My Favorite Tarot Decks for Herbalists & Plant Folk

As an herbalist who reads the tarot (and a tarot reader who talks with plants), I'd thought I'd share with you some of my favorite tarot decks with herbal themes. I’d also thought it also be of interest to folks who are following along with my project of the year - tarot and tea practices for each of the twelve signs of the zodiac.

We are living in abundant times when it comes to tarot decks and many feature botanical imagery, but the connection between tarot and the plant world is nothing new as the cards have long been connected to plant lore, healing, and magick. As an herbalist, I use tarot in my healing practice and as a tool to help folks connect with plant allies. While, the deck that I most often use for myself is the very first deck I ever purchased - my beloved Smith-Waite Tarot that came in the blue box set - is full of botanical imagery and meaning, it's not the only deck I turn to when looking for plant-rich imagery.(1) When I'm in the mood for something a bit different or reading for or with others, the following decks are what I've been turning to in recent years. 

These are certainly not the only plant-themed tarot decks out there and I'm planning on a second part to this post where I also include a few of my favorite oracle decks (in which there are many, many more of them when compared to tarot decks). I've also tried to include a mix of mass market and indie decks, being mindful of the varying budgets of my readers who might be interested in picking up a plant-centered deck of their own.

So let's meet the cards!

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

The Herbcrafter's Tarot

Here's the thing. For years and years I wanted a tarot deck that was made for and by herbalists that I could connect to. When I was gifted a copy of The Herbcrafter's Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert and Latisha Guthrie out of the blue (not by the creators themselves, but a friend of a friend), I felt such expansive joy. Friends, this is a lovely deck and it arrived at a particularly potent turning point in my own practice. My first reading with the deck was at twilight, sitting amongst Roses (Rosa spp.) on the Land I live with and it reads like a dream. In fact, I highly recommend reading with this deck outside if you can, especially the first few times you work with it. 

The art of The Herbcrafter's Tarot is rich and evocative, relying on a relatively uncommon medium for tarot decks (colored pencils), that Colbert is recognizable for (she is the creator of The Gaian Tarot, a diverse and inclusive deck published little over a decade ago). The deck celebrates the mixed heritage of the designers (Celtic and Mexican-American), including renaming the court cards with Spanish names and with the landscapes that appear throughout the deck. The guidebook is lovely, with a number of ways to connect with the cards both through key ideas, longer description, and activities inspired by the plants featured on each.

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

The court cards are some of my favorites in the deck. Instead of having human figures throughout the deck, the cards focus on plants and their habitats, including wild places and home spaces like altars and kitchens. It's only on the court cards that we see just the arms or hands of folks - no faces or any other parts of the body - and they are young hands, old crone hands, working and resting hands. They are some of my favorite interpretations of the court cards of any deck I've worked with. While the absence of human figures doing things in most of the cards might feel intimidating to read to some, the cards are so beautifully thought out in their composition that the plants are alive and singing with story. The deck evokes a feeling of being present to the work of herbcrafting in a way that I've not experienced with another deck.

Of the three decks I'll be in this post, The Herbcrafter's Tarot is the most obviously plant-based one and is explicitly made for and by herbalists. This is the deck I've started to bring with me to in-person classes and the one that I find myself just shuffling through because I enjoy the art so much. It's also obviously designed by an herbalist who understands both the practical as well as magickal uses of plant medicine which I really appreciate and is not always a given with cards that feature a lot of botanical imagery. I really can't recommend this deck enough and I hope you get to hold a copy in your hands one day.

The Future Ancestor’s Tarot by Alexa Villanueva

The Future Ancestor Tarot

There's something really special about The Future Ancestor Tarot by Alexa Villanueva of Lexa Luna Studio. The deck was created during 2020 and carries an energy of making space for and exploring grief, as well as what it means to connect with our beloved living ones when they have traveled to the land of the ancestors, and what our own ancestral becoming looks like while we're still living. 

