When I first wrote about how to create Tarot spells in 2018, I had recently revisited Tarot Talismans by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero. It rekindled my interest in Tarot spellcraft, although not necessarily my appetite for performing a full ceremonial operation every time I wanted to shift something in my life.
That much has not changed. Elaborate ritual has its place, but not every working requires robes, magical weapons and a room permanently furnished as a temple. A simple spell can be both accessible and spiritually serious.
My understanding of why Tarot spells work has changed, however. I no longer believe that all you need is a deck and your imagination. Imagination matters enormously, but it is the form-giving faculty through which we engage the magic. It is not necessarily the sole source of power.
What Is a Tarot Spell?
A Tarot spell is a deliberate magical working in which one or more cards embody the pattern of change you wish to establish.
The card provides a symbolic form for your intention. Its imagery gives your attention somewhere to gather. Its elemental, astrological, planetary or Qabalistic correspondences may also connect the working with larger patterns in nature and the cosmos.
This does not mean the card is a cardboard wish-granting machine. The card is a meeting place between your intention, the symbolic pattern it carries and any natural, celestial or spiritual influences involved in the working.
A Tarot spell may support an inward change, an outward result or both. You might work for courage, protection, friendship, employment, healing, stability or greater clarity. The spell does not replace practical action, but it can help align your attention, choices and circumstances around the desired change.
Where Does the Power Come From?
Several levels of power may interact within the same Tarot spell:
- Your attention, will, emotion, imagination, breath and embodied action
- The symbolic pattern expressed by the Tarot card
- Natural materials and elemental forces
- Astrological, planetary or seasonal currents
- Angelic or other spiritual assistance
- Divine grace
You do not need to include all of these in every spell. More ingredients do not automatically produce more magic. Sometimes they merely produce a very crowded altar.
John Michael Greer makes a useful distinction between ritual magic and natural magic. Ritual magic works largely through consciousness, symbol and directed will. Natural magic draws upon the traditional relationships between physical materials and subtler forces. Plants, metals, stones, water, flame, colour and scent are not merely decorations within this model. They participate in the working according to their own qualities and correspondences.
This is also close to the Renaissance understanding found in Agrippa, where natural things were believed to receive and carry celestial influences through bonds of sympathy.
You do not have to accept every detail of this metaphysical model as established fact. The important point is that the practitioner is not assumed to be the only power source.
Natural magic and higher magic are not rivals. They address different dimensions of the working and can reinforce one another. A candle, a Tarot card, a spoken prayer, appropriate timing and focused imagination may all contribute without being collapsed into one vague substance called “energy.”
Practical Magic and Theurgy
Practical magic seeks to create change within our lives or circumstances. Theurgy seeks to transform and align the practitioner through conscious participation in Divine life.
This does not require us to choose one and reject the other.
A spell for employment is practical magic. Yet it can be performed within a theurgic orientation if you dedicate the working to Divine Love, ask to be guided towards work through which you can serve, and remain open to correction concerning the form the answer takes.
Material needs are not spiritually inferior. We live in bodies. We require shelter, food, safety, companionship and meaningful work. The question is not whether a desire is sufficiently lofty. The question is how we pursue it, what it asks of us and whether it serves life.
Theurgy also reminds us that magic is not simply a matter of imposing our imagination upon the universe. Iamblichus understood theurgic ritual as participation in Divine activity. The practitioner prepares, prays and performs the rite, but Divine action is not reduced to the practitioner’s personal will.
Begin with Prayerful Divination
Before performing practical magic, divine about the proposed working.
This is one of the differences between divination and fortune-telling. Fortune-telling asks what is going to happen. Prayerful divination asks how we can participate wisely in what is unfolding.
“Highest Good” should not become magical small print attached to a spell after every other decision has already been made.
Within my own Christic practice, I understand Divine Will through Yeshua’s teaching that we love God with all our heart and soul and love one another. An action arising from the Love that unites the Divine family is aligned with Divine Will.
That does not mean every decision is obvious. Love may call us to nurture, reconcile and forgive. It may also call us to tell the truth, establish a boundary, protect someone or walk away.
For a fuller examination, use my Magick Working Tarot Spread. If you prefer something shorter, draw one card and ask:
What do I need to understand before performing this working?
Alternatively, use three cards:
- Is this working aligned?
- Is the timing and method appropriate?
- What action is required from me?
Be willing to receive “not yet,” “not this way” or “there is another need beneath this desire.” Redirection is not failure.
Consider the Ethics of the Spell
Good intentions matter, but they do not protect us automatically from poor judgement, unconscious motives, confused spiritual contact or unintended consequences.
Before casting, examine the need beneath your stated desire. If you want a particular person to love you, is the deeper need companionship, affection, sexual connection or reassurance? Work for the underlying need without attempting to override another person’s freedom.
Ask for the right relationship, opportunity or outcome rather than forcing one predetermined result. This allows room for an answer better suited to everyone involved.
Consent matters when the working acts directly upon another person. There is a meaningful difference between praying for someone’s wellbeing and trying to manipulate their thoughts, choices or emotions. If direct consent is unavailable, you can usually redirect the spell towards your own protection, healing, discernment or ability to respond.
Magical ethics cannot be reduced to “harm none.” Refusing to interfere with abuse, cruelty or injustice may itself allow harm to continue. Protective and defensive magic can be ethical, but it still requires clarity, proportion and responsibility.
You must also accept the mundane consequences of what you request. A spell for truth may expose something uncomfortable. A spell for freedom may end a situation you had hoped to repair. Magic is not exempt from cause and effect simply because the original intention sounded lovely.
Choosing the Right Tarot Cards
There are two main ways to choose cards for a spell.
