WTF Is Tarot

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WTF Is Tarot Page 19

by Bakara Wintner


  Smudging

  Smudging is the ancient art of burning herbs, such as sage, to let the smoke purify and bless a space. It is believed that smudging will clear any lingering negative or heavy energy. Initially used as mystical practice among ancient civilizations, the benefits have since been backed by science. Burning white sage and other herbs releases negative ions, which has been linked to the physical cleansing of a space—clearing mold spores, bacteria, viruses and pollen—as well as its etheric properties.

  While the use of smudging with dried white sage originated from Native American practices, the use of burning herb resins (aka incense) for spiritual purposes can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt. Catholic churches burn incense to symbolize the faithful rising to heaven. It has been used among the Assyrians and Babylonians to ward off evil spirits, and in Judaic Temple rituals. Similarly to tarot, to adopt smudging into your own personal practice is tapping into thousands of years of spiritual communion and ceremony.

  The alchemy of smudging is one of turning the earth element (herbs) into the air element (smoke), thereby raising a physical experience into a spiritual one. Smudge sticks can be found at your local health food store, herb shop or metaphysical center. There are also herbalists who craft beautiful, locally sourced smudge sticks available in some gift shops and on sites like Etsy. While the price point is a bit higher, it ensures the ethical sourcing and intentional creation of your smudge stick.

  How to use: In a heatproof container, hold a flame to the tip of the smudge stick until it begins to smoke. Using your hand or a feather, guide the smoke into the corners of your space and along the doorways and windows. If using the smoke to cleanse your cards, hold the cards directly above the stream of smoke, fanning them out to make sure each card makes contact. A note of respect for the herbs: This is not an air freshener, people. When you are burning a smudge stick, find a way to honor the earth medicine you are using. Say a prayer or mantra, or silently focus on your intention.

  Florida Water

  While the word water is in its title, Florida Water is actually an alcohol-based cologne widely lauded for its ability to remove heavy vibrations, protect a home and aid in spiritual cleaning. Named after the fabled fountain of youth purported to exist in Florida (the irony, amirite?), it is scented with essential oils of sweet orange, lemon, lavender and clove. Its bright citrus and floral scent awakens the senses and stimulates the crown chakra, making it an excellent aid in spiritual work.

  How to use: Sprinkle some on your hands before handling your cards. Or douse a soft cloth and wipe down your cards for the occasional deep clean. When cleansing your space, add Florida Water to your mopping solution or an all-purpose cleaner.

  Singing Bowls

  Singing bowls are a form of sound healing that produce tones corresponding to the chakras. The sound induces a feeling of calm, relaxes the nervous system and helps shift both the reader and client into a more peaceful and focused mind-set. There are Tibetan singing bowls, usually forged of metal, and crystal singing bowls, which are made of pure quartz crystal. Some people have full sets of singing bowls, but for personal use and budgetary considerations, try starting with one that corresponds to a chakra you know you want to work on.

  Singing bowls are a healing modality in and of themselves, with sound bath offerings available all over the country. However, they are also a powerful supplement to precede a reading or after a particularly intense spread.

  Chakra by Musical Note

  Root Chakra—C

  Sacral Chakra—D

  Solar Plexus Chakra—E

  Heart Chakra—F

  Throat Chakra—G

  Third Eye Chakra—A

  Crown Chakra—B

  How to use: Tap the mallet against the outside edge of the singing bowl, and slowly, without breaking contact, run it along the bowl’s perimeter. Experiment with different pressures and speeds to modify the sound. Put your deck of tarot cards inside of the bowl to let the vibrations clear any stuck energy, or use for yourself or a client if feeling nervous before starting a reading.

  Salt

  The connection between salt and magic has been made repeatedly throughout history. From the Bible to Wiccan practices, its purification properties, healing capacities and the psychic protection it provides makes it an essential ingredient in any witch’s spell kit. Bear in mind that salt protects against all psychic phenomena.

  Traditionally, witches sprinkled salt across thresholds and around the perimeters of dwellings to ward off outside negative energies, and magical practitioners gather inside circles of salt for both protection and the creation of a safe container. Because of its unique ability to transmit electricity, salt-based crystals are a popular choice to cleanse and amplify both environments and other stones.

  How to use: Put a small pile of salt on top of your deck and leave in the sun. Take a salt bath or use a salt scrub to draw out impurities from the body.

