Cozy Fall Rituals (Part 1): Let’s be Friends! A Conversation with Your Decks.
Gain personal, nuanced insight from your tarot and oracle decks.
Happy Autumn Equinox, friends!
At last! It’s that time of year! Summer is in the rear-view mirror. The kids are back in school, temps are cooling down, pumpkin spice has entered the chat and life is settling down to steady routines. I love this time of year when the air gets crisp and even here in southern California, I break out the sweaters and turn on the tea kettle and start thinking about cozy things to do. Outside, the season begins to turn and the light shifts. I finally have bandwidth to slow down and hear the quiet. To pause long enough to take note of what’s going on inside of me:what has evolved, what I’ve outgrown and what may be ready to change.
During “The Heart of the Harvest”, our most recent Liminal Collective experience, we worked with oracle cards to explore the abundance already present in our lives and what was still quietly burbling away beneath the surface.
I love the way cards can open a door into that kind of reflection. Perhaps it’s confirmation of what we already know. Sometimes it’s something we have been carefully avoiding. My favorite is when they give us language for a feeling we haven’t quite been able to identify.
When we bring home a new tarot or oracle deck, most of us immediately unwrap it, shuffle the cards, and start asking questions. I sometimes do this myself.
But every deck has its own personality. It has its own way of revealing what it wants us to notice. Some decks feel warm and reassuring. Others are playful, mysterious, or wonderfully blunt. Some are perfect for everyday guidance. Others seem to go straight for the shadow work before we have even finished our coffee. I’ve even had one or two that made me want to throw it against the wall in response to its smug judgements.
Before asking a deck to provide insight into our lives, it might be worth letting it introduce itself.
Getting to know your deck
Some of the decks currently in heavy rotation here at Ethereal Arcana
When I started using cards, I immediately noticed that my decks had personality and I started researching deck interviews so I could get to know my decks better. Over time, I developed the Deck Interview Spread to help with that conversation.
This seven-card practice explores your deck’s energy, voice, strengths, and the types of questions it is best suited for. It also invites you to consider where the deck might challenge you, what shadow work it may help bring into awareness, and what possibility or medicine it wants to help you embody. Knowing this about my decks helps me decide which will best suit the questions I’m asking and also helps me frame my reactions to the guidance given.
You can use the spread with a brand-new tarot or oracle deck. It is not necessary to only do the interview with a new deck (unless of course, you were already looking for one or for an excuse to purchase a new one.) You can also build a deeper relationship with a deck you have owned for years, one you haven’t reached for lately or one you have never quite understood. Sometimes an old deck has something new to say. Or like with an old piece of clothing that no longer fits or is your style, the realization that perhaps it’s time to let go and move on.
Create a Little Space
Setting up for a little convo with my deck.
Give yourself about 30 to 45 minutes somewhere you can be comfortable and relatively undisturbed. You can light a candle, bring in a favorite crystal, or make a warm cup of tea. You can also just clear a spot at the table and begin. You do not need a perfect altar, a specific moon phase, or complete silence from the outside world. You just need a little intention and a reasonably quiet corner.
Before shuffling, spend a few moments looking through the deck. Notice its colors, symbols, and artwork. Which images draw you in? Which ones make you uncomfortable? What feels familiar, and what feels just beyond your understanding? As you turn over each card, sit with the image before reaching for the guidebook. Notice your first response. A word, emotion, memory, or physical sensation may surface. You may immediately understand the card—or have absolutely no idea what it is trying to say. Both are perfectly acceptable.
There is no prize for interpreting everything correctly. The purpose is not to prove how intuitive you are. It is to become curious about the deck’s language and your own response to it.
When you are ready, open the guidebook and allow it to add another layer to what you have already noticed. Please keep your discernment close.
Working intuitively does not require you to accept every message without question. You are allowed to sit with a card, challenge your first interpretation, or decide that something simply does not resonate. Your deck is a tool for reflection. Curiosity and discernment belong in the same practice.
Let the Relationship Unfold
Deepen your relationship with your cards with this workbook.
Keep your completed interview and return to it after you have worked with the deck for a while. You may discover that it showed you exactly who it was from the beginning. You may understand the cards differently several months from now. You may even realize that the deck has been gently bringing you back to the same lesson in several different forms.
An important distinction. The cards do not hold more authority over your life than you do. They offer imagery, language, and a different angle of reflection. They help quiet some of the surrounding noise so you can hear what is already stirring within you.
That is where I believe their real magic lives.
If your cards bring something to the surface that you would like to explore with support, you are also welcome to learn more about my virtual Ground & Renew Reiki sessions.
I hope this practice offers you a quiet place to begin. A cozy conversation with your deck, your intuition, and whatever is ready to be known as the season turns.
Love, light, and black holes,
Lynda
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