A Tarot Journal

A place to practice and learn cartomancy and maybe other divination arts, and maybe meet some folks along the way. Currently journaling The Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan. Sidebar image by punziella and icon by vonnabeee

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Wow another spread??

I’m having a lot of fun with Folk Tale Week 👻

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The Witches Tarot 

written by Ellen Dugan and illustrated by Mark Evans published by Llewellyn Worldwide, Sept. 8, 2012 Website | Amazon

The Witches Tarot is my first deck, and I’ve had it for some years now. I chose it for myself as a beginner deck because I found the symbolism easier to connect with than that of the Rider-Waite deck. It was easier for me to interpret The Witches Tarot without having to consult its companion book every time. (Admittedly, I had used this as a crutch to avoid actually learning the cards...)

I’ll maintain that this is a good deck for beginners, but it does have some differences from traditional decks. Dugan and Evans replaced four of the cards in the Major Arcana with cards of their own design. 

    (V) The Hierophant becomes The High Priest     (X) The Wheel of Fortune becomes Wheel of the Year     (XV) The Devil becomes The Shadow Side     (XX) Judgement becomes Karma

I haven’t read the companion book (yet) so there is likely an explanation there, but I’ve chalked the differences up to removing some of the Christian religious symbolism and replacing it with more Wiccan-aligned ideas with similar meaning. When I get to journaling these four cards, I’ll be sure to also compare them to their traditional counterparts. 

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Something I’ve learned

When I first started mentioning to friends that I would start journaling my cards to learn them more intimately, one or two mentioned that they did them in order. I decided pretty much right off the bat (like a doofus) that I wasn’t going to do that, and that it would be a better idea to do something like a daily one-card reading. 

This was dumb of me on two fronts. First, if I’m treating each entry like a reading, the pool of cards for the reading gets smaller and smaller, making it less effective. So I would be drawing them at random for no reason other than chaos. Second, I knew going into this that there was a story to each set of the deck. I knew it would be easier to learn them in the order of the stories. And I jumped in, tits to the wind, determined to make it harder on myself. 

Learn from my mistake... if you journal your tarot decks... please love yourself... do it in order. 

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Significance of Court Cards

Court Cards have their own broad meanings, just as well as the rest of the Minor Arcana, but are just as likely to represent real people or influences on our lives. 

Pages are an immature and sometimes shockingly insightful presence in our lives, like children. Knights represent turbulent people, those in motion, discovering themselves and the world around them. Queens are compassionate, nurturing mother figures. Kings are authoritative, experienced father figures.

Physically speaking, there are age groups which each court card is most frequently ascribed to. Pages are the least mature, usually children. Knights are young adults, maturing with a ways to go. Queens are older, and kings older still, but the age matters less than maturity level. A page is as likely to represent a youthful adult as a wise child. 

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Numbers in Tarot

Each card in the Major and Minor Arcana has a number ascribed to it, given meaning with numerology. Numbers help keep the steps of each of the five journeys in order. 

Here is a quick reference sheet for the meanings of numbers (and court cards). 

The numbers move forward in clear progression, but the progression of what? This is revealed by the suit of the card. For example, the six of cups; six is the number of adjustment and harmony, and cups is the suit of emotion and intuition. Therefore, the six of cups represents adjusting emotions and finding harmony after the emotional turbulence of the five of cups. 

In basic numerology, 1-9 are the numbers with recognizable meaning, so what does this mean for the tens of each suit? To find the meaning of double-digit cards, simply add their digits together. Tens are the end of the journey, but at the end of each journey is the beginning of another. 10 -> 1+0=1, and one brings us back to the ace, the beginning of a new journey though now moving forward from the last. 

The principle applies to the Major Arcana as well. The Star (generally symbolizing hope and inner power) is numbered seventeen. 1+7=8, and 8 is the number of progress, regeneration, spiritual fortitude, allowing us to read the Star as encouragement to look at how far we’ve come, a reminder to persevere. 

This only leaves the Fool, numbered 0.  In terms of numerology, zero is nothing. It is void of attributes and descriptors. It is new, clean, a fresh slate full of potential, just like the Fool. 

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Tarot Suits Cheat Sheet

Swords

Keyword: intellect Element: air Color: yellow

Cups 

Keyword: emotion Element: water Color: blue

Wands 

Keyword: passion Element: fire Color: red

Coins 

Keyword: material Element: earth Color: green

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Numerology Cheat Sheet

Ace - beginnings; new opportunities; inspiration

Two - balance; duality; partnerships; diplomacy; choices

Three - growth; creativity; initial achievement; friendship

Four - foundation; stability; practical application

Five - instability; conflict; loss

Six - problem-solving; compassion; adjustment; harmony

Seven - assessment; motives; wisdom; spirituality

Eight - action; movement; rebirth; inner power

Nine - fruition; transition; idealism; sharing wisdom

Ten - completion; renewal; cycles

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Page - messengers; youth; energy; an immature or childlike presence

Knight - action; journey in motion; a young adult in constant motion

Queen - deep understanding; nurturing; subtlety; feminine; a motherly presence

King - control; capability; leadership; masculine; a fatherly presence