If you listen to my Self-Care Tarot podcast you’ll know that I often talk about elemental energies in relation to reading the minor arcana, well I wanted to expand on that a little bit more. Today, I want to show how I apply the suites and their energies to the seven main energy points within the body because it’s something that has helped me massively up my Tarot reading game.
When it comes to reading the Tarot cards, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s all energy baby!
I wrote a whole blog about how Tarot reading works, at least my style of Tarot reading anyway. It all focuses on your energies – all the different energies that are swirling about your body fighting to be prioritised every single time you wake up in the morning.
The Four Tarot Suits and their Elemental Correspondences
I can’t really dive into the chakras without first addressing the way I see the four elements, earth, wind, fire and water and how they connect with these four Tarot suits.
Elemental energies are the main way I read the Tarot because it’s something tangible that I can grab hold of. I know what fire would look and feel like, I know what earth looks and feels like – I have real-world experience dealing with all four elements so it makes it easier to translate higher consciousness messages into actionable advice.
If you’re not already familiar with how the four Tarot suits correspond with the four elements, it goes a little something like this:
Wands = Fire
Cups = Water
Swords = Air
Pentacles = Earth
Each of those elements conjures a feeling within us, fire ignites passion, earth offers stability etc. so when we get a suit card we can instantly understand what the energy of that card feels like and what it could be referring to. If we get a cups card we know that there is water energy present and therefore we need to take a look at our emotional world, if a sword card pops up then we know that it’s our mind or communication that needs to be looked at.
Learn how the four elements help you interpret the Tarot cards in the Elemental Energies in Tarot guide and workbook
It’s not just the suits that can have elemental correspondences, the chakras also embody the four elements. Starting from the top to the bottom, it looks like this:
Crown Chakra – Air
Third Eye Chakra – Air
Throat Chakra – Air & Water
Heart Chakra – Water
Solar Plexus Chakra – Water & Fire
Sacral Chakra – Fire & Earth
Root Chakra – Earth
Unlike the suites though, the chakras, as you can see above, can have links to more than one chakra at a time. This perfectly showcases the complexity of the human psyche, which is often why Tarot reading can be very tricky at times – there’s a lot happening inside our bodies!
We can use the elemental correspondences to identify where in the body that card’s energy is sitting, which makes it a lot easier to understand what the card is referring to. So for example, if you get a pentacles card, you know that you’re dealing with earth energy and therefore you need to look down in the Sacral and Root chakra for answers.
To make things a little simpler, I thought I’d pull together a handy infographic that pulls everything together. And also because I am a Canva junkie and I wanted to use the infographic templates.
You can click on the image to open it up to its full size and save it if you like for future reference.
It shows you which chakra each Tarot suit corresponds with, the elemental energy that it embodies and also the traits of each of the suits.
I often find that when people think about the Tarot, they think about fortune-telling and the cards dictating information to them, rather than relaying information that you need to hear in order to make a change and realign. Thinking about the cards in this very holistic and energy-specific way means that you stop seeing the cards as omens and more like guardian angels.
Taking this approach to Tarot has massively helped me up my well-being routines and allowed me to do inner work that has a much deeper and more meaningful outcome. Applying the Tarot suits to the key energy centres in the body is a great way to embody the guidance of the cards, rather than just allowing these messages to wash over you and leave no real impact.
If you’ve read to the end of this blog, first of all, good on you, second of all may I suggest you check out The Self-Care Tarot podcast? I cover topics very similar to this in each weekly episode and help you to use the Tarot cards in a way that helps you in personal and spiritual development.
When working with my clients and with myself, the one thing we always end up tackling is our self-limiting beliefs. They seem to always be lurking below the surface ready to pounce whenever we get excited about doing something new and radical. They’re quick to tell us we can’t, we shouldn’t, we don’t deserve to.
When doing a Tarot reading, there is nowhere for those self-limiting beliefs to hide. The Tarot has a way of shining a light on them so that there is no escape and we finally have the clarity to address them head-on. But where are they hiding the rest of the time?
