How To Get Started with Tarot
Many of the participants in my tarot Meetup group are brand-new to tarot and eager to learn everything they can. So I decided to compile a list of the best articles I have on how to get started with tarot.…
Joy Vernon
Joy Vernon is widely recognized as an expert tarot teacher and respected community leader. With over twenty-five years’ experience teaching energetic and esoteric modalities, Joy brings expertise and practiced familiarity to her specialty of esoteric tarot, which layers astrological and qabalistic symbolism onto the traditional tarot structure. Under her leadership, the Denver Tarot Meetup grew into one of the largest and most active tarot-specific meetups in the world. Now Joy runs the Greater Seattle Tarot Meetup. Joy works as a tarot reader, astrologer, and teacher in Burien, Washington. To learn more, please visit JoyVernon.com.
Joy’s Quickie, DIY 5-Minute Guide to Reading Tarot
Fastest Way to Read Tarot Cards for Yourself This is my absolute fastest way of reading the cards for yourself without looking up tarot card “meanings” in the book. These are not shortcuts or cheats. Instead, these are some of…
The Alchemical Tower Tarot Tableau
A Major Arcana Map to Spiritual Transformation There’s more than one way for the Fool to journey through the tarot! You’re probably used to thinking of the Major Arcana as a sequence, from beginning to end. And even when you…
The Hero’s Journey in The Aries Decans
Tarot Astro-Limericks for the Two, Three, and Four of Wands Back during Covid lockdown, I started a project of writing a limerick each day to describe the day’s astro-weather. I illustrated these astro-limericks with the corresponding tarot cards. You can…
Easily Interpret Tarot Cards with these Five Questions
How To Describe a Tarot Card This is the easiest and fastest way to connect with your cards and understand them instantly. There are five questions that will reveal the heart of any card. No, these aren’t questions to ask…
How to Use Tarot Symbolism to Create Sacred Space
A Tarot-Based Ritual Opening and Closing: How to Set Sacred Space For Spellwork, Divination, and Other Magical Work Magical ritual work is divided into three steps: an opening, an operation, and a closing. The opening serves to clear away unwanted…
How to Invoke the Four Elements To Balance Your Energy
Instructions for Creating Quarter Calls In Neo-Pagan rituals, we use invocations called quarter calls to bring the energy of the four elements, aligned with the four directions, into the circle. Although traditionally part of casting the circle, or formally setting…
How to Phrase Tarot Questions for Clear Answers
How to Develop the Best Tarot Questions for Useful Readings Brows furrowed, fingers steepled, he stared at the deck of tarot cards in front of him. We were at a tarot meetup. Usually people are this focused when they look…
Spark! Dream! Focus! Finish! How To Get Things Done
The Four Worlds of Qabalah: Applying Mystical Philosophy to Your Natal Chart for Ultimate Productivity The Four Worlds sequence taught in qabalah outlines a mystical creation process, a divine checklist and how-to manual to manifest your goal. I call this…
Find Your Inner Teacher in the Year of the Hermit
Joy Vernon Astrology * Tarot * Reiki Teaching Manifesto: What I Offer As Your Teacher 2025 is the year of the Hermit. That is to say, the digits 2 + 0 + 2 + 5 add together to equal 9,…
Benefits of Using a Significator Card in Tarot Spreads
How to Choose and Use a Tarot Card to Represent Yourself I was talking with a friend yesterday and she mentioned she saw no point in using a significator card in the Celtic Cross tarot spread. I agreed that it…
Don’t Memorize Tarot Card Meanings—Do This Instead
Sadly, most tarot classes start students with memorizing card meanings. An intimidating introduction to the art and beauty of tarot! And establishing the idea of a “right” meaning encourages people to rely on cheat sheets or the book. At worst,…
Mercury Retrograde and the Eight of Wands
November Astrology from a Tarot Perspective Explore the astrology of Mercury retrograde via the tarot Eight of Wands to navigate the challenges and reap the rewards this month offers. The tarot’s Eight of Wands typically represents fast, direct movement. Its…
This Is What’s Missing in Your Heartbreaking Relationship: insights from Astrology and Tarot
October Astrology from a Tarot Perspective: Grand Trine in Water Venus finds herself tossed between Mars and Saturn during the first ten days or so of October, the Three of Swords decan of the year. Venus is green with envy…
The Astrological Fifth House: How to Be Completely You
Using the Astrological Fifth House to Create Yourself In astrology, the fifth house is about creativity, pleasure, and joy. Our offspring are assigned to this house, but more than just childbirth, we find the experience of coming-into-being in this part…
3 Reasons to Learn Tarot Now! + 2024 Tarot and Esoteric Classes
Happy New Year! Not only did I celebrate a great holiday with family and friends, but I am very much looking forward to starting off the New Year with the 30-year anniversary of my first tarot class! If you’ve already…
Mercury Opposite Uranus: The Quirky Inventor Chapter 1
“See, here’s the deal.” The slightly built man’s eyes darted left and right, while his heel, encased in narrow black shoes, the dressy kind you only wear to a wedding or a funeral, bounced phrenetically, tapping a staccato tattoo against…
Why Magic Works Better than Logic
Shift Into the Magic of the Dark Woods Often I am reading several books at once, as I was when I wrote this. And frequently they seem to comment on each other. Last year, just as I was putting together…
Mars Opposite Uranus: The Curious Case of the Quirky Inventor
A Short Story Based on Astrological Transits Back in 2020 I did an astrological transit series I called “Lunchtime Astro-Limerick.” I followed the transits every day and wrote a short poem about what was happening. I even developed a subseries…
The “Forked Road As Divining Rod” Tarot Spread
The Truth About Enlightenment: Get Lost to Find the Path For the fall blog hop, wrangler Jay Cassels of Jay’s Mystic Blog offered a buffet of assorted topics. But what most resonated with me was the title of the posted…