Of the three decks featured in this post, The Future Ancestor Tarot has the simplest aesthetic and yet no meaning or depth of interpretation is lost. There are calm gestures, furrowed brows, sweet embraces, and the difficult to name feeling that comes from experiencing profound peace amidst a storm of grief. These cards convey, through their images and energy, the feeling I often experience when sitting in a herbal session or class with someone. I know that this is in part because I purposefully make space for grief to be expressed and explored during these times and so often grief arrives as an honored guest in these moments, and The Future Ancestor Tarot seems to treat grieving with the same reverence. And that's also why it's such a sweet and joyful deck for me - it makes space for the difficult moments, so that we can experience all of our feelings with as little fear as is possible in any given time.

The Future Ancestor’s Tarot by Alexa Villanueva

Then there are the plants on each card which makes these bits of paper and the characters and spirits which inhabit them that much more alive. The renamed court cards feel particularly suited to my own herbal practice and I'm sure will resonate with many of you. The Pages have become the Students, the Knights are Explorers, the Queens are Listeners, and the Kings are Makers. The renamed Queens feel particularly powerful and they are some of my favorite cards, which is not traditionally the case for me with Queen cards in other decks. And speaking of favorites - The Star card is one of the images from the tarot that I love the most and The Star in The Future Ancestor Tarot is so beautiful that it makes my heart break open just a little wider every time I see it.

I think that this deck would sing well to those folks who appreciate a more intuitive than strictly traditional approach to tarot. The images reference the RWS system enough to guide you, but are also so unique and inviting for those who like a more open-ended approach to tarot. Just in life, the plants featured on each card are constant companions that we share space with and every card in this deck feels like there's a secret recipe hidden within them.(2) One of the other reasons I like this deck so much is that it is visually similar to my favorite black and white tarot deck, Thea's Tarot by Ruth West. The Future Ancestor Tarot feels like the soft little sibling or nibling of Thea's Tarot and I hope that comes across as the compliment that it is. The energy of the deck is so inviting and would be wonderful to use with clients in one-on-one sessions or with a whole class of plant-hearted folk. Currently, the deck comes with a little one page guide, but you can also join me in supporting Villanueva as she writes the full guidebook to the deck which I'm looking forward to reading!

The Witches’ Wisdom Tarot by Phyllis Currott & Danielle Barlow

The Witches' Wisdom Tarot

Look, there was little doubt that I wasn't going to love a deck produced in collaboration by Phyllis Currott (I re-read her autobiography over and over again as a young witch) and Danielle Barlow (a Dartmoor based artist who I've been a fan of for years and years). First, I like the deck because it experiments with the RWS system in interesting but meaningful ways, which helps readers to approach familiar systems in new ways. I like fresh takes on old practices and The Witches' Wisdom Tarot does this while still feeling traditional. The deck really shines with Barlow's depictions of plant and animal life which show up on every card and Currot's interpretation of the cards feel full of the wisdom carried by an elder of the Craft without becoming stuffy or rote.  

As an herbalist, I appreciate how much the botanical images correspond with the meanings of each card. Sometimes herbal decks can feel more like flashcards than living oracles, but The Witches' Wisdom Tarot avoids this with Barlow's paintings which reflect her own love and connection with plant and animal life. The Ace of Water (Cups) card, for example, is so beautifully depicted as a lush and watery space, capturing the movement, complexity, and sensitivity of the emotional worlds that the Cups represent in tarot. I just love the life and lushness of The Witches' Wisdom Tarot and the way that it reflects the spirit of interconnectedness between all living beings. 

The Witches’ Wisdom Tarot by Phyllis Currott & Danielle Barlow

If you're a Witch (and especially some variation of Pagan Witch), this might be a deck that speaks the most to you out of the three I've featured today. The Witches' Wisdom Tarot is a world unto its own that draws you in and it's a space that I love to visit. It's a deck that is meant to be journeyed with, displayed on your altar, and included in acts of magick. 

🌿

Do you have a favorite plant-inspired or botanically focused deck to work with? Are you feeling inspired to work with one that I've described above? 

If you're looking for more posts about tarot, including a whole collection of spreads, come this way. I've also written a whole post on incorporating tarot into your healing practice and if you're wanting to learn about the intersections of herbal medicine and the tarot, I explore that in-depth in The Tarot Apothecary.

