10 Tips for Tarot Beginners
I compiled this list of tips for anyone brand new to Tarot! If you have been working with Tarot for any length of time some of these might seem redundant or ridiculous, but these are important points to go over and not everyone is fully emerged in the tarot community. I hope these help out my newbies and don't hesitate to reach out if you have further questions! It will be great to update the list as I get feedback.
1. Stick to the basics - Tarot is a huge subject and there are many fancy ways to approach it, but I recommend sticking to the basics. Its easy to get overwhelmed with all the information out there so pick a system and stick with it until you are confident, and then you can explore other modes and methods.
2. Pick a deck that will be easy to learn - I always recommend starting with any version of the Rider Waite-Smith deck as most of the beginners books reference the symbols and characters from that deck making it easier to learn and remember. Once you can call cards to memory switching to different decks is so much less confusing. There are many awesome decks to choose from, I have The Radiant Tarot, The Tarot of the New Vision and Morgan Greer Tarot which are all great for learning on!
3. Start a Tarot Journal - Keep record of the readings you do, not only will you have them to reference later, but it also helps commit information to memory when its written down. You can write down your intuitions about each card or go through a book and pick out keywords as you are learning. Don't be afraid to get creative with it! My Tarot Journal is more of a scrapbook than anything, I’ve also seen some nice ones done with project life supplies. All that being a said a simple composition book will work just fine.
4. Listen to your intuition - When you are first starting out it is tempting to take your books definition as hard fact, but I recommend feeling the card out, observing the image and seeing how it makes you feel before looking up the “official definition”. This will also help you get comfortable with your inner eye which is muscle that needs to be worked like any other.
5. Let the fear of “doing it wrong” go - There are many paths to get to the same destination with tarot so don't be discouraged away from finding your own vibe. Don't like to read reverse cards? Dont! Want to choose your cards from the top, middle and bottom of your deck?? Do it! Want to lay your cards on the floor and swish them around to shuffle like you did when you were five? Awesome, me too. Any work you do with your cards is positive, so don't let these little details trip you up.
6. Start with small spreads - reading a celtic cross or zodiac wheel is sometimes exhausting for a seasoned tarot reader, so do yourself a favor, start small and work your way up. Three card spreads are a good place to start when you get confident try moving up from there. Sometimes the best spreads are ones you make up with your own personal questions, make sure to write them down so you don't forget mid-reading! (Speaking from experience on that one)
7. Include Tarot in your daily routine - Start simple by doing a daily draw, journal your findings and see if your cards bring insight to your daily life. You could also chose a card to meditate with, its fun to visualize yourself stepping into the card and talking with the different personalities of the tarot. Keep it fun though, don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day or two!
8. Read for yourself often - I don't know why some people refuse to read for themselves but it seems like they are missing out on the best use of tarot, introspection! I am an advocate of reading for yourself, if the reading doesn't make sense right away, write it down and come back to it, don't pressure yourself to have all the answers all the time.
9. Tarot with Friends - find a friend to accompany you along your tarot journey if possible. Its great to be able to bounce readings off of someone you trust to get new layers of insight. I also highly recommend joining some tarot groups on Facebook, they are a great place to read up and learn from tarot peers! Here is my group if you are interested in joining us!
10. Don’t be afraid to take a break - tarot reading can be draining, so its important to take breaks and ground your energy regularly. Its always a good idea to smudge yourself before and after readings to keep your energy cleared. Its easy to get down on ourselves when starting out if we’re not using our cards everyday, well I say no worries! If you feel like working with your cards, do it, if not don't beat yourself up about it, we all work at our own unique pace.
Again, this is just a little list to get you started, tarot is such a broad subject its hard to hit everything without this post turning into a small novel, so heres a jumping place, spring forward in whatever direction you choose! If you have questions please leave them below in the comments! You may also want to check out my post on BOOKS FOR TAROT BEGINNERS!
XOXO CHELSEA
How To Create a Brand Board + Checklist
What is a Brand Board and why do you need one? A Brand Board is an at-a-glance document that shows every element of your visual brand - from the fonts you use to your design elements. It brings consistency to your marketing and help convey the values, personality and attributes of your brand! Also, having a cohesive look through out your platforms will make you more recognizable to your fans or clients! I made this printable Checklist to help you on your way!
Lets chat a bit about each individual element, keep in mind every brand is different and you may not need every single element listed to have a complete board. I use too many colors in my marketing to really need patterns as well, so I chose to leave this off my personal Brand Board. Make your Brand Board as unique as you are and do what feels right!
