Healing Rituals of the Tarot Court: Queens & Knights

I find the tarot to be a useful tool of self-reflection and community connection, with the Court cards being some of the most intriguing archetypes to work with. But the Court cards can also be confusing to a lot of folks (myself included in my early years of reading the cards), so I thought I’d share the ways that I’ve found these cards to speak to me and offer insights on the path of healing.

Having already explored the foundational meaning of the Court, alternative ways of naming the Court cards, and the meaning and rituals of the Pages and Knights, it is now time to turn to the Queens and Kings.

Playing Cards by Master PW (c. 1500)

Connecting & Collecting: The Queens & the Kings

The Queen and the King are the two elders of the Court cards, whether this elderhood is defined by actual chronological age or lived experience and skill, depends on the reading. Like the Pages and the Knights, their energies are inexplicably linked - one is not able to do much without the other. One of the ways that I distinguish between the energies of the cards is that I see the Queen cards as either peers (i.e. working with someone who shares similar levels of knowledge and experience which allows you to work together easier) or expressions of mystical individuation (i.e. the oracle who acts as a bridge between the mundane and magickal, but have to maintain a sense of self to be able to perform such a mystical duty safely; the mediator who is working with others but must maintain an air of separateness; or the artist who is focused on their individual self-expression). The Queens are interested in the sharing of information and preserving and creating the systems by which information can be exchanged.

The Kings are mentors and teachers - they are meant to represent knowledge and experience greater than your own. The energy of the Kings focuses on how they are going to create structures to protect the legacy of wisdom not only that they are leaving behind, but the wisdom of their communities. The Kings are interested in collecting information, sorting it, and storing it for future generations. If information of the Queens is free-flowing like a river, the Kings are the ones creating quiet pools and dams for information to pool, be studied, and easily accessed. Both are working with the flow of information and how it is accessed and shared.

The Hermit from The Neutral Vibes Tarot

For a different approach to understanding what I just shared about the Queens and Kings, take a moment to imagine the traditional Smith-Waite image of The Hermit. For me, the Queens are the Hermit themselves, often accessed in the wild and fierce places of our psyche, while the Kings are the lantern which protect the light of wisdom - both of them have worked hard to nourish and make sure that others will see and be warmed by the light of wisdom for generations to come.

The Rituals

These rituals were written with the solitary practitioner in mind but can be easily adapted to group needs. Add to, adjust, and leave out whatever you need from the rituals as you are called. I try to create rituals that are simple enough for most folks to show up to but can also act as a foundation for folks to build upon. I hope you always feel inspired to make them your own.

Deck names listed below

The Queens: A Ritual of Reconciliation

Oracle · Companion · Artist · Visionary · Sybil · Mediator · Organizer
Primary Element: Water
Plant Ally: Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Working with the Queens is an opportunity to reconcile different aspects of your life into a woven whole. When Queen cards show up again and again in our readings they can indicate a need to acknowledge, honor, and make space for an important aspect of your identity that has been denied, hidden away or not properly recognized for its brilliance. Another way to understand Queen energy is to imagine your energy or your sense of self as a river and to notice where that energy is blocked and stagnant versus free and flowing. The reasons why Queen cards so often act like mirrors to our own state of flow is because they are interested in the exchange of energy and knowledge which can only happen when we are able to access our own energy and knowledge and allow it to flow between ourselves and others. Queen energy helps us to recognize the parts of ourselves that we worry or believe "hinder" the more acceptable parts of ourselves (whether that is acceptable by our own standards or the standards of the people and cultures around us such as it might be seen as acceptable for us to embody the energy of the constant helper but unacceptable to be the confident leader). 

In the following ritual we'll begin by identifying one aspect of ourselves that we hope to embrace, to call home, to reconcile with.

For your ritual, you'll need all four Queen cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal Queen cards to use in ritual. Depending on the aspect of yourself you're seeking to embrace, you'll need items that you can use to build an altar for that part of yourself, including images and items which celebrate that part of yourself and make that part of yourself feel at home (i.e. a flag that corresponds with the part of your gender or sexuality you are embracing).

