Happy Lunar New Year my friends! We are entering the year of the Fire Horse, so needless to say this ought to be exciting (haha)! Horses are an integral part of human’s civilization and exist in many many cultures with various symbolism attached. Today most of us are quite removed from our equine partners, but there remains a romanticism linked with horses. But, I wanted to make a draw that gives us a more, lets say, realistic view of riding off into the sunset. I always enjoy making these prompts, so I figured I’d share what my Tarot bestie and I came up with this year:
Today I’m using, IMO, the sweetest horse Tarot deck out there, The Riderless Tarot by Nakisha. If you are a horse girl too and love this deck, you can find it here in her etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RabbitTarot?ref=nla_listing_details.
Here are our prompts–I’m starting 1 at the 1 o’clock position:
1 Where do I find the strength to stand on my feet?
2 What is one of my roles in my herd?
3 Who is helpful in my herd?
4 What skill do I have to offer to strengthen my herd?
5 What unexpected delight makes fairy-knots in my mane? (Fairy-knots are when parts of the mane is twisted almost braid-like from playing and horsing-around.)
6 What pile of sh*t do I need to joyfully roll in? (Or: what do I need to indulge in?)
7 What’s my plastic bag? (What’s my irrational fear?)
8 What fire makes me leap into action?
9 Where can I find a moment of wild freedom?
10 What is something I need to work on, but don’t want to?
11 What horse-fly bite (i.e. annoyance) do I need to ignore?
12 Which sunset do I need to gallop off into?
Okay! 1-3:
1 Where do I find the strength to stand on my feet?
Eight of Wands, I find my strength when taking action and in movement! Doing something rather than sitting around and worrying about it is very good for the soul and relieves anxiety. That is quite a horse answer, tbh.
2 What is one of my roles in my herd?
Six of Pentacles, I am the person who allocates resources, helps those in need, helping send things down the proverbial line, bringing others the resources they need, mediating.
3 Who is helpful in my heard?
King of Pentacles, those who are well established and are willing to share resources and knowledge, and have a kindly, caring nature.
4 What skill do I have to offer to strengthen my herd?
Judgement. I can speak the truth loudly and clearly! I can hold my peers and myself accountable. I can demand change. I can use my knowledge of the past to help shape the future. I can be the change I want to see in the world.
5 What unexpected delight makes fairy-knots in my mane? (Fairy-knots are when parts of the mane is twisted almost braid-like from playing and horsing-around.)
The Empress: My well-spring of creativity brings me delight as does my ability to nurture and care for others. This nurturing is reciprocal too!
6 What pile of sh*t do I need to joyfully roll in? (Or: what do I need to indulge in?)
Ace of Swords: New ideas! And the freedoms I have. New ideas are needed to shape the world and should be indulged in, even if they don’t end up useful, its always good to be brainstorming and constantly thinking of how to make the world a better place.
7 What’s my plastic bag? (What’s my irrational fear?)
Nine of Wands. My irrational fear is that I’ll forever be tired of never ending work and battle, hyper-vigilance.
8 What fire makes me leap into action?
Justice, seeing injustices!
9 Where can I find a moment of wild freedom?
Five of Cups, even in sadness I can see beauty and the path that I look forward to, imagining a future past the hard times.
10 What is something I need to work on, but don’t want to?
Three of Cups. Establishing meaningful relationships, keeping friendships alive and active, finding time to socialize for fun and enjoyment. I’d be a homebody if I didn’t make myself get out.
11 What horse-fly bite (i.e. annoyance) do I need to ignore?
Six of Wands—I need to keep things in perspective and realize that little wins and losses must be measured all towards my end goals. Don’t get over excited due to one small victory or failure, there’s a lot more going on.
12 Which sunset do I need to gallop off into?
Strength, I need to ride into strength! I must own the quiet strength I have and form partnerships with unlikely friends who can enrich my life!
Uh oh, the mini manager came to check on me.
Lets see, three wands, two pentacles, a sword, two cups, and four majors. Seems like a very complex year ahead for me! What about you? What are you seeing ahead in this fiery equine year?
And, I’ll end with some real horse wisdom: Carpe Diem, always roll in the poo when you have the opportunity to!