Logos:
I recommend at least one variation of the logo. Its always a good idea to include one in color and one in black and white. Keep it simple when designing your logo. Its important to be able to understand what your brand is about at a glance. If you logo is text based, try playing around with a few different font combinations.
Brand Color Palette:
The best place to start with your color palette is with a style inspiration board on Pinterest. If you already have a blog or graphics for your brand use these treasures to come up with the colors that best represent your brand. I would say 3-5 colors is a good place to start, but there are no limits, my color palette was a grand total of 12 colors. Be sure to get the Hex Code for each color so that you have consistency through out your branding.
Brand Fonts:
Start with 2-4 fonts for your brand. I recommend a bold font for titles and a complimenting yet contrasting font for tag lines. Pick a readable font for content and maybe one other alternate font. http://www.dafont.com is a great place to start looking for fonts, if your planning to use them long term or for publishing projects it might be a good idea to purchase your core fonts.
Design Elements:
I chose to make my own design elements in Photoshop. It is fairly easy to create black and white line designs and turn them into a brush that you can reuse at any time. Here is a tutorial for further reference. You can also purchase Photoshop brushes or use design elements in photo apps.
Brand Inspiration (optional)
Going back to the style inspiration board on Pintrest, if you want you can include some of these pictures to bring color and life to your brand board. If you can include original product shots for your board or original artwork, even better!
Brand Patterns (optional)
If you use recurring patterns in your marketing use these to solidify the look of your brand and fill out your brand board!
Website and Social Media Icons:
Its a good idea to include your website and other relevant information for someone to find your brand. If you use social media for marketing be sure to include the icons for your favorite Social Media platforms. Its also really important that your name is the same on every SM platform so potential fans and clients can find you on whatever platform works best for them!
Put it all together!
Now that you have all of your essential elements, its time to use that creative third eye and put it all together! I used Photoshop to create my brand board, but you can achieve the same results with free programs like Gimp and Picmonkey. Design your board with your specific needs in mind. Maybe a square format would be more appropriate if you do most of your marketing on Instagram. Maybe a horizontal layout would look better for your brand, don't be afraid to try new things. Here's my brand board for a bit of inspiration!
I hope to see some beautiful brand boards soon! Reach out if you need help, you know where to find me.
XOXO Chelsea
Using the New Moon to Set Intentions
Working with The New Moon
The New Moon is viewed by many intuitives as the beginning or the void. When you look to the sky the NM is completely dark and symbolizes the blank slate before creation takes place.
This phase is notoriously helpful when setting intentions and laying down ground work in manifestations. We tend to attract new people and opportunities with ease during the NM and its also optimal for abundance and prosperity spells of all kinds!
This time of the month encourages us to forgive others and ourselves. Its a time to allow hope and optimism back into our lives release anything we've been holding on to from the previous cycle.
Noble Lion’s Guide to Setting New Moon Intentions
Here is my process, keep in mind that all magic is unique and you do not have to do things the same way, take what resonates and ditch the rest, you wont hurt my feelings!
- Gather your witchy supplies! I like to set the mood by smudging my space and lighting a few candles at my altar. I always keep a journal, pen, and tarot deck handy and add whatever else I’m feeling at the time be it incense, crystals or blessed rose water. The only supplies I would say are absolutely necessary would be your journal and writing utensil, the rest is for ambiance and will in no way effect the power of your intentions if you do not have them.
- Think! Like really, sit down in your sacred space and think about where you're at, where you're going and what you REALLY want. Think about what you are grateful for and begin writing down your intentions as they come to you. Be as specific as possible to ensure that you don't end up with something you may not have intended to manifest. Your list may be a single thing or go on for pages, there is no right or wrong way to set your intentions so do what feels right!
- Visualize! Once you have written down your intentions take some time to close your eyes and watch what you have just asked for unfold in your minds eye. Are you trying to manifest a house? What does it look like, is it brick or does it have siding? Are you in the country or surrounded by city neighbors? How many bathrooms does it have? Is the yard big or small and easy to manage? Does your dream house have a fence?.. You get the idea.
- Allow the Universe to do her thing! Manifestations take time and likely wont happen overnight, I say likely because you never know! Be patient and have faith that the Universe will deliver.
- Follow up with action! What can you do to help your intentions along? Going back to the buying a house scenario, are there papers that you could be filling out? Programs you could be talking to? Real estate agents that you could be interviewing? Don't expect the universe to do all the work, this is were a lot of people slip up and don't end up seeing results.
