|Them|Theirs} is a yoga teacher, therapist and amateur tarot enthusiast! They try to believe in the power of their inner Magician, stay inspired by the Fool’s spirit, understand struggle through the lens of The Tower/Disaster and always stay reminded that, “The Star Awaits…”

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Today on The Playshop I'm contemplating the place of questions and answers in our healing journeys. These two concepts/tools are especially relevant in the realm of tarot where we are working with a healing practice specifically to shake off the conscious and give space to the underlying truths.

Every healing method is a bit different. If you went to your physical therapist and asked if you could first lay the ace bandage that he was going to use to wrap you up out on an altar on a full moon it would be a little silly (okay, he might think you're a little silly, I would be like, hey, that's going to be one powerful piece of material). Still, you get the point, right? Different methods call for different intentions, different strategies, tools, etc. It's important that when you're pulling tarot you're crafting questions that make sense for the specific way that tarot can offer guidance. This article from Learn Tarot gives some instructions to create better questions and common pitfalls to avoid.

The "answers" we get from tarot or rather the way that we "read" the cards falls in a very similar realm. Even early on in my relationship with tarot, I was lucky enough to get really sound guidance on reading tarot from a space of openness. (You can read more about my "Fool's Journey" into tarot here.) In my opinion there really aren't "good" or "bad" cards to get on any subject. Sure, sometimes our pulls might offer reflections that make us want to find reasons to invalidate what they're bringing to our attention, but we have agency over how we use the information we receive. Furthermore, it's all awareness and guidance in my opinion. There's nothing ominous in the cards themselves- and if we feel an ominous presence in the hearts that read them we can choose to breathe lightness and positive purpose into those spaces of contemplation. This article from Biddy Tarot goes into common mistakes when reading tarot for yourself.

What it all comes down to is that tarot is a powerful practice of uncovering. This uncovering can be terrifying and requires a courageous spirit of intention.... but when that spirit is held in shuffles, pulls, and reads it shakes the dust away from our worlds in ways that offers space so clean and so clarifying that we can feel when it is clearing space for movement forward, stillness in being, or backwards reflection. All is there if we're brave enough to ask the right questions and take in whole answers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDtHdloK44

I've been reading, breathing, meditating, and doing yoga to Anis Mojgani's Shake the Dust lately, and the closing line has really stuck with me.

Shaking the dust So when the world knocks at your front door Clutch the knob tightly, and open on up Run forward into its wide spread greeting arms With your hands before you Your fingertips trembling Though they may be

With trembling open hands,

Traci

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Tarot Tuesday: Creating Space

Tarot Tuesday: Questions + Answers

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