imbolc tarot layout

You know how I love creating tarot layouts for the Wheel of the Year. I have something in the works for those of you who also work with the pagan Wheel of the Year—the equinoxes, solstices and cross-quarter holidays, plus all the moon cycles. I cannot wait to share it with y’all.

Of course, Imbolc is coming up, so I thought I would design a layout for the seeds beginning to stir within you. Imbolc is basically the halfway point between Yule (Winter Solstice) and Ostara (Vernal Equinox). This is the traditional time that candles are made, and the sheep begin birthing lambs (hence the name Imbolc, pronounced Im-olc, meaning ewe’s milk). The gift of the first milk might help sustain a family in the dark winter. Speaking of darkness, we begin to see the sun rising earlier and setting later. I mean, we hear that Yule is when the sun begins coming out earlier, but now is when we can really see it in action.

It is also traditionally the feast day of St. Brigid, or the Goddess Brigid. Her snake would rise from the soil to test the weather and tell us whether the winter would last for another 6 weeks or longer. (Sound familiar?) But the idea here is under the snow, the grass, the soil, the seeds planted deep in the autumn are beginning to stir. It looks calm and serene above, but the seeds are stirring into action and beginning to make their way toward the sun.

And the same for us. What seeds are beginning to make their way towards the light for you? This tarot layout seeks to understand what is happening below your surface. Let me know if you use this tarot layout and what you think of it.

healing relationship tarot layout

How were your holiday gatherings? One of my Tarot friends sent me this hilarious cartoon for Thanksgiving, combining two things I love--laughing and Tarot. I have a great family and enjoy them very much. This was not always the way--my extended family dinners as a child seemed more like a blood sport. People leaving drunk and crying, yelling, dramatics, drinking, accusations. No one seemed to like each other, and I vowed as an adult to not be this way.

Holidays can be fraught with emotions--joy, grief, hurt, expectation, anxiety, sadness, loneliness--then add complicated family and friend relationships, and it is a formula for deep trauma. As I thought about this, I wondered how I would want to help my clients navigate the holiday family gatherings with my clients if they came to me for a Tarot reading. And I thought about how often in relationship disputes, I cannot see the trees through the forest. So, I created a Tarot Layout for Healing Friendships, Relationships & Family Dynamics. I created it so you can go deeper with shifting tension, for seeing a new perspective and for finding a way forward. I focused this layout on the person asking the question, because we can really only change us, right? 

I think it would be useful to consider the cards that arise in certain positions. There are some relationships in which there is no path forward--this rift is permanent and important. Pay attention to the people on the card--is it a solitary person, or two people? Are you seeing cards of withdrawal or protection? Remembering that sometimes you are not at fault in the slightest, so how you move forward needs to be considered with that in mind. I'm going to print some of these out for Tarot Share, though it might not lend itself to a great group reading. This is really about our individual work with another person.

going deeper layout

I just naturally do this layout on my daily reads. I always feel like I need some more insight on just past present and future, so I expand to include some Celtic Cross insights in this little six card draw.

Whenever I create a layout for Tarot, I think it is important to ask a question or at least know the area of life you are interested in learning more about. Often, three card layouts are like little selfies of our time period. I think of this three card layout as having been put vertically, so that each row is present, approaching and outcome.

I like to play with those rows--first row is really about all the influences on the present, including the past and some additional insights about what we cannot quite clearly see. This is all the energy around you right now. I often get questions about the card in the past...this card is about what part of your past is influencing the question asked, or the energy that you are bringing into the question you asked. In the Unknown position, you can use this as something influencing now, so it can be another thing from the past, or the obvious thing from the present you are ignoring. The Second Row is about what we are calling in, what is in our approaching influence. This energy is about what are current actions are calling to us. What I mean by that is that our energy attracts or moves us toward the next phase. This approaching are really helps us to understand where our energy is spiraling toward, and what situation we are setting up for ourselves. Of course, this approaching energy is really about how we get to the outcome of our question. So, the outcome stands alone in the third row as the final resting place of our question if nothing changes. 

Hope you enjoy this. Love to see how you use this in your own practice! 

New Moon Tarot Layout

New Moon is such a potent time for planting seeds, for setting intention, for taking stock. For me, the dark of the New Moon excites me. It seems so potent and full of potential for me. Plus, that inward reflection for me plays beautifully into my own introversion and need for alone time. I mean, this isn't isolation. It is solitude. It is time to check-in. I often do my most powerful readings during this time period, because I do it ready for release. Hell, the New Moon makes me sleep well, but also finds me cranky. I am not always good with too many personalities, so I pare things down. I connect with the cards, with Spirit, with my own needs. 

I often do the Medicine Wheel Layout or even the Solstice layout, but recently, I have been doing this New Moon Layout I've been playing with. This is really potent for those who aren't really sure what energy they are really ready to call in at the New Moon. It is great for the question: Where should my attention be right now?

As always, please let me know how you like this layout and show me your readings. I am offering distance readings again, so please reach out if you are interested at angie@themoonandstone.com

medicine wheel layout

The energy of Summer is upon us--that fire in our belly. In terms of the Medicine Wheel, we are facing South, the direction of Fire, of mystery, of passion and heat and action and creativity and, and, and....there is so much going on the South, it is no wonder we break a sweat. The South moves us from the airy East into the deep fires of the lower chakras--the root, sacral and solar plexus. This is where we ground, we create, we do. Red, Orange, and Yellow combine to create those flames of  DOING.