The root of all our beliefs
Every belief we have, whether it’s about ourselves or about the world in which we live, is rooted in the subconscious. They are created by events we have experienced or witnessed reaching as far back as our very early childhood. These events may not even seem that significant at first glance, but they are the catalyst for the creation of these self-limiting beliefs.
A lot of the time we think we need to have gone through something shocking or traumatic for it to imprint or change the way we think, but that’s not true. There are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration when thinking about how an event has imprinted on you. Some things to consider are:
How old you were at the time, when we experience something in our very early years, our brains absorb it like a sponge, which is why therapists often start with your childhood and relationship with your parents.
Where you were emotionally at the time of the event. For example, say someone with low self-esteem was insulted about being single, those people will hold on to and absorb the effects of that event in a different way than someone who is very confident and has much higher self-esteem. People with lower self-esteem may be less likely to brush it off or allow it to pass them by.
Repeated experiences. If something keeps happening time and time again then the brain will start storing that away and keeping it as evidence for when a similar situation comes up. This can often happen when fear, embarrassment or trauma is involved and is something that CBT therapy addresses directly.
> “There is one grand lie – that we are limited. The only limits we have are the limits we believe.”
— Wayne Dyer
How can we dig out these beliefs to analyse them?
Trying to reach the subconscious on your own can be difficult because the subconscious is where your mind puts the things it doesn’t want you to consciously think about. It’s a bit like your conscious mind rocks up at an exclusive VIP club and then is instantly turned away by the bouncer. Your mind doesn’t want you to venture there.
Tarot is a great tool for accessing the subconscious mind because it forms a pane of glass between the conscious and the subconscious. You’re being supported and guided through the hidden world of the subconscious, rather than being left alone to wander into places you may not want to go. The cards reflect back to you what is happening in the subconscious so you can see what is going on from a safe distance. This means the mind puts up less of a fight to keep things from you because it feels safer.
Meditation is also a great way of relaxing and opening up the subconscious. It encourages the mind to loosen its grip and allows you to move through its many levels unencumbered. It can however take a bit of practice to be able to go deep enough, but finding a meditation teacher or following a guided meditation can make things a little easier.
> “We learn our belief systems as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have gone through the same experience.”
— Louise Hay
Why do we need to address self-limiting beliefs?
Often these self-limiting beliefs are stopping you from reaching your full potential or keeping you from doing something that would be life changing. To be able to keep growing, keep living to our fullest and always expanding our awareness and perspectives, we have to tackle the things that are keeping us in place, which is often these self-limiting beliefs.
Some limiting beliefs are harder to face than others and its ok to put some of them aside if you don’t feel fully ready to tackle them. Like I said at the beginning, these beliefs can sometimes be rooted in trauma, so it’s best to pull at those when you have professional support such as a counsellor or therapist.
For those beliefs that are less sensitive, booking Tarot readings or exploring self-divination can be a great way to start the work. I’m always happy to help guide people through their journey of self-discovery, so if you’d like to work 1:1, fill in my Tarot booking form here.
We all need to take some time for a self-love ritual every now and again, but especially around Valentine’s Day when the feeling of love is well and truly in the air. Whether you’re single or have a partner, Valentine’s Day shouldn’t just be about romantic love, we also need to celebrate the love we have for ourselves, and even more so if we are single!
I wanted to pull together a way you could create a unique self-love ritual that connects with you and makes you feel truly loved and taken care of. Below I’ve made a few lists of tools, fragrances, Tarot decks and spreads and herbs that will all help you to create your own ritual. You just need to pick the ones that speak to you the loudest and at the end, we’ll put everything together to create your self-love ritual.
Why perform a self-love ritual for Valentine’s Day?
According to a Healthline survey, around 26% of those asked said they would feel sad if they were alone on Valentine’s Day and many of us can feel pressure to do something big or even feel the pressure of not doing anything at all. For those that find themselves single on Valentine’s Day, there may be a desire to forget the day even exists, but using this day to celebrate self-love is a great way of taking part in all the excitement without feeling like you’re missing out completely.
> “Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.”
