Everything You Need to Know About Reiki

If you’re reading this blog post, you’ve probably heard of Reiki. Maybe you’ve received a Reiki session, or love Reiki and are thinking about starting a Reiki certification.

I’m a Reiki Master, and I often find that even people who have received Reiki before don’t really know much about it. In this blog post, I’ll be explaining what Reiki is, the history of Reiki, the benefits of Reiki, what you might experience with Reiki, and how to weave Reiki into your ritual and spellwork practice.

WHAT IS ENERGY?

I’d like to start with energy. Reiki is energy healing and energy is a huge buzzword these days — but what is energy?

Everything is energy. This is something science has proven time and time again. Your table, your body, an orange, a tree, sound — our senses don’t detect the energetic movements of things like oranges and tables because they vibrate slowly and at a low frequency, but they’re still made up of energy.

We are all made up of energy. There is only one tiny basic unit that connects everything and makes up all of us.

WHAT IS REIKI?

Now that you know what energy is, what is Reiki? Reiki is a specific kind of energy work. It’s an energy healing modality that was channeled by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan, which I’ll get into more detail about below.

The word Reiki itself means “Universal Energy.” It’s Universal Energy, spiritual energy, the energy of oneness, that can be channeled from one human being to another to facilitate healing.

Reiki has its own intelligence. You don’t have to be special to give Reiki, which is one of the things I love about it. We all have this energy within us--it simply gets awakened through a process called a Reiki attunement.

Learn more about different types of energy work here.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF REIKI

As I mentioned above, Reiki was channeled by Dr. Mikao Usui. He was born in 1865 in a little village in the mountains of southern Japan into a well-off Buddhist family and was always interested in healing. Later in life, he became a Buddhist monk and lived in a monastery but was still looking for something.

Dr. Usui wanted to find a method of healing that was unattached to any specific religion, accessible to everyone.

So he isolated himself on Mount Kurama fasting, meditating, and praying. After 21 days, he felt an awakening. A vision of light, a feeling of complete peace and oneness, and he saw the ancient symbols that helped him create the Usui Reiki system of healing.

He quickly came down from the mountain and moved back to Tokyo where he established a healing Reiki clinic and school there (around 1922). He wanted to help as many people as possible, so he taught several Reiki Masters, making sure Reiki wouldn’t be forgotten.

Those Reiki Masters trained some other Reiki masters, who further refined the attunement process and the hand positions used. In 1935 one of those Reiki Masters, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, trained a Japanese American woman who originally came to him for healing, Hawayo Takata.

Hawayo Takata is the person who brought Reiki to the US. She returned home and spread the system of healing to others here, attuning 22 Reiki masters before she died.

BENEFITS OF REIKI

Now that you know a bit about what Reiki is and where it comes from, what are the benefits of Reiki?

I have found over and over again that Reiki will give each individual whatever it is they need. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the benefits of Reiki from my experience and from my teachers:

• Relief of physical pain and discomfort

• Release of limiting belief systems

• Release of blocked energy and blocked emotions

• Reconnection to your highest self

• Reach a calmer, meditative state

• Become more present and enjoy your life more

• Open to your own self-healing power

• Feel lighter and more in balance

• Relax and reduce stress

• Calm the ego

• Connect you to who you really are

• Align with your higher calling and purpose

• Enhance your connection to spirit

• Open your intuitive channel

And more!

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT IN A REIKI SESSION?

You’ll typically receive a Reiki session laying down on a massage table, and you’ll always be fully clothed. Your practitioner will use a combination of hands-on gentle touch and hands-off (hovering).

Each individual’s experience of Reiki is unique, and there’s definitely no right or wrong way to experience Reiki. You might see color, words, and/or images. You might get intuitive hits, inspiration, and creative ideas. You might have an emotional release like crying afterwards, or the next day. Or maybe you just feel super relaxed. Maybe you fall asleep.