Take a moment to contemplate one part of yourself that may have been denied but deserves reconciliation. For some of you this will be clear, but for others this might need some extra consideration, maybe even a tarot spread to help you connect with the part of yourself that feels missing. You can also ask yourself questions along the lines of:

• What is a part of myself that I hide away from others because I worry what they'll think?

• Who would I be more of if I wasn't afraid of the perceived or real consequences?

When you're ready, begin by laying out the four Queen cards face down in front of you. Holding the image of the part of yourself that you are calling home, speak the following invocation:

Queen of wisdom
Queen of might
Wrap me in your dark and light
Guard the path that on I go
That what I call
Comes safely home

Then choose one of the Queen cards - this is the Queen that has stepped forward to guard the path between you and the part of you that you are calling home. Set the card in a central place on your altar. You can set the other Queen cards either behind your guardian Queen or on other parts of your altar as you feel called. 

Now, build your altar, speaking sweet things to the part of you that you are calling home as you set up a space of honor for them, for you. You can be silly or sincere or some space between - speak in a way that feels good to the part of you that you're calling home, maybe even using a name or title either given or chosen that feels personal and special to the part of you that you're calling home. You might say things like:

• Oh my sweet young self, with all your playfulness and silliness, come on home, I have your favorite book right here.

• Hello, art kid, it's time to pick up your pencils again. I can't wait to create art with you.

• Hey, there, tenderheart. It's ok to cry here, your sensitivity is so beautiful and I've missed you.

• Beautiful one, I'm so sorry I've had to keep you hidden away - it's safe now for us to start dressing more like who we really are. 

As you build your altar and speak your sweet spell of homecoming, whenever you start to turn to the image of the Queen on your altar and speak the invocation, calling their power in to protect you and support you as you reconcile with this part of yourself that you're calling home. 

When you feeling settled, you can speak the following charm:

Holy, holy, holy
Holy is the way
Found myself here again
And here I'm going to stay

If you want, you can end with a tarot spread that acts like a reintroduction to your reconciling self. This can be as simple as a three card energetic check-in or more complex like an Ancient Self or Future Self spread. Keep your altar up for as long as you like, either adding or subtracting from it as your reconciled self becomes more settled and more able to shape your world in a reflection of your wholeness.

Deck names listed below

The Kings: A Ritual of Legacy

Archivist · Queen · Mentor · Shadow · Architect · Sage · Teacher
Primary Element: Fire
Plant Ally: Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Working with the Kings is an opportunity to create little legacies for our future self to benefit from. The legacies that we are creating, both personal and communal, aren't just about what we leave behind when we pass on to the next life, but those that we and others are creating that are useful for us in the present and not-so-distant future. While the magick of the Queens in our lives mean that we might be identifying and tapping into currents of energy that we desire (i.e. the ecstasy of a runner's high and the pleasure of a mental and physical challenge), the magick of the Kings in our lives help us to create the structure for that energy to thrive and flow (i.e. scheduling time for runs each week and researching the best shoe for your needs). 

The following ritual helps us to create small reminders for our future self of our present wisdom to help us reach a specific goal or for our general wellbeing. 

For your ritual, you'll need all four King cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal King cards to use in ritual. You will also need at least four pieces of paper (I like to use index cards) and your favorite writing supplies.

Begin by setting out the four King cards in the cardinal directions around you. You can follow the directional correspondences of the tradition you follow, but here's the recommendations for many western esoteric traditions:

• East: King of Swords

• South (Northern Hemisphere) / North (Southern Hemisphere): King of Wands

• West: King of Cups

• North (Northern Hemisphere) / South (Southern Hemisphere): King of Pentacles 

Call in the energy of each King by turning to the appropriate direction and speaking the corresponding invocation. If you like, you can also light a candle in each direction, trace an invoking pentagram, offer incense, water, etc. Create as much structure and ceremony to the ritual as you feel inspired to. I have used the title "King" for each of the invocations, but you should feel free to substitute the title for the one you're most connected with.