— Maxwell Maltz
We all need a bit more self-love and what better time to carve out some ‘me’ time than a day solely dedicated to love? Spending this time and energy on yourself can have a number of benefits, from increasing self-confidence, boosting self-esteem and easing stress and anxiety. Ideally, we should be doing a self-love ritual every week, or at least every other week. We need to always be celebrating ourselves and showing gratitude for all parts of ourselves.
Below I’ll give you guys a few different tools that you can use to channel that self-love energy. Pick one thing from each category, whichever one calls to you the most, try not to overthink it, just listen to your intuition and go with the flow.
Self-Love Crystals
Perfect for self or romantic love. Gentle energy that allows you to feel that warm and joyous feeling of unconditional love.
In-tune with the heart chakra, Malachite can help keep out any negativity and help with spiritual healing and transformation.
A nurturing and balancing crystal. Great for getting you back on track and to break old habits causing conflict.
Self-Love Tarot & Oracle
Great for some deep and not always comfortable inner work. Taking care of yourself from the inside out using astrology and lunar energy.
A really straight forward oracle deck that gives you easy to follow prompts and affirmations to help you give yourself some self-love and self-care. Great for setting intentions.
For some divine guidance that will not only help you think deeper about your self-care, but also identify new areas to work on for ultimate self-love.
Self-Love Flowers & Herbs
Dried Rose Petals – Perfect for using either in homemade incense blends or sprinkled into your bath. These can also be used in self-love charm bags or bottles. Buy dried rose petals here.
Lavender – Often used for calming and sleep, using lavender can also help you to create a sense of relaxation within yourself and in your own company. It is also often used as a way to attract love to you if you need a bit of a boost of self-love. Buy dried Lavender here.
Bay Leaves – Good for wish fulfilment and can be used to invite specific self-love into your life. I like to write on the leaves themselves the things I want to attract and then burn them, but you can also put them in a small jar or pouch to use as a talisman. Buy dried Bay Leaves here.
Rosemary – a strong herb of protection, you can use Rosemary to protect you either from comments from others that don’t make you feel good (e.g. if your mother won’t stop asking you when you’re getting married or going to give her grandkids) or even negative self-talk. Buy dried Rosemary here.
*You can use fresh plants and herbs, but I like to keep dried ingredients so I can use them time and time again. All links above are Amazon Affiliate links.
Incense for Self-Love
A lightly floral fragrance, Jasmine can help to gently surround you with self-love and guide you into a deeper sense of peace.
Deep and intense, Dragon’s Blood Incense is good for a fiery boost of self-love for those looking for something more radical.
Cleanse any negative thinking about yourself with White Sage incense and release the bad to welcome in more of the good, loving energy.
Candles for Self-Love
Pink – The classic colour of love. A pink candle can help with those tender self-love rituals that gently encourage a sense of self-acceptance and peace with yourself. Buy pink spell candles here.
Red – The colour of passion and fire, this is for radical self-love rituals that have the focus of bringing about realisations around how amazing, beautiful and skilled you are. Buy red spell candles here.
Black – Used to release negative self-talk and feeling. Allow the black candle to absorb the terrible things you tend to think or say about yourself to leave you feeling lighter and more positive. Buy black spell candles here.
Green – To feel a sense of self-growth and nurture any self-love you have already collected for yourself. Green is the colour of fertility and growth so this is a great one for anyone that is looking to ascend into the higher version of themselves. Buy green spell candles here.
The suggested products above are fairly small, so a normal candle holder may be a little too big. If you don’t have a mini candle holder, you can also support the candles using sand or salt in a dish. Or, you can find lots of spell candle holders like this star candle holder or this set of small ceramic candle holders.
*again all links are Amazon Affiliate links
Putting your self-love ritual together
Now we know what tools we’ll be using it’s time to put everything together. Now, this particular blog is aimed at Valentine’s Day, but you can do this self-love ritual whenever you feel the need! Some particularly good times are during a new moon or full moon.
To start, you want to make sure you’ve got a space where you can comfortably sit undisturbed for at least an hour or so. This could be at an altar, in a spare room or even tucked away in a hot bath. There are many ways you can perform a self-love ritual, but here are a few common ways you might want to consider.
