The Bad Cards in Tarot

Why People Are Scared

It’s part of the human condition to be scared of the unknown. A lot of people when they get over their fear of Tarot in general, then become frightened of the ‘bad’ cards. I think that as readers if we get over ourselves and our own fear of being scary, and stop trying to convince people that the Death is Super Not Scary and Wholly Light or whatever, we’d be doing not only the community a favour, but anyone who is interested in Tarot.

Life sometimes sucks, and sometimes it sucks really bad. If everything was going great, you probably wouldn’t bother with reading the cards. Here are some ways that ‘bad’ cards might be interpreted. When you ignore bad things out of fear, you only limit yourself. The world isn’t lightness and sparkly unicorns. It’s wholly neutral, and sometimes you get tripped up and drop your stuff everywhere. Bad cards in Tarot can be a warning to look where you’re putting your feet, a clue as to how you’ve landed yourself in a dark place, or a simple ‘Life sucks, dude. I’m sorry about it.’

As a Warning

If you’re asking questions like ‘Should I do a thing?’ and you’re getting all manner of swords and Towers in response, then you should not do the thing. I know this is common sense, but we’ve all ignored dire warnings because we were SURE the thing would work out.

But whilst we’re on the subject of things not working out, make sure to bear the following things in mind:

• ‘Not now’ doesn’t always mean never (unless we’re talking about people giving consent, in which assume the person will tell you if they change their mind)
• ‘Not that precise thing’ still means you have options open
• ‘Not like that’ indicates you’re going about things to wrong way

Warnings can also be about other people’s behaviour towards you. Take these as they are – it’s always good to be suspicious. If someone explodes when you question their motives, they’re guilty as Hell. People who mean you well might be slightly narked at the suggestion, but will forgive you. Obviously, you don’t go running up to someone shouting ‘The Tarot said you’ve done a Bad,’ but keeping your mind open to bullshittery never did anyone any harm.

As Bad Behaviour

Sometimes it’s you doing a Bad. Getting bad cards in a reading can be an insight into behaviour that you need to modify. Remember always that just because you did a Bad, doesn’t mean you are a Bad. Bad people don’t tend to take correction or constructive criticism very well. Take heed of what you’re being told, and try the new way you’re being shown.

We All Have Cycles

Life can’t be good all the time. The Wheel of Fortune will always spin – sometimes we’re at the top, and sometimes we’re at the bottom. Sometimes, life just sucks, and you have to keep moving forward and building it back up.

Sometimes, things have to die for us to move on. A muscle is broken down before it gets stronger. So long as we can keep the lantern of hope going in our darkest times, we’ll do okay.

My Favourites of 2016

As this is the time of year for giving, I thought I’d give you a list of the people and products that have helped me most this year.

Blogs

Druid Life – Nimue has this wonderful way of looking at life, and her blog is packed full of wisdom.

ThisCrookedCrown – If you’re looking for witchcraft resources, there is no better place to look than here.

Tumblr

I recently restarted my Tumblr, and have found many super cool blogs.

DuskenPath – My go to resource on astrology magic, energy work and sheep photos.

SpiritsCraft – Sara is super good at making ancient stuff really easy to understand.

Podcasts

Gordon White/RuneSoup Sometimes, on my day off, I sit with my rag rug and just read/listen to everything on this site. So many fascinating topics.

New World Witchery – they normally talk about witchcraft, but recently they’ve done some ghost and horror stories for the Hallowe’en season which I LOVED. I mean, their other episode are awesome too, but ghost stories, man.

Books

Top 5 Pagan Books  I still stand by these books as being the best I’ve read in 2016.

The Encyclopedia of Crystals, New Edition – As far as a beginner or reference text for crystals goes, you can’t go wrong here.

Courses

Living by the Moon – Still only $7. Great course.

Products

Vitamin D Capsules – Apparently, something like 60% of the British public have lower Vitamin D than optimal. According to my GP anyway. I managed to finally absorb enough Vitamin D out of the prescription only ones I had to take, and now I only need over the counter ones. Have a word with your doctor before you start taking them, but they’ll probably do you the world of good.

