Deepening your Daily Draw Practice

daily tarot draw

A popular practice among students of the Tarot (including professional Tarotists) is pulling a daily card as a contemplative focus for the day ahead. While this is a wonderful practice as well as a great way to get to know the cards, there are some things you might want to consider if you are interested in deepening your practice. After all, you only get as much out of your practice as you are willing to put into it.

Here are five suggestions for deepening your practice:

1. Create sacred space
2. Engage in multi-sensory learning
3. Read the gap
4. Check back in
5. Document your observations

This is not just a way of getting to know your cards. It’s also a technique for psychic development. Stick with it for a few weeks – I guarantee that you will be richly rewarded.

1. Creating sacred space

This first step will boost your daily practice immediately 100%. It signals to the Universe and your spirit guides that you are serious about learning the Tarot. In fact, not doing this is a bit like attending a language course without bringing your pen. You want to allow for divine messages to come through so you need to clear away some of the mundane smog first.

Some simple yet effective ways to do this:

  • Smudge the space with white sage if the energy feels dense.
  • Light a candle, invoking spiritual guidance and protection while you do so.
  • Lift the vibration of the whole room with some frankincense (uplifting and grounding).
  • Make sure your energy is grounded. Use the breath to ground and centre.
  • Work with crystals that enhance the transmission of spiritual information. Fluorite, lapis lazuli and turquoise are my personal favourites.

2. Multi-sensory learning

Multi-sensory learning is probably the most effective way of deepening your practice. It is done in three steps:

  1. Look at the card and make a mental note of all the visual clues. Note colours and objects as well as patterns of stillness and movement, shadow and light.
  2. Ask yourself what sounds, scents and music might be connected with this card.
  3. Get up and move with the card energy. Find a stance or posture that fits the emotion in the card. Is there a dance form or sport that fits? Act it out – not just in your head, that would defeat the point. If you have access to music that fits, put it on and dance the card.

Now that you’ve armed yourself with multi-sensory information for the card, you will find it easier to observe how it connects with your environment as you go about your day.

3. Reading the gap 

This is probably the best-kept tarot reading secret ever. You don’t actually read the card. You read the energetic space created between your original question and the card.  This makes it doubly important to be clear on what your daily meditative focus is. Once you master this technique, you will have taken your tarot reading skills to a whole new level.

Let’s say your daily focus is ‘How can I cultivate happiness today?’ and you pulled The Hierophant in answer to your question. What you would read is not the traditional card meanings but how the energy behind your question connects with the energy of the card. In this dynamic, the unique meaning and appropriate answer to your question emerge. (More on Reading the Gap HERE)

4. Check back in

Set aside a bit of time in the evening to check back in with the card. What additional meanings and emotions arose during the day? How much of the full spectrum of meaning for this card did you experience? Has your perception of the card altered since earlier on?

5. Document your observations 

I recommend keeping 5 separate colour-coded, spiral-bound journals so that you can file your observations for easy retrieval. Set aside a couple of pages for each card. Here are the four categories I recommend (but feel free to create your own!):

  • Spiritual pathworking
  • Health/healing
  • Love/romance
  • Work/vocation
  • Dreamwork/shamanic meanings
love raven liora

Comments 11

  1. Marina, I'm sorry I missed your comment earlier – I don't seem to be receiving the email notifications as I should. I'm glad I piqued your interested about the 'reading the gap' technique. More will be written on this. Not sure where I'll publish it yet though…

    If you can't do mornings, perhaps you could find some quiet time in the evening. Do a dream incubation with your daily card and journal again in the morning. (set your alarm 5 min early)

  2. Lisa, that's a very nice post!

    I have always wanted to have a 'daily ritual' with my cards – a possibility of starting my day with a bit more of wisdom and insight… but my schedule doesn't allow. I am always rushing out of home, barely having time to eat.
    I think I am too fond of sleeping, lol!

    I'd like to ask you – what could a be a good way to incorporate one or more of these techniques you shared in a schedule that doesn't allow peaceful morning?

    By the way, I absolutely LOVED the idea of "Reading the gap"! I hope you talk about this technique in future posts, it made me VERY curious! 🙂

  3. Just 'accidently' found your site Lisa… absolutely love it! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and insights !

    I've been 'away' from the Tarot for many years, and this article really helped me revisit some things and will hopefully help me re-connect with the cards that haven't spoken to me in years now!

    Blessings and Thank you !
    Lynniah

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