Become More Self-Aware With These 5 Tarot Rituals
Creative ways to open your intuition for self-knowledge and expansion…
I first discovered tarot at a bar in Arizona, soon after bought my first deck at a metaphysical shop in Sedona, and haven’t looked back!
What’s amazing about tarot is you can engage it as a moving mirror of your subconscious mind, seeing stories in the cards, using them as daily meditation, and dive into month-long contemplations of the archetypal patterns playing out in your life. When approached this way, tarot becomes an intimate friend that helps you have major epiphanies about yourself!
Here are 5 of my favorite tarot rituals to expand self-awareness:
1. Work with a Monthly Archetype
Archetypes are Universal templates or themes of behavior that can be used for self study, and the tarot gives us 22 to explore!
Each month, choose one archetype from the 22 majors to work with. You’ll need to separate out these 22 cards from the rest of your deck. You can go through them face up and choose at your will, or you can keep them face down and let the Universe decide which one is best for you to work with.
Keep the card on an altar or sacred place where you can return to it throughout the month. Make a commitment to study the card all month and notice which of its themes show up for you internally and externally.
2. Do a Daily 3-Card ‘Storytelling’ Spread
3 cards read openly can be a mirror for what kind of ‘story’ is going on in your life! You don’t need to have a question prepared, simply be open to the present moment.
The Middle Card: the central theme
The Card on the Left: Something to receive or be open to.
The Card on the Right: Something that has materialized or is expressing in your reality.
Note: You can also interpret the 3 cards freely, in no particular order- just notice how they relate to each other (direction characters are facing, symbols, shapes, colors, landscape, weather, elements, etc.)
3) Do Moon Phase Readings
The moon phases serve as a blueprint for creativity, so why not take advantage of it and let the cards be your inspiration!?
The new moon and full moon are powerful points in the month that can alert us to inner knowings and intuitions. Pulling tarot cards at this time amplifies mystical knowledge to reveal it to our conscious mind.
New Moon: Pull cards for CLARITY & INTENTION. Use this time to ask clarifying questions around your goals, desires, and dreams.
Full Moon: Pull cards for SELF CARE & RELEASE. Use this time to pull cards on what you need to accept and celebrate about yourself. Ask what needs loving attention, and what needs to be released.
4) Reflect on a Weekly Card
Every Monday start with a fresh card to focus on throughout the week.
Contemplate this card’s element, numerology, theme, & image. How are you embodying it in work, dating, sex, & personal life? What aspects of it could you examine through shadow work & self acceptance?
Notice if you come across any people that week who remind you of the card and exhibit the character’s traits or if themes of the card show up in external situations.
At the end of the week reflect on the previous days and see if the archetype made an appearance in your life, and if so how did it show up(?)
5) Pull a Card of the Day
This is a simple practice where you pull a card each morning just to see what the deck surprises you with!
Don’t read too much into it. Just put it on your altar, then go about your day. Later come back to it and spend about 15 minutes contemplating the card meaning.
At the end of the day revisit it and reflect on how its theme showed up, no matter how superficially. (Ex: 5 of Cups- you watched a vampire movie; Ace of Pentacles- you noticed a penny on the ground; the Emperor- your work supervisor set new rules; Queen of Wands- you got a cat-sitting gig; the High Priestess- you gave someone a tarot card reading.)
The idea is to develop a fun relationship w/ your cards and use humor/ real life to help you remember their meanings.
Hope this was helpful, and happy exploring!
xo, Tara PS. If at any point you’d like a reading you can always book one with me here.