Wherever your tarot journeys take you, may you experience revelation and the sort of reconciliation that occurs when we're able to sit with ourselves and realize that we're sitting in a vast web of life - all of us just singing our spirits home.

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

---

Notes

(1) The set is called The Original Rider Waite Tarot Pack and is still available today. There are so many versions of the RWS deck out there these days, but this remains my favorite version because it's the one I grew up with. The Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Deck is a close second and I actually carry the tin version of this deck with me wherever I go.

(2) And yes, I'm thinking I might try and summon them from the liminal space that they live in and create a book of 78 tea recipes for my own enjoyment…

Peaceful Places: Meeting The Star Card

a radical sabbatical post

As I was contemplating my own sabbatical one of the images that helped me to connect with the power of rest was the Star card. The Star is one of my favorite cards in the tarot deck and this quiet place of intuitive rest can be overlooked considering the card rests between the often feared Tower card and the quintessentially tarot tarot card, the Moon. But it is with the Star that we discover that we can’t fast-track to wisdom, that our intuition thrives when we take time to cultivate spaces of stillness and contemplation in our life, and that rest is holy, holy, holy.

So while I am on my own period of rest, I wanted to share with you the profile on the Star card that I wrote for The Tarot Apothecary that explores the card from a place of healing and herbal wisdom. I’ve written about the intersections of tarot and herbalism before and I hope you enjoy the following healing stories (and simple recipe) inspired by the Star card.

image via @alex_andrews

The Star Card

Astrological Correspondences : Aquarius (Saturn Guards + Neptune Exalted)
Key Ideas : Peace, quiet, healing retreats, a break from the world, time, healing power of nature, calm after the storm.
Nouns : Sacred space, holistic healing practitioners, temples.
Adverbs : Peacefully, meditatively, hopefully, intuitively, sweetly, quietly.
Adjectives : Timely, trusty, indescribable, extraordinary, restful, precious.

Divinatory Meaning : I Restore. The Star card is one of my favorite in the pack. It is the card that I seek when I am in need of restorative healing and peace of mind. The Star appears after the storm of the Tower has passed and offers us respite after a dramatic change. Everything feels sudden and sharp with the Tower but the Star introduces the power of time as a way to recenter yourself in the world. The Star has a similar position as Temperance, but instead of containing the energies within, there is trust that our power to recuperate and transform is infinite. The figure in the Star is close to the earth and touching, almost floating, above the water. The water that they pour out from their pitchers returns again and again to the same source of greater water and energy. The small bird in the background represents the still voice of intuition that always rests in the tree of wisdom but sometimes requires us to be quiet and patient to hear their advice.

The Star card is a welcome sight in a health reading for it represents being able to access quiet, healing spaces. It is a place of peacefulness that we can return to again and again whenever we need assistance on our healing path. Our intuition which may have been overshadowed by the Tower is now able to be heard freely - be sure to listen to it because you are receiving messages about what it is you need to do next for your own wellbeing. I always feel that in the midst of the mystical experience the Star describes there is real practical wisdom, too - drink enough water, get enough rest, and allow yourself to tune out distractions and tune in to you.


Herbal Allies : Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha), Cacao (Theobroma cacao), Kava Kava (Piper methysticum), Lavender (Lavandula spp.), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), Star Anise (Illicium verum), Valerian (Valeriana officinalis).

Essence + Crystal Allies : Aloe Vera (Aloe vera), California Wild Rose (Rosa californica), Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), Elm (Ulmus procera), Hound’s Tongue (Cynoglossum grande), Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea), Oak (Quercus robur), Olive (Olea europaea), Star Tulip (Calochortus tolmiei).

Magickal Workings : Rituals of rest and sleep. Nightly rituals to prepare the self for sleep. Charms against nightmares. Rituals of water, especially herbal baths. Magickal workings to strengthen your connection to your intuition. Examining scarcity mindsets that keep you from believing that there is enough and that you are enough.

Questions : How do I need to rest? What is my relationship to time? Does my well of energy feel dry and depleted or overflowing? In what ways can I live a more restful life? Do I practice regular self-care including drinking enough water, eating good food, and getting enough sleep? If I were to get very quiet what would I hear? What is my intuition telling me?