King of Swords
Come you near!
Thought and skill
Gifts you bear!
Place of rising
Space of light
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Wands
Come you near!
Respect and trust
Gifts you bear!
Place of action
Space of might
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Cups
Come you near!
Hope and healing
Gifts you bear!
Place of feeling
Space of sight
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Pentacles
Come you near!
Love and growth
Gifts you bear!
Place of courage
Space of life
Bring your magick
To this rite!

Once you have called in each of the four Kings, it's time to work with pen and paper. As each King represents a different area of your life to create the types of structures that work best for you, you'll be creating a series of cards that help you connect with a piece of wisdom and follow up steps for each area of your life. For general wellbeing affirmations and accompanying actions  inspired by the King of Swords in your life might be:

• Affirmation: I trust my powers of discernment.

• Actions: Practice five minutes of square breathing. Speak my decision or real experience of a situation out loud. Feel that discernment in my body.

If you are working towards a specific goal such as developing a sustainable running practice your affirmations and accompanying actions might be something like:

• Affirmation: I am strong and focused - I know I'm a runner.

• Actions: Choose an affirmation to say throughout your run. Paste a copy of it to your mirror. Practice a five minute run visualization (i.e. visualizing your run path and how good you'll feel afterwards).

I like to write affirmations on one side and actionable steps on the other, but you can create your cards however you like including illustrations, inspirational quotes, and more. Make at least one card for each King, but feel free to make as many as you like. Below I've listed a few correspondences for each of the Kings, but get inspired by your own intuition as well as the art specific to your tarot cards to help you write your affirmations.

When all affirmations are written, it is time to charge your deck. If you have a preferred method of charging up magickal items, proceed as you like. Otherwise, pick up the card(s) inspired by the King of Swords and turn to the appropriate direction. Hold them between your palms and begin to move your arms towards the East and back towards, tracing the path of a lemniscate or infinity symbol. As you do this, visualize gathering up the energy of the King and Swords and your own energy into an interwoven point in the palm of your hands where it charges up the card(s) you have created. Once the card(s) feel charged, you can speak the following:

By the Sword of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

Repeat this process with all of your cards and all of your Kings, again, replacing the title "King" and/or "Sword" if you like with ones that more deeply resonate with you. 

By the Wand of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

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By the Cup of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

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By the Star of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

When you've completed your circumnavigation, gather up the cards you've created. You can place them in a place of prominence where you'll remember to use them when you need extra encouragement or guidance on your path.  If you liked the King ritual and making your own set of personal affirmation and action cards, you might also like to create your own oracle of care.

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If you want to keep going with your tarot explorations, you might read my post on the Pages and Knights to complete your Court card journey or find a spread to fit your needs. Interested in a deeper dive into the correspondences of the court? Learn more about the four sacred elements from a traditional western herbalism perspective that each Court card is associated with.

Ready to read the tarot as a book of healing? Come this way.

I hope that this series has illuminated the sometime opaque tradition of the tarot Court and inspired your own practice of embodied healing.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Decks Shown
A Deck of Cards by PW (c. 1500)
Neutral Vibes Tarot
Tazama African Tarot
The Future Ancestor Tarot
The Shining Tribe Tarot

Conversations with Your Ancient Self Tarot Spread

The other morning I woke up and noticed that the fog of pandemic allostatic load had parted just enough for me to find my way back to candles burning in the kitchen, blessings whispered between doorways, and slowing down enough to connect with old stories lying beneath the newness of These Times. I spent the morning reading about ancient priestesses of Sumeria and Egypt, considering the complexities of their lives and the magick of their names still being spoken thousands of years on. And I thought about our ancestors and how close they've felt lately.

In this flow of magick I was able to pick up one of my oracle decks and do a reading - a practice that I haven't felt the inspiration for in a while. The deck that called for me was Erin Alise's Hollow Valley Deck of Symbols. I was given this deck as a gift and probably wouldn't have heard about it otherwise. It's a beautiful, well-considered, and intentional deck that has only become more intriguing the more I use it. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for black-and-white line art decks but this one is not too minimal nor too busy and has the added bonus of being accompanied by a well-written guidebook.

