Tarot reading is a magical practice that is often feared as something dark and scary.  If you’re new to tarot, it can feel quite complicated, daunting, and we can fear “getting it wrong” or what might be revealed in the cards. When we use tarot from that place, there may be fear and resistance, which has us both drawn to the various beautiful tarot decks with their mysterious intrigue, whilst also doubting our own power to harness the magic of tarot.  We may dabble, by going to someone else for guidance on what’s in the cards (and just to be clear, there’s a real power in going to a tarot specialist for a reading); but we can also harness the power of the cards for ourselves in our everyday lives, as well.

And yet, ironically, tarot offers a beautiful and powerful tool that helps us access the deeper subconscious parts of ourselves, acts as a mirror to our soul and helps us access our deeper wisdom and connection to spirit. Ultimately, tarot is a deeply intuitive practice, which can help you harness your own wisdom.

So, with just a little bit of leaning into fear, practising of pulling cards, and learning more about them as we go, we can begin to use them to reveal our deeper fears, to make more conscious choices, to manifest our goals, to vision and plan, to meditate and to find deep answers to questions. And, when combining that with essential oils, we’re supercharging it all, so today’s article is all about empowering tarot with essential oils.

Learning the tarot cards

In each card deck, there are 22 Major Arcana cards, which represent life’s karmic and spiritual lessons.  There are also 56 Minor Arcana cards, which reflect the trials and tribulations of our daily lives.  The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits: wands (which represent our creativity and passion), swords (which represent our intellect), pentacles (which represent work and money), and cups (which represent emotion).

If you’re not familiar with each card, the invitation is to begin a daily practice in which you begin to learn what each one represents, both more widely and for you.  There will always be a guidebook with the card deck, and the deep invitation is to tune into your wisdom about what the card means.

I’d recommend a practice that I have used myself to learn the cards.  Keep it simple to begin, with a basic card pull of 3 cards a day, as an easy spread.  These cards can represent:

1. Past
2. Present
3. Future

Each card will be showing you something around whatever it has been pulled for (i.e. the Past, Present or Future); and your invitation is to begin to take meaning from this. I pulled my own three cards for this to use as an example:

1. Past - I pulled Nine of Swords - “Cruelty” - which is the perfect card to demonstrate to you that the scary cards aren’t scary.  This particular card has nine swords dripping with blood - and it can represent pain (in this instance of the past), but it’s not all bad - the cards are here to show us that it is safe for us to go into the pain of the past, rather than to suppress it.  This represents to me that there has been a lot of alchemy of the pain - which is true of my past; it’s my life’s work.
2. Present - Major Arcana - The Hierophant - this card depicts a religious teacher, sitting in a throne between two pillars, wearing a crown.  This represents to me the learning of practical lessons from studying natural laws to find Truth.  This is true of my own journey in the present and is the very work I share with others.
3. Future - Eight of Swords - “Interference” - this card shows eight swords overlapping and represents restlessness and chaos and over-analysis.  It makes perfect sense for my immediate “future” because I’m considering moving house and caught in a tug of war between options in my mind - a reminder to stop interfering with the natural flow of life.

Sometimes cards can be pulled in reverse which can essentially mean you’re either resisting or missing some of the energy of the card’s meaning, or that it is delivering the exact opposite message, or that you’re completing a cycle with this card.

Really, the invitation is to begin to play with the cards and use them to help you make meaning of what is going on in your life, and tune into the truth of what you’d like to create.  So, let’s explore how to empower this practice with essential oils.

7 step tarot empowerment ritual

The practice of card pulling is a sacred ritual, and it’s important to create it as such, creating your space and setting your intentions, so that you can honour the cards and their capacity to help you tune into your wisdom and the ancient wisdom of this practice.

To use the cards, we go through 7 steps, for which we will offer essential oils to empower you.  Firstly, lets break these ritualistic steps down 

1. Create sacred space - to begin, I recommend getting everything you need set up - your cards, your essential oils, and some cosy blankets, tea - whatever makes you feel this space is sacred.
2. Call in spirit and connect to wisdom - next, we call in deeper connection to our spirit guides, who can help us to connect more deeply to our wisdom.
3. Cleanse and shuffle the deck - cleanse your space and your cards and as you’re shuffling your cards, declare your intention to reveal 3 cards that will help you see more about Past, Present and Future.
4. Set intention - once you’ve placed the cards ready to be pulled, there may be a specific reason you’d like to pull the cards, so get really clear on this and express it, out loud.
5. Pull cards - using your intuition, pull three cards from the pack.
6. Be with the cards - once you’ve pulled them, be with them for a while - allow yourself to read the deck guidebook, and to infer the meaning that is relevant to you.  What might be a hidden meaning of this card?
7. Journal on their meaning for you - finally, journal on their meaning for you, so you can remember what you pulled and its significance.

