Starting a Daily Tarot Practice with the New Year

The practice of tarot is one that can be as simple or a manifold as you wish. It can and should change with what you may require, or the time you have in a given moment. Some people prefer to wake up early or work from home, with a bit of flexibility to their schedule, while others have five minutes when they're lucky and are out the door minutes before their bus leaves. Consider what time of day works best for you! Having your tarot cards next to your bed, coffee press, or at your office are all completely reasonable. After all, we are each different people with different needs. It's best to do what works for you, rather than trying to force something that simply doesn't work with your lifestyle. Ultimately, the process is intuitive and can change whenever necessary. Perhaps for the first month, try to find what suits you best and stick as closely to it as possible, just to get the routine off the ground.

We suggest starting simple with a single card a day. Prior to digging into the meaning of a card through a book or the infinite rabbit hole that is the internet, you may want to offer a card time to unfold before you. Let the art speak its truth, and intuitively allow your own guidance to come through before employing passed down and many-telephoned instructions or meaning. People are discovering new aspects of themselves as the wheel of time continues to turn, and along with this new unfolding comes fresh awareness of practice and the power of self-referral. To begin any healthy habit requires trust in yourself. From there, your practice, your ritual, and your community will blossom with sweet and natural growth.

Set yourself as much time as you feel comfortable for your single card self-reading. If you have five minutes, start from there with the intention to expand to ten minutes. What's most important in this initial phase is working with what you have, holding true gratitude for the moment, and committing to it. If you have more time to work with, that's great too. Begin with grounding into yourself. Take a few breaths, close your eyes, and remember that this moment is yours. It's not something you have to earn, it's been yours all along. Once you feel centered and grounded, thoughtfully take your cards in your hands, and shuffle them with a simple question in mind. Perhaps begin with the objective to receive information for the day that you would do well to keep in mind. Think something along the lines of, "with conscious awareness, I am open and ready to receive insight that will guide me throughout this day." Shuffle until you feel your intention sink into the cards. Stop shuffling, put the cards face down. From there, you can either spread the cards and choose one, or select the one from the top. Whatever suits you. Let's say you have a large table. Perhaps see what it feels like to spread them out and choose the one that calls to you. Alternatively, you may be riding public transportation or be on your lunch break at work. These are moments when selecting the top card may be the preferred choice.

Offer space for this moment, and either contemplate for a few minutes, or journal if you have the time and space. A sentence a day is a great way to start, which can be done as notes in your phone, or in a designated journal such as our Daily Tarot Journal. A journal like this will help you grow in your practice as you notice correlations between moon phases, seasons, sabbats, or planetary alignments. From here, you can expand your thought process and/or journaling by meditating on your card, writing a few free thought pages related to this card, or even forming a weekly meeting with friends. In this gathering you can each share insights from your day, your past week, or read cards for one another. Perhaps you'll unearth a common theme that was unknowingly shared!

In the beginning, you'll likely feel confused, guilty, bashful, or pressured to act quickly. The gaze of capitalism and imbalanced patriarchal rule has greatly damaged our ability to shamelessly be with ourselves for the simple yet profound sake of self-understanding and growth. This little offering to yourself is an act of gentle protest, and is entirely for you. From this action, your intention ripples out to the world and makes it stronger, even if you don't feel it. That's what magic is.

When you feel ready to expand upon your single card pull, we suggest a simple three-card spread, which you can use in a variety of ways. For example:

Enjoy the diverse range of offerings your deck has for you! This is a relationship to be developed over time. Like any healthy dynamic, arrive from a space of peace and patience. Limit the feelings of demand, force, or frustrations and breath. Remember, any card that looks "scary" simply denotes big change, or potential of growth. Your practice is beautiful, because it is yours.

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