The first is intuitive. Select a card because its imagery expresses the pattern you wish to create. The 4 of Wands might represent a stable, welcoming home. Strength might embody courage joined with compassion.
The second method uses established correspondences. You might select a card through its element, planet, zodiac sign, decan or place on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. You can find the Golden Dawn system on my Astrological Tarot Correspondences page.
Both methods are valid. Intuitive selection creates an immediate personal connection. Correspondences provide greater precision and allow the card to be coordinated with timing, prayer and natural materials.
Remember that correspondences come from particular magical systems. Court card attributions, angelic associations and some elemental arrangements vary between traditions. Check which system you are using rather than borrowing whichever correspondence looks convenient.
One well-chosen card is often enough. If you use several, give each a clear function. They might show the present condition, the necessary transition and the desired pattern. Do not add cards willy-nilly to fill out empty space. Less, with more focus, is definitely more in this context.
Magical Timing and Correspondences
The New Moon is not universally best for manifestation, nor is the Full Moon automatically a time for release.
Lunar phases may support a working, but the timing should suit its actual nature. Waxing phases can support growth. Waning phases can assist reduction or separation. The Full Moon may bring visibility, intensity or culmination. The Dark or New Moon may suit rest, gestation or a beginning that is not yet visible.
You can also consider planetary days and hours, zodiacal conditions, seasonal cycles and what is happening in the natural world around you.
Your circumstances matter too. If an ideal opportunity appears today, do not miss it because you want to nail the hour of Mercury during a waxing Moon phase on a Wednesday. Magical timing should support the work, not become an elaborate method of avoiding it.
Creating Sacred Space
The amount of preparation should be proportionate to the working.
A simple Tarot spell may require only grounding, prayer, a candle and focused attention. A substantial working may warrant cleansing, firm boundaries and the deliberate creation of sacred space.
Ceremonial methods are not inherently excessive. A more complex ritual can provide containment, depth and precision. Simplicity serves a different purpose. Choose consciously.
If you wish to work within an angelic sacred space, you can use my Archangelic Circle Casting method.
I approach angels prayerfully and relationally as spiritual intelligences whose service is aligned with Divine Will. They are not interchangeable with patron deities or generic “spirit helpers.” Nor are they vending machines waiting to dispense whichever outcome we order.
A dedicated spellcraft deck can help establish continuity, but it is optional. If you choose one, bless it with prayer and store it respectfully. The true temple remains the human being.
Writing and Charging the Spell
Begin by stating the purpose in one clear sentence. Focus on the condition you wish to establish rather than the person or circumstance you want to control.
Your spoken spell does not have to rhyme. Rhyme can aid memory and rhythm, but it possesses no automatic magical authority. Breath, repetition, cadence and the vibration of the voice can help concentrate attention and bring the intention into the body.
Place the card before you. Study its figures, colours, gestures and landscape. Notice what is happening within the scene. Imagine the desired pattern becoming active, but do not force every detail of the outcome.
Speak the prayer or spell slowly. You may repeat it three times if repetition helps you settle into the working. Hold your hands over the card, touch it with your wand or make a gesture that feels natural. Let the physical action seal what you have expressed in words.
When finished, release the outcome into Divine care. Thank any spiritual beings you have addressed. Extinguish the candle safely and formally close any sacred space you created.
A Complete Tarot Spell for Friendship
For a friendship working, we can use the 3 of Cups.
Its imagery expresses companionship, shared joy and emotional reciprocity. In the Golden Dawn correspondence system, the 3 of Cups is Mercury in Cancer. Mercury supports communication and connection, while Cancer brings emotional belonging, care and the creation of a safe social space.
The intention might be:
I open my life to reciprocal, nourishing friendships formed through honesty, kindness and shared joy.
After prayerful divination, place the 3 of Cups beside a white candle and a small bowl of water. The water echoes the card’s suit and Cancerian quality. If convenient, perform the spell on a Wednesday for Mercury or while the Moon is in Cancer. Neither is compulsory.
Ground yourself and light the candle. Gaze at the card, noticing how the figures turn towards one another. Then say:
Divine Love, guide me towards reciprocal friendship.
May honest words create welcome.
May I recognise those with whom trust can grow,
and may I have the courage to meet them halfway.
Let this unfold in the right way and time,
for the good of all concerned.
Repeat the prayer slowly three times. Place your hands over the card and take three steady breaths.
Keep the card on your altar for an agreed period or photograph it and use the image as a private reminder of the working. Then give the spell somewhere to land.
Give the Magic Somewhere to Land
Casting is not the end of the work.
A friendship spell needs places where friendship can form. Join a group, attend an event, start a conversation or respond when someone reaches out.
Employment magic should accompany applications, networking, conversations and skill-building. Protection magic should be joined by practical boundaries. Healing magic must not replace appropriate medical care.
“God helps those who help themselves” is not a Bible verse, but it remains useful advice. Magic may alter the pattern around your actions. It cannot take the actions for you.
Record the Working and Its Results
Keep a record of:
- Your intention
- The cards and correspondences used
- The timing
- The ritual method
- The prayerful divination
- The mundane actions you took
- The results
- Any unexpected redirections
Record what actually happened rather than what you hoped would happen.
A magical record helps you discover which methods work reliably for you. It also prevents you from treating every coincidence as supernatural confirmation or every disappointment as evidence that mysterious forces blocked your spell.
Closing Thoughts
A Tarot spell brings intention into relationship with symbol, action and the wider life of which we are part. Imagination gives the working form, but it does not have to carry the entire operation on its back.
Begin simply. Choose one clear intention, one well-matched card and one practical action. Divine before you cast, remain open to guidance and record the result honestly.
That is how a personal magical practice becomes more discerning and effective over time.
Deo Gratias et Serviam
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