Traveling with the Tarot Knights

I’ve been having fun writing about numbers and ranks in tarot recently. This week feels like time to explore the Knights!

The Court cards can be confusing because of their versatility; each one can mean so many things. This is especially true of the Pages and the Knights.

Traditionally, Pages are feminine, and Knights are masculine. This has never proved true for me in my readings, so I prefer a deck where the Pages and Knights are fairly androgenous-looking. Intuitively I may see a Page or Knight with a gender in a specific reading. In another reading, the same card may appear as a different gender to me. Of course, on these sorts of reding techniques and interpretations, your mileage may vary.

There are some tarotists who assign to the tarot Knights a sense of courtly honor, like Arthurian Knights of the Round Table. That has never resonated with me but might be something to consider.

Like the Pages, Knights can be young people, or can give you a directive, or make a prediction.

Keywords to associate with the rank of Knight include travel, pursuit, goals, motion. So, a Knight might be a young person who is goal oriented. A Knight might be a person of any age who is single-mindedly pursuing a goal. A Knight might encourage you to pursue a goal.

The sort of goal, of course, is determined by the suit. The Knight of Swords might be pursuing truth, writing, knowledge, communication, or technology. The Knight of Wands might be pursuing fun, creativity, humor, athleticism or spirituality. The Knight of Cups might be pursuing love and romance. The Knight of Pentacles might be pursuing work and money.

Knights can also predict or encourage travel. The type of travel is denoted by the suit. The Knight of Swords might be a trip to learn something or discover something. The Knight of Wands might be a trip for fun, or to a concert or sporting event. The Knight of Cups might be a romantic vacation. The Knight of Pentacles would be travel for business.

One of the ways the pandemic has appeared in the cards of clients is a lot of reversed Knights, indicating cancelled trips, and no ability to travel at the moment.

Two of the Knights can have a special job of indicating timing, that is, how fast something will happen, or how quickly you should move to make something happen. The Knight of Swords is about swiftness, while the Knight of Pentacles indicates a slow pace.

When Pages and Knights appear together, they may talk about a sibling group, with the Knights likely to be the older siblings.

Very often, the Knights appear to tell us to get off our butts and get moving. They can be a gentle or not-so-gentle nudge from the Universe to move forward toward our goals. They are also a constant reminder that life is a journey. Given their particular messages, they can evoke some of the same emotions and information as the Fool and the Chariot.

Reading the Tarot Pages

You are being Paged! That is something I sometimes say when I see a few Pages in a tarot spread. Sometimes a predominance of Pages can tell us that the Universe is communicating directly with us. It is ‘paging’ us, if you will, to get our attention and give us our marching orders.

Other times, Pages can give different sorts of messages. While the tarot Court, in general, can be tricky to interpret, the tarot Pages seem to be the most elusive and difficult to nail down.

In recent years I have heard many tarot students compare the Pages to the Aces, suggesting that the Pages can represent something new, or something beginning. While the Pages certainly do carry the energy of youth, and therefore newness, I feel there are so many richer and more specific possibilities for interpreting the four Pages of tarot.

Regardless of suit, all four Pages have a few things in common. The Pages can represent children. The Pages can represent pets. The Pages can represent people of any age who are engaged in learning something new, reinventing themselves, or finding their voice.

In a reading about business, the Pages can speak about your web page and social media presence.

Keywords for the rank of Page include learning, study, school, youth and communication.

The Pages can predict that you will receive a message. The Pages can remind you of the importance of communication. The Pages can tell you to go to school.

The suit of each Page gives the interpretation more specificity. If the Page is indeed a person, the suit will give us a hint about their personality. If the Page is telling us to communicate, or suggesting that we will receive communication, the suit will tell us what the communication is about. If the Page is telling us to study something or learn something, the suit will tell us what the subject matter should be.

Very often, Pages in a tarot reading will give more than one message. That means that a particular Page might be about your child, but also might talk about a class you are taking. It might also encourage you to have a specific conversation you have been avoiding.

Since the Pages are so much about communication, it only makes sense that each one of them should communicate a great deal of information!

Tarot Mooshing

I love how quickly new expressions spring up on the internet. Such a thing happened quite spontaneously and delightfully in a recent tarot class on YouTube live.