I sat down for my reading thinking about the Ancient Ones. Pulling three cards from my deck, I didn’t know what each position would mean - I simply cast them with the intention of connecting with those ancestors who had been drawing nearer and nearer in recent weeks.

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Hollow Valley Deck of Symbols by Erin Alise

The three cards I pulled ended up creating a spread as I cast them. Reading them, it felt like they were illustrating three paths of ancestral knowledge transmuting into living wisdom. And so what follows is a new spread gifted by spirits of the Oracle and Beloved Dead. In some ways, this spread feels like a companion to the one I created a few years back on talking with your future self. While I feel that you certainly can connect with ancestors through the spread, it might be more accurate to say that you're connecting with the ancient parts of your self that dwells closer to the ancestral realms. The part of you that remembers you are not just branch and fruit, but you are also root.

Before I get to the actual spread, I'm going to share with you the descriptions for each card from Alise's tender and insightful guidebook below. Then I'll share with you the spread and the ways that you might open up your own path for speaking with our ancestors and ancestral selves.

Hollow Valley Deck of Symbols by Erin Alise

From Alise’s Hollow Valley Deck of Symbols Guidebook:

Mountain
constancy, stillness, aspiration, enlightenment, ascent, strength
When you are at the peak of the mountain, you are both close to the stars and completely rooted to the earth. You are standing strong, but you have quite the view - allowing you to see the things around you clearly. Mountain is about enlightenment but it is also about seeing the bigger picture. On your precipice, allow yourself to stay grounded - your knowledge is vast but you must not become lofty. Find stillness here: you have all the information, now you need to take a moment to stabilize and decide how to use it.

Net
entanglement, interconnectedness, communication, surrender, devotion
Net asks us to fall heavily against the people that keep us safe. Net reminds us that in times of great movement or risk or sorrow, the people around us will be there to catch us when (or if) we fall. Net reminds us that cultivate relationships that we can lean on, and give back to them - to be interdependent and not codependent. To offer ourselves up as a safety net to those who will always be there as ours.

Valley
sustenance, plenty, stillness, rest, experience, humbleness
A valley is a place of rest - you've trudged to the top of the mountain and down again, and here at the bottom you can find stillness. Valley is about the humbling magic of being on the other side of a long journey. You have experience, you've reaped the rewards, and you must now allow yourself to pause here in this hollow. There is understanding here, and a wisdom that comes with experience. You are safe here. Stay as long as you need.

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Conversations With Your Ancient Self Tarot Spread

The spread consists of three cards though multiple cards can be pulled for each position if you feel called. You might choose to begin this reading by first calling to and remembering your ancestors and spending some time connecting with your deep self. Every tarot reading is an opportunity for ritual which can be as simple as a few centering breaths or elaborate as casting circle, calling on guides, lighting candles, and making offerings. Follow the call of your magick to help shape your experience.

Now on to the spread!

Card 1: The Mountain. Knowing the shoulders that we stand on. 
The Mountain card helps us to connect with the foundational presence of the ancestors in our lives. Often this card indicates how your ancestors and deep self have helped to bring you into the world (whether literal birth or the transformation and emergence of self we experience throughout our lives) and why they are invested in having you in it. Inverted cards can indicate what ancestral patterns of harm that you have changed or broken or are in the process of examining. 

Card 2: The Net. To accept contributions while avoiding entanglements.
The Net, which could easily be called The Web as well, illuminates our ancestral inheritance. We are not carbon copies of those who have gone before and therefore aren't meant to carry all that we were given and burdened with through our ancestral lines. So much of ancestral work is joyful, but there is unexpressed grief, unreasonable expectations, deep wounds and more which can all lead to unnecessary entanglements. The Net card helps us to discern what we're meant to carry forward and what should be set aside to be picked up by another who would find use of it or to return again to the earth. If you know you're dealing with a complicated ancestral story, you might choose to pull three cards here to create more space to understand what is a gift and what is a burden.

