Tea & Tarot: Witchtember Reading Number One

For this premier Tea & Tarot reading for Witchtember, I’m using the first deck I really fell in love with: The Vampire Tarot by Nathalie Hertz. I bought this deck just before high school, when my friends and I were obsessed with Anne Rice and Buffy, along with any other sexy gothic tales we could get our hands on. For a Puerto Rican girl who spent nine years in Catholic school, this was a lot more predictable than I believed it to be at the time, but hindsight is everything, right?

Anyway, like most millennials, I’m a bit sentimental about such things, so this is still my go-to deck when I do the Wheel of the Year reading (or as Hertz calls it, the Astrological Wheel) on my birthday and at New Year’s. I keep it wrapped in the same cloth I had it in during my school days (which, funnily enough, happens to be a retired textbook cover). And I bought a small keepsake box for the deck some years back, just to keep it even better preserved (don’t blame the librarian for being a librarian—it’s in my nature!).

I still love the striking artwork, the size and texture of the cards, and the interpretations included in the little guide. It’s a great deck; over the years, it’s helped me through stressful and fast-paced moments in my life. And since NASCENT WITCH is very much about magic helping when times are really tough, I couldn’t think of a better deck to kick off this month’s readings with.

Let’s start the reading and the tea, shall we?

I chose Earl Grey for today. Like my tried and true vampire deck, Earl Grey has some great anti-stress/anti-depressant effects. You can’t go wrong with Twinings, and how could I not pick my Buffy librarian mug to pair with these wonderfully vampiric cards?

I’m doing a simple daily drawing here. This is a great way to check in with yourself in the morning, to prepare for what’s to come in the day ahead and spend some time going over what’s on your mind. I like Hertz’s readings for when I use this deck, so the three cards as she describes them serve from left to right as:

1. You
2. The first half of your day
3. The second half of your day

Nothing too complicated, but again: if you’re feeling stressed or anxious about the day ahead, a reading like this can add a sense of calm through a guided exploration of what’s on your mind and what you’re anticipating might lay in store for you throughout the day. I prefer to use only the Major Arcana for these readings.

The first card I’ve drawn for the reading is Temperance. In this deck, the card indicates a contented, peaceful moment in which relationships and events are all doing relatively well. There is a chance of positive change, perhaps something healing or a transformative experience that will benefit the individual.

In the second position is The Tower. This means the day might start out a bit rough; The Tower offers the extreme and the sudden, sometimes leading towards chaos and destruction, and at other times bringing great uncertainty. Whenever I draw The Tower, I make sure to remember to breathe and assess throughout the day. Just because the situation brings hazard doesn’t mean I have to lean into that. The more chaotic things become, the more important it is to be careful, thoughtful, and deliberate.

Finally, we have the Wheel of Fortune, which leads me to conclude that this will be a day of great change. This is the third card in this three-card reading that possesses a transformative aspect. The Wheel of Fortune does indicate change for the better, but in order to enjoy the benefits and success it promises, it’s important to be open to that change. In accepting that nothing ever stays the same, one can yield the rewards of what exciting new adventures might be on the way.

I hope you’ve enjoyed joining in this reading with me! And I hope that whatever unexpected shifts you might find popping up in your day turn out to be happy surprises that bring something new and good to your life.

There will be more Tea & Tarot to come throughout Witchtember, so stay tuned!
Melissa