One thing that I don’t see too much of, is run-of-the-mill daily tarot draws. Perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong places. I tend to find draws that are seasonally focused, formal traditional layouts, or larger, general-viewer draws on the YouTube. I can’t say I see many “I just I want to practice my tarot skills, but I don’t want to spend an hour reviewing thirty different cards” draws. So! I thought I’d share some of the common ones I use! Please let me know if you find this at all interesting.
Decks used in this draw: Liminality Oracle, Asphodelon Mythos Tarot, Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle, Wild Unknown Archetypes oracle
I find dreams and dreaming fascinating. Of course, Tarot fits nicely into the various archetypes we might see in dreams, so I’ve developed a typical structure I like to use when delving into cartomancy to help think of my dream in a critical way. Before I get into the actual cards, let me share my dream with you! Please be kind; this is a real dream I had and there is a great bit of vulnerability when sharing it into the internet abyss. Also, be mindful that while this is a bit of a silly dream, it was quite a scary when I was having it, which is why I chose to delve more into it through the cards:
21 Feb 2024
I’m in this mall that has a glass ceiling. There is so much commotion happening outside. The ceiling is shattered as something huge come flying into it. I run, seeking shelter from the glass. I look out at what looks like an airport tarmac and see massive monsters. They are so big I can’t really even tell what they are.
I run, trying to find a safe place, but there is no safe place. I’m shockingly swift and don’t seem to become winded easily. I see this group if kinda “alternative” looking people, taking on a monster. They are so strong and fast it is like they are savage animals!
I join them—I don’t want to be a passive bystander! I try to help topple the monster too. I bite it and hit it and kick and do everything I can. I get knocked violently aside and I hurt from it. The monster doesn’t topple but runs away.
The leader, who I am acquainted with but don’t know well, pulls me up. I’m so tired I feel limp at this stage. He commands me to stay with the wolves, that we’re going to figure this out. I’m so puzzled, I tell him that I don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s puzzled then tells me I’m a wolf, don’t I know? I don’t. He takes my left arm and says we’ll see if the sign sticks.
He draws a finger down my left forearm on the top, from elbow to wrist and draws some sort of simple symbol. The area he touched first looked like water drawn on my skin then turns black as if tattooed or cauterized into the skin. “See?” he says. “You have the mark already.”
I go trailing after them. We run into a parking ramp to regroup, then we split up into smaller groups to try and secure a certain area. I cannot stop staring at the black mark on my arm!
I should start out that by no means do you need a ton of decks to do this dream draw; you’d be perfectly fine with just one tarot deck or well-rounded oracle. I just had the excuse to pull out some fun deck, so I did! When I typically do a drawing for a dream, I’ll pick one, two, or on rare occasion three cards to represent the main characters in the dream. I used Kim Krans’s The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle for my two characters, my dream-self, and the “pack” leader:
For myself, I drew the Mouse, an earth sign, and for the leader, the Hawk, an air sign.
A mouse is notable for it’s small size. It is a relatively weak animal that is at the bottom of the food-chain, and of course a staple for hawks! Despite it’s timid nature, the mouse is know for its resourcefulness, and its ability to get into spaces its not welcomed and cause havoc. In numbers, mice can be very troublesome indeed. I should note that in my past month of reading Lenormand, the card “The Mice” has repeatedly appeared over and over, and we recently in our own home were losing the battle with a particularly clever and fit little mouse. I can see myself feeling small and fearful in this dream, unsure of myself, but I do not wish to be timid! I want to join others and help them out! Though I am marked as one of them, I do not feel it.
A hawk is considered a bird of prey that is either a buteo or an accipiter (so, not falcons). They have large wings, hunt open spaces and forests, use the wind to their advantage, as some can soar! They are powerful animals that are often viewed as being regal and proud. They have incredible eyesight and must develop deadly accuracy in hunting to survive. The leader in this group is perceptive and sees “the mark” of the “wolf” on me, which I cannot see myself. He comes across as strong and powerful, and somewhat intimidating.