Card 3: The Valley. To be held and to hold.
The Valley card speaks to how our ancestors and deep selves hold us throughout every experience and how we hold (and pass on) ancestral wisdom in turn. Sometimes this card can appear like a mirror that our ancestors and ancestral self has made for us, polished with their love for our beauty, that we may see how needed and necessary and totally wanted that we are. Inverted cards may indicate burdens which have been newly set aside and a space that has opened up that yearns to be filled with something purposeful. Other times, inversions can show how we've transformed a previously burdensome inheritance into jeweled wisdom.

Have you ever been inspired to create a new tarot spread based on cards you’ve cast? What are the ways that you find inspiration for creating spreads for divination? And if you’ve done readings with the Hollow Valley Deck of Symbols be sure to let me know in the comments below.

If you’re feeling curious about the ways you can use tarot to connect with the deep parts of yourself you might want to read more on tarot shadow work (including incorporating some lunar magick into your oracular explorations). Earlier this years I created a spread to help find clarity but at the end of the day, you only need to know one.

You Only Need to Know One Tarot Spread

I try and be honest about my mistakes as a tarot reader (and as an herbalist for that matter) but here’s a tip from the successful endeavors archives - I think every tarot reader, especially when starting out, should commit to learning one type of spread really well.

Using one type of spread consistently over an extended period of time (a year and a day is a or thirteen cycles of the moon are both magickal time frames). This doesn’t mean you don’t use other types of spreads, but that you use on spread predominantly.

Learn how to use one spread for a variety of questions. I know some card slingers create new spreads for each new question that comes their way or has different types of spreads for different themes (such as a spread for romantic inquiries versus one for career questions). There is definite merits to both of these styles. But when learning tarot or re-connecting with your practice, I encourage you to choose one spread for almost all if not all of your questions.

By using one spread you are creating a magickal map that is just familiar enough to help you navigate the unfamiliar (i.e. the answer to your questions). 

Being familiar enough with a spread that you don’t have to reference a guide book to cast it. With this skill you’ll be able to improvise around the depth of each position. So, for example, one card in your spread of choice might represent “the past” and over time with different inquiries the past may represent everything from actual events that have happened previously to how a problem may have appeared to you previously or past mindsets.

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The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by Latisha Guthrie + Joanna Powell Colbert

The spread I started learning with was the Celtic Cross Spread which is a tarot spread from the western esoteric tradition developed thought to be developed by Florence Farr a magician, feminist, and seer of the Order of the Golden Dawn. It’s a tricky spread, not only because there are many different versions and suggested ways of interpreting the card positions, but also because there are quite a few cards being read at once. Yet, it remains one of my favorite spreads to read with because it feels so familiar. A common mistake some tarot readers make is using too many spreads that they are unfamiliar with. What ends up happening is that you are not only reading the cards but learning the dynamics of a spread all at once. And that’s a lot for anyone to contemplate at once. 

The other spread that I use a lot is the pentagram spread which has a card for each of the five elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. From this spread, I’ve developed all sorts of variations over the years, including the spread that follows. What I hope to illustrate with The Elemental Guardian Spread is how one spread can be read many ways starting with the simple and queerly-forward to the more complex.

While this spread can be used with any deck, I was inspired to create it after getting to play with The Herbcrafter’s Tarot co-created by herbalist and bruja Latisha Guthrie and artist Joanna Powell Colbert (of Gaian Tarot fame). Being not very up on following all the up and coming decks as I’ve been spending less time on the internets (sharing lots about that in Magick Mail), I saw this deck and purchased it on a whim just before it was released because I saw a card that featured dyeing with plants and I’m just that easy to please some days… The way that the deck is set-up (there are no humxn figures shown, only arms and hands of diverse shades, ages, and sizes doing herbcrafty things in the court cards) inspired this spread. If you want a full review of the deck check out Benebell Wen’s enthusiastic endorsement of what is fast becoming one of my favorite decks, too.