Burning rituals – This requires you to burn strips of paper or Bay Leaves on which you’ve written things you want to attract or release. This is good if you’re using this self-love ritual to get rid of negative self-thinking or limiting beliefs. It can also be good at releasing past traumas that have been preventing you from loving yourself completely.
Bath/Shower rituals – Usually used for cleansing, these types of rituals can be a really nourishing way to show self-love. You can add your herbs and flowers to your bath to soak in all their self-loving energy while surrounded by your crystals and burning your candles and incense. This is a more indulgent way of showing self-love.
Charm/ Talisman ritual – A very gentle and relaxing way to perform your self-love ritual. You can simply light your candles and incense and spend 10 minutes meditating on the idea of self-love or even journaling about some of the things you love about yourself. Then take a small drawstring pouch and fill it with your herbs and your crystal as you think about the ways you want to love yourself more. Then carry that with you for supportive loving energy as you go about your day.
No matter what ritual you choose, I always recommend starting it with a 10-minute meditation to get you grounded and focused on the ritual at hand. It can also be really effective to create a short self-love affirmation for yourself that can help anchor you in your ritual’s intention, something like:
I am deserving, I am capable, I am strong, I am loved
Remember that there is no right and wrong way to do a self-love ritual, it is a personal practice that is unique to you. As long as you feel connected and empowered by what you’re doing, you’re doing it right.
Now go forth, grab all the tools you need and have an amazing Valentine’s Day!
How often have you found yourself at war with your inner voice? Often the conflict we have with that inner running dialogue can do more harm than good, but what could happen if we chose to connect with it and take time to understand and empathise with it?
Welcome to The Self-Care Tarot podcast with me Cat Crawford. A podcast that uses Tarot to delve a little deeper into self-exploration, enhance your journaling and aid with spiritual development.
This week’s episode is all about making friends with that inner voice and using the energy of the Two of Swords to better connect with our inner world. We are so often at odds with that inner voice, but amazing and magical things can happen if we only took the time to listen and understand.
Journal prompts:
Spend some time writing down all the things your inner voice says to you about a specific desire, goal or dream. You can do this before or after a meditation session, or even do this throughout the day.
Next, take those things your inner voice has said to you and start to think about why it might be saying those things. What risks is it trying to keep you from, what intentions could it have for presenting you with these thoughts? Really spend some time sitting with each thing and thinking as deeply as possible around the reasoning behind each one.
After you’ve done that work, what could you say to soothe those worries or concerns? Or what facts could you present to your inner voice to debunk false beliefs? Open a two-way dialogue with your inner voice and treat it like a conversation you would have with a third party.
What compromises could you come up with and how would they benefit you moving forwards? What has become of that open dialogue you have with your inner voice? How do you feel about it?
Episode 2 is here and this week we’re exploring how the energy of the Seven of Cups can help us figure out what it is we really want and how we can better focus our energies into the right places.
Welcome to The Self-Care Tarot podcast with me Cat Crawford. A podcast that uses Tarot to delve a little deeper into self-exploration, enhance your journaling and aid with spiritual development.
In this episode, we get acquainted with the Seven of Cups and look at how its lessons and guidance can help us to sift through confusing thoughts and feelings, to discover what it is we really want most.
Journal prompts:
Write down all the things you want to achieve in 2022 and prioritise them, which one instinctively feels like the most important to you and which one would you not be too bothered about achieving by the end of the year?
When you look at your goals and aspirations, are there any key themes or core values that run through all of them? Are they about creating more free time for hobbies? Finding new ways to express creativity? Find space to take better care of your mental wellbeing? What are your ‘why’s’?
What are the most important things to you? Really think about the things in life you value the most and what you couldn’t live without. Are there any of your goals that would conflict with those things?
Welcome to the very first episode of The Self-Care Tarot podcast! We’re kicking off season 1 with the powerful energy of The Fool, so grab a cuppa, your deck and a journal and let’s get stuck in.