The class was on three-card spreads. We were talking about the many ways to read three cards. I brought up that we can read them linearly, or we can ‘moosh’ their meanings together to create many messages.

At the time, I wasn’t even sure that ‘moosh’ was a word, or even if that was what I was saying. I think I was combining ‘mush’ and ‘smoosh’. Later, I looked the word up. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to have any off-color meanings in the urban dictionary. Most sources see it as an alternative spelling of ‘mush’.

I knew ‘tarot mooshing’ had become a thing because people in the class were talking about it in the comments.

‘I moosh’.

‘I’m a moosher.’

‘I love to moosh.’

‘I can’t moosh.’

‘I want to learn to moosh.’

Just like that, tarot mooshing was formalized, and will now forever be a real tarot technique.

I’ve taught this technique prior to it receiving this creative name.

Now that it has a name, I would like to share a few more thoughts about it.

Tarot mooshing can be used as an adjunct to a reading in an effort to gain more information and more clarity. Tarot mooshing can also be the predominate technique by which a reading is given.

We can moosh any group of cards. When using a positioned spread, it is best to read the cards within their positions and add whatever information you can by mooshing. Sometimes I will moosh first, and then consider the individual cards within their positions. Other times I will read the individual cards in their positions first, and then look at the ways the cards can interreact with each other.

When reading a group of cards that are not arranged in a positioned spread, the mooshing technique can become even more important. If the cards were drawn to answer a specific question, each card may be considered in the context of that question. Yet, it is even more helpful to look at the cards as a group and see how their meanings combine to answer the question.

When mooshing a positioned spread, you have to let the cards come out of their positions and see how they interact with each other in groups.

In any case, this frivolously named technique involves looking at what the cards may have in common with one another, as well as ways cards may be direct opposites to one another.

When looking for similarities, look for cards of the same suit, and of the same number or rank. Look for cards with similar images. Look for cards with similar colors.

Consider the similarities you find and consider what those similarities might tell you in the context of the question, or the matter at hand.

Think about keywords that cards may have in common. Do you see more than one card that speaks of balance, for example, or of forward motion, or of communication, or of education?

Basically, the more cards you find that strengthen each other’s meanings, the more that meaning will become a central theme in your reading.

When you find opposites, consider what that may say to you. Are there opposing forces at play, or decisions to be made?

Whether or not you want to use this funny new word for this tarot technique doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we understand that when we see how the cards connect to each other, work with each other and speak to each other, our readings become more accurate, more nuanced, and more informative.

Considering the Emperor in 2020

2020 is the year of the Emperor. This is so because the Emperor is card Four in the Major Arcana, and the numerals of 2020 add up to four.

At the end of December and beginning of January, tarotists were speculating how the energy of the Emperor might be expressed over the next twelve months. Now, as we begin month eight of the oddest year of our lives, we might all have some new insights into the Emperor.

The Emperor is a card that often receives more negative press than I feel it should. 2020 is not going to help its reputation, I’m afraid.

It seems that many tarotists limit their understanding of the Emperor to power-hungry male authority. They see the Emperor as an overlord, a stern father, or a negative expression of the patriarchy. Certainly, these energies can be aspects of the Emperor. Yet, I believe there is so much more to be found in card Four.

What are positive aspects of the Emperor? I think the spiritual lesson of the Emperor is about responsibility. The Emperor is a community leader. He might be a politician, with the power to declare war. Yet, he might also be a loving father, or a caring community steward.

The number four generally speaks of stability. In the Emperor’s stability there could be rigidity, but there could also be dependability and loyalty.

How does the energy of the Emperor show up in the year 2020? Certainly, in the United States, we are preparing for an election which will determine who our leaders will be. Worldwide, during the pandemic, we have looked to our leaders for answers, and often have felt that our leaders weren’t doing enough, or weren’t doing the right things.

The death of George Floyd put the ongoing questions of how policing should be done in the front of everyone’s mind. Everything from the concept of centuries of systemic racism to the concept of police reformation can be seen in the Emperor.

The Emperor asks who will govern us, and in what way.

The Emperor is uncomfortable with moving away from the status quo, whether in an effort to stop the spread of a virus, or in an effort to change unjust societal norms.