The spread consists of five foundation cards - four Elemental Guardians and a central card that is the Heart of the Matter. For the first two ways of casting the spread, the variation lies in how you choose the cards. The final way placing the cards incorporates four additional cards to the mix, building on the original spread foundation. And if all this talk of elements and tarot and herbalism has got you excited join me in The Tarot Apothecary.

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Background image by Annie Spratt

The Elemental Guardians Spread

I’ve listed my tradition’s interpretation of the elements, but feel free to apply your own elemental interpretations.

Card 1. The Guardian of Air speaks to and represents the realm of East, communication, ideas, inspiration, the impact of new technologies and social media in our lives, our mental health, our studies, and the ways that we perceive and comprehend our experiences.

Card 2. The Guardian of Water speaks to and represents the realm of the West, dreams, visions, our lineage both behind us (ancestors) and before us (descendants), and the ways we feel and empathize with our experiences.

Card 3. The Guardian of Fire speaks to and represents the realm of the South (northern hemisphere) or North (southern hemisphere), passions and desires, ecstasy, our creative health, and the ways we transform and express our experiences.

Card 4. The Guardian of Earth speaks to and represents the realm of the North (northern hemisphere) or South (southern hemisphere), prosperity and success, our personal legacy, inheritances including cultural traditions and epigenetics, our physical health, and the ways we physically process and energetically digest our experiences.

Card 5. The Heart of the Matter summarizes the energy of the spread and helps you to find the language to understand what is happening to you and what you might carry forward with all that you have learned. Sometimes it can be a holy reminder of something you have forgotten or need to pay more attention to. Other times it is a love letter. Often it’s a mix of everything I’ve just described.

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The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by Latisha Guthrie + Joanna Powell Colbert

First Variation - Choosing Your Heart

Set up your deck by finding all of the Court Cards and sorting them by suit (i.e. place the King, Queen, Knight, and Page of Wands in one pile and the King, Queen, Knight, and Page of Cups in another pile and so on). The first cards you will cast are the positions of the Elemental Guardians and you’ll be pulling these from their corresponding Court Card piles. For example, pull the first card for The Guardian of Air from one of the four Sword Court Cards. Proceed in the same manner for the following three Elemental Guardian cards.

The fifth and final card is pulled one of three ways. You can either pull it from the rest of the deck sans the Court Cards, just the rest of the Minor Arcana or just the Major Arcana. If you’re working on a big life issue, I suggest pulling from the Major Arcana. Or not. Follow your intuition when making your choices. 

The Second Variation - Elemental Balance

The second variation for this spread changes the way that the Elemental Guardian cards are chosen. Instead of choosing an Elemental Guardian card only from its corresponding elemental Court Cards (i.e. choosing the Air Elemental Guardian card only from the Suit of Swords), you’ll choose each Elemental Guardian card from all sixteen Court Cards.

This variation means that you can find conversations happening between the elements. Let’s say that you pull a Page of Cups as your Fire Elemental Guardian - this could indicate that the fiery parts of your life need to be tempered by water. The Page of Cups suggests approaching your emotions with a student’s state of mind and to get curious about what you’re feeling - something which can be difficult when we’re feeling fired up or hot-headed.

What I like about the second variation is that it reflects the reality that there is no strict division between elemental energies in our life but instead all of the elements flow and dance and crash together. If you are someone who incorporates elemental balance into your magickal and/or spiritual practice, this is a fun variation to try.

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The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by Latisha Guthrie + Joanna Powell Colbert

Third Variation - Drawing In Shadows

The third variation adds four extra Shadow cards to the mix. Proceed with casting the spread using any of the variations as described, but beside each of the Elemental Guardians, cast a Shadow card from the rest of the deck. While the Guardian cards describe your gifts and strengths, your shadow card for each element highlights a challenging aspect of that elemental area of your life.