Health : Conditions of Aquarius. Health complications and imbalances arising from lack of rest and sleep. Overworking and not learning the lesson of previous burnouts. Dehydration and its complications. Excess fluid buildup and stagnation. Neurasthenia. Emotionally disconnected with the heart of the matter.

Inversions : Overworking and placing self-worth solely in one’s ability to produce and be of service to others (Elm Flower Essence). Continuing to push past one’s reserves leading to burnout (Oak Flower Essence). Ignoring one’s inner knowing (Star Tulip Flower Essence). Unable to enjoy the pleasures of the present (Aloe Flower Essence).


Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) : Myrrh is a temple herb - it sanctifies sacred spaces and can help us to connect with the energy of the Star. For those who have or are experiencing oppressive situations, Myrrh can guide us through processing and releasing trauma. With its ability to part the veil between the world of the living and the dead, Myrrh aids in healing lineages of ancestral oppression. Burn Myrrh as a smudge to bless yourself as a sacred vessel of spiritual energy. Keep a small bowl or incense box of Myrrh on your altar to maintain rich levels of sacred energy. Carry Myrrh on you as a charm to help you find peace and quiet whenever you need to.

Myrrh is a supreme tooth and gum tonic, used traditionally in tincture and powdered form for a variety of mouth diseases including cavities, gingivitis, and halitosis. Use it as a tooth powder or a mouthwash to reduce swelling and alleviate sore throats. The herb is also useful for the treatment of inflamed skin conditions such as boils, hemorrhoids, and infected wounds. Overall, Myrrh alleviates feelings of stagnant, swollen heaviness.

Key Qualities : Alterative, analgesic, antibacterial, antimicrobial, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, rejuvenative, vulnerary.

Contraindications : Avoid during pregnancy.

Dosage : Small amounts for a short period of time.

Star Temple Liniment

My ideal sacred space involves the adornment of sacred herbs on the body to restore balance. The following external use only liniment is anti- inflammatory and antiseptic - soothing sore muscles, painful bug bites, and irritated wounds. Combine the following herbs in an airtight jar, cover with rubbing alcohol for one cycle of the Moon, and then decant for use.

• 1 part Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) powder

• 1 part ground Juniper Berries (Juniperus communis)

May you be loved and supported in your rest.

As I am currently off on sabbatical for three cycles of the Moon, this post was autoscheduled (you can find out more here). May these words have arrived with the magick of not quite knowing where it’ll land, but choosing to chance it anyways. Want to know when I get back? Sign-up for Magick Mail below.

I look forward to connecting with you all again upon my return.

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

The New Moon Healers Project

A healer does not heal you.
A healer
is someone who
holds space for you
while you awaken
your inner healer, 
so that you may heal yourself. 

- Maryam Hasnaa -

These words have been vibrating within me for a few weeks. The obvious reason why these words have stuck with me is that Hasnaa has communicated so clearly that which I feel to be incredibly true as an herbalist and magickal mentor. But there is some deeper resonance that they have awoken within me. These words are speaking to the greater cultural shift away from accepting the status quo - including the belief that healing comes to us from the outside instead of within. And if the protests this past weekend was a vision of what’s to come, 2017 is the start of a new level of agitating and organizing against a US government that is straight-up dystopian. We are all being called to step into our power as healers.

The Dirty Tarot by Dori Midnight

These words are also a reminder as to why I got into herbalism in the first place. Called by the plants, I became an herbalist not to heal others but to help other realize their own healing. My work with my community is not powerful because I say “Here, drink this tea” but because I get to hold space for folks to step into their power. People stepping back into themselves and who they truly are is the transformative experience I seek to encourage with those I collaborate with during healing sessions and sacred rituals.

The New Moon Healers Project is my invitation to you to take time each month to cultivate your own healing. For when we heal ourselves we heal our community. The New Moon Healers Project serves two primary purposes. The first is to create an easy way to connect our personal practice with community practice. Why? Because even when we might be answering the same questions or considering the same words, we’ll all have different answers and insights that enrich our collective wisdom. These collective projects also help to make space for those “aha!” moments when the words of another sets off a realization within ourselves. With collective wisdom, someone else’s words help to pull together our own thoughts and needs - much like Hasnaa’s poem has done to help direct my own need to create new community connections this year. 