Harry Potter Colouring Book  – This is really fun. It’s got a mix between large patterns and detailed pictures of the characters and scenes from the movies.

 

(Some of the links in this blog may be affiliate links.)

 

Lessons from Jupiter Retrograde

Jupiter is the planet of wealth, luck and expansion. When He turns Retrograde, all those things can turn sour. However, like any Retrograde, the trick is go with the flow. Jupiter Retrograde is a great time to get a better look at yourself. Try asking the following questions:

Are you happy with your career?

Sometimes we go into things with the best intentions, the best of our knowledge, and all the love in the world, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Or sometimes things change, or sometimes we change.

It’s time to really look at what you want out of your career, and whether you’re getting it or not.

Are you leaving room for expansion?

Are you just ticking off your to do lists, or are you creating something that will move you forward? Are you tackling new challenges, or getting bogged down in the everyday?

Do you need to go back to school?

This can be a literal return to academia, or it can be more figurative. There as many ways to learn as there are subjects. What area of your life can be improved by learning? Can you learn to fix your car so you don’t have to spend so much on professional help? Can you take extra courses at work to improve your performance? Can you study that hobby you’ve always wanted to at home?

Can you get a better perspective?

We spend our lives so focused on the everyday that sometimes we miss the bigger picture. How can you climb the proverbial hill in your life to get a different view?

What do you need to fix?

Fixing physical things, like possessions, cars and houses are a great activity to do during Jupiter Retrograde.

10 Most Useful Spell Ingredients

10 Most Useful Magical Ingredients

It can be intimidating trying to build a collection of magical items. It all sounds so expensive! But the truth is, you need very little to do most types of spells. Here are my personal favourites that I won’t be without, and why.

White Candle

White light contains all the colours in the world, so white anything is a great stand in when you don’t have particular colour to hand. If I didn’t enjoy making my own candles, I’d probably never bother buying anything but black and white.

Black Candle

Black isn’t a ‘colour’ strictly speaking, so I like to have black and white candles. Black candles are used to break down any barriers, and make a good addition to any spell to break down any blocks preventing the spell from coming to fruition.

Amethyst

One of the most versatile stones. Amethyst is good for sleep issues, protection, increasing psychic power, basic healing, dream magic, intuition, meditation, inner working and reconciliation with the self.

Quartz

The cheapest of the self-cleansing stones. Quartz will make make any crystal grid self cleansing and self powered, never needs cleansing, and will happily sit and work away at whatever function you’ve set it to. Which can range from anything to protection, to drawing good things, to cleansing, to gaining power.

Copper Item

Copper has many associations – from protection, to money, to raising energy. You can build a meditation pyramid out of it, use the wire to build tools or jewelry, or you can add it into crystal grids.

Sugar

Sugar is super important in a lot of witchcraft traditions. Sugar can be used to draw just about anything to you, and due to it’s relationship with money and wealth, is a great cheap addition to money spells.

Salt

Whilst salt won’t keep every nasty at bay, it forms the basis of many hexes, curses and protection spells. It is also useful as a protective element by itself, so long as you have enough personal power or powerful ingredients, like crystals or herbs, for it to draw power from. You can also implement sigils so the salt with ‘eat’ the energies or entities it repels, and draw it’s power from them instead.

Pen and Paper

Sigils, symbols and seals all need just a pen and paper to be used. There is an entire world of magic that be utilized with just a pen and paper.

Pin

Pins can be used to stab poppets, to carve symbols into candles, and used in witch bottles as protection.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon can used in great quantities in many protection spells or hexes, or in small amounts in love, sex, motivation and money spells.

Saturn Retrograde

Seven Lessons From Saturn Retrograde

Saturn is an Outer Planet, and so goes Retrograde less frequently. The Outer Planet’s Retrograde often encourage us to look deeper into our feelings and thoughts, rather than towards our behaviour and processes, like the Inner Planets.

Saturn Retrograde encourages us to ask the following questions of ourselves:

Are you following your own moral code?

There is a saying that we despise in other what we fear in ourselves. Sometimes, we can get caught up behaviours we wouldn’t tolerate in other people. From petty theft, being snappish and rude, to talking to ourselves in a way we’d never stand up for coming from someone else.