Then, if there are big “themes” or “ideas” or “concepts” that appear in the dream, I might draw a card for those as well. In this dream, I had literal BIG monsters, and also the group of people dubbed “wolves” so I drew a card each for them from The Wild Unknown Archetypes deck (a deck I have a love-hate relationship with):
I pulled for the monsters LXXVII Aletheia. A Greek term that literally means “truth or disclosure in philosophy,” it is also described as “being unconcealed…(i.e) evident,” or relating to disclosure, revealing, factuality or reality (from Wikipedia). The not-so-little white book describes this card representing “truth” or “act of truth.” We see how the same rose looks in both black and white, no matter what way we look at it, it’s the same rose. These “Monsters” are showing me a truth–that there are some big problems that need to be tackled! They exist and affect everyone, whether we want to deal with them or not! And, it will take a group of people to get them to retreat, you cannot do it alone.
For the general group of monster-fighters called “Wolves” I drew LXX The Thread. This image seems both very tenuous but also strong! That person is hardly gripping a thread–its a huge cord! We see a splash of rainbow and color after the stark former Aletheia. The image says to me hope is thin, but not weak, you must grasp it hard and hold on! The LWB speaks to finding the purpose and meaning in the chaos and anchoring to it, which seems very fitting in this draw! We can see the “wolves” as giving us purpose to protect ourselves and attack back at the monsters in an organized way.
Then I decided to draw some tarot. Because I typically draw from jumpers, I usually will shuffle until I get at least three cards, but this deck (the all-new Asphodelon Mythos Tarot) seemed to have a lot to say and gave me six jumpers on the shuffle-through so I lined them up in the order they came leaping out.
In the past, I’ve read the tarot as a separate spread from the oracle cards, but after doing a month of Lenormand, I had a Galaxy Brain moment and realized I can read where the cards are placed relative to the oracle cards (okay, I know you seasoned veterans do this all the time, but I’m still learning, bear with me).
According to the cards, my dream-self in this dream has all the agency and tools at my disposal by which to act upon the world. I can make sudden decisions, and have the power to heal with my actions. I have a great amount of empathy and emotional soundness and security that allows me to love and feel deeply. Also, it’s interesting that with the “angel” like image combined with the two lovers, these two cards look strikingly like the traditional Lovers card which speaks of choices: I have a choice–what do I choose?
Okay, I’m not gonna lie–this is the first serious draw I’ve done with this deck and now I’m really bummed that I already have my monthly decks planned for several months because the Asphodelon Mythos Tarot is totally rad and I need to use it, constantly, for some time. This is an interesting combination of cards for our hawk character–if I saw a RWS clone pairing of the ace of cups with the devil I’d read it as a relationship for the wrong reasons, or a selfish emotional motivation. But in this ace of cups we see two intimate figures, Nix and Erebus. It reminds me of a ying-yang, two side of the same coin, darkness and light. The water out of the cup seems to be cascading down and trying to snuff out the raging Cronus. Perhaps we can say that our strong leader is representing the struggle between balance and selfishness? Maybe his role is to extinguish the threat. Maybe while he is a new person to me that has something to offer, there is a darker aspect that remains to be seen.
So if we take the two tarot under Aletheia (the Monster) we see the Ten of Swords and Death. Easy enough, there was a profound defeat/failure that was a definitive ending. But from that end is the beginning of something new.
Flanking The Thread (the “wolves”) is The Magician and the Ace of Cups–you have surprisingly found a new place–do you belong here? There’s a strong connection here, that is very empowering.
If we take the tarot together on their own, we see someone very assured and strong who was flying high took a terrible downfall and met a proverbial death. There is a rebirth that is more balanced, but the core problem still lingers and rages on (after all, the wolves and I did not kill the monster, it fled).
So, I asked the Liminality Oracle “advice about what can I do?” And drew:
Wow! Those are definitely very wolf-y creatures, aren’t they? Change first starts with you. Be the change you want to see. To change the course you have to take action. Work actively towards what you seek. Be dogged in your pursuit!
Hm, food for thought, eh!
How ’bout you? Do you ask your cards about your dreams?
I really got a kick making a draw for the year of the Rabbit in 2023, and I 100% have been waiting to do a Dragon 2024 draw for this lunar year! A Google told me that people born in the year of the dragon have “natural courage, tenacity, and intelligence, often displaying enthusiasm and confidence.” Seeing as I don’t personally know any scaly dragons to model actual animal behavior and wisdom after, I’ll have to take the G’s advice about the Chinese Zodiac system to help structure my questions. Let’s get to it!
