Liz Worth ~ Tarot + Astrology

Tarot readings are not promises or guarantees.

Sometimes we come to tarot with the assumption that what we want for ourselves will come our way if the cards say it is so.

Tarot shows what is possible, but you have to meet your life halfway - and sometimes even more than that. You must be willing and able to follow through on the life you want to live.

A reading can help to inspire your potential, but you have to be the one to activate it.

Want to learn what it takes to truly understand tarot as a tool? Join me for my free masterclass here.

Halloween, Scorpio season, Samhain, All Soul’s Day…

No matter what you name this time of year, ancestors become a popular theme about now.

It is believed the veil is at its thinnest these days, and that the spirits around us are close. People build altars to honour the dead. We burn candles for our ancestors, maybe leaving out their photographs or favourite libations in remembrance.

Maybe you already have an ancestral practice for this time of year. Maybe you’ve only heard bits and pieces of these ideas, your curiosity piqued by beautiful altar photos on Instagram or blog posts that offer some quick tips about ancestral work.

I used to follow all of that advice. Each October, when the Sun moved into Scorpio, I would start to set up an ancestor altar. I would adorn it with candles and mementoes, photographs and seasonal offerings.

And then, as we got into mid-November and Halloween had come and gone, I had no idea what to do with that altar.

So I would disassemble...

One of the most problematic beliefs that comes from the spiritual industry is that everything is your fault.

If you’re not happy enough, successful enough, or in love enough, then it must because you’re not thinking the right thoughts.

Or you’re not raising your vibration high enough to attract what you really want.

Or you’re just not putting in the work to be who you want to be.

Sometimes there are things that are holding us back that we did not – and would not – choose for ourselves.

For years, I struggled with crippling shyness when I was growing up. It held me back from opportunities that I desperately wanted – but I couldn’t bring myself to be the way I wanted to be.

But that shyness wasn’t just mine. It was part of a coping mechanism that I’d developed over the years, and it was a behaviour that I’d been programmed to adopt into my identity.

The environments I’d grown up in had told me that girls should be...

Disclaimer: I received this deck from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When I was in middle school I was obsessed with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. In fact, Poe’s poetry played a big part in my own inspiration to one day become a poet, too.

So when I found out that an Edgar Allan Poe tarot deck was being released, I was intrigued. If you’re familiar with Poe’s work – dark, brooding, Gothic poetry and mysterious fiction – then it’s easy to imagine how Poe’s influence can cross over into tarot.

But does the deck work? Does it read well? Let’s dive in to find out:

The packaging

I don’t typically pay too much attention to the boxes tarot decks come in, but I do want to touch on this briefly because a) I know it’s an important detail to others, and b) The packaging of this deck is worthy of a mention.

This deck comes as a full package with a 288-page companion book inside a beautiful fold-out box. It’s...

Daytime vs Nighttime Cards in Your Tarot Deck

There is more to reading tarot than memorizing card meanings.

One thing I always stress in my tarot students is to look at the images of the cards.

Every tarot card can hold many layers of meaning, based on the scene it depicts.

A simple way to start studying your cards' imagery is to look at your daytime and nighttime cards.

This can add a layer of meaning to your messages:

Day time cards, like the Sun, might indicate visibility or something that is “plain as day” or “coming to light,”

Nighttime cards may be telling you that something is not yet clear or visible - we can’t see very well in the dark.

If the deck you are using doesn't have these details, you might consider switching to a deck like the Rider Waite Smith, which is what I recommend for beginner tarot readers. 

Tip: Go through your tarot deck and separate your daytime cards from your nighttime cards. Spend some time studying each of...

“You’ve got to be willing to do the work.”

We’ve all heard this kind of advice before.

It applies to pretty much anything in life, such as goal-setting: If you want something, you need to put the effort in to get it.

It also applies to personal growth. We say things like, “He’s done a lot of work on himself,” or, “I’m taking some time away to work on myself.”

What this “work” looks like is so varied and personal that it’s not always easy to know exactly what it is everyone is working on, or how they are doing it.

The work of your life may be very different than mine. We all have our own lessons, journeys, and gifts. We also have our own challenges to overcome.

Some people figure out what their “work” is sooner than others. And some of our work may be work that takes a lifetime to understand.

There is no way to rush through it, no arbitrary deadline you can reach where you suddenly become an...

One of the most common questions I get from other tarot readers is, “Do you read reversals?”

It comes up whenever I teach a class, whether it’s to a group of beginners or advanced readers.

(And for anyone not familiar with reversals, it’s when a card is upside down in a reading.)

I don’t read reversals – but I used to. I picked up the technique when I was studying tarot, and used it regularly by the time I started reading tarot professionally.

But I gradually stopped reading reversals.

Why? It’s not because they don’t work – they do (if you’re clear and consistent in how you’re using them).

The reason reversals dropped out of my tarot practice is that I just didn’t need them anymore. I had started to develop new styles of card reading and the way I was working with tarot didn’t require reversals anymore.

I started to see that the way I was looking at a reversed card – whether it was a challenge,...

Whenever there’s change in the air, such as talk of important astrological transits, it’s normal to wonder: “How will this affect me?”

We often turn to tarot, astrology and other divinations to predict what’s around the corner. It’s not unusual to worry about whether you are making the wrong decision, or to worry about where your future is headed.

I find that whether you’re clear on your own direction, or you’re still trying to figure out your life’s path, uncertainty will always be a companion to some degree.

One of the main reasons why we turn to divinatory tools like tarot and astrology is because we want certainty, clarity and confidence in what we are doing.

Knowing how things will turn out can help alleviate some of the stress of the unknown.

After all, wouldn’t you go ahead and head back to school, start that business, or write that book if you knew for sure that you would be successful?

It would also be so much...

Should spiritual leaders “get political”?

Should your favourite tarot reader, astrologer, or witch share their political views on their platforms?

Some people believe the two should be kept separate.

But it’s not always so easy to figure out where the lines can be drawn – and whether they should be drawn in the first place.

I mean, what is considered “political” anyway?

I’m not just talking about elections and political parties – that’s just one part of it.

Sometimes I think that everything is political. Maybe that comes from living in a woman’s body: From day one, my appearance, my choices, and my lifestyle have been politicized no matter what I do.

But then I challenge my own belief on that when I encounter an opinion on what is political that I hadn’t considered before. Like what we’ve seen this year in regards to the pandemic.

Suddenly, hygienic practices are seen as political. Some people see masks,...

In the spiritual and self-help worlds, we often hear encouraging words to strive for more, to change for the better, to edit out our messes and flaws...

But – and this is a big BUT… it’s important to remember that not everything needs fixing.

And not everything is a teachable moment in the cult of self-improvement.

I had to remind myself of this the other day.

I was out at a store. I saw something I wanted to buy for myself: It was something that I very much wanted, but did not need.

And as I picked that item up off the shelf, a very clear thought went through my head: “I really should work on buying myself fewer things.”

And then I followed that up with a big why: “Why should I stop, when it makes me happy?”

Why is it a problem – or perceived as one?

There is a major tendency to pathologize our behaviours these days. To self-analyze, and over-analyze. To self-diagnose ourselves as problematic.

To decide that everything about...