Welcome to The Self-Care Tarot podcast with me Cat Crawford. A podcast that uses Tarot to delve a little deeper into self-exploration, enhance your journaling and aid with spiritual development.
In this episode we start our journey with The Fool, leaping off our safe and secure foundations to try and reach that next level. We work with The Fool to help us identify our own false sense of security and explore how we can take risks, jump into the unknown and achieve the impossible.
Journal prompts for this episode:
If you said yes to this new opportunity, what is the worst that could happen and what are the best things that could happen?
If you took this risk, what dangers would you come up against and how could you navigate them? What solutions could come up with in advance?
When have you taken a risk that has not panned out the way you thought and what happened after? Did you realise anything? Did you learn anything? Did it set you on a whole new path you would’ve never even considered before?
It’s finally here, The Self-Care Tarot podcast has launched and we’re in the swing of season 1. It’s been such a long time coming with most of that time being just me procrastinating from actually sitting down and recording!
I wanted to create a Tarot podcast that was practical but also thought-provoking, using the cards to spark ideas and conversation pieces that allow you to think a little deeper and explore the darker internal realms of yourself. Sometimes all we need is a nudge in the right direction to finally be able to see what we’ve been missing and I really wanted to use this podcast to do just that.
The Self-Care Tarot podcast uses the tarot in the same way I use it in my own personal practice, through Tarot journaling and deep exploration. In each episode, we use the invitations of the cards to address a specific topic and assess our own thoughts and feelings around that topic. The Tarot card becomes our guide, holding our hand through the whole episode and giving us that emotional and spiritual support we need to face the things that are often hard to face,
Starting at the beginning
Episode 1 starts us off right from the beginning of the major arcana, The Fool. It just felt right starting our journey together with The Fool, as creating and launching my very own podcast was my own Fool journey and so it felt very relevant to me personally as well as in the context of a shiny new year.
Don’t be fooled though (pun very much intended) we don’t follow the Tarot linearly because life isn’t always linear and straightforward. Each week we look at a different card and at the end of each episode I throw out some journal prompts that you can use to do your own work with the cards.
Tarot for Self-Care
One of my biggest obstacles as a Tarot reader is being really clear about how I use Tarot and how I use it to help my clients. All modern day Tarot readers are having to battle against outdated stereotypes of what the Tarot is and what it does, so this podcast was a clear way of me shouting out to the world ‘hey world, here’s an awesome and deeply nourishing way you can take better care of your emotional and spiritual selves!’ which makes me very excited to start connecting with other like-minded individuals that see Tarot as more than a gimmick or way to ‘tell the future’, but as a powerful self-care and self-help tool.
I really can’t wait to hear what you guys think of it and the journey it takes you on!
When it comes to setting priorities in our lives, our emotional well-being should be right at the top of the list.
We can often collect emotional anchors that weigh us down and carry them when we no longer have any use for them. When we start to feel heavy, that’s when the Eight of Cups can come in and help us sort through everything and free ourselves from it all.
Leaving behind what no longer serves us sounds like it should be easy, if we have no more use for it then why would it be difficult to let it go? But often, the emotional weight that we are carrying has been built up over a long time. It’s a treasure chest of old trauma, beliefs and defence mechanisms.
Often we don’t even know we are carrying this weight because it’s become such a natural part of our thoughts and behaviours. It’s a part of who we are and we have to identify it before we can start to address it.
The Eight of Cups and starting the cycle of clearance
I think one of the most important things to remember when doing Eight of Cups work in this context is that it is a cycle, it is a slow process that takes time and patience. You can’t just chuck out everything you’ve built up over years and years of existing overnight. There are stages of this work and each stage is as important as the next.
Stage 1 – Identifying and finding clarity
The first stage of this Eight of Cups work is finding out what it is that you’re carrying, what is it that’s weighing you down and keeping you from being able to find inner peace and emotional contentment.
This is arguably the hardest stage, it’s the stage where you have to be brutally honest with yourself and that’s always hard because you have to be self-aware. You have to be able to step out of yourself in order to see things for what they are and not what you want them to be.