As we look at the events that have unfolded over the past eight months, we can see the Emperor present in all of them.

As we move forward, we can learn from the Emperor as well. We can hold ourselves accountable for our behaviors. We can keep our word. We can nurture our communities. We can govern our own affairs with responsibility to ourselves, and to our families and our communities.

The Nature of Tarot (and Nature Therapy)

The Empress sits on her outdoor throne. In the distance, lush trees and a flowing river create a beautiful backdrop.

The people in the Six of Swords sail across a vast stretch of water, presumably searching for distant new lands.

A dog and a wolf howl at the moon, oblivious to the crayfish in the water behind them.

Did you know that in the 78 cards of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, a whopping 67 of them depict scenes of nature? What’s more, out of the remaining 11 cards, four of them still feature elements of nature such as fruits or wild animals. Only seven images are depicted completely indoors, with no indication of nature whatsoever. 

My name is Stephen and I am a tarot reader and an ecotherapist/nature therapist. You might be unfamiliar with the terms ‘ecotherapy’ and ‘nature therapy’, but they essentially refer to the same thing. Ecotherapy is any therapy that aims to improve people’s wellbeing by connecting them with nature. This can be done in numerous ways, from attending gardening groups to creating nature art or practising mindfulness in nature. You will be hearing a lot more about ecotherapy in the next few years I promise!

My love of nature goes way back to childhood. Like many people, however, I became disconnected from it for most of my adult life. It is only during the last four years that I have found my love of nature again. Words can’t describe just how much it has positively changed my life. Nature is spirituality itself; alive, here, in front of us, driven by some force that we just can’t comprehend. It is magical.

Tarot, in contrast to nature, is something which I only came to discover in my early twenties. Tarot has been there in my life when nature hasn’t (or rather, I haven’t been there for nature), planting the seeds needed for me to rekindle that magical relationship. I wonder if tarot has been asking you to pay attention to nature too, without you realising?

The Two of Swords always baffled me in my personal readings. It would come up a lot over the years, but I couldn’t figure out why it kept appearing. I now realise that since I began practising ecotherapy, this card no longer shows up.

The woman in the Two of Swords sits with her back to the sea, on a sturdy seat of some kind (it doesn’t look comfortable)! She is blindfolded, and in her arms, she holds two enormous, heavy-looking swords that surely must be weighing her down. A fairly calm sea is behind her, and a rocky island is in the distance. The sky is clear and the waxing moon is visible. Even the sand at her feet looks clean and luxurious, yet her yellow footwear prevents her bare feet from connecting to it.

It’s only now that I see myself in her. There I was, living in a beautiful part of the world and yet my time outdoors was spent stuck in my endless thoughts, not paying attention to nature at all. I was incapable of seeing the beauty around me for my endless mental plans about the future, or my worries about the past. I know that I am definitely not alone in having a mind that works like that!

Tarot images are deeply nuanced, so of course, I’m not suggesting that being disconnected from nature is ‘the’ meaning of the Two of Swords. There is no one meaning to be found within any tarot card. However, when you know your cards pretty well, and one keeps reappearing (to your utter confusion), sometimes the meaning can be found within its most obvious visual clues.

Two of Swords from Rider Waite Tarot, Copyright 1971, U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT.
Used with permission.

The woman in the Two of Swords always seems ready for battle. If only she could just put those swords down and take off her blindfold and shoes. I want her to turn around, breathe in deeply and enjoy the beautiful landscape that surrounds her!

My relationship with tarot has been with me for (almost) all of my entire adult life, presenting me with images of hills, rivers, birds, beasts, mountains and oceans. I found deep personal meaning in the light of the sun, moon and stars, and yet I rarely looked up and appreciated them for real. 

I look back and I thank the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot for pointing the way and for planting so many nature scenes—and nature seeds—in my mind. I am almost 100% sure that part of the reason I love the Rider-Waite-Smith so much is because of the connection to nature that I feel when I read for myself or others.

Reading tarot (or at least the Rider-Waite-Smith or decks inspired by it) is a practise which draws our attention to nature, whether we realise it or not. My invitation to you is the same as the Two of Sword’s invitation to me. Sometimes, the cards that you are holding are asking you to put them down.

