Tarot Card Spell Crafting!

[Lucas Prince of Cats]

I'm not sure wethe this would fit into tarot spreads, using tarot cards, or talking about.

Anyways, this thread is about making rituals that take in tarot cards as essential parts of them. How to perform the riutal, which cards for what,a nd even asking people how they would perform for a certain desire.

So, first, I think that you would need to consencrate a special deck just for riutals, and also use a wand and ask the four corners for guidance and a n elemental goddess begfore the ritual.

 

[Awakened Queen]

I practice hoodoo, and I cast many spells using tarot. Sometimes I'll ask the tarot which cards I need for the spell. Other times, I pull the cards I think would be best for it. Follow your intuition. Tarot cards are great tools to help you envision the intention you are sending out into the Universe.

 

[Tanga]

OK. So the form and detail of the spellwork would depend on what "spell tradition" you were following - if any.

Quoting Barleywine here from the thread 'have you ever used tarot cards for spellcraft':
"Donald Tyson wrote a book on this very subject.
http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738709802"

I read it some years ago and still have my copy.
2 other books that come to mind are "Magick and the Tarot" by Tony Willis (don't have this one) and "Tarot for All Seasons" by Christine Jette (do have this one and it's Wicca based).

There have been some other threads here on AT on the subject too.

Now, I'm Wiccan - and so I post here my own personal format for spellwork based on a Wiccan format which includes creating a magickal protective circle to perform the spell within. (N.B. it's not always quite as detailed as below).

I have 3 designated tarot decks for spellwork - Barbara G.Walker Tarot,
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/barbara-walker/
The Tarot of the Cat People (by Kyukendall),
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-of-cat-people/
and Tarot Therapy Deck.
http://www.philipcarr-gomm.com/tarot-therapy-deck/

(Pagan Lenormand also looks like it may end up being a ritual deck).

I actually didn't do any special 'consecrating' rituals for them - just decided they were the spell decks, and don't use them for anything else. They get the whole dedicating mojo thing everytime I use them in ritual.



RITUAL FORMAT
N.B. Before I begin, I will have decided what I want the spell (or prayer if you like) to be about, and chosen the cards, other props, and chants that I will use. I may have chosen a particular card to represent each of the 4 elements, cards to represent Deities if I'm including them, and cards that represent my wish/intent.

1) GROUND myself (I do this with a mantra or visualisation of roots into the ground to draw up earth energy).

2) EMPOWER myself (I do this by chanting a short spell which affirms that I am gathering magickal power
- or it can be done by extending the grounding meditation to include extending awareness up into the heavens where "all souls meet" and imagining the energy of the Universe going down through the top of my head to meet with the empowering energy of earth. One can visualise being suspended "between heaven and earth" in this way. Chakra imagery can be added with these energies meeting at the heart).

3) PURIFY myself, my tools and the space (with sprinkling salt, incense, clapping my hands, visualising white light, ringing a bell... etc. etc. etc.)

These three steps can be covered by performing the LBRP - lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram and versions of it - from the Golden Dawn.

4) CAST the magick circle, (I draw it - literally or imaginarily. I have a little chant when I draw, asking the spirits to protect the circle, and visualise it flaming with luminous protective light when it's closed/complete). I have a Wand and an Athame - but I rarely use them for this if I'm on my own. I'll just point with my fingers.

5) CALL the quarters (or quarter spirits in whatever form I've chosen). Here is where I will lay down a card for each quarter as I call/welcome it. Then call/invoke the appropriate Deities whilst laying down the chosen cards for them in the middle of the circle.

[*N.B. I am rather pleased that my ritual format summary is in a set of 5 - mirroring for me the 5 points of the Pentacle, a popular symbol of modern pagan practice. This symbol represents the 4 elements and the 5th - the spirit/aether/ - encircled within the will of the magician/witch/spellcrafter, or contained within the infinite circle/mystery of life. ]



THEN I do the magickal spell that I have planned using the tarot cards I’ve chosen...
I'll sit in the middle of the circle I've drawn and meditate on my intention looking at my chosen tarot cards and chanting a previously written spell or just sitting in silence.

TO END - I release the circle, by saying goodbye and thank you to Deities, quarters and spirits. And declare the circle open. I will draw the circle counter-clockwise to open/release it, i.e. drawing it in the opposite direction to how I first created it.
This end - can all be thought of and embodied, within the act of blowing out the candles that have been lit at the beginning of the ritual, if they have been included.
I may use one or two tiny tea-lights in appropriately coloured holders - or I may just use my coloured LED bed lamp (partner is paranoid I might burn down the house ).

 

[nisaba]

If I use cards in magic, it's more likely to be theurgical magic than thaumaturgical magic. All I find is necessary, is to visualise the image.

 

[Tanga]

...All I find is necessary, is to visualise the image.

That too - but THE RITUAL, the flipping through of those "special cards", the poetic patterns, the chanting,
the...

LOL. I just love the ritual.

 

[Lucas Prince of Cats]

Thanks for the format tanga. The idea of this thread was for other spell casters to get together and make little tarot card using rituals together, and discuss on making specific ones for a spell. For instance, I need a spell for memory and focus. Personally, I like making a circle as well. I like being grounded and having my tools ready before starting at all, and ground myself once I'm ready. Then, I call the gods and goddesses, the elements, corners, and fairies for their hand in. Then, I do the particular ritual. And I was thinking of getting cards for each of the elements myself.