  Sun & Moon

  The sun, with is natural antiseptic and antibacterial properties, can be used to cleanse cards, crystals and magic accouterments alike. The moon, with its gentler, ethereal glow, is used to charge.

  How to use: Place your sacred objects on a windowsill during a full moon or on a sunny day for natural energization, activation and cleansing.

  IT’S BEEN REAL (AND SURREAL)

  So, this is it. Everything I know. Every note scribbled on a napkin, every late-night thought typed into my phone, every profound insight I’ve heard from a student, every possible meaning I’ve found with each card since I first started using the tarot four years ago. I hope you found it lean but also generous, free of bullshit and ego and at least mildly entertaining. More than anything, I hope you now believe the thing that I believe so strongly that it compelled me to spend six months in a cave writing this fucking thing: that you are ready. Whatever it is, whatever longing is calling out to you in the dark, whatever power and bigness you have yet to harness—you have always had everything you needed in order to begin. All you have to do is say yes.

  I hope that, through the tarot, you experience some crazy miraculous shit and are able to make sense of all the crazy miraculous shit that has come to pass. The cards will reflect that life has trained you completely for your healership. I hope you stand a little taller in your specific, perfect place in the universe. I hope there are moments you are so overcome by the presence of magic that you feel like you will break, and then you do break and find you are not broken. I hope you expand exponentially and unendingly. I hope you get your ass kicked by these cards and by life in all the ways you need to in order to be less of an asshole and the truest version of yourself. I hope these cards serve as a vehicle to move you forward and a lens through which you may intentionally view your human experience. I hope it allows to you bask in all of it, to recognize every moment of this life as the nourishment that it is.

  Dance with the cards. Learn how to let something else take the lead. Be soft under their touch. They are just and only you.

  And you. You are allowed to use magic. It is your birthright. It has always belonged to you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks first and foremost are owed to Madison Rootenberg and Lilliana Greenway, my two Empresses, whose friendship, support and love falls well beyond the confines of language. To Autumn Whitehurst, my birthday twin and co-pilot in all things magical, as well as her man and my soul-dad Chris McClelland, the most masterful holder of space I’ve ever known. To my agent, first client and favorite former intern Andrea Morrison: Thank you for holding me from the beginning, with this book being just one of the many milestones you cheerlead me through. To Writers House, thank you for my first and only real job, for letting me hang twinkle lights in the file room, and for growing me up. You guys are second to none in all that you do, including your choice in assistants. Special thanks to Maria Aughavin for being a mother as well as a boss; Melissa Vasquez for being a sister as well as a co-worker; Dan Conaway for being a brilliant albe
it unorganized genius; Simon Lipskar for the endless witty banter; and Brianne Johnson for being goals in your authenticity, fierceness and beauty.

  To Marissa Giambelluca and the Page Street Publishing team, thank you for reaching out and giving me a) a crazy deadline that tested my sanity in ways I never thought possible and b) an opportunity to share my experience, sass and heart. Thank you for honoring my sometimes offensive voice and guiding me through the manifestation of one of my lifelong dreams.

  Kate Scelsa, thank you for one of the most shining cross sections of magic and writing I’ve ever read, for holding me as I cried the first time we met, for leading me to Sherri and, by extension, absolutely fucking everything. Alex Diamond, Davis Harper, Lindsay Mack, Anna Toonk, Matthew Meier, kudos for making sure this book didn’t suck and for generally tolerating my existence.

  And last, but certainly not least, to my gorgeous clients, who taught me what the fuck Tarot is and who the fuck I am beyond anyone and anything else.

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  0 (The Fool)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  1 (The Magician)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  2 (The High Priestess)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  3 (The Empress)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  4 (The Emperor)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  5 (The Hierophant)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  6 (The Lovers)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  7 (The Chariot)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  8 (Strength)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  9 (The Hermit)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  10 (The Wheel of Fortune)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  11 (Justice)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  12 (The Hanged Man)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  13 (Death)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  14 (Temperance)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  15 (The Devil)

  anecdote

  Major Arcana

  meaning

  readings

  16 (The Tower)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  17 (The Star)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  18 (The Moon)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  19 (The Sun)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  20 (Judgment)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  21 (The World)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Ace of Cups