It’s important not to rush this stage and show yourself some compassion because it can be painful. You might dig up stuff you’d forgotten about or pushed to your deepest depths. It’s a journey down deeper and deeper and it can be exhausting work, so take your time and be patient with yourself.
> “I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me”
— Unknown
Stage 2 – Acceptance
Once you’ve made those discoveries and know exactly what needs to be released, it’s time to spend some time just letting it sink in. To accept that you’ve been carrying all this for so long and now it’s time to let it all go.
We can often be reluctant to let go of anything, even the bad stuff. Often we’ve kept hold of these things because they make us feel safe, in a familiar environment that we know inside and out. To let go of it is to step into the unknown and put ourselves into the role of the student once again and, especially for adults, that can be a hard thing to accept.
Stage 3 – Strategy for letting go
We’ve identified what we want to walk away from and we’ve accepted that it’s for our own wellbeing, but now we need to figure out how to walk away. There may be habits, behaviours or thought patterns that have been put into place based on those things. It’s often amazing to see just how much of ourselves has been built around these things.
Something that can help is to journal what behaviours you have that can be traced back to the things you’re looking to release. Spend time noting down what these are and then you can start to decide how to start breaking them down.
Some useful tools for this are things like:
Positive affirmations
Thought challenges – where you counter negative thoughts with reasons they aren’t true
Actively stepping out of your comfort zone – trying new hobbies, classes etc.
Mindfulness – particularly being mindful of thoughts, what you say and how you behave both to yourself and to others
> “Knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able to is courage.”
— Unknown
Stage 4 – Finding the courage and walking away
The final stage is finding the courage to take that first step in the right direction. You know what you need to release and you know how you’re going to do it. Now we implement those strategies and start making those changes so we can start to transition into this new chapter of our lives.
Often the thing we have to remind ourselves is that we are doing this because it is what’s best for us. We need to take this step in order to put ourselves first and be able to move into an emotionally healthier place.
It’s not an overnight activity
Sometimes when the Eight of Cups pops up telling us to leave what no longer serves us we can assume that it’s a case of just getting up and walking away from it all, easy. The Eight of Cups though is about creating long term change, not quick fixes. It’s a card we have to really spend time with and work through, not one to just address and then throw away.
To get you started with this Eight of Cups work, here are a few journal prompts to get you going:
What thoughts and behaviours do I have that have a negative impact on my wellbeing?
If I could completely change my life overnight, what things would I want to attract and what would I get rid of?
How do I feel in myself right now? Am I happy? Am I content? If so why, if not why not?
I’m only 31 years old at the time of writing this blog and even I remember a time before our lives were ruled by technology and information was not available to us at the click of a button.
It’s only in the last 20 years, which is a fairly short amount of time, that technology has completely altered our way of life and the lens through which we see the world. Everything is instant now. Next day delivery, instant answers to our questions through Google and an expectation of instant responses from those we contact.
In a lot of ways it has made our lives easier and I’m not bashing technology, my entire career is based on the digital world, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that it has created a society of control freaks. I include myself in this. We have control of so much now, everything is customisable and when that control is taken away or not available to us, we can panic or feel the anxiety building.
Identifying our issues with control
I am someone who needs to be in control of everything, of my time, where my focus is, who gets to contact me, outcomes, you name it I need to control it. It’s only since taking on a more spiritual and witchy way of life that I’ve started to work on this and try my hardest to ease off the gas a little.
However, that need for control is usually a very subconscious problem that can be a little slippery to manage. Often we don’t even realise that it’s bubbling to the surface until we’re huddled in a corner rocking back and forth because our parcel didn’t arrive when the app said it would.
> “The illusion of control makes the helplessness seem more palatable. And when that illusion is taken away, I panic.”
— Allie Brosh – Hyperbole and a Half
This is where we can introduce The Emperor. A card that is filled with divine masculine energy, the need for control and have authority over everything. I notice this card a lot when I work with clients who own their own businesses. They often crumble in the face of the unknown because they have become so used to spinning all the plates at once. They struggle to release some of that control, even if it’s in their own best interest because attached to that need for control is a fear, a fear of everything breaking if they don’t always have their hands on the wheel.