Let’s say that you pull the Seven of Pentacles as your Shadow card for Earth. As a Shadow card, the Seven of Pentacles can show indecision about what do to with your hard won harvest and difficulty coming up with a long-term vision for what you’re trying to accomplish. Sometimes the Seven of Pentacles shows up as a card warning that you’re falling into the trap of imposter syndrome - especially when it is inverted. If you pulled the Knight of Pentacles as your Guardian of Earth the cards could be suggesting that you need to take time to connect with a truer version of who you are and what you’re capable of. 

“Through the wisdom of {the Elemental Guardian message} I understand/acknowledge/release/embrace {shadow card lesson}.”

Taking our previous example you might construct the following interpretive sentence:

Through the wisdom of seeking a true vision of myself I release the belief that I am somehow not enough.

Part of the power of shadow work is learning how to name and speak aloud those names of the hidden parts of yourself. This is one of the reasons why tarot, with its centuries of meaning, graphic illuminations of mystery, and seventy-eight mirrors of sub/consciousness, is such a great tool for shadow work - it helps us to name the unnamable. 

Go out and name your unnamable, witchfolk and plant hearts. Cast your cards a thousands time and wear a pattern into the altar of your heart. Know your shadows and speak your stories.

Expanding Balance : Meeting The Luna Sol Tarot

When I was contacted by the kind folks at Liminal 11 to see if I was interested in reviewing their new deck, The Luna Sol Tarot by Mike Medaglia, I took a look at their other publications and a few sample images of the deck and happily accepted the offer.

Now look, I don’t do many reviews, though I’ve there’s been an increase in publishers reaching out to me to share their latest publications with my readers. I don’t say yes often because if I’m going to spend time writing a review and sharing a publication with my rad community I want it to be something that feels purposeful and enriching. The Luna Sol Tarot got one of my rare review “yeses” and I’m genuinely excited to share with this charming deck with some real depth.

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But first a purposeful detour…

Asali Earthwork has already written a review for this deck and said so much of what I wanted to write about. So please read her words and get lost in the honey of her work as well as her gorgeous ongoing list of tarot that celebrates and includes QTPOC in its images. Something that Asali addresses and one of the things I wanted to write about, too, in this post was about how we do inclusivity around race, color, and ethnicity in indie tarot and oracle decks. The Strength card, the suit of Pentacles but often the Nine of Pentacles at minimum, and, of course, the Empress are increasingly becoming the standard place for folks of color and especially Black folk. Go ahead, rummage through some of your decks and you’ll start to notice a discomforting pattern. 

On examining this trend, Asali asks a powerful question: “Who gets to be soft and reflective and who has to be strong and resilient?” This isn’t just a question for tarot but one for life and definitely one to be asking in our social justice movements.

So why is this trend of enforced strength fo folks of color and especially Black folks so persistent not just in tarot but in other inclusive art? Here are some (but certainly not all) of the reasons that I think tarot and oracle creators trying to be inclusive fall into the trap of painful stereotypes and restrictions. None of what I’ve listed are excuses for lack of inclusivity or not well considered attempts at inclusive imagery - but a way for us to excavate beliefs that are no longer useful and cultivate new ones that are truly inclusive.

Traditional Court Card Correspondences: There is a tradition of tarot cards, especially the court cards, having physical characteristic correspondences. The Pentacles, for example, were supposed to correspond to folks with black and dark brown hair as well as dark eyes. And then there is the idea that different court cards correspond to, if not to the different races of the world, then at least the amount of melanin someone possessed. The suit of Swords, for example, corresponded to the fairest skinned (i.e. the suit of intelligence and quick thinking going to the whitest folks) and the Pentacles to folks with the darkest skin. I mean… sigh, right? This is not a useful system and quickly degrades revealing racist roots.  

Earthy Origin Story: I remember hearing one person defend having Black folks and folks of color in the Pentacles suit or as the Empress because it was a nod to our origins as a humxn species from Africa. But that too often slides into “noble primitive” thinking and this constant, problematic association of folks of color and especially Black folk with earthiness. Please pause and rethink this dynamic, whether it’s something you’ve imposed or internalized or a bit of both.