Of course I had to bring out my beloved Smoke, Ash & Embers Tarot deck! I love that this deck is RWS, but it takes a very different, practical and holistic approach to modern tarot. In their version of the LWB they label the Wands as our spirit, the Pentacles as our material world, the Swords our thoughts, and the Cups our emotions. While this is pretty typical in RWS decks, I’ll especially be paying attention to this during this draw.
What great magical thing will start your year?
What frightening obstacle will block your path forward?
How best to show courage?
What will try your patience?
How to show tenacity and perseverance?
What riddle will puzzle you?
How best to outsmart it?
How do we show enthusiasm when we’ve lost our mojo?
Where should we cultivate confidence?
When should we be tender?
When do we need to be fierce?
Where will I find unexpected luck?
1.What great magical thing will start your year? Three of Pentacles. You will have help in building your nest egg! In a project or financial adventure, you will find a willing and eager partner. Perhaps they will help teach you, and you in turn can teach them. This is now the second recent draw that I’ve had a 3 of Pen show up, I gotta start paying attention.
2. What frightening obstacle will block your path forward? The Hanged Man. You will face uncertainty and a change of view—things are not as you thought, but if you take a moment, you will see there is something to be gained here that you’d not be able to get otherwise.
3. How best to show courage? Ace of Swords. Pay attention! Use your head. Use your sense of observation to understand and learn to go forth strongly! Success is at hand, but you need to take the sword and practice the skills it takes to get there. Listen to mentors (this also seems to be a reoccurring theme).
4. What will try your patience? Eight of Swords. The constant hard work, grind, and, well, patience! Accomplishing something is never a linear journey and sometimes it feels as if you are getting nowhere, fast. Keep at it! Don’t worry about needing to get your hands dirty every once in a while.
5. How to show tenacity and perseverance? Two of Swords. This is a very different take on the two of swords than I’m used to. Counter intuitively, sometimes you need to take a fricking nap! When things get overwhelming and seem to lack progress, take a break, try something new, enjoy the flowers of your successes you have made. Also, don’t stand up too fast!
6. What riddle will puzzle you? Page of Cups. A new person, feeling, idea, or opportunity will come out of nowhere and completely take you off guard!
7. How best to outsmart it? Six of Pentacles. Be kind. You will find reward for your kindness in unexpected ways. Be a force that brings others together. Realize what a person really wants when they give you something. Put offerings/gifts in context; if someone is giving you something, what, if anything do they expect in return?
8. How do we show enthusiasm when we’ve lost our mojo? Page of Pentacles. Keep things practical; look at what you have already accomplished, and look at where you want to be. What will it take to get there? Make a list, write it down. How can you allocate your resources right now to get to where you want to be? Start there. Go back to the fundamentals. Once you get moving, you’ll get your chutzpah back!
9. Where should we cultivate confidence? XIX The Sun! Be confident in what you know you do well and are successful at! Duh! Do that! When you are happy and joyful, you exude confidence, so first ensure you are having a good time.
10. When should we be tender? Page of Wands (holy mole, we got some Page energy today!). Treat the imagination and the joy of newness tenderly—this is where great things happen and negatively criticizing ideas prematurely will help no one. Help yourself and others grow to be their best by believing in your/their vision!
11. When do we need to be fierce? Ten of Cups. When it comes to your family-of-choice and those you love, you get involved! They are your people! It’s up to you to help make sure they are secure and they in turn watch out for you. It really does take teamwork to make the dream work.
12. Where will I find unexpected luck? Nine of Wands. When you are feeling like you are at the end of your game and you have no more strength to persevere, you will find unexpected luck.
And, just for fun, I drew from The Thistle Down oracle deck a card for “advice for this lunar year.”
Don’t forget to take moments to collect yourself, live in the moment, and smell the flowers, even if you’re a little bit of a grouch *wink*.
So, I see lots of pentacles and pages, so I have a lunar year of learning and practicing my arts and skills. Can’t ask for anything better in the year of the Dragon!
The Tarot Tarts 