tarot spread — Magical Experiments blog

Fall Equinox Tarot Spread - picture copyright Taylor Ellwood

I felt inspired by yesterday’s Tarot draw and decided to come up with a Equinox spread that you can to help you get prepped for the rest of the year, as well as to get some foresight into what’s coming your way in 2027. The picture above is an example of the spread but let me walk you through it.

The Root card is you/the situation going into the equinox.

The 4 cards above represent the last quarter of the year and the outcome that awaits you as you activate and work through the process of transition from summer to fall (or winter to spring)

The 3 cards above give you a glimpse of the next year, just enough to help you see the possible emergent patterns so you can beginning planning for that year.

The final card above is where you are going or what you are maturing into as a result of this transition.

In the example of the spread we have the daughter of cups as the root card, which shows the person in a stage of growth and curiosity.

The Ace of Wands, Two of Cups, Chariot and 4 of Pentacles shows the themes of the next quarter of the year. There is a call to focus, to enjoy the romance, to continue on the journey while working on the foundation.

The three cards above the 4 offer a glimpse of 2027. There is the Judgement card, the Ace of Swords and the Fool. They speak to a simultaneous need for discernment while taking calculated risks and being willing to wander into the unknown.

The Evolution card, what the person is transitioning toward, is the the Father of Cups. This speaks to the possible changes that the person can go through if they approach the transition of the equinox with purpose and apply it to the next few months.

I did this reading for myself, as part of the experiment of developing the spread. With that said the idea behind the spread is that it provides you some specific direction in the near term of the next quarter, and also shows you what could come your way further down the line. If you try it, let me know how it lands with you.

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I recently developed the Desire Alchemy Tarot Spread. This is a tarot spread that you can use to help you identify a desire you have as well as what is blocking that desire from manifesting.

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The picture above shows an example of the spread. I’m going to walk you through how the basics of the spread so you can try it out with your own divination reading.

Center card - Your desire

Card across the center card - What’s blocking your desire.

Card below desire card - the Unconscious motivation for your desire.

Card to the left of the desire - Your hope for the desire.

Card to the right of the desire - Your fear of achieving the desire

Left and right card above desire - The actions you need to take to turn your desire into a result

Outcome card at the top - what the result can be if you take action.

The Divination of Desire

Most of the time people get divination readings because they want to explore the possibilities and opportunities that are available to them or figure out how to respond to a situation.

But sometimes the best read is where you explore what you want, and why you aren’t getting it. I designed this spread to help you do exactly that.

Pick out a desire, something you’ve wanted, but never quite gotten. You’ll do a reading about this desire to find out what’s really stopping you from turning it into a reality.

This spread helps you discover the internal and external blockers that are preventing your desire from manifesting. Once you understand what’s getting in your way, the spread will also show you what actions you need to take to resolve the blocks and create the results.

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Free Guide: Why your Spells Don’t Stick – 5 critical mistakes blocking your magic

You aren’t getting the results you want.

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A practical example of how it works

In the picture above, the Sun card is the Desire.

Lying on top of it is 7 of Wands, a feeling of being overwhelmed and taking on too much, which is obscuring your light.

Below it is the 5 of wands, which is an unconscious motivation of feeling scattered and trying to get multiple projects done.

The card to the left of The Sun is the Wheel of Fortune, which shows the hope that you’ll finally achieve success.

The card to the Right of The Sun is the 5 of Pentacles, which is a fear of being successful and the grief carried around not reach success.

The left and right cards above Desire card show you how to resolve the block. In this case we have the four of Wands on the left, which suggests laying down some of the wands so you can focus on the task at hand. The card on the right is the four of cups and it shows the importance of allowing the grief to come through and be expressed instead of suppressing it. This is how the lessons are learned.

Then we have the outcome card, which is the 7 of pentacles. This shows that your efforts will start producing results if you do do the work of focusing and releasing. Your desire now has a path to become a reality.

This is an example reading I did. You can use this tarot spread to do your own reading around a desire.

If you want to explore desire alchemy further come join Sheena and I in:

Wanting without Shame - Alchemize your desire into Reality

Join us for our next live class on September 19th at 9:30 AM PST

In Wanting without Shame, we work with desire as magical material.

Desire is not just a personal preference.

Desire is orientation.

It is the current beneath intention, ritual, spellcraft, spirit work, creative work, business, visibility, money, pleasure, devotion, and becoming.

In Wanting Without Shame, we invite you to come play so you can:

Clarify the desire underneath your magical intentions, instead of casting from obligation, confusion, or “should.”
Identify the old selves that distort what you think you want: the self other people imagine you to be, the past self still running old spells, the idealized self chasing comparison, and the present self who can actually cast.
Work with shame, shadow, envy, greed, pride, lust, wrath, sloth, and hunger as information instead of contamination.
Use Love and Loathe tracking as magical data for your practice, business, relationships, rituals, offerings, and creative life.
Create Desire Statements that function as magical source code for spellwork, spirit petitions, sigils, business direction, offerings, and life choices.

I want desire without shame

Turn your desires into reality clearly and cleanly.

✨ Ways to Support the Fire ✨

Our hearth grows brighter when you add your spark. Here’s how you can weave your magic with ours:

🔥 Comment & Share — Your questions, stories, and reflections feed the field. Passing our posts along brings new voices and Experimenters into our community.

Every act of attention, energy, and reciprocity keeps this experiment alive. Thank you for tending the fire with us.