Using The Emperor card to battle our inability to relinquish personal power
It’s a tricky subject ‘control’ because people tend to have different relationships with it based on their own personal experiences. It may be that there is some childhood trauma that is at the root of your need for control, it may be more recent trauma or it could be a learned response.
The need for control, if we use The Emperor correspondences to guide us, is an imbalance of the fire element, a big dollop of fiery Aries energy that is in full control of our actions, thoughts and feelings. More than anything though, our need for control comes from our basic human need for safety. If we are in control, then we can make sure we are safe, that everything is going to plan and nothing scary or unexpected will happen to us.
What The Emperor can do, is help us to find a way to feel safe, but understand and most importantly, accept the things we can and can’t control. He can help us do this by turning our attention to the stable things we have in our life instead of focusing on the things that are crumbling or cracking.
> “May you find the strength of will and the grace of endurance to overcome every challenge.”
— Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
An example of this would be if you’re facing the possibility of being let go from your job, you may automatically think about all the bills you’ll have to pay without an income, your mortgage, how you’ll put food on the table. What The Emperor does is swoop in and act as that voice of reason, that fire we have within us that keeps us alive. He shows us that we need to be more trusting of our own capabilities and trust that if the worst does happen, that scrappy, primal instinct to do whatever needs to be done to keep your head above water will kick in and keep everything afloat.
The Emperor in all of us
The Emperor card represents our basic instinct to stay alive. We all have him inside of us, it’s the same as a gazelle grazing in a field, one crack of a stick behind it and its Emperor instinct kicks in and away it goes. It’s the fight or flight energy and when we have too much Emperor in control, that’s when we can feel anxious and panicked.
What we have to do is learn to work with The Emperor, instead of trying to battle him into submission or simply lying down and allowing him full control. We have to understand why he is appearing, where his motivations are coming from and how we can work in tandem with him. We are using his energy to see that there is no one way to keep ourselves safe, that if one safe haven falls, we have the skills and ability to build or find a new one.
So, let’s see what we can come up with when we allow ourselves to dive into our own Emperor energy. Use these journal prompts to start using The Emperor to address your own control issues and needs, start to discover where they are coming from and how you could start to find a balance again.
What is it that I’m afraid to lose control of?
Why am I afraid of not having full control of these things? Why wouldn’t I feel safe if I didn’t have control of these things?
Are there any situations in my past where I did not have control of a situation and something bad happened? If so, how do you think this experience could be contributing to your current problems.
If you did release control of these things, what is the worst thing that could happen? Are these things realistically or statistically likely to happen?
List all the things that currently make you feel safe and secure. How many of things are in your control and how many rely on third parties or outside sources?
If you did release or lose control of your current situation, what would you do? What plans would you put into place? How would you navigate the situation?
Saturn Return is something I have a very personal connection with, it’s one of the main reasons you’re even reading this blog! To help break down this pivotal time in our lives we’ll be using The Tower card to break down what this time might mean and how we can navigate the challenges it throws our way.
What does ‘Saturn Return’ mean?
All the planets in our solar system travel around the sun at different speeds. For our lovely planet Earth, this is 365 days which gives us our 12-month year, for the moon, it’s 28 days giving us our monthly moon cycle, but for Saturn, this journey takes between 28-30 years.
This means that when you reach the age of 28-30 Saturn will once again be in the same position as it was when you were born and with it comes a whole lot of rediscovery, reflection and if you’re lucky like me, a quarter-life crisis. You may also notice that you go through this cycle again around the ages of 57-60, most commonly known as a mid-life crisis.
> “Saturn Returns usually happen between ages twenty-eight and thirty and fifty-eight and sixty. Those are the ages at which you lose your illusions and mistaken ways of thinking to take great steps forward.”
— Suh Yoon Lee, The Having: The Secret Art of Feeling and Growing Rich
Saturn is the planet of structure and boundaries so when we talk about a Saturn Return, often we’re looking at these areas that have so far been a part of our lives, crumbling or cracking, forcing us to take a look at where we are and take stock of our lives as a whole.