If you are awe-struck by a beautiful scene in a tarot card, let it inspire you to go outside, breathe in deeply and notice this beautiful planet that we are so privileged to be a part of. If you find that you struggle to connect with nature, look up ecotherapy or nature therapy online—it might just be just what you need.

Earth, air, fire and water. Remember; they are the essence of nature itself.

Mystery and the Moon

Of all the seventy-eight tarot cards, the Moon is one of the most confusing to understand and interpret. I think there are a few reasons this is so.

First, perhaps more than chariots, hermits and magicians, for example, the moon in the sky has so many cultural attachments. We all experience the moon in one way or another.

We associate the moon with lunacy, werewolves and menstrual cycles. The moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie to signal that you are in love. To the moon is where Ralph wanted to send Alice, back in the time when everyone seemed to think that spousal abuse was funny. When we ask for the moon, we are asking for the impossible. When we love beyond reason, it’s to the moon and back. When we are super-duper happy, we are over the moon.

In Ashtanga yoga, devotees refrain from their yoga practice during the new and full moon.

Wiccans and Pagans celebrate the moon cycles with specific sacred ceremonies.

In Judaism, Passover begins on a full moon.

In Christianity, Easter is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

In the Lenormand oracle, the Moon is card 32. While the tarot Moon can indicate secrecy and things that are hidden, the Lenormand Moon can speak of fame and recognition. The Moon shines brightly in the dark sky. In the Lenormand system, that bright light may be shining on you. The Lenormand Moon can also indicate romance, and reference activities that happen in the evening.

In astrology, the Moon represents emotions, comfort, your maternal side, feelings and vulnerability.

Does any of that help us understand Major Arcana 18, the Moon in tarot? For me, perhaps the most illustrative thing here is that the moon in the sky is something we all see, and something with which we all have some sort of relationship. The fact that the moon means so many things to so many people may help explain why the tarot Moon can be so confusing.

Very often in tarot the way we react to a card can be a clue to its meaning. So, if we feel confused by the Moon when it appears, we might interpret that to say that we are experiencing confusion in the situation for which we have consulted the cards.

Yet, the Moon can mean so much more.

If you read an older tarot book, you might see that keywords for the Moon include lunacy and treachery. The Moon may serve as a warning against hidden enemies and secret plots.

If you read a newer tarot book, you might see the Moon interpreted as an invitation to explore dreams, intuition and magic.

I have a theory about why this dichotomy might exist.

The moon in the sky has long been associated with feminine mysteries. The patriarchy of centuries past feared witchcraft, which was and is associated with feminine power and intuition, along with the cycles of the moon.

When meanings for the tarot cards were coming into being, the Moon might have been seen as a warning again witchcraft.

Today, more people understand the beauty and strength associated with the practice of witchcraft and magic. Many in the tarot community honor the traditions of the divine feminine.

That means that when the tarot Moon appears in a reading, we might see it as a call to honor your intuition, and to remember your own magical power.

We can square these two divergent meanings this way.

The path to spiritual understanding and clarity is fraught with dangers. Things are harder to see by moonlight than by sunlight. There are those who would trick us, like charlatans and false prophets. There are those who would ensnare us, like fundamentalists and cultists.

When we journey toward enlightenment, we must step carefully, and use our intuition to make sure our path is correct.

In a reading, the Moon can tell us to pay attention to the wisdom of our dreams. It can also speak to us of our spiritual faith, and of deepening our relationship to the divine.

When the Moon appears in a reading to speak of mundane matters, the allegory of the spiritual journey translates into the dangers of the pursuit of any goal. We must step carefully, we must cultivate clarity within, especially when the situation at hand lacks clarity.

In answer to a more mundane question, the Moon asks us to vet our associates and our plans carefully.

In any circumstance, the Moon may tell us to look for what is hidden. All is not how it seems.

When the Moon appears, there is a mystery to be solved, whether mundane or magical.

Connecting with Your 1918 Flu Pandemic Ancestors

There’s not one person on earth who doesn’t have an ancestor who either lived through or perished in the 1918 flu pandemic. Today, I’m going to show you how to contact that ancestor and what you might learn.

