Does anyone use Tarot cards for spellwork?

[Aeona]

I'm not sure whether to put this in the Tarot topics or here, so forgive me, I'm new here 🙂

 

Does anyone use Tarot cards as a tool for spellwork or rituals or anything besides Tarot?  What I'm really after is book recommendations that have good ideas for which cards to use for which spells, and some guidance on how to work the particular spells.  It doesn't need to be a super beginner book, as I have *some* experience with Wicca and the basics of manifesting things.  I am hoping to get genuine recommendations from someone who has actually used some books like this and has a handle on which books are useful.

Thanks 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Aeona
Typo fixed

[Aeona]

Also how do I edit my post because I just noticed a typo 😞

[Decan]

13 minutes ago, Aeona said:

Also how do I edit my post because I just noticed a typo 😞

Click at the right top on the three dots and choose the appropriate option, that is "Edit"

[Aeona]

11 minutes ago, Decan said:

Click at the right top on the three dots and choose the appropriate option, that is "Edit"

Thank you!

[Aeona]

@Wildcard That is very helpful, thank you!  I've read through a little bit and it looks to be exactly the type of information I was hoping to find.  

[Rose Lalonde]

There's Portable Magic: Tarot is the Only Tool You Need by Donald Tyson, but it looks like it's now out of print? Wait, no, google tells me it's been reprinted as Tarot Magic: Ceremonial Magic Using Golden Dawn Correspondences.  Manifesting, yes, but it's not Wiccan, so may not be at all what you're looking for. 

 

 

[katrinka]

16 minutes ago, Rose Lalonde said:

Manifesting, yes, but it's not Wiccan, so may not be at all what you're looking for. 

 

Exactly. There's a section on Cat Yronwode's Red Folder that talks about what kind of spellwork is indicated by the cards, but that's hoodoo. No "threefold law." 😉

[Aeona]

@Rose Lalonde @katrinka yeah, I read a lot of Crowley's stuff back in the day, and all that stuff about summoning beings into existence in the astral plane makes me really nervous.  I don't want to bring any negativity into my life.  I assume the Golden Dawn stuff also has that kind of "probably not ethical" stuff involved?  

After I learned all of that about Crowley, it made me not even want to use my Thoth Tarot anymore. 😞

 

I have no doubt that anything you put out there comes back to you.  Even when I felt the need to use a spell to intervene with someone causing me constant problems, I basically did a spell for them to learn empathy and to have joy in their life, which I figured would stop them from hurting people but with a positive outcome.

 

Earlier this year I was having a massive ongoing issue with someone and I made jokes about "I hope they fall down the stairs." And not long after I said that, bizarrely I somehow fell down the stairs... I was taught a lesson by karma and I will not do that again.

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, Aeona said:

I assume the Golden Dawn stuff also has that kind of "probably not ethical" stuff involved?

 

For the purpose of reading cards, you're not engaging in summoning beings, etc. You're just reading the Tarot stuff to get an idea of where this system is coming from. That way you've got a solid foundation.
A lot of these old books are public domain and you can read them free online. The PKT is a good place to start:

https://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/

 

 

 

[Aeona]

@katrinka fair point, thank you for the link.  I'll check it out tonight if I get some downtime at work.

[katrinka]

I kind of hate to be the one to drop this bomb, but Old Gerald nicked a lot of Wicca from Crowley's work, especially in the early days.
If you're going to study RWS type Tarot, there's really no avoiding the Golden Dawn.

[fire cat pickles]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:55 PM, katrinka said:

I kind of hate to be the one to drop this bomb, but Old Gerald nicked a lot of Wicca from Crowley's work, especially in the early days.
If you're going to study RWS type Tarot, there's really no avoiding the Golden Dawn.

@katrinka probably won't be responding (but theoretically will read this 😉 ) 

 

This is absolutely true. Crowley split off from the GD and founded his own sect, IIRC. The folks that went on to create the RWS along with PCS (or vice versa, I don't remember the timeline exactly) the RWS did their thing and Crowley, his. The two are nearly inseparable.

Edited May 15, 2023 by fire cat pickles