Six Ways to Get to Know the Gaian Tarot (or any deck)
How has the meaning of a card shifted and changed for you over time?
Dear Ones,
This morning, I’m watching cottonwood fluff drift by on the breeze. I’m absorbed in the play of golden sunlight on the orange poppies and purple lavender in my garden, grateful for yesterday’s rain. I’m dancing to my morning playlist and sending out a prayer for all who are suffering, to those I know and those I don’t. I’m shaking off the heaviness and despair at the state of the world that weighs on my heart. I’m hoping to weave a little bit of magic today, a little solace, a little kindness.
I’m still riding the wave of gratitude that my legacy work, the Gaian Tarot, is out in the world again in a new form, 25 years after the first spark of an idea and 15 years after it was first published. I know that many of my readers are longtime Gaian Tarot users and some of you are brand new.
For the next month or so, I thought I’d share some posts that are tarot-specific. If you’re new to the Gaian, you might find the “getting to know your deck” ideas in this post helpful. If you’re an old hand, I invite you to take a second or third (or umpteenth) look at some of these practices. It’s never too late to go back to beginner’s mind (the Child of Air knows all about that!).
Please mark your calendar for Sunday, July 13th, at 1 PM Pacific time. I’ll be hosting a celebration of the Gaian Tarot on Zoom and it will be open to all subscribers. We’ll play some tarot games, I’ll tell some stories, and we’ll do a Q&A. Your chance to ask me anything. It’ll be fun!
Six Ways to Get to Know the Gaian Tarot (or any deck)
A few years ago, I wrote a post about different ways to get to the know the Herbcrafter’s Tarot. I rewrote that post, deleting a few ideas and adding new ones. Most of these ideas are evergreen and will work well with any tarot or oracle deck that is new to you. Have fun!
1. Go through the deck, pulling out the cards that particularly attract you. Write about the card in your journal, especially noting any personal associations you may have with the plant or other imagery on the card. Then look the card up in the book and notice any particular sentences or phrases that jump out at you.
2. Pull one card a day and write about the card in your journal; your own impressions first, followed by something you learned from the book. Be sure to notice any cards that show up more than once in a week or a month; those cards are calling you!
3. After pulling a card from the Gaian Tarot, pull the corresponding card from another favorite deck to compare and enhance the meaning of the card.
4. If you are a longtime user of the Gaian Tarot, go through the deck and pull out any cards that were most meaningful to you years ago. How has the meaning of the card shifted and changed for you over time? Write in your journal about the ways in which your life experience has shifted or deepened your understanding of the card.
5. Deck Interview Spread
There are a lot of deck interview spreads out there. It’s such a widespread practice that’s it hard to know who first came up with the idea. My favorite version is from the Little Red Tarot website, which centers “queer, trans, and BIPOC art and magic.”
You can find Little Red Tarot’s post here.
Tell me about yourself. What is your most important characteristic?
What are your strengths as a deck?
What are your limits as a deck?
What are you here to teach me?
How can I best learn and collaborate with you?
What is the potential outcome of our working relationship?
6. Look at your Birth Cards for further study and relationship. (For example, my Birth Cards are the Tower / Chariot. In the Gaian, those cards are renamed Lightning / Canoe.) You can learn how to calculate your own Tarot Birth Cards from our friends at the Tarot School.
And you?
Which one of these practices is your favorite? Do you have other ways you like to get to know a new deck? Please share!