The Dirty Tarot by Dori Midnight

The second purpose the New Moon Healers Project is to help each of us connect with a way of measuring the passage of time that is tied to something more earth-centered (perhaps galaxy-based?) than the calendar year. While days and weeks seem to whiz by and their encroachment sometimes feels anxiety-inducing, I have always looked forward to celebrating something special under the Moon. Measuring time from the seat of the sacred as opposed to the tension of deadlines or the expectations of others is itself its own form of healing.

Why the New Moon as opposed to the Full Moon or any other phase? There is a special kind of magick with each phase of the Moon. The New Moon signifies a time of new beginnings and the grand expanse of possibility. It is the bow to the arrow of our dreams. Our individual will focuses the trajectory of the arrow and I hope that the New Moon Healers Project helps you to focus on the healing that you most desire this year.

Or as a space rebel once said, "Stay on target. Stay on target!" 

How the New Moon Healers Project Works

Every month I’ll publish a post on the New Moon which will feature a poem, a plant profile, a minimalist magick ritual, and an oracle question. Since you know that I love my poetry, the poem will be inspired by the zodiac sign of the New Moon. In the same vein, the plant profile will correspond with the sign of the Moon, too. The minimalist magick ritual will be a simple, no or very few tools needed, ritual of lunar celebration. Finally, the oracle will be a question or questions for you to pull cards on or use any divination system of your choosing. If you are not a diviner, you can still participate by pondering the questions as part of a meditation.

The Dirty Tarot by Dori Midnight

Participating in the New Moon Healers Project is easy. On the day of the New Moon you are encouraged to read the poem and the plant profile and to share your thoughts about the oracle question. If you want to make it extra-special get a notebook that you’ll use exclusively for the New Moon Healers Project. Within your notebook you can record the New Moon poems, your dreams throughout the month, your work with the plant allies, and of course, your oracular insight. You can share your insights by commenting on the posts and even better, by using the hashtag #NewMoonHealersProject on instagram to connect with others (and letting me share some emoji feels in your comment section).

I’ve posted the New Moons of 2017 below as a quick guide for the upcoming project dates. A great way to help you stay connected to the New Moon Healers Project Moon-to-Moon is to set-up a notification in your calendar to pop-up and say “Hey, it’s time to get lunar!” You can also grab the badge below to display on your site or instagram feed to let folks that you're a healer of the New Moon persuasion.

The New Moons of 2017
Calculated for Pacific Standard Time

January 27 | New Moon in Aquarius
February 26 | New Moon in Pisces
March 27 | New Moon in Aries
April 26 | New Moon in Taurus
May 25 | New Moon in Gemini
June 23 | New Moon in Cancer
July 23 | New Moon in Leo
August 21 | Solar Eclipse in Leo
September 19 | New Moon in Virgo
October 19 | New Moon in Libra
November 18 | New Moon in Scorpio
December 17 | New Moon in Sagittarius
January 16, 2018 | New Moon in Capricorn

I look forward to the next lunar year of New Moon celebrations with each of you as we all re-member and learn anew our power as healers. For that is when we are most powerful and most dangerous - when we know without a doubt that we are capable of the most profound healing as individuals and as a community.

Blessed be our healing magick!

You Are Indispensable (and why that matters)

I think we need to spend more time recognizing how we’re indispensable to one another.

I know that I talk a lot about the sacred interconnectedness between plant, people, and creature, but when we say that something is indispensable there is a new level of necessity that appears. We can be interconnected, but to be indispensable is to fall in love with our interconnectedness. 

Having posted recently about creating an indispensable herb list right around the same time that a continuing and powerful resurgence of the #BlackLivesMatter movement swept across the US, I wanted to offer a spread that helped us to recognize the indispensable in our lives (Curious about your role as a healer, card reader or magick-maker in #BlackLivesMatter? Come this way). Because if we recognize that our plant kindred are indispensable, we’ll stop destroying our common home planet. If we recognize that Black lives are indispensable, we’ll stop the senseless, grinding violence against our Black kindred. If we realize that we are indispensable as individuals, we’ll begin to love ourselves more honestly and unhesitantly. 

