A New Daily Draw
I have never, in all my years of reading tarot, been a daily drawer. To me, it felt too burdensome to commit to, but another part of me just disliked the idea of starting the day off with some kind of definition. It’s all fun and games when you’re pulling The Sun, but for a morning to begin with The Tower just felt like a bunch of unnecessary anxiety.
I realize there are lots of ways to approach the daily draw that could have circumvented these concerns, but I also hadn’t been inspired to seek alternatives. That is until I finished T. Susan Chang’s 36 Secrets at the beginning of April. While the book is intended to illuminate the decan associations in tarot, it included many of her own daily card reflections and this got my wheels turning. Maybe I didn’t have to make this so personal. Maybe instead of approaching daily pulls as a “what can I expect today?” I would be better suited to approach them as a “what card am I bound to learn more about today?”. In this way, the teaching can take any form! Maybe it’s a stray thought, a conversation I overhear, a movie I watch, something in the news. And of course, it could also be something more direct, but it doesn’t HAVE to be and that’s an important distinction. So essentially, when I’m doing these draws now it’s like this: Don’t tell me something about me - tell me something about YOU!
With this approach, I am giving myself an opportunity to consciously strengthen my relationship to tarot through mostly indirect, impersonal means. This takes the pressure off me and places the intention more in the realm of learning/integration rather than divining. It’s also tricking me into journalling, which is another practice I’ve always wanted to be more consistent with.
So, I want to share a bit about how it’s been going and some of the insights I’ve gleaned!
My Process: Each morning (maybe not first thing, but definitely in the morning) I shuffle the cards and ask to receive a card for the day. It looks like this:
“Spirit, show me a card that I will have an opportunity to learn more about today”
I log the pull in 2 places. A journal on my phone so I can easily make notes through the day (Grid Diary), and then a spreadsheet in excel to track other aspects of the card.
I started this practice on April 4th and below you can see the way I’ve formatted the chart, along with the cards I’ve pulled!
Analysis: I’ve been doing this for just over 2 weeks, so it’s difficult to really narrow in on patterns at this time. What I can say is that elementally things have been pretty balanced - 3 Air, 4 Earth, 5 Fire and 4 Water. Of the 16 pulls, I’ve had two repeats - The 8 of Cups and The Knight of Pentacles. The numbers are kind of all over the place too, though technically I have drawn more 8s than anything else. Oh, and I also seem to be drawing more court cards (relative to their proportions) than other types. 31% of my draws have been courts, and that’s quite a bit seeing as how they only account for 20% of the deck.
Insights: The most interesting part of this exercise has been tasking myself to look for the ways in which a particular card may be piping up during the day. In doing this, I have been reaffirming what I already know about the card while adding more nuance and in some cases, totally fresh ideas. See below for some of those insights.
King of Wands: I had some fear stuff come up on this day and it made me think about the power the ruler of the Fire element can have over us. When in its highest expression, it can be a source of light, inspiration, drive, energy, momentum etc. However, when this power is inverted and is cast in a threatening way, it creates a space where nothing can flourish. Perhaps it’s the difference between having a really influential person offering to heat your home vs burn it down. When you’re in the mode of fear, it supersedes all else. You can’t be sad if you’re scared (which means you can’t process and heal), you can’t be correctly inspired to create if you’re scared. It’s like a dead-stop; a freezer. I’m not sure what this adds to my understanding of the King of Wands except to go easier on myself when I’m unable to cultivate in moments of fear. In addition, it has helped reaffirm my understanding that all cards have applications that can be positive or negative, depending on how directed.
10 of Pentacles: On this day I found out how great my brother’s Bitcoin investment is doing (yay for him!!!). I admit I had a moment of regret in not listening to him when he was persuading me to join in, but at the same time, I’m not one for taking risks when I know next to nothing on a subject. This of course got me thinking about abundance, success, the market, and what the fuck is happening with house prices!? But of course, these are all transient things and real satisfaction can exist with or without them. Tim and I also did a fair bit of garden stuff this day (mostly Tim) and that feels very 10 of Coinsy. In addition, I found myself reading an article about anxiety being in the body and not the mind. Well, I think it’s in all places however it was an interesting read because we’d been talking a lot about physiological responses to emotion lately. In other words, responses that are more like reflexes than reactions i.e. barely, if at all, controllable. Because we’re dealing with a very Earthy card here, I’d suspect there is a connection.