Saturn Retrograde is a good time to see whether you measure up to the standards you are placing on everybody else. If you can’t, consider why.

Is your set of morals too strict?

Everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes hurt other people. Are you holding yourself to a higher standard than is needed?

Bigotry  and holier-than-thou behaviour all happen when you are just a bit too interested in other people’s private lives. Live and let live, huh?

Are you confusing desirable personality traits with ethics?

If I could get rid of one phrase in the English language, it would be ‘work ethic’. Being a hard worker doesn’t make you a better person than anyone else, and it’s about time we stopped prioritizing charisma, ‘work ethic’, and ambition over things like kindness, decency and politeness.

We work to live, not live to work.

Are you letting sadness overwhelm you?

Dealing with sadness and grief is never easy,  and it can creep up on you and consume you without you even noticing. Taking time for yourself to do something happy, fulfilling or simply exciting can bring some colour back into the world.

Remember that if you’re really struggling to speak to your doctor.

Are you taking on too much responsibility?

In this modern world you’re supposed to pride yourself on being ‘busy’. Not even successful, or good at what you do, mind, just ‘busy’. This is complete crap, and the sooner you realise that being busy just makes you tired, sad and grumpy, the easier it is to stop being busy.

We can be bullied into taking on more work or harder work and responsibility that we are capable of, or ready for. It is not shameful to say no. It is not shameful to protect your time off, your breaks and your sanity.

Are you letting shyness stop you from moving forward?

Do you dream of being more, doing more but can’t seem to make the steps towards reaching your goal? Saturn Retrograde is a great time to look at your fear responses.

And to remember that bravery is not the absence of fear, but of feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Where are you limiting yourself?

There are many reasons why we can limit ourselves. We’ve already looked at fear and sadness, but we can also feel that we don’t ‘deserve’ something, which can hold us back from achieving what we desire.

Let me tell you something right now: nobody ‘deserves’ anything. Except maybe a kick in crotch every now and then. Money, accolades and dreams aren’t handed out to the most deserving. They’re given out to people who did the work and had the motivation and courage to get it done.

Let this knowledge set you free – you don’t need to ‘prove’ you ‘deserve’ anything to get it.

Stepping Into the Light

Creating a Better Life For Yourself

Changing for the better is not easy. Any sort of change is difficult, and we resist it. The training montage in movies often leaves out the sheer reluctance to even try.

Where we are is safe and dark. It might not be where we want to be, but it is an easier place. We can complain all we like, but we won’t move from it, because not trying means not failing.

Often in life, there is no clear consequences to attaining a goal either. You can forsee yourself getting a degree or a promotion, but … what comes after?

That fear of the new and strange can be paralysing. Most people don’t even realise they can be scared of something good, and wonder what is wrong with them. They catatrophise, making mental lists of all that could go wrong.

After all, it is safe and dark in the hole.

But I’m making a commitment to myself to not do that any more. It’s hard to stick your head above the parapet. It gets harder every day, as more often than not you get hit in the face with a rock.

But those days that you don’t? Those days where you can see forever, feel the sun on your face, and have or do something truly joyful? Those days are worth fighting for.

So this is my commitment to fight, and I hope you’ll make one too.

Here are the rules of the battle:

• No trash talking myself. I can’t stop the negative thoughts coming, but I can refuse to listen.
• Fuel my body with the right things. Water, fresh fruits and veggies. Joyful and sensible people, who realise the depth of the fight ahead. No ‘just think positive’ snake oil.
• Do one thing everyday that scares me. I will pitch editors. I will reach out to influencers. I will launch products. I will speak to the cute guy on the bus. I will tell the haters to piss off.
• I will spend half an hour a day on spiritual matters, and half an hour a day making some kind of art. It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to be right. It just has to be done.
• I will finish projects, instead of letting them drag on or giving up on them.
• I will listen to myself, and rest when I need to.

Will you join me in this fight to create something better for ourselves?

Week Ahead Tarot Spread

This is a spread that can also be used daily, and works very well with runes as well. It’s incredibly simple, yet can give you some vital insights.

