Our North Star: Tarot Cards and Spreads for Challenging Seasons

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Photo by Matthew Larkin on Unsplash

The past few weeks have been immensely challenging, to say the least.

On a personal note, we all came down with influenza A, but while my daughter and husband started to get better within a few days (thank goodness), my symptoms persisted and worsened over weeks.

It has now been three weeks since initially getting sick, and I am still struggling mightily.

My fatigue was and is profound. My health anxiety and OCD are triggered to hell and back because of said fatigue, not to mention the endless visits to urgent care and the ER during the worst of the illness.

I had a really frighteningly bad reaction to a steroid that I needed to take for my lungs and cough, which only compounded the sense of terror, fear, and loss of control happening in my body. My eyes and vision were even temporarily affected by this flu, making looking at any screens and driving at night challenging for a few scary days.

And then, of course, there is the hourly, daily horror of the news, the devastation, rage, and helplessness that we’re all feeling in our own way right now.

I benefit from huge privileges in this life and I want to acknowledge that — the fact that I can even afford to go to urgent care and the ER is evidence of that, for one. And even with those privileges, I could not find a felt sense of rooted safety in these past few weeks. My body felt unsafe, my mind felt unsafe, the world felt unsafe. Imagine how others who are less resourced are feeling right now.

And during this time, I was not able to receive much in the way of guidance, nurturance, or reassurance from my Tarot deck. I knew better than to even try.

I was, however, deeply bolstered and held by Anchor Cards, and the practice of Tarot Anchoring over the last few weeks. This practice, and the cards that I called upon within it, were a lighthouse, a balm, and an immense comfort to me in the depths of my experience.

When we find ourselves in hell, moving through devastation, heartbreak, or facing uncertain times, the Tarot can be a humble source of radiant support. For most of us, the Tarot does not consistently predict anything — a fact that can be challenging in very unclear and contractive times. It also doesn’t fix anything, which can be equally difficult when we are so longing for a balm, for something to tell us that we are or will be okay.

In my anecdotal experience as a trauma survivor, someone who has worked with the cards steadily for over 25 years, it is very, very tough (if not impossible) to read Tarot for ourselves in our standard ways if we happen to be moving through a major contraction, transition, or crisis, which is what a lot of us might feel right now, or what we might be anticipating over the next four years and beyond.

Of course, it might feel like we cannot or don’t want to read Tarot for ourselves at all – which is perfect and absolutely okay. But if we have a desire to stay connected with our decks in the midst of this kind of season, Tarot Anchoring can help.

Tarot Anchoring is a helping practice that I unwittingly developed when I was working with my deck during a particularly distressing time . It is an amazing ritual that can help us to become more intimate with certain Tarot cards and can assist us in staying tethered to our decks, especially in moments when standard Tarot readings might feel too overwhelming or inaccessible for our nervous systems.

With Tarot Anchoring, we are intentionally forming a supportive, comforting, or healing bond with a particular Tarot card, calling upon it as a North Star to keep us rooted in challenging moments. So we largely opt out of the standard process of tuning in and pulling a card with Tarot Anchoring. For the most part, we choose the cards we need or want to be surrounded by.

There is a larger process and a practice around Tarot Anchoring, but I’m not going to dive into that today.

What I am going to cover today are four specially chosen Tarot cards that (in my humble opinion) can be of immense use and value to us in these kinds of rudderless seasons. We will dive into a bit about each of them, and touch down on a gentle spread that we might consider using, if it feels right. If it doesn’t, I encourage you to trust that, too.