10 sacred essential oils for empowering tarot  

There are many oils really suited for the ritual above that will help you to supercharge your tarot readings, and we share some of them here so you can choose the best ones for your blends.

Creating sacred space for your ritual and for reflection: 

• Sandalwood - this musky, woody oil is a sacred, soothing, and space-cleansing oil, often used in ceremony - perfect for promoting a calming space.
• Frankincense - this fresh, woody oil has strong meditative powers, is calming for the mind and helps to lift the spirits, revitalise, and soothe, so it’s the perfect oil for preparing your energy and space for card-pulling.

Calling in Spirit: 

• Lemongrass - this earthy, yet citrusy oil is a powerful cleanser and mind-clearer, dispelling negative energy and encouraging spiritual clarity.  Perfect for connecting to your wisdom and calling in spirit.
• Myrrh - this is a deeply spiritual oil, popular for meditation use - it used to be used for sacred anointing rituals as it provides spiritual connection and opening.

Connecting with wisdom: 

• Geranium - this oil is the perfect oil for creating balance so that you can connect more deeply to your wisdom.
• Rose - a powerful connector to your deeper emotions and wisdom, this oil is deeply soothing.

Cleansing space and deck: 

• Lemon - the ultimate cleansing oil, this fresh, sweet aromat uplifts the spirits, whilst cleansing your space.
• Cypress - a refreshing oil, this one is perfect for unblocking the flow of stagnant energy, cleansing and preparing sacred space and creating calm.

Intention setting: 

• Rosemary - the best oil for focus and concentration, this is the perfect oil for getting crystal clear on the intention for which you want to use the cards.
• Peppermint - a stimulating oil, good for concentration and focus, this is the perfect oil for energising your intentions.

Aromatherapy blends for your ritual

Creating rituals to complement your tarot practice really depends on what you want to focus on for your ritual. 

Getting creative with your own blends will only serve you deeper into trusting your own wisdom, so I’d recommend choosing your own blends, using some of the oils above.

Creating sacred space for reflection:

For creating your sacred space, I’d suggest diffusing a blend into your space, choosing three of the oils above to help supercharge your intention, and following this blend format: 

• Mix a total of 7 drops of oil (total) into water in your diffuser or candle burner. 
• For example, if you’d like a little more support with creating sacred space and connecting to spirit, then you might blend: 3 drops Sandalwood, 3 drops Lemongrass and 1 drop Myrrh to support deepening into your wisdom whilst creating sacred space.

Preparing your body:

Before you begin, you might like to select different oils to apply to your skin in preparation of connecting more deeply to yourself:

• Mix a total of 6 drops of oil (total) in 15ml Grapeseed carrier oil and use to massage into your body, stroking in the direction towards the heart.
• For example, to connect deeper to your own wisdom and to cleanse, you might blend: 3 drops Rose, 2 drops Geranium and 1 drop Lemon into 15 ml Grapeseed oil to massage onto your body before your practice.

Cleansing your cards:

If you desire to cleanse your space - you can do this with a spritz.  You may also wish to tailor this spritz with oils that will support your intention setting:

• Mix a total of 30 drops of oil into 100ml water or hydrolat and pour into a spray bottle.
• For example, you could cleanse your space and cards with a blend of: 15 drops Lemon, 10 drops Cypress and 5 drops Rosemary in 100ml Orange Flower Hydrolat. Spritz this around your body and space before pulling your cards.

Overall, once you understand the properties of the oils and how they can support tarot, and you begin to understand the meaning of the cards and how they can support your life, your deeper intuition can guide you in harnessing the power of both.

The main thing to remember is to have fun playing with both your cards and your oils.  Oh, and don’t fear the Death card - it’s not bad; it’s all about transformation and death to old ways of being.  So, if you pull that - get excited!

Nicole Barton
Consultant Aromatherapist

Disclaimer & Safety Advice

Read other articles by Nicole Barton