1. What You Need to Think About – a sort of ‘card of the day’, almost. This is a notion, energy or thought that you should keep at the forefront of your head throughout the week. Are you being urged to be kinder? Are you being told to rest more? Are you being warned about deceit in your circle?
2. What You Need to Do: This card refers to a specific ‘action’. Do you need to ask for a promotion? Do you need to call your Mum? Do you need to take a day off?
3. The Challenge: This card will give you a warning about what will crop up to stop you from achieving the above. Pay attention the other cards, especially Number 1 as that might give you clues about how to overcome this challenge. Is the challenge a person? Yourself? Circumstances? Money?

This is a good spread to do regularly and record the results in a journal. Not only will you have a record of your progress in Tarot, but you’ll be able to see what advice crops up on the regular. If you’re being told to keep a lid on your anger more often than not, you might need to learn ways to control your emotions or find a less stressful job. This can be a valuable guide to ourselves, and give us inspiration about specific questions to ask the Tarot (or ourselves) when we can sense there’s something amiss but just don’t know what.

Week Review Tarot Spread

This Tarot spread is designed to help you understand the week that’s just gone by, and how you can improve or expand upon your efforts or wins.

The top line is all about relationships – any significant relationship occurrences or advice will show up here, whether that’s coworkers, partners, family or friends. The world is formed of an interconnecting web of relationships, and it’s important to watch out for issues before problems form.

The bottom line looks at your goals, work, and everyday To Do list. Did you hit your goals, or did something get in your way? How did you handle things?

1. Relationship Triumph – what went well in your relationships this week. Was it an event or an attitude? Did you ask or give a favour? Have you made a friend, or an enemy?
2. Relationship Challenge – a relationship where things aren’t going so well. Are you ignoring a friend? Are you irritable and snappy with those you love?
3. How to Improve – this card gives you an idea of how to move forward and improve the relationships usually detailed in the other cards.
4. Task List Triumph – Did you hit a goal? Do well at work? Create something awesome in your spare time?
5. Task List Challenge – Are you struggling to get the housework done? Do you need to learn to delegate? Are you procrastinating?
6. How to Improve –   this card gives you an idea of how to move forward and improve the relationships usually detailed in the other cards.

If you use this spread in a blog or on your Tumblr, let me know and I’ll reblog/retweet you!

Free Tarot Workbook

Did you guys know I made you a free Tarot workbook? You can get it by signing up here!

It has two worksheets per card, and I’ve designed it so you can print off however many of those sheets you need at a time, so there’s no need to print of 156 sheets at once!

There’s a handy dandy guide with further instructions, and two filled in worksheets so you get the idea of what you can do with it.

This is the EXACT method I used to teach myself Tarot, and it’s the method I use whenever I get a new deck or learn a new divinatory method. I’m sharing this with you because it WORKS. I’ve been practicing Tarot for nearly a decade at this point, and my knowledge increased suddenly two years ago because of this technique. My memory is not fantastic, yet with this method not only do I remember various meanings of the cards, but I can also intuit meanings and relationships on the fly – and be accurate around 80% of the time.

No Tarot method – or reader – can guarantee 100% accuracy, but I’m really confident in this method.

If you wanna try it out, it’s FREE and all you have to do is sign up here.

Modern Demons

Three of the Most Feared Modern Demons

Earphone Tangler

A tiny imp that lives in your pockets, just waiting for you to put your phone or MP3 player inside. They tangle up your earphones, and feed off your frustration as you try and untangle the rat’s nest of wires that were perfectly straight a minute ago…

Printer Jammer

Printer says: Paper jam.

You remove paper. You switch printer off. You switch printer on.

Printer says: Paper jam.

You say: There is no paper.

You take apart printer, piece by piece. You spend a weekend putting printer back together. You switch printer on.

Printer says: Paper jam.

You scream. You resolve to buy new printer.

Your partner turns on printer.  Document prints perfectly.

You think you’re going mad.

And so goes the saga of the invisible Printer Jammer.

Fake Notificator

Causes that tingly feeling where you swear your phone just rang. I mean, that was definitely the Instagram alert tone you heard, right? A small, spider shaped demon that lives on phone hand. Likes to partner up with the Earphone Tangler to frustrate you further.

What modern demons frustrate you? Let me know in the comments!