Worldwide Impact

First, a tiny bit of history. The 1918 pandemic came in three strains, with the killing one hitting America in August of that year. Although estimates vary, it’s thought that about 50 million people died, worldwide.

Letter carrier image: Courtesy Library of Congress

Just as with Covid-19, anyone who came into contact with the public was especially vulnerable. And just as today, wearing a face mask was commonplace.

If you think social distancing is unique to the 21st century, it’s not. Back in 1918, after realizing the severity of the flu, public gatherings were outlawed in many places, including churches, schools, and any other place where large numbers of people congregated.

Because one of my ancestors died of the Spanish flu, I wanted to make contact to see if she had any words of advice for those of us living through Covid-19

Prepping for Ancestral Contact

Preparing for ancestral work can take many forms. Because this is something I frequently do, my method is to do 5-10 slow, deep breathing exercises. This quickly drops me into a receptive state. Once I feel centered and grounded, I ask the ancestors if the time is good for me to connect with my ancestor who perished in 1918. I typically will hear a strong ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

If you’ve never done ancestral work using Tarot, I’d suggest you begin by doing your usual pre-Tarot reading preparation. This might include lighting a candle, working with your ancestral altar, or doing a brief meditation in which you ask the ancestors to come forward. If you know who the 1918 ancestor was, you can ask for them by name. If you don’t know, simply tell the ancestors what you are seeking, then wait to see who comes forward.

Be sure to ask if this is a good time to connect with your 1918 ancestor. If you don’t ‘hear’ an answer, draw three cards and do a simple yes-no spread. If you hear a ‘yes’, then move forward.

Quick Yes-No Spread

The easiest way to get a yes-no answer is to draw three cards. If two or three are upright, the answer is yes. If two or three are reversed, the answer is no.

If the answer is ‘no’ – try again at a later time. Not all ancestors want to work with us 24/7, so don’t be offended if the one you want declines. You have other 1918 ancestors, so if the specific one you requested doesn’t come forward, ask for another.

Once you’ve done your pre-reading preparation and received a go-ahead from the ancestors, then shuffle you cards and follow along with the spread below.

The 1918 Pandemic Spread

Because I know I lost an ancestor in December of 1918, I knew exactly who I wanted to contact. However, the spread works the same if you don’t know a name or their relationship to you. Remember, the questions are directed to one of your ancestors who lived through or perished during that time.

1.  Did you realize the severity of the flu when it hit your hometown? (3 Pentacles)

2.  Did you think you were taking adequate protection? (Fool)

3.  When you or someone close to you passed over, were there others with the flu who passed at the same time? (Page of Swords)

4. Do you have a message for how those of us living through Covid-19? (Wheel of Fortune)

5. What do you see as the new normal post-Covid-19? (King of Swords)

6.  Do you have a timeline for a vaccine or effective anti-viral to be available? (9 of Cups)

7.  Do you have anything else you want us to know? (5 of Wands)

Deck: Universal Waite Tarot (U.S. Games)

Because I often hear answers, my interpretation of a card may be different from your own.

The information I received from this ancestor was that she didn’t know just how deadly the flu was and in fact she received it while attending a church service. As far as taking precautions, she took none as she felt that the flu would only have a minimal impact on  her small town.

Surprisingly, I thought that when she passed, she might have been accompanied by many people, as in her county close to 1,000 people passed at about the same time. However, with the Page of Swords, I believe she was only aware of a child who passed with her.

The message that really hit home for me was her message for those of us living under the threat of Covid-19 – the Wheel of Fortune. The message was clear:  If we do all that we should to keep safe – and keep those we love safe – then we will stay on top of the Wheel. If we take ill-advised chances, we’re going to fall off. If there ever was a forewarned is forearmed message, it’s this one.

As far as the ‘new normal’, we get the King of Swords who is concerned with ideas, especially as they impact organizations or large structures. I believe we are going to see a lot of thought going into new ways of doing things, as well as new structures of government. This, I believe, is going to occur first at the local level, then move its way up. How each of our communities envisions itself is going create the new norm.

Of course, I was really interested in a timeline for a vaccine or effective anti-viral. Cups denote summertime, but this summer or next? With the 9 of Cups, the best I can interpret is nine weeks into summer, which puts us at September. Again, whether that’s 2020 or 2021, I don’t know.