How can The Tower guide us through our Saturn Return?
Although the planet of Saturn is linked with The World in Tarot, our Saturn Return is the epitome of Tower energy. It’s a destructive or at least a no-holds-barred look at everything in our life and our connection to it. We often have that sudden realisation that we’re getting older and that we may not be where we want to be in life, or at least in a place where we feel aligned and truly happy.
For me, this came right bang on time on my 28th birthday and continued right up to my 30th. Just a few days before my 28th I had this bolt of panic hit me, it was literally like The Tower card had come and slapped me in the face. I was only two years away from entering into my 30’s and I was living my life as if I had everything I could want, even though I didn’t feel it.
I had a flat in the centre of Manchester, a job I loved with people I was friends with and that paid me a good wage and in that second, when Saturn broke down the door with its bags packed ready for a two-year visit, I realised that it wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I was happy with it, but it didn’t feel like the conclusion, it felt like a pit stop and I needed to decide what journey was next.
So, I called up BUNAC, the work abroad people, and booked a year of travelling and working in New Zealand. This was my tower moment when I decided that the structure around me was already crumbling, already shaking on cracked foundations and I needed to face the reality that it wasn’t going to last much longer. I needed to reset everything and build something new for myself.
Rummaging through the rubble
The Tower and consequently Saturn Return, always leave behind a big pile of rubble, the remnants of our own lives that we then have to sort through. We throw out the bricks that no longer feel like they’re a part of our future structure and we keep the bricks that still feel aligned.
I went to New Zealand with an idea of what my life should look like in this new phase and I came back with a completely different view of the future. I collected new bricks on my journey and threw away others that looked like they should fit but I knew deep down that they wouldn’t. It was a bit like going for a lovely stroll along the beach, picking up pebbles and shells that look appealing on the surface but the more you look at them the less they feel like yours.
> “It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.”
— Adrienne Rich, Poet and Feminist
As I inched closer and closer to my 30th birthday and the end of the road for my New Zealand adventure, I decided to start The Self-Care Emporium and become a freelance marketing consultant once I returned back to the UK. I’d always had the gut feeling that I should work for myself and this Tower period of my life had cleared the way for that to happen and pretty much forced my hand in the situation. I had no structure to go back home to, so I could build whatever I wanted with these new materials I’d picked up on my journey.
Navigating Saturn Return with The Tower
I want to stress, my story isn’t always the way it goes, I was lucky and very privileged to have the means and position in order to navigate my own Saturn Return in the way I did. It’s important to know that a Saturn Return, even though mine sound very exciting, can be a very rough period and it’s ok to struggle through it and not feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I went to New Zealand and met loads of amazing people and did amazing things, but I wasn’t settled. My depression and anxiety were high and I ended up ending my journey sooner than I had originally planned. Saturn Returns are hard and uncomfortable. They challenge you and everything you think you know, but we can use the wisdom of The Tower card to help us better understand and weather this storm. We can learn that some structures are just not meant to last for our entire lives and that’s ok. That even if everything does come crumbling down in a traumatic crashing of dust, that the dust will always settle and we will always be able to rebuild.
With all this in mind, if you’re currently trying to battle your way through your own Saturn Return or if you’re coming up to the age where a quarter-life crisis is looming, then here are a few Tower card Tarot journal prompts to help you find a bit of clarity in all the confusion.
What are the structures you currently have in place and do they feel like they are supporting you right now?
If everything disappeared overnight, what kind of life would you want to rebuild for yourself?
What values, passions, ambitions, do you have that may not be supported by the way your life is currently and how could you make more room for them?
Do a life audit. List all the things that bring you joy and fulfilment currently and all the things that don’t. Explore how much control you have over both, do you have the power to change things? Do you have the authority, or are you giving that power to someone/something else?
List all the things you would do if there were no barriers or hoops to jump through. Then, list what things currently stand in your way from doing those things. Look at these barriers and challenge their authority. Are they barriers implemented by others or by society, or are they self-created?
