Starting time published on Autostraddle.

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I know, I know. I'k not a predictive tarot reader, and neither are many of y'all.

But. There's this whole fascinating school of thought effectually using tarot cards to predict roughly – or precisely – when a thing is going to happen, and today I want to take a look at some of the approaches you can use to practice this.

If y'all're non a predictive reader, don't be too quick to write this stuff off. The suggestions below piece of work not only for predictive work, only also to answer other kinds of 'when' questions, such every bit 'when should I…?' or 'when is a good fourth dimension for…?' Fifty-fifty if you lot're not into using tarot for prediction, you can comprise these ideas into your planning work.

You can mix and match from the suggestions below, none of these are 'rules'. Or you lot can come up with your own methods. Yous do you lot, folks!

Seasons and suits

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The iv suits of tarot may correspond to the four seasons, giving you a very general thought when something is going to/should happen. Y'all could remove all major cards so you're left only with the minors, then shuffle and pick a card. Alternatively, you could utilise this as part of a bigger reading, looking to see which suit features the most heavily in the entire spread. (This applies to most of the techniques listed here.)

Here are the correspondences I work with:

Spring– Swords
Summer– Wands
Autumn– Cups
Wintertime – Pentacles

Annotation that other readers utilize different pairings of suits and seasons. These experience really right to me – the energy of each of these suits fits well with the feeling of each of the seasons. As always, information technology's 100% okay to form your own correspondences, depending on what feels right to you.

You might decide that any carte du jour in this conform could correspond the season. Another approach is to say that information technology is simply the Ace (or some folks say the Page) of that conform.

Days of the calendar week

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Each day of the calendar week is associated with a Greek/Roman god, and thus too a planet. And judge what? Each planet has a corresponding tarot carte!

Mon – Moon – The High Priestess / The Moon
Tuesday – Mars – The Tower
Midweek – Mercury – The Wizard
Th – Jupiter – The Wheel of Fortune
Friday – Venus – The Empress
Sat – Saturn – The World
Sunday – Sun – The Sun

Q. Which solar day should I prepare bated for my tax return?
 A. The World – Saturday (Saturday? Seriously, tarot cards?)

Again, you could pull merely these seven cards from your deck, so pick one at random to find your reply, or you could practice a bigger reading around your question, and wait to encounter if ane of these pops up in an auspicious position.

Visual clues

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Look for symbols and other clues in the carte du jour images to tell you when to act. This has got to be my favourite method, every bit information technology'due south much more interpretive, and less defined. You can go equally simple or as nuanced equally y'all like with this.

Q. When should I write a heartfelt letter of the alphabet to the friend I've fallen out with?
 A. Knight of Stones: When you adjacent see a horse, information technology'due south time to write.
A. The Forest Lovers: When the birch tree has fresh green leaves and calla lilies are in flower.

Counting cards

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I fun practice for figuring out how many days (or weeks, months or years if you like) it volition be until a certain event is to flip cards. Choose a card that represents the event you're request virtually – for example, the Vi of Swords for a journey, the Four of Wands for a party, the Two of Cups for asking someone out, the Belfry for quitting your job.

Shuffle your cards, whilst asking a articulate question: 'How many days should I wait until I inquire for her number?' or 'How many days til she asks me out?' So turn them over i by one until your carte du jour appears! The number of cards you lot've turned over is your answer!

Card numbers

You tin can approach this with a 'how many days/weeks/months…' question like those higher up, but here, instead of counting cards, shuffle and pick one. The number on the card is your answer! Ace is one, Page, Knight, Queen and King are 11-fourteen.

Astrological signs

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Each astrological sign has an associated major arcana tarot carte:

Aries – The Emperor
Taurus – The Hierophant
Gemini – The Lovers
Cancer – The Chariot
Leo – Forcefulness
Virgo – The Hermit
Libra – Justice
Scorpio – Death
Sagittarius – Temperance
Capricorn – The Devil
Aquarius – The Star
Pisces – The Moon

The near obvious answer derived using this question would be 'when the Sun is in the sign of…'. (Here's a quick guide to the dates of each sign.) Y'all could decide that the answer is any time during this stage, or alternatively, the exact engagement (and fifty-fifty time) that the dominicus enters that sign.

You might adopt instead to go by the moon, as in 'when the total moon is in Aries' (which it was last weekend) or 'when the new moon is Sagittarius', again giving you an verbal appointment.

PS: I've taken these correspondences from Amelia Quint's brilliant ebook, #StarsAndCards. It takes y'all through every single tarot carte and it's associated astrological phase, so if you really desire to explore using astrological timings in your tarot practice, this is a really helpful (and complimentary) resource!

I would absolutely love to hear from other folks who apply tarot for prediction, or to determine the best dates for doing things. If y'all're a predictive reader, what methods do y'all prefer? Has anyone out at that place made up their own?

Cards shown are from the Wildwood Tarot. Calendars and diaries are the Globe Pathways Diaries.