Many tribes use the Horse as their symbol of the South. I certainly use her as my Southern Totem. She is the Great Sojourner, the Carrier of the Warrior and the Maiden, the traveler, the explorer, that fearless movement forward. We call in the energy in the East in Spring, and it flies overhead with the energy of Hawk, Eagle, even hummingbird (hummingbirds have been all over my land this year with her busy, fast dance.) These high fliers have the vision to align you, to see the bigger picture, to see the forest, but what that vision does is move you into South, where we actually do the dang thing we have been visioning. When I am in the South, I find myself creating all day, painting, sketching, playing guitar, singing, doodling. My creativity is awakened. Creativity and action begets more creativity and action. I am ready. I call on fire to burn away that which sit stagnant in my energy field. I call on fire to start me on my wild journey.

I move through the Medicine Wheel constantly--we all do...each day, year, and in the cycle of our life, we move through east, south, west, and north. Each morning, in my prayers, I call in the directions for healing and to guide my days. I use this model for my Tarot readings too. This isn't exactly a new layout, though I didn't "copy" it from another source. This is just how I have always intuitively done reading around the Medicine Wheel. I drew it up in a Tarot Layout that is shareable and useable. I thought we could try it next Tarot Share for our group reading.

beltane tarot spread

I have really enjoyed creating tarot spreads around the seasonal energies this year. It has been such a challenge for me to think about what we need to know at different times of the year around these cycles. I connect with cycles and even created an oracle deck based on the different cycles we tap into through our life. It's not available yet. I just use it for myself. But I think about this so often when I do readings for my clients. First, what cycle of life are they in? What cycle of their year? What universal cycle are they in--what is the astrological or lunar cycle are all of us facing? This seems like such an important part of the work of reading energy to me.

Beltane, May 1st, is one of those important points on the Wheel of the Year. Spring is in full bloom--flowers are blossoming and the world radiates a thousand shades of green in every corner. The lightness seeps into us all. The Solar Horned God earns his name and is ready to mate with the Lunar Goddess. This is where the idea of Lusty May comes in. We certainly understand Spring Fever and we really enjoy a time of fertility and growth. We celebrate the light, the sexuality and creativity that lies within that sacral energy. It is within us. Now, how are you expressing this time?

I create these tarot spreads to help us easily tap into the energetic and magickal work important around these different points on the Wheel of the Year and in our life. It is such a powerful time to check-in with a relationship or partnership you have. And if you are more interested in a creative project, you can also think of that birthing out of the same energy of Beltane. Remember you can do this reading at any time you want to check in with a relationship or project of any kind, not just Beltane. Let me know how you enjoy this layout.

Blue moon tarot spread

So much of this energy of January is about the two full moons that act mark the beginning and ending of the month. The second blue moon on January 31st is super special--it is a blood moon, a full lunar eclipse and then of course the Blue Moon. 

Tarot is a perfect way to tap into this energy and use it to manifest your beautiful goals. This Leo Blue Moon is one of bringing in and setting intentions around some long-term goals and dreams. I mean, these are those dreams you dare not speak aloud, the ones that feel too wildly awesome to imagine. I used to be all about magical thinking, and fear of jinxing my good fortune. Pshaw!! Not anymore and not since so many of the dreams I dare not speak aloud have come to be. I am living my wildest dreams (and I'm still uncomfortable sometimes, by the way. The discomfort just stays for so little time, and makes me too curious to suffer for too long!). So, what is that dream for you? Are you so out of touch of your childlike awe and curiosity that you forget? 

Tarot is great for uncovering your subconscious and superconscious selves. So, tap into it with this layout, and let me know how it goes!

samhain ancestor tarot spread

Creating Tarot spreads has become one of my new favorite past times. It is amazing when, as a reader, you have that deep shift in your bones about Tarot. You go from doing everything by the book (whichever book you have given authority to in that week) to playing with your cards. To realizing they are in relationship with you and you can bend and ask and instruct and prescribe how and what messages you need. This is so powerful when you create a Tarot spread.

You literally start with a question: What information is most useful for me right now? What will help my soul grow? And for me, one of the things I find most powerful is: How can I tap into the seasonal energies to create a layout that helps me grow spiritually? This has been my goal in the last few months with these new layouts I am creating...designing layouts that move us through the Medicine Wheel and the Wheel of the Year. 

Every month, I host a Tarot Share at Alta View Wellness Center. We get together and read for each other. This has been 18 months strong, and I'm so proud of the community we have created. We decided to do a Tarot Share Costume Party this year for our monthly Tarot Share, and to come dressed as our favorite card. We actually chose cards last month out of the Majors and Court Cards, and I pulled the Devil. I cannot wait to get all Devilish for our group. (Incidentally, as a Capricorn, the Devil is my card, and it happens to be my card of the year too. Isn't Tarot AMAZING?!?)

ANYWAY, the Tarot Share works like this. It is for other Tarot readers. We gather and exchange readings. Usually, we get to exchange one on one, then most of the time, we do one large reading for the whole group. We often do a reading around the seasonal energies, or the moon cycle. It has been amazing to see how much each of us relate to the big reading. So, for Samhain, I wanted to create a layout that both taps into the ancestral work of Samhain and the idea of releasing and bringing in. So, I thought you might enjoy this too for your Samhain gatherings. Let me know how it goes and how this layout worked for you.