8 of Cups: I have drawn this one twice now. Once at the beginning of this practice and also yesterday. The first time I drew it I didn’t have much to say, but did spend some time contemplating its energetic opposite, the 8 of Wands. Perhaps, the 8 of Wands is something that could assist someone going through an 8 of Cups ordeal. Maybe it empowers one to use their staff (times 8!) to propel them forward (ie. use their willpower as an energy source). As well, it may also point to the art of perfect timing - knowing the exact moment to disembark and not look back.
Yesterday when I pulled it I also had little to say, however, Tim and I watched The Neverending Story and there were a couple of quotes that stuck out that I feel very much fit. There is a scene where the wizard is prepping Atreyu for his journey and he indicates that it will be dark and arduous with no promise of success. I cannot think of a better summation for the 8 of Cups. Then there is this piece of dialogue which I also love in correspondence to this card…
Engywook: “Next is the Magic Mirror Gate, Atreyu has to face his true self.”
Falcor: “So what? That won’t be too hard for him.”
Engywook: “Oh, that’s what everyone thinks! But kind people find out that they are cruel. Brave men discover that they are really cowards! Confronted by their true selves, most men run away screaming!”
The Chariot: I was feeling distinctively un-Chariot like this day. I wanted to produce, but I had no creative inspiration which I find frustrating. It did make me think about what The Chariot means for that kind of thing though and I found myself considering all the times I have felt “carried” by a project. You know, like the article that writes itself, the book that reads itself…it is like, when you are in the flow and the thing just happens “on its own”! I realize we need to push ourselves at times, but there is something to be said for that magical zone when things just seem to happen - no plowing things out of the way, no resistance.
The Queen of Cups: This was a very “tending to” kind of day. I had a mishap with a plant that meant my entire shelf needed to be cleaned and reorganized. My son was feeling sick and had to be sent home. And there was generally a lot of talk about emotions and feelings which inspired an idea that I’m still meaning to get back to.
8 of Swords: Well, this was an interesting one! For starters, this pull occurred on the Aries New Moon, and Tim and I did a fuller ritual than we’ve done in a while on this day. Part of it included picking an energy we’d both like to move away from. He did not know what my daily card was, though his first suggestion was the 8 of Swords. Obviously, I agreed and found it more than synchronistic, so this ended up being a big focal point for the night.
On top of that, I had a very strange lucid dream the night before where I experienced the literal element of air blowing itself in my face. It woke me up twice and while it wasn’t pleasant, it also didn’t feel that bad either. The best way I could describe it would be to say that it was as if some elemental entity wanted to clear something out for me, but had a terrible bedside manner in their approach!
And finally, after the ritual I was left with a pressing question that I think feeds right back into that 8 of Swords energy, and that is: How exactly do you fix a problem that doesn’t exist?
2 of Pentacles: This is my personal decanate card as I was born December 22, so I wonder if that makes it more auspicious. I did have a wonderful experience on this day leading a workshop with an incredible group of seekers through Vanessa Sage Priestess’ Tarot School. The 2 of Pentacles in this way showed up for me like a harmonious exchange of energy - things flowing in and then flowing out, finding balance in the rhythm.
Justice: I drew this card on the day that Ontario announced their stricter Covid restrictions which included giving police free reign to stop drivers, question walkers, and issue fines. This obviously caused an inpouring of concern and was quickly walked back, but still. Of course, Justice in the real world is different from Justice in the natural world. Justice in the real world is filled with nuance and particulars which often leave much of the story unaccounted for. The natural world imparts justice without favour and with impeccable consistency, so I can see how that may be difficult to reproduce when you involve humans. In any event, we definitely saw some Justice stuff play out that day!
The Knight of Pentacles: I have drawn this card twice now (today and earlier in the month), both times on a Monday. Is this not the most MONDAY card, though? The first Monday I drew it I absolutely killed my to-do list. I was on FIRE where productivity was concerned. And today, well, I’m here writing this post, aren’t I? In addition, today marks the end of my #taoandtarot series which means for the last 3 months, I consistently followed through on this exercise to completion - how very Knight of Pentacles (reliable and steady). So I guess the Knight of Pentacles is becoming a symbol for the start of a productive work week and that somehow seems very fitting.
So that’s where we are! If you made it to the end of this post then thank you for indulging me! Of course, my greater hope is that it maybe got your own wheels turning in terms of how to integrate the cards or apply them daily. This is the way that works for me, but maybe there is even an adaptive method that might work for you. I suspect I will share more in the future as I keep drawing cards and subsequent connections. Until then…
Julia