If you haven’t read Tarot School No. 1 yet, you’ve got to bounce over there and read it first, including the comments section (all the explanation is in the comments) or this post will not make a bit of sense. You can find that here:
OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s think about Magick for a moment.
Magick can conjure up different images to different people. Maybe it’s a modern day Merlin, down in his basement alchemical laboratory, using Magickal tools, special words, and ceremony to manipulate the spirits and energies of the universe. Maybe it’s a witch in the woods, collecting herbs to cast a spell.
Perhaps it is the young woman into New Age and TikTok, working to direct her will in order to manifest that which she needs or desires. Or someone practicing a much older, but related discipline, New Thought, perhaps doing so in a religious context.
Or maybe it is a lot simpler than all of that. Maybe it is simply an effort to change one’s outlook through the use of personal affirmations.
However you picture it, or whatever Magick means to you is A-OK. This post, and Tarot, is relevant in all of those scenarios, and more. Think of it as you will, there is no universal right or wrong here, just right or wrong for you.
Just as a quick review, our querent is a woman in her early to mid 30’s who came to us asking about her prospects for finding a romantic relationship. And, it didn’t look good. Didn’t look good at all.
We did give her some advice, some things that she could work on within herself in order to make finding what she is seeking more likely.
But, we can help her in another way as well. We can use Tarot to help her with Magick.
What we have simply done is covered some of the cards we drew for her with new cards that we specifically selected. We did this, of course, with care and intention.
Now of course one can’t just swap out a handful of Tarot cards and expect change to come into one’s life. The work to bring about that change must still be done. There must be a pathway, or ideally pathways open for the desired result to manifest itself. And energy must be put into the spell, in this case the altered Tarot Spread. We have to, as readers, explain all of this to our querent.
So, that is what we have done. We have created a new symbolism for our querent that she can use for anything as simple as an affirmation to as complex as an element or focus within a ritualistic magickal working. The choice is hers, perhaps she would want to discuss various ways of working with the spread with us.
Ultimately though, we must explain the changes we made, and why we made them.
The first card changed is actually in the first position within the spread. We changed the 8 of Wands to the Ace of Cups. Wands is a suit of energy, and I personally view the 8 of Wands as a negative card, symbolizing a rapid deterioration. Cups is a suit of emotion, love, and as a new love is what she is seeking, the card that symbolizes love and emotion in all of its aspects seems most appropriate to stand in the heart of the matter in question.
Most of the other cards remain the same. If she hopes to find a new relationship, she’ll need to expend some energy and effort to do so, making the Knight of Wands appropriate. The Ace of Cups will serve to balance what was previously quite unbalanced with both the Knight and 8 of Wands.
The King of Cups, 6 of Cups, and 8 of Cups remain. They continue to symbolize well that which she seeks, that which has recently passed, and that which she worries about deep down. None of that will prove negative to her search, because…
The 5 of Pentacles has been replaced by The Chariot. The Chariot here symbolizes two opposing forces, held in check by a skilled hand, as a result, working together. In the initial spread, the querent’s desires illustrated by the King of Cups and her fears illustrated by the 8 of Wands were standing in stark opposition, preventing her from actually being available to receive that which she sought. The Chariot balances that out, it produces needed harmony.
Position 7, filled by the Page of Swords isn’t changed. It is how the querent see’s herself, and that is not in a negative light. But Position 8, indicating how others see her and filled by Death, certainly did need to change.
Death was replaced by the Queen of Cups. Another good choice here would have been the Page of Cups, it would have brought her perception of herself, and others perception of her extremely close. But, I think the Queen of Cups a touch more appropriate. Our querent is in her early to mid 30’s, no longer a young woman. This stands for a woman who is ready to receive the relationship she desires.
The Wheel of Fortune has been replaced by The Lovers. Undoubtedly The Lovers is a card symbolizing passion. But our very old books remind us that it is also a card symbolizing choice. A choice between taking the right path, and the wrong path. The position in which it is set, if representing her hopes and dreams, in this case represents her desire and her fear. The card symbolizes the choice between those two emotions. If it represents advice, then the advice is that she choose desire. The Lovers secondary symbolism, that of passion is particularly appropriate here as well, given that the querent’s aim is finding a new relationship.
The final change is at the last position in the spread. Replacing the 3 of Swords, symbolizing a broken heart with the 2 of Cups, symbolizing great compatibility between people. This shows our querent receiving that which she hopes to receive.
Our new, selected spread still contains only two Trumps indicating that huge forces aren’t at play so much as querents own actions and attitudes.
But, the spread is now dominated by the suit of Cups. Appropriate because Cups represent Water, emotion, love. Given that the question that brought the querent to us was about love and a relationship, a majority of Cups in the spread will serve her well.
By modifying the cards within the spread, we have given our querent something that she can work with, however she is comfortable, in order to manifest that which she desires into her reality.