The last question – was there anything else she wanted us to know? With the 5 of Wands we are seeing a scene of competitiveness. Is this about the mask-wearer vs. the non-mask-wearers, or one pharmaceutical vs. another? Because it was the last message that she wanted to impart, I think we are being warned that unless we work together as a whole, Covid-19 is going to be around for a very long time.

Nancy Hendrickson is the author of Ancestral Tarot (Red Wheel/Weiser Spring 2021) and a columnist for The Cartomancer Magazine. She hands out at SageandShadow.com

If you’re interested in learning more about the 1918 pandemic, the National Institutes of Health released a video of a public research symposium involving Virginia Tech students who present their research on various aspects of the 1918 pandemic.  https://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=36347&bhcp=1

The Major Arcana in Action

In a reading, any tarot card can be anything. In other words, any card, whether Major, Minor, or Court, can give a spiritual message to ponder, a specific answer to a mundane question, or represent aspects of yourself, or another person in your life.

Very often, readers try to relegate card meanings based on the section of the deck from which the card comes. For example, wanting Court cards to always be people, wanting Minor Arcana cards to always suggest mundane action, and wanting Major Arcana cards to always give deep spiritual meaning.

In some readings, this sort of structure will play out perfectly. Yet, if we only interpret cards from the perspective of those boxes, we often miss the deeper and more helpful directives that could be available within a reading.

Tarot only has seventy-eight images with which to tell every story of human experience. Given that obvious limitation, tarot does an amazing job with this daunting task. Yet, it does a better job when we occasionally allow the cards to come out of their boxes to give us the messages we need.

Those boxes to which we assign the cards are helpful and necessary. The book of spiritual wisdom that tarot is would not function as well without its structure. Yet, just as a university professor might moonlight as a DJ, and as the local priest might play a mean game of darts, each card can do a variety of tasks, determined by the situation in which you find them. The priest won’t play darts while celebrating Mass, but might when gathered with friends over a beer on Monday evening. When you know the priest, you might know which skills he will be using, and which responsibilities he will be tending to, in which places and on which days. Tarot is much the same.

A great exercise is to take a group of tarot cards and imagine what each card might represent in a specific situation, or in answer to a certain question. Of course, in an actual divination, sometimes a card may speak in a way that it never has before and may never again. When that happens, we need to be able to justify our interpretation, as well as simply trust our intuition.

As an example of this exercise, and as a way to demonstrate how the Major Arcana cards might work as other than spiritual lessons and insights, I have challenged myself to list for each Major Arcana card a particular directive, or action step, that the card might suggest. Of course, this list is neither comprehensive nor definitive. You might come up with a completely different list and be equally correct. Give it a try!

The Fool may tell us to take a calculated risk, or to do some activity that we enjoyed in childhood.

The Magician may tell us to go to school, take a class, or study something new.

The High Priestess may suggest we meditate, or do shadow work.

The Empress may tell us to call Mom, or to remember our mother’s wisdom.

The Emperor may tell us to run for a political office, or get involved in community leadership.

The Hierophant may tell us to see a lawyer, or a doctor.

The Lovers may tell us to integrate more than one thing into a plan or project.

The Chariot may tell us to take control of something, or to travel.

Strength might tell us to get a pet, or it might remind us to hold our tongue.

The Hermit might instruct patience, or that we should be working toward advanced education.

The Wheel of Fortune might ask us to break hurtful patterns. It might also suggest taking a gamble.

Justice reminds us to do the right thing. It also can tell us to seek legal advice.

The Hanged Man may advise against any action, and instead suggest a time of waiting. The Hanged Man can also suggest devoting to a yoga practice, or, if needed, a Twelve-Step program.

Death can ask us to consider taking a serious step or making a significant change in life.

Temperance may instruct us to create art, or to cook.

The Devil may tell us to seriously commit to something.

The Tower may ask us to radically examine our current belief system.

The Star may ask us to seek healing of body, mind, or spirit.

The Moon may tell us to do dreamwork.

The Sun may suggest a relocation to a place with year-round warm weather.

Judgment may tell us to advertise a business or to communicate more clearly.

