Caring For My Spirit With Tarot – Exercise 2
Hi Everyone! It’s Sunday, so it’s time to do my next exercise from Minerva Siegel’s Tarot For Self Care which I have chosen to name Caring For My Spirit. If you haven’t seen exercise 1 yet you can check it out right here. As I explained last time, Siegel separates the exercises into three categories, body, mind and spirit and or exercise today is for the spirit. Let’s jump in!
Enter The Elements
I have suggested in a previous post that in this modern world many of us have become very disconnected from nature and that there are many ways this is not good for us. I am excited to try this spread because of the way it suggests caring for my spirit – be receiving messages from the five elements.
If you’re confused, thinking there are only five elements, in tarot and paganism the five elements are Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. If you didn’t know about spirit I’m glad to share it with you so you understand why caring for my spirit, and you caring for yours, is so important. It helps bring all five elements into balance and creates harmony in the world around us and in our own lives.
Caring For My Spirit – The Exercise
The way I am going to get my message from the elements is using tarot cards (obviously!) and also crystals. Each crystal has its own colour and own resonance which helps us connect to the element it represents. First I needed to collect one crystal associated with each element. To be clear there is not just one crystal per element, there are dozens! Luckily I had one of the crystal associated with each element.
If you don’t have any crystals please don’t feel you have to dash out to your nearest metaphysical store! Use anything that helps you associate with that element. I like crystals as they are part of the natural world but you could use a piece of wood for each, a shell you got at the beach for water, and so on.
I’ll be using hematite for earth, moonstone for water, red tiger’s eye for fire, clear quartz for air and amethyst for spirit. For my tarot deck I’ll be using the Unfolding Path by Athene Noctua. Again I do not make money if you click the link, it’s just there in case you want to check it out. I am in love with the artwork on this deck and want to bond with it but I’ve been struggling. I hope this exercise will help.
Drawing The Cards And Creating A Spread
First, I shuffled the deck while asking about the lessons I need to learn from each element. Next I laid the deck down and picked up my hematite. I held it in my hand and thought about the earth – dirt, crystals, rock, trees, flowers, etc. Once I had the essence of earth in my mind I drew a card and laid it face down. Siegel didn’t specify how the cards should be laid out so I decided to make a cross with earth at the top (north), air to the right (east), fire at the bottom (south), water to the left (west) and spirit in the middle to centre me.
As I had done with earth I held the relevant crystals and meditated on each element before selecting a card. I also tried to focus on caring for my spirit and how each element could help me. Here’s what I got.
Earth – The Sun. This is one of the happiest cards in the tarot. In this image, I believe i’m being told to enjoy the good time in my life. I should go feel the sun on my face, admire the beauty of flowers and bask on the wonders of nature. I also need to celebrate every success I achieve.
Air – Ace of Swords. Ha! The first card in the suit that represents the element of air. I believe this card is telling me that if my brain is getting foggy and I need clarity, to not be afraid to do something to sweep those cobwebs away! It might be a walk in the fresh air, a trip to the gym or just a break to do something relaxing like reading.
Fire – Seven of Cups. This is one of my favourite cards in this deck! I love the look of indecision on her face. Life presents a lot of choices. All I/we can do is choose carefully and believe that what is truly meant for us will not go by us. To help us choose take a leaf from fire’s book and look for things that set our souls on fire!
Water – Ten of Cups. This is the ultimate family happiness card. I am married but I don’t have children. I have a very close and loving relationship with my husband, an equally close and loving one with my sister and five cats I the I truly believe i couldn’t love more if they were my own children. I need to remember how lucky I am and let the love flow in my home and heart.
Spirit – Ten of Pentacles. Well good grief this is the nicest, happiest spread that I have seen in my life. Ten of Pentacles is similar to Ten of Cups. It’s still about a very happy family life but it’s a little more realistic. Ten of Cups can be a little more Brady Bunch. This card is telling me to be grateful for all the blessings in my life. Pentacles deals with the material plane so I am grateful for my lovely home, full of love and security, that I have enough money to pay my bills, that I am healthy and that I live in a safe place in the world.
Exercise 2 Complete
Ok, that’s me done for today and I hope you enjoyed seeing how I approached caring for my spirit in this exercise. If you would like to try please do and let me know how you got in the comments. Alternatively, if you saw a different message in my cards please tell me about them. I love that ten different people can look at a tarot spread and come away with ten different interpretations. Finally, if any of my reading resonates with you feel free to take it. I believe tarot is all about sharing. Take care til next time x