Trying to Celebrate Strength + Fierceness: There’s a terrible twist that happens when folks begin to unpack oppressive and prejudiced behavior - what was once avoided and denigrated can suddenly become worshiped and overly idolized. Both perspectives lack letting someone be humxn and flawed and needy and tender. In the US, Black women have increasingly become the fill-in image for strength and resilience whether in our politics or in our tarot decks. And while celebrating strength is one thing, it can create a damaging, isolating, and unreasonable expectation on the same people we’re trying to uphold. The point of social justice is not to move our opinions of “the other” from that of the lowest to the highest, but to meet everyone in the beautiful and messy middle. 

Basically, I would encourage all of us to think more critically and, more importantly, more creatively about inclusive imagery. So, how does The Luna Sol Tarot hold up to all this examining? Pretty darn well.

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When I saw the sample card for Temperance and the Star I knew that this deck had at least moved beyond Diversity in Tarot Decks 101. Folks of color show up throughout all four suits of the deck and in a broad range of emotional experiences. I actually said “thank the Goddess” when I saw an image of Temperance. It’s rare to get a masculine-presenting Black person for this card. And, damn, do we need more imagery like this. Also, since the Star is one of my favorite cards in the deck I was thrilled to find a hairy, curvy, South Asian person represented.

Can I take a moment to put out my personal request to the tarot and oracle card universe? More Asian representation, please. The Luna Sol Tarot has both.

The Luna Sol Tarot has a welcoming and trendy color palette but still uses color purposefully and is full of inviting imagery that would be easy enough for most beginners to connect with, with some real lovely innovations for experienced tarot readers to enjoy. The Major Arcana in this deck is familiar to most PCS / RWS readers with some great innovative twists. I love the inclusion of animals in each Major Arcana card that reveal an extra layer of meaning that’s incredibly useful for old and new readers. The Hierophant gave me chills and the Lovers… Well, the description in the accompanying little white book is a gift.

And speaking of the LWB - it’s great! I commend folks who are able to pull off a useful LWB - it’s a hard task and Mike Medaglia’s experience with writing short insights and descriptions from his comic writing is a definite boon. 

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The Minor Arcana is detailed without becoming distracting and the innovations found in the Major Arcana continue through the four suits. The Ten of Swords shines, the Four of Disks is such a clever and useful way of understanding the energy of that tricky card, and the Ten of Cup is adorable. The Court Cards don’t deviate from the classic titles, but many of the court feel queer and nonconforming to me and the art feels fresh and inviting.

I really like this deck. It’s one I’ll be reading with it in my own personal practice and that I’m happy to recommend to folks who are looking for an inclusive deck that both honors and innovates on tarot tradition. I like that The Luna Sol Tarot is gentle without being stripped of power and that it speaks to the Medaglia’s commitment to balance without getting lost in the arbitrariness of binaries. Because balance is less an act of trying to find equality through opposites and more about expanding access to experience - where we’re not asked because of the color of our skin, our country of origin, our disabilities, class, queerness, gender and so on to exist more on one emotional frequency more than any other. This deck feels like an act of service and love to the reader. Also, Asali pointed out something I hadn’t considered before reading her review - The Luna Sol Tarot is positioned in a more accessible price point than many other inclusive decks - heck yeah! 

And, please, please check out the other publications happening at Liminal 11 - there seems to be a lot of tarot-inspired content including a beautiful webcomic exploring the Major Arcana. Along with The Luna Sola Tarot and calendar, they kind folks at Liminal 11 sent me Women + Pattern + Plants by Sarina Mantle. I’ve never wanted to use one of these adult coloring books before until this gem arrived on my doorstep. Oh, and the Modern Witch Tarot looks like an utter delight (hot tip: be sure to look at the 10 of Swords).

Would you like to see more reviews on this blog or general recommendations for things tarot and magickal? Let me know in the comments. Also, be sure to share your favorite inclusive decks in the comments, too, letting us know why you love them.