The World may ask us to look at the larger picture. It might also suggest an international trip, or to share our skills with a worldwide demographic.

Tarot Toothbrushing and the Power of the Meetup

One of the sorrows of our global pandemic is that, at least for now, our monthly tarot meetup can’t gather at Panera Bread as we usually do. Yet, this has led to a great joy, as sorrows sometimes do.

I have moved our monthly meetup to YouTube Live. This has proved to be so much fun that, even after we can gather in person, I will still continue to hold these monthly sessions on YouTube.

During our most recent meeting, we discussed something I refer to as ‘psychic hygiene’. That is the meditative and energy work we do to keep ourselves energetically protected and psychically connected when doing a professional tarot reading.

Many of us shared our methods. Marion K Tarot prefaced hers with a warning that we might find it kind of crazy. Before each reading she makes sure to brush her teeth. Not just to freshen her breath, but to energetically prepare for the reading.

I thought this was anything but crazy. Since we deliver the reading by talking, to brush the teeth is to honor the mouth, and the throat chakra. To do this with intention is to prepare to communicate on a higher and more effective level.

I suggested that perhaps we should all consider doing this. Maybe we could even ritually prepare a special toothpaste and toothbrush to use only for this purpose.

The group engaged in some playful banter. Dena Moscowitz suggested that in ritual we would create “White Light Toothpaste”.

The best line of the conversation came from psychometrist David Victor. He suggested that this process be referred to as “aural hygiene.”

Sometimes in the work we do the mundane and the magickal meet. As above, so below.

Sometimes, when we gather together with our colleagues and peers, teachers and students, humor and innovative practical techniques weave together to create both fellowship and inspiration.

The Value of a General Reading

Every tarot reader, and every diviner, has their own style, and their own preferred way to work with their self-readings, their clients and their tools.

I have noticed that a great many readers prefer to begin a tarot session with a specific question. Some readers discourage “general readings.” A general reading is a reading that begins without a specific question or area of focus. I have even heard tarotists complain that they feel like doing a reading for themselves but can’t think of a good question. To me, in that case, the obvious question is no question at all. Or, more clearly, “What does the Universe want me to know?”

Many times, clients want to have readings because they have questions. A tarot reading is a wonderful way to explore relationship dynamics, career options, personal growth, creative inspiration and spiritual understanding. Often these are the sorts of questions that spark the need for a reading, and that create the questions around which a reading is framed. A good reader will have multiple techniques which allow them to offer answers and insight around these areas of concern.

Yet, sometimes the best readings happen when we begin without a question, and simply open up to what the Universe has to say. This process can happen in a couple of ways.

Sometimes clients choose to have readings simply because they feel ready to hear some wisdom and insight. Sometimes they are feeling a bit antsy or confused, but don’t understand why. Sometimes they have so many questions they don’t know where to begin. Often, they have questions but are willing to see what shows up in the cards first.

Very often, when we, as tarot readers and clients, are open to whatever comes up in the cards, we easily receive communication from loved ones in spirit, inspiring messages, confirmation of things we already know, and forewarnings of future events. Had we been solely focused on answering a specific question, these things might not be made known to us.

When self-reading, we can approach a general reading with a curious mind. We can be open simply to the messages of the Universe.

There are three important tools that can help us give great general readings. The first is a good technique. My favorite is a large comprehensive spread, such as a Celtic Cross or an Astrology Wheel. This helps us see what is going on in many different departments of life.

The second tool is the ability to interpret each card in more than one way, and to find even more information from reading cards in combination with each other.

The third is to be both interpretive and intuitive in our readings. That is, to use classic reading skills but also to be open to the voice of spirit as we interpret the cards.

Very often the general reading will ask questions as well as answer them. Often, after a large spread is complete, it is appropriate to do some smaller spreads, dialogues, or card pulls to answers the questions that come up. I am a firm believer that, most often, a tarot session should not be limited to a single spread. Rather, we should be able to incorporate a number of techniques, and as many cards as it takes for us to feel complete.

Sometimes both clients and readers shy away from the general reading style out of fear that it will be too vague and not helpful. The reality is that, with good skills and techniques, a general reading allows spirit to give insight, and allows us to be open to receiving that information.