 

[Tanga]

Thanks for the format tanga. The idea of this thread was for other spell casters to get together and make little tarot card using rituals together, and discuss on making specific ones for a spell. For instance, I need a spell for memory and focus. Personally, I like making a circle as well. I like being grounded and having my tools ready before starting at all, and ground myself once I'm ready. Then, I call the gods and goddesses, the elements, corners, and fairies for their hand in. Then, I do the particular ritual. And I was thinking of getting cards for each of the elements myself.

Oops well we've run away from your intention then

Memory and focus on what exactly?
The Magician as a card for focus, comes to mind. The Hanged man (self-improvement).
Temperance (a focussed blending)... Page of Pentacles to represent studiousness (focus),
or Knight of Pentacles (represents the focussed 9-to-5 regular worker).
8 of Pentacles ("great skill from hard work")... Page of Cups (beginning studies in the magical arts - so
focus...)...
Choosing cards can also depend on how cards are depicted. For instance in the Pagan Tarot
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/pagan-tarot/
The 7 of Cups is depicted as a lady sitting cross-legged within a magic circle peacefully meditating - with the 7 cups floating above her head. This reads for me like taking the time out to focus in order to become clear about making choices - so - I might select that one... (sorry - don't have a picture of that just now. I may get there).

Rosemary is good for memory, and Mint for sharp-mindedness. So for this spell, I'd likely pluck some of each from my garden and make a small bouquet of it to place within the magic circle or next to the chosen cards I'm focussing on.(could go as far as making a specific incense for the spell, including these two ingredients crushed in it - but that's a lot more work, including the testing to ensure one actually likes the scent ones made before use - if not, bin and start again etc. etc.). Or - burn mint and rosemary essential oils in a burner or mix them into a spray bottle (with a little alcohol to help fractionate the oils into the water).

From Donald Tyson's book ('Portable Magic- Tarot is the only tool you need') - the elements can be represented by the 4 Aces... and mostly that's how I use them. But not always.
The Therapy Tarot deck consists solely of photographs from natural landscapes, so sometimes I'll leaf through that and choose the most appropriate images for me at that time, to represent the elements.
http://www.philipcarr-gomm.com/tarot-therapy-deck/

 

[earthair]

It would be lovely to have a thread/forum dedicated to this so we can easily share and find things like in the Tarot Spreads lists.

Personally I don't really get the calling of deities thing! I think of the energy just coming from one source, so I like to keep it simple.

I like to arrange cards in orders, places and shapes (lots of circles) for my purposes. Every time is different and a fun creative process in itself. TdM decks work best I find because the pips can be used like quantities of ingredients in cakes.

 

[Tanga]

...Personally I don't really get the calling of deities thing! I think of the energy just coming from one source, so I like to keep it simple.

Depends entirely on your belief and system of spiritual practice. You don't have to include them.
Are Deities a way in which we "spit up" the "One Source" into more understandable quantities? Is God masculine, feminine, both?
If one is a Santeria or Voodoun practitioner - then work would mostly be with Lwa (loa) - some aren't Deities. They may be your ancestors in the form of your Great Aunt Mary.
We could go on forever

TdM as "ingredients" sounds good. Except I've never liked the artwork - so in this case, I'd more likely use the Thoth Tarot as my preferred "pip deck".

 

[Lucas Prince of Cats]

Oops well we've run away from your intention then

Memory and focus on what exactly?
The Magician as a card for focus, comes to mind. The Hanged man (self-improvement).
Temperance (a focussed blending)... Page of Pentacles to represent studiousness (focus),
or Knight of Pentacles (represents the focussed 9-to-5 regular worker).
8 of Pentacles ("great skill from hard work")... Page of Cups (beginning studies in the magical arts - so
focus...)...
Choosing cards can also depend on how cards are depicted. For instance in the Pagan Tarot
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/pagan-tarot/
The 7 of Cups is depicted as a lady sitting cross-legged within a magic circle peacefully meditating - with the 7 cups floating above her head. This reads for me like taking the time out to focus in order to become clear about making choices - so - I might select that one... (sorry - don't have a picture of that just now. I may get there).

Rosemary is good for memory, and Mint for sharp-mindedness. So for this spell, I'd likely pluck some of each from my garden and make a small bouquet of it to place within the magic circle or next to the chosen cards I'm focussing on.(could go as far as making a specific incense for the spell, including these two ingredients crushed in it - but that's a lot more work, including the testing to ensure one actually likes the scent ones made before use - if not, bin and start again etc. etc.). Or - burn mint and rosemary essential oils in a burner or mix them into a spray bottle (with a little alcohol to help fractionate the oils into the water).

From Donald Tyson's book ('Portable Magic- Tarot is the only tool you need') - the elements can be represented by the 4 Aces... and mostly that's how I use them. But not always.
The Therapy Tarot deck consists solely of photographs from natural landscapes, so sometimes I'll leaf through that and choose the most appropriate images for me at that time, to represent the elements.
http://www.philipcarr-gomm.com/tarot-therapy-deck/

Well, I also like the lovers, ace of swords, knight of swords, and satr for such things. Thank you!