Liz Worth ~ Tarot + Astrology

In my previous post, I shared some thoughts in regards to whether you need a specific ritual or not to enhance your tarot readings.

You can read it here in case you missed it. But to sum up my POV, I don’t feel that ritual is necessary to perform an effective tarot reading.

That’s because I believe that reading is a skill that we develop with time, practice, and experience.

“But what about ritual for your day-to-day life?” Some readers have asked me. “I love the idea of having a little bit of magic happening throughout my day, but don’t necessarily feel the need to incorporate it into any of my tarot work.”

Same here.

I can’t assume to know all that will work for each person out there, but I can share a little bit about what works for me when it comes to weaving magic into my life.

First, I connect to devotion.

I wasn’t raised in a religious household, but had friends who were. There have been times in my life when I felt jealous towards the routines and community they shared b...

“I’ve seen some tarot readers online talking about things they do to prepare for a reading. Should I be doing certain rituals before I read my cards?”

I love receiving questions like this.

Maybe you’ve wondered about this in your own tarot practice.

Or maybe you already have some kind of ritual or routine you engage in before you begin a tarot reading.

Tarot rituals can look like all kinds of things: From shuffling techniques to meditation, to saying a prayer, to setting up crystals.

One of the reasons I appreciate these types of questions is that they push us to get clear about our why in tarot.

Why do you think you need a ritual to begin a reading?

Why do you want one? (Or, why don’t you?)

What do you do believe the ritual accomplishes?

If you’ve read my book The Power of Tarot, you’ll know that I don’t subscribe to a lot of rituals or accessories when it comes to my tarot practice.

I have a couple of reasons for being a no-frills kind of tarot reader:

1. I like being able ...

I used to follow a blogger who went onto become quite famous in the self-help industry.

I fell in love with stories she shared about breaking away from “what no longer served” her.

Reading that blog led me to look for similar people and stories.

Any time I read about someone who was quitting their job, closing their business, or moving to another country, I felt excited.

And inspired.

I hungered for people who were making big changes and taking huge leaps of faith.

I got a rush when I heard that someone was no longer taking clients. Or when they were going on sabbatical.

There is something exciting about the idea of breaking free and starting fresh.

I notice that I crave these kinds of stories when I’m craving change.

What we look for in the world to influence us is often a reflection of what we need to experience for ourselves.

We live in an intensely goal-oriented society. We learn a lot about aim and achievement. But we lack lessons in boredom, fatigue, and transition.

We...

What do you when you lose a tarot card from a favourite deck?

I personally haven’t lost a card (yet).

But I also take steps to prevent cards from straying when I’m out doing readings at parties, events, or shops:

• I’m the only one who shuffles my deck. I used to let clients shuffle, but stopped after seeing some querents handle my cards too roughly.
  
  
• At the end of an event, I close my day by counting my cards before I put them back in their pouch. That way I know I’m leaving with a full deck.
  
  
• I’m careful about outdoor events. I used to read tarot in a park in the summer, for anyone was passing by. It was fun, but the wind can carry a card away very Bringing some stones or other small objects as paper weights helps keep your cards in place.

But if something happens and a card gets lost?

Here are some options:

First, make sure the card is truly lost. I am a clumsy shuffler and have had cards end up under the couch, slide under my laptop, or flip well across the floor. So I wou...

At my last day job, I worked with a woman who would sometimes pause our conversations and say, "I know it’s off-topic, but can I talk about your tattoos for a second?"

"Sure," I would say. I’ve been getting tattooed for over 20 years. People often have questions.

One day, my colleague finally told me why she was so curious about them. "I really want to get the name of my son tattooed right here," she said, pointing to a spot on her wrist. "But I’m afraid it will hold me back if I ever want to move up in my career."

"It sounds like you’re making decisions for people you haven’t even met yet," I said. "And maybe you never will. Who knows where you’ll be working, or who you’ll be working with? They might not mind."

Though I could relate to her worries. After all, this story isn’t really about tattoos.

It’s about the ways fear of judgement and lack of acceptance erodes joy, confidence, and self-expression.

It’s about the ways we adopt other people’s opinions about what we should or should not do...

What is the point of reading tarot?

Whenever I explain to someone that I believe the future is yet to be created, a question predictably follows:

"Then what’s the point of reading tarot?"

I get where the question is coming from: So many people assume tarot is all about future-telling.

So explain that I read tarot because the cards are a tapestry of possibility. A reading gives you the chance to draw a map of your potential.

I read tarot because it lays out the ideas, thoughts, and feelings that are bouncing around within your head and heart and allows you to get a clearer perspective on what it all means.

I read tarot because it’s an opportunity to sit down with yourself and ask, "What do I really want to make happen right now?"

I read tarot because it gives you the freedom to be yourself by validating your feelings, instincts, and ideas.

There’s a reason why I don’t believe that the future is neatly mapped out for you: If it was, why would you need to make any decisions at all?

Why would you e...

Sometimes reading tarot can feel frustrating.

You might get cards that don’t seem to fit the question, or see something you didn’t expect to come up.

And readings can also feel like they’re just not hitting the right points to feel productive.

When I got my first tarot reading in the late `90s, I was amazed at how helpful it was.

And I held onto a lot of the information I received that day. It became important to me, and
gave me hope for the future.

Which is what I set out to do when I started reading tarot for others.

I do this work to help other people, first and foremost.

And I’m sure you do, too.

Over the years, I’ve seen what tarot can do for people: I’ve had clients who’ve made huge life changes, grown more confident, and gotten clearer about who they are and where they’re going.

But not every tarot reading goes that way.

Sometimes you might not always feel a reading went as deep, or was as productive as you’d hoped.

There are some things you can focus on to change that, though. Every readin...

It’s not always easy to dedicate yourself to something like tarot.

One of the hardest things for me to reconcile on this path is how dismissive skeptics and non-believers can be towards anything they perceive as too “out there,” too esoteric, or too spiritual.

Some people genuinely love to hate on anything they see as “woo,” including tarot.

No matter how many ways you try to explain that tarot is about so much more than a gimmicky parlor trick, there are some people out there who just don’t want to hear it.

I’ve written before about my thoughts on skeptics. The short version is that I don’t feel it’s my role to convert anyone. I’m not interested in telling people what they should or shouldn’t believe in, and I don’t get caught up in any ideas that everyone has to like the same things I do.

What I do wish I could change, however, is the pervasive assumption that anyone who is interested in tarot (or related practices) is unintelligent.

There is this idea out there that if you’re ...

Recently, I’ve been trying to think about how my tarot practice evolved into what it is today in terms of the habits and beliefs I’ve built around my processes.

There are so many things that we learn about practices like tarot on our own, through trial and error, experience and reflection.

It’s not possible to learn everything from a teacher, mentor, class, or book. Our knowledge builds from so many different sources, influences, and experiences.

Here are a few things no one ever taught me about tarot, but that I learned to do along the way all the same:

1. It’s okay to take a moment to study the cards you’ve pulled before delivering any messages.

When I’m reading tarot for someone, I don’t launch into the reading the moment the cards are pulled. I always take my time to see what’s shown up, look for patterns or other interesting details, and consider the elements that are present.

Sometimes this long pause makes querents nervous, however: For a nervous sitter, that silence might b...