Some other ideas:
*Vision Boards!
*New Moon Manifestation Bags!
*New Moon Magic Circle with friends!
*Making your intentions digital for easy access!
*Intention setting scrap book!
*Allowing someone you love to help you with accountability!
*New Moon Intention index cards!
*New Moon Binder with fancy tabs and lots of organization (for all my Virgos out there)
*Recording your desires and intentions on voice memo instead of writing them down.
*Turning your intentions into a song!
Please leave any comments or questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer everything I can! I just started Noble Lion Tribe, a Facebook group to get better connected to my readers and spiritual tribe! Join us HERE! Get your free Aquarius Coloring Page before we move into Pisces!
XOXO Chelsea
Heartstrings and Tarot Reading
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Relationships and Tarot go together like Batman and Robin. Tarot can be used to understand and improve all relationships. Having an issue with your boss? Is your neighbor driving you crazy? Are things off with you and a close friend? Sounds like its time for a reading!
Tarot is an amazing tool for analyzing relationships. Whether you are looking for love, want to dig deeper in your current relationship or having problems, the Tarot can help in all aspects.
I do regular readings with my husband to check in and see where we are at and it's surprising how much comes to the surface during these sessions. I think open communication is the key to success in any relationship and the Tarot is a great facilitator of that.
One of my favorite uses for Tarot is to determine an individuals motivation. In life people do not always say what they mean and mean what they say. Tarot can bring inner motivations to light helping us to make informed decisions about people. This method of reading has saved me from bad decisions in my personal and business life on several occasions.
For example: If I am doing a relationship reading for someone and the Tower comes up, I might think that their relationship will be short lived or about to change drastically. If the Three of Cups comes up in a reading, one person may be emotionally involved with someone else leading me to wonder if they are really committed to the relationship or a threesome could be on the horizon. ;)
Lets do some practical application! Heres the first spread we will be using, if you have a relationship questions grab your deck and follow along!
Stacy and Jack have been having a hard go of it, they split up a few weeks ago and cannot decide if they should be together or not. Lets try out this relationship spread and see what they should do moving forward.
Partner 1 - Stacy - The Three of Cups represents celebrations, parties and loose emotional ties indicating that Stacy is seeking out the company of friends to get over this recent breakup. She may have another emotional interest that is dividing her attention. Stacy seems to be adjusting well and feeling pretty optimistic about where she is in life.
Emotional Needs - Stacy - The Wheel of Fortune is a card about riding the high tides of life. Everything is temporary but for now Stacy is focusing on herself and moving in an upward direction. She has found a sense of independence and is enjoying what life is throwing her way right now.
Area to work on - Stacy - The Six of Crystals (Pentacles) is a card about inner growth and prosperity. Now is the time for Stacy to channel her energy into her spiritual needs and refocus on abundance and prosperity. Stacy may be seeking out a new job to increase her income and ability to provide for herself.
Partner 2 - Jack - The Two of Cups is the relationship or marriage card suggesting that Jack is still emotionally invested in this situation. He may be holding on to the romanticized idea of what once was when he should be focused on the now and the reality of the situation.
Emotional Needs - Jack - The Two of Crystals (Pentacles) signifies finding a balance in life. It may be time for Jack to reach out to his friends and family to help support him at this time. Perhaps Jack needs to get back to the basics and remember what it is that he loves to do outside of this situation.
Area to work on - Jack - The Eight of Swords suggests an inability to move forward. Jacks perception surrounding this relationship may be clouded causing him to keep himself available when it may be healthier to move on.
Advice from Spirit - The Six of Swords - Its time to move on because this ship has sailed. Its time to let go and make sacrifices for the sake of moving forward. This may be a hard decision to make but know it is temporary and moving on will benefit you both in the long run.
Outcome - Awakening - It is time to ‘wake up’ and trust your inner voice. Stacy and Jack probably both know that this relationship is not in the interest of their highest good. That doesn’t have to mean in happened in vain. Its okay to look back on this relationship and see the lessons and successes it brought to your life. It happened for a reason and that is something to be grateful for.
Lets look at a second example using only five cards.
For this reading we will be peeking into the relationship of Mary and Alex. They have been together for a long while and want to check in on the status of their loving relationship, lets see how this spread applies.
Seeker - Mary - The Queen of Crystals (Pentacles) has a steady and stable energy about her, a strong connection with the earth and a steady and committed heart. She likes to handle the finances in the relationship and enjoys the finer things in life.