Personally, I often see color and get creative ideas and intuitive hits. I occasionally see images. I typically reach a calmer, more present, meditative state and deeply feel my connection with Source.

HOW TO WEAVE REIKI INTO YOUR RITUAL AND SPELLWORK PRACTICE

Attuned to Reiki? I love weaving Reiki into my ritual and spellwork practice, and you can do it, too! Here are some of my favorite ways to weave Reiki into my witchcraft:

• Using Reiki to clear and/or charge my magical tools

• Using Reiki in spellwork to charge my spell bag, candle, etc. with my intention

• Using Reiki to open my channel to receive messages from my guides and ancestors

There are so many different ways to work with Reiki once you’re attuned. Get creative and follow your intuition!

EXPLORE REIKI FURTHER

Want to learn more about Reiki? Two of my favorite books are The Art of Psychic Reiki by Lisa Campion and This Is Reiki by Frank Arjava Petter.

If you’ve received Reiki before and are thinking about learning Reiki for yourself, check out this article to help you choose a Reiki 1 training that’s a fit for you.

Your Spiritual Tool Box for Stress & Anxiety

Whether you’re in full-on crisis mode or wading through a stressful season of life, knowing which direction to turn for relief can feel overwhelming. A quick fix like reaching for a glass of wine or a shopping splurge might help now and then, but it’s not a long-term solution. What tools can you rely on to help keep your cool when things seem to be falling apart around you?

As a new mom to twins and a business owner, stress and anxiety have become part of my norm. Over the last year, I’ve had to put my spiritual tools to work like never before. I believe we all come to the Earth plane with an assortment of battles to accept and overcome to help our souls progress. We’re all fighting battles. The important part is how you walk through it.

Crisis often brings people to spirituality. I’m frequently asked, “ XYZ horrible thing has happened. Where do I begin?” Here are my top go-to tools that I turn to when life feels out of control.

1. Meditation & Mindfulness

Sit. Be still. Heal. When most people reach out to me asking how to ease stress and anxiety through their spiritual practice, they want a crystal suggestion to make everything OK. Sometimes, a crystal just won’t cut it and work better as an ancillary tool.

Meditation and mindfulness are at the top of my list because if you’re practicing them regularly, even five minutes a day, the rest of these tools will come easier.

Sitting in silence may feel incredibly uncomfortable, initially, if you’re going through a stressful season of life. If you haven’t given yourself a moment to process anything that’s happening in your life, of course, your mind is going to be running a mile a minute the moment you sit down.

During stressful times, I find it helpful to look at meditation as more of a time process and purge. Let all of the stuff that’s been running around in your mind run free. Permitting your thoughts to race around will allow you to process things you’ll otherwise keep cycling through over and over.

Once you’ve allowed your mind some time to run free with your worries, you might find a guided meditation helpful. I love all of the guided meditations from Meditation Oasis, and they have a wonderful selection of free meditations, including several specifically for stress and anxiety. You can also check out my Energy Reset Meditations Bundle and other guided meditations here.

Try meditating or sitting in silence for five to ten minutes a day for a week and see how you feel — having a hard time sticking to your meditation practice? Check out this blog post for ways to stick to it.

2. Body Awareness 

Your miraculous body does so much for you during times of stress! Taking time to become aware of your body offers the opportunity to tune into something other than your worries and can give your body a needed release. We store stress and anxiety all over our bodies but often don’t even notice it because we become so used to it. Try this body awareness exercise a few times a week if you’re in the midst of a stressful time.

To become more aware of your body sit or lie down and name each part of your body. Start at your toes and work your way up to the top of your head. You can do this by saying something like “I feel my left big toe” or “I breathe into my right thigh” etc. for each body part. Take a breath for each body part you go over and spend extra time on any parts that feel extra tense. You can make this activity as long or as short as you need. If your time is limited, try doing this activity in the shower or at a stoplight. Even