Now a tarot spread certainly isn’t going to change the world. But those who are casting cards will. 

You can use The Indispensable Interview spread to talk with a plant, animal, God/dess, ancestor or living person to help you figure out and communicate the indispensable and necessary relationship you have with them. If you are reading with another person, I suggest working with two decks (or three or more if you’re working with more than one person). Each person involved pulls a card for each question. So if there are three folks casting this spread together, person 1 would pull a card for their relationship with person 2 and another card for person 3, with person 2 and 3 doing the same. Take time to cast this spread, pour yourself some tea, pull out a journal to write in, and allow yourself to settle into the story that’ll emerge. Additionally, you can use this spread to understand your relationship to a cause or movement such as #BlackLivesMatter or a local community cause.

design by author | background image by matthew wiebe

1. Why are you indispensable to me? Get intimate in your knowledge of the other. Sometimes this card comes up a bit challenging, sometimes it is just a mushy love note, and often it is a bit of both.

2. Why am I indispensable to you? You need to know and love your indispensableness in the lives of others and this card will help you do just that.

3. What can we expect to experience together? A bit of a pick into the future with this card. Emphasis is on the experiencing more so than the doing.

4. How can I best share our wisdom in the world? This is a big question. We can become stewards and caretakers and seed-casters of the wisdom that others share with us, but we must learn to do it responsibly, effectively, and with accountability. This card will help you to discover how to do just that. I carry, for example, the wisdom of my herbal teachers and I am responsible for how I share and use the wisdom they have revealed to me to others.

I would love to know your experiences with The Indispensable Interview and ways that you tweaked the spread to fit your needs - comment below to share! If you're looking for more tarot spreads, I have a whole lot more.

My hope for you is that you may know how truly indispensable you are.

May the world around you reflects this truth back to you every moment of every day.

A Crown of Roses: An Introduction to Tarot + Herbalism

I am doing a guest post series on the amazing Little Red Tarot blog all about Tarot + Herbalism. Little Red Tarot is the home of Beth Maiden who has created an intelligent and inspiring alternative community to us Tarot folk who are queer, rebellious, multi-cultural, and rad. I hope you enjoy the new series!

Tarot and the art of herbalism have always gone together for me. The year that I started creating my first herbal remedies was the same year that I also purchased my first tarot deck. The Smith-Waite deck that I began to learn to read with was lush with plant life and symbolism. In addition to becoming a tool for me to translate what I was feeling in words and concepts to other people, the cards were a way to connect with my plant kindred in new and meaningful ways. Finding roses growing in my neighborhood suddenly was an opportunity to step into the world of the Magician or Strength or perhaps even Death - all three cards are but some of the landscapes that roses appear in the deck of cards I had.

As I developed my practice as an herbalist and witch, I began to understand and value that our emotions and experiences are not independent of our bodies. Our feelings flow through the neural pathways of our entire body and they can pool, stagnate, or run amok like any other fluid or energy in the body. One way tarot and herbalism are such useful complementary tools is that they are both addressing the underlying emotional story of our lived experiences. If tarot is a map of our internal landscape, herbs are the nourishment for our journey as well as keys to new lands, while our will and desire is the compass which guide us.  

While knowledge of tarot does not make up for lack of knowledge about herbs, there are many ways that each of, experienced in the practice of herbalism or not, can connect with our plant allies through tarot. Over the next few months, I’ll be looking at the tarot cards starting with each suite of the Minor Arcana and then the Major Arcana, exploring how the energy of the cards connect with specific plants and herbal actions. At the end of the this post, I’ll look at three simple ways you can start connecting with plants through your tarot practice.  

