The Goddess Psyche

New tarot? You might be making some mistakes that are seriously affecting the outcome of your readings. In this post, learn about the top 3 mistakes tarot beginners commonly make and how to avoid them!

What is Tarot?

Tarot is a deck of 78 cards, each with its own image, symbol, and story. Tarot cards open a line of communication with the divine or your higher self to deliver advice or help solve a problem.

How Does Tarot Work?

Contrary to popular belief, tarot cards can NOT tell you the future, anyone who claims they can is a damn liar! Instead, the cards present you with direction, awareness, and potential scenarios to help guide you in the right direction. To reiterate: you consult the cards for guidance NOT for fortune-telling!

Each card symbolizes a person, place, or event connected to spiritual lessons you face in your life. Think of tarot as a way to connect with your higher self in order to guide you in the right direction. Basically, reading your cards is a way to tap into your own wisdom and intuition leading you to more powerful manifestations and positive changes.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TAROT!!!

Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid

1. Not Prepping Your Deck

Properly prepping your deck before any reading is extremely fucking important – if you are going to take anything from this post, take this.

Before I give myself or anyone else a reading I always cleanse the energy of the deck and draw in the appropriate energies. Remember that the energy attached to the cards is what’s giving you the message, thus you want to take the extra step to not only clear unwanted energies but to also call on the right energies.

Ways to Cleanse Your Deck

Smudging

The term smudging refers to burning herbs and plants. The idea is that the smoke from the herbs and plants attaches itself to negative energy. As the smoke clears it takes the negative energy with it, releasing it into another space where it will be regenerated into positive energy.

First, choose which herb or plant you want to burn. Sage, palo santo, lavender and rosemary are most commonly used for smudging.

Sage clears all energy, negative and positive which creates a clean slate to fill with positive energy and intentions.

Palo Santo is wonderful for purifying and bringing in positive thoughts, energies, and intentions. Tip: Perfect to use to renew positivity after a sage cleansing.

Lavender is best used for psychic protection, happiness, healing, and tranquility.

Rosemary is a powerful cleanser for your home and aura.

Next, lite an end on fire of your chosen herb(s). Let it smoke while letting the smoke drift over, under, and all around your cards.

Lastly, allow the herb or plant to smoke out on its own. Once it has accomplished its intended task the smoke will cease on its own.

Selenite Wand

Crystals hold powerful energy that is known to heal. What many people do not know is that crystals can also cleanse by absorbing negative energy. Simply spread out your deck and run a selenite wand across your cards.

Resins

Resin is a flammable natural organic substance that is sourced from plants. When burned, resins emit a holy smoke and beautiful fragrance that is known to clear negative energies. Resins also help us connect with our higher consciousness and surrounds us with high vibrations.

Dragon’s Blood is used for protection and to clear negativity.

Copal can be used for spiritual cleansing along with creating a connection to spiritual realms.

Frankincense is used for protection, purification, spiritual awareness, and antidepressant.

First, place about 2” of ash, sand or salt in a fireproof dish ( cauldron, abalone shell, etc).

Next, with metal tongs light a piece of charcoal until you see sparks.

Then, place the charcoal (concave side-up) on top of the ash, sand or salt. Remember to leave the edges exposed for air to flow around the charcoal.

Allow the charcoal to sit for 3-5 minutes until it glows red with heat. Sprinkle a small amount of resin in the indention. ¼ to ½ teaspoon is enough, as more may smother the charcoal.

Lastly, enjoy the aroma and smoke of the burning resin – let the smoke drift onto your deck. Feel free to add more resin as the smoke thins out.

Tip: The charcoal will remain hot for up to 60 minutes. Do not discard for at least 2 hours to allow proper cooling time

With any of these methods be sure to chant or think words of power and healing, this is my favorite prayer: “Negativity that invades my sacred space, I banish you away with the light of my grace. You have no hold or power here as I stand and face you with no fear. Be gone forever for this I will say, this is my sacred place and you will obey.”

How to Charge Your Deck

My favorite way to charge my deck is to call in the energies I want to connect with while shuffling the cards. This is my little ritual – after I feel properly grounded I will start shuffling the cards as I say “I call on my spirit guides, ancestors, deities, Goddesses, and the Divine to help me in this reading. I ask that you send me guidance through these cards so that I am able to better my being.” Once I feel the energies are present I proceed with my reading.

2. Memorizing Every Card

DO NOT MEMORIZE YOUR CARDS!!! This is so important because it takes the magic away from tarot. Reading tarot accurately is based on intuition – intuition gets lost in memorization.

When you memorize a card your mind becomes conditioned to think that is the ONLY meaning – fuck no! There are multiple meanings for each card as the energies attached to the deck give guidance specific to the topic, relationship with your deck, and/or person you are giving the reading to. Having a general grasp on each card and a strong ass intuition is the key to a solid reading!

3. Multiple Readings On The Same Topic

If you don’t like the answer of a reading, tough titties. Even if the reading didn’t bring you clarification, suck it up buttercup! Trust and understand that the first reading you do on a topic is right. If you don’t like the answer or you don’t understand, too fucking bad…that’s what it is! I feel like that came off really harsh so let me soften it up and explain further.

When you don’t like the outcome of a reading that should be your queue to reflect and be honest with yourself. Doing reading after reading isn’t going to change a damn thing…the only thing that will change the outcome of the next reading is you! Nut the fuck up and take the reading for what it is and do what you need to do in order to get a better outcome next time.

If you feel the reading is not clear please try not to make the mistake of doing another one right after! The cards are right – they might not be easy for you to understand now but just wait and they will be clear in the near future. Just trust me…it’s hard to explain this one, you just have to trust in yourself and the cards.

How Often Can I Do a Reading On The Same Topic?

This answer is different for everyone. I would say the rule of thumb is to wait until you have completed a goal or milestone before you do another reading. Hopefully, that made sense!

Final Thoughts

There are always new things to be learned with tarot so don’t ever feel that you need to be a perfect reader. Mistakes are going to be made and that is totally okay – learn from your mistakes and move on! The more you read the more you learn.

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