Partner - Alex - The Knight of Wands is active, imaginative and full of energy. He is constantly trying new things and looking for the spice in life. He is sometimes guilty of not finishing every project he starts but his heart is made of gold.
For better - The Seven of Wands indicates that victory is possible when these two work together. Triumph is possible through personal courage and inner strength.This is an energetic and dynamic time for this relationship, its important to stay strong for each other. Do not be afraid to speak the truth as it will be well received. This relationship is headed in a positive direction.
For worse - The Seven of Cups suggests that there is a propensity towards fantasy and temptation, it’s time to ground those energies and make a lasting commitment to this relationship. Daydreaming is okay, just don't take it too far.
Outcome - The Ten of Cups signifies great happiness in all areas of family, life and love. This is a card of mutual respect within this relationship and has all the building blocks of something that will last the test of time. There is an understanding of the universal force of love and a sense of oneness within this relationship
These are just two example of how a relationship reading could go. Each reading is going to be unique, as each relationship is unique! Feel free to PIN these Relationship Spreads for later use. If you'd like to schedule a Relationship Reading with me you can do that HERE. Don't forget to check out the other bloggers below!
XOXO Chelsea
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Full Moon Reading Revealed!
The beautiful Full Moon in Leo is here! Ill be doing some Moon Magic and Cleansing my crystals tonight! How do you celebrate the Full Moon? As promised here are your Full Moon Readings! I hope they bring some clarity to your life.
For my friends that chose #1 -
Theme: I let go and allow the Universe to do her thing - Do not discredit the passive cycles of life, sometimes when we let go of trying to control everything we achieve our goals even faster and with less resistance. There is a time to be active and a time to be passive, one is not better than the other, honor them both as they come. Have faith that the path you are treading is exactly where you are supposed to be. Trust your intuition and go in the direction you feel pulled towards.
Challenge: Wisdom- Wisdom is only gained through experience and sometimes that can really test our limits. When times get hard as they sometimes will, its important to appreciate the lesson so you don't have to repeat it. The Universe will rarely drag you through a lesson you have thoroughly learned. Wisdom is a commodity more precious than gold gather it whenever you can.
Advice: Strength - During this next Moon cycle focus on overcoming the desires of the beast within, work on spirit and acknowledge that it needs attention too. This card is ruled by Leo and it involves learning to harness your passions so you can direct your energies towards creative goals. Be confident when facing life and learn to make the beast work for you, not the other way around. Trust that you are worthy enough to receive what you are working for.
For my friends that chose #2 -
Theme: I don’t need to find my purpose; my purpose will find me - If you are looking for your purpose a good way to start is by following your heartstrings! What do you love? What makes you smile and does’t feel like work? Did something come to mind? Do that! We are attracted to things that bring us closer to the path of our destiny. If you seek it, you will find it and it will be lovely.
Challenge: Achievement Rx - One of the hardest parts of this thing called life is learning to enjoy the journey and not just the destination. Do not focus all your attention at this time towards the future and what could be, allow yourself to be emerged in the NOW! Find your center and connect with it, you will get more results seeking within than you could outside of yourself. Goals are great but you need to know what you are shooting for to get what you truly want.
Advice: 7 of Blooms (Cups) Rx - Do not avoid contemplation and self examination! It is time to take a good hard look at yourself and decide who you want to be, how you want to live. It is sometimes too temping to busy ourselves to the point that we “do not have time” to relax or attend to our spiritual needs. Do not fall into this trap because it will leave you with an empty heart, instead make time for yourself and reflect on what you truly want and need in life. When you are ready take steps to get there.
For my friends that chose #3 -
Theme: I release my need to be perfect and I center into my commitment to serve the world more love - I like to say that tolerance is my religion, but truly its love. Allow yourself to connect through your heart charka and choose love as often as you can. Do things out of love, and find love always finds its way back to you.
Challenge: Water - Emotions are not always easy, but they are of the main way our spirit has of communicating with us. Find ways to understand your emotions and what triggers them. You might be tempted to avoid your emotions or bottle them up, but what water really needs to do is flow, so allow yourself to feel, because feeling is healing. Healing is hard work but rewarding work, and it springs from a place of love so cultivate that whenever you can.
Advice: Two of Plumes (Swords) - Remember, you always have a choice. If you don't like where you are at, take action to change it. If you don't like who your with, be with yourself. Don't make excuses make a choice! Either your in or your out, honor that. You have the power to alter the course of your reality. Chose love for yourself, for others, for the earth. Go through this Moon cycle mindfully and take time to appreciate the power of your intention.
XOXO Chelsea