As Traditional Western Herbalist, my perspective on herbs and their energetics are based in the six tissue state framework and the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The six tissue states of Traditional Western Herbalism (TWH) can be seen as comparative to the three doshas of Ayurveda or the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My own personal practice also includes the concept of stella and terra energies or “as above, so below” which is a concept that many tarot folks are familiar with. What this means, is that based on the elemental association of each of the suits of tarot we can make herbal energetic connections. So, the swords are a suit of air and might work with herbs that focus on the lungs, while the pentacles are a suit of earth and we might work with the roots of herbs the skin. The use of herbal energetics within a tarot framework will become clearer as the series progresses, but I have found it to be a very useful way of connecting the elemental system of tarot with the energetic properties of herbs.

For our journey through the Minor Arcana I’ll be using the following format for each of the suits of tarot in my posts.

Receptive Herb: Our receptive herbs bring in the energy of the element of the suit. A receptive herb for the suit of cups or water might be moistening and oily in nature, bringing moisture to a dried out situation.

Diffusive Herb: Our diffusive herbs diffuse or bring balance to the element of a suit. A diffusive herb for the suit of pentacles or earth, which tends to be slow and stagnant when out of balance, might be stimulating and energizing.

Herbal Actions: Each element has a tendency towards certain herbal actions. Herbs of the suit of wands which is related to fire, for example, are generally stimulating and warming.

Herbal Remedy: A simple herbal remedy technique that relates to the energy of the suit being discussed.

While I’ll look at the pips of each suit as a whole, I will explore the court cards individually recommending flower essences for each one. Flower essences are a very accessible, inexpensive, and safe form of herbal medicine that are easy to make on your own or purchase at your local health shop or favorite online seller. The amazing thing about flower essences is that by their very nature they can do no harm - an essence that isn’t right for you will do nothing whereas the correct essence may affect profound change that you are ready for. I’m recommending flower essences for each of the court cards because I want folks who have little to no herbal experience or training to have a very accessible medium of plant medicine to access and use. Also, heck, they’re amazing magick and lots of fun!

For the court cards, I will be using the language from the Collective Tarot which I think describe the energies of the cards in a fantastic and understandable way. The court cards will be named as followed:

Page = Seeker
night = Apprentice
King = Artist
Queen = Mentor

Now, let’s look at some ways that you can begin to connect with plant allies through the tarot whether or not you’re an experienced herbalists or have never had a cup of herbal tea in your life!

3 Ways to Connect with Plant Allies through Tarot

1. Tarot + Tea. Whether a black tea or herbal tisane, if you are so inclined to brew a cup before beginning a reading, you can also begin to connect with the energies of the plant releasing its medicinal and magickal energy into your cup. One way to do this, is to sit quietly while holding the cup between your hands and speak your intention for the reading ahead. Focusing on your intention, blow it across the surface of your brew, letting the water ripple and shift, connecting with the power of the plant to charge your intention with energy. Take a sip and then begin your reading.
2. Choose an herb featured in tarot and learn about it. The Smith-Waite-Rider deck is full of herbs that play a prominent role in the western esoteric tradition including Roses, Lilies, and Sunflowers. Begin researching the medicinal and magickal uses for any of these herbs. Botanical.com is a free searchable materia medica of Maude Grieves and includes both folkloric and traditional uses for plants.
3. Pull a card for a plant. Get into the garden, the local park or visit the plant growing on your windowsill, and say “hello!” Pull a card asking what healing gifts the plant possesses, what message it might have for you specifically (especially if it has been sitting in your house and watching you for a while, it might have some useful insight), or any other question you might have. Always connect with the plant first and ask permission to do a reading with it and be sure to say thanks afterwards, perhaps even offering a bit of water or a song. If you’re looking to pull more than just a card, you can check out my Wild Tongue: Plant Ally Spread for a more in-depth reading.

Herbalism and tarot are two fascinating arts which offer us incredible tools of change and connection in a world that desperately needs both. I hope that some of you will find the practice of tarot and herbalism to be useful in your own lives and in the lives of the communities you serve.

The decks featured in this post are the Smith-Waite deck, more commonly known as the Rider-Waite-Smith or RWS tarot, Thea’s Tarot by Ruth West, The Greenwood Tarot by Chesca Potter, and The World Spirit Tarot by Jessica Godino and Lauren O’Leary.