  Ace of Pentacles

  Ace of Swords

  Ace of Wands

  Advanced Magick for Beginners (Alan Chapman)

  Adyashanti

  Alex

  altars

  anecdotes

  The Chariot (7)

  Death (13)

  The Devil (15)

  The Emperor (4)

  The Empress (3)

  The Fool (0)

  The Hanged Man (12)

  The Hermit (9)

  The Hierophant (5)

  The High Priestess (2)

  Judgment (20)

  Justice (11)

  The Lovers (6)

  The Magician (1)

  The Moon (18)

  The Star (17)

  Strength (8)

  The Sun (19)

  Temperance (14)

  The Tower (16)

  The Wheel of Fortune (10)

  The World (21)

  “Angels” (Chance the Rapper)

  artists

  Autumn

  Bembo, Bonifacio

  Beyoncé

  Bright Eyes

  Campbell, Joseph

  cards

  artists and

  feminine energy

  honesty of

  imagery of

  masculine energy

  origin of

  pulling

  relationships between

  reversed cards

  shuffling

  Chakras

  Crown Chakra

  Heart Chakra

  introduction to

  musical notes and

  Root Chakra

  Sacral Chakra

  Solar Plexus Chakra

  Third Eye Chakra

  Throat Chakra

  Chakra Spread

  Chance the Rapper

  Chapman, Alan

  The Chariot (7)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Chris

  consent

  Court Cards

  Daughter of Cups

  Daughter of Pentacles

  Daughter of Swords

  Daughter of Wands

  Father of Cups

  Father of Pentacles

  Father of Swords

  Father of Wands

  introduction to

  Mother of Cups

  Mother of Pentacles

  Mother of Swords

  Mother of Wands

  Son of Cups

  Son of Pentacles

  Son of Swords

  Son of Wands

  Court de Gébelin, Antoine

  Crackerjack

  Crowley, Aleister

  Crown Chakra

  crystals

  Cups

  Ace of Cups

  Two of Cups

  Three of Cups

  Four of Cups

  Five of Cups

  Six of Cups

  Seven of Cups

  Eight of Cups

  Nine of Cups

  Ten of Cups

  Daughter of Cups

  Father of Cups

  Mother of Cups

  Son of Cups

  Daughter of Cups

  Daughter of Pentacles

  Daughter of Swords

  Daughter of Wands

  Death (13)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  decks

  Fountain Tarot

  gifts of

  indie decks

  Lumina Tarot

  purchasing

  Rider-Waite Tarot

  selection

  Small Spells Tarot

  Spirit Speak Tarot

  Starchild Tarot

  Thoth Tarot

  Visconti Tarot

  Wooden Tarot

  The Devil (15)

  anecdote

  Major Arcana

  meaning

  readings

  Eight of Cups

  Eight of Pentacles

  Eight of Swords

  Eight of Wands

  Einstein, Albert

  Ellipse Spread

  The Emperor (4)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  The Empress (3)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Everyday Magic

  Everything Spread

  Fath
er of Cups

  Father of Pentacles

  Father of Swords

  Father of Wands

  feminine energy

  Five of Cups

  Five of Pentacles

  Five of Swords

  Five of Wands

  Florida Water

  The Fool (0)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  “Formation” (Beyoncé)

  Fountain Tarot

  Four of Cups

  Four of Pentacles

  Four of Swords

  Four of Wands

  Gaiman, Neil

  gemstones

  Hafiz

  The Hanged Man (12)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Heart Chakra

  Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

  The Hermit (9)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  The Hierophant (5)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  The High Priestess (2)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  intuition

  Jenna

  Jodorowsky, Alejandro

  journaling

  Judgment (20)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Jung, Carl

  Justice (11)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)

  Lisa

  The Lovers (6)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Lumina Tarot

  Madison

  magic

  altars

  association as

  Crown Chakra

  crystals

  Florida Water

  gemstones

  Heart Chakra

  introduction to

  journaling

  meditation

  moon

  perception of

  Root Chakra

  Sacral Chakra

  salt

  singing bowls

  smudging

  Solar Plexus Chakra

  space clearing

  sun

  Third Eye Chakra

  Throat Chakra

  Vedic Meditation

  The Magician (1)

  anecdote

  meaning

  readings

  Major Arcana

  The Chariot (7)

  Death (13)

  The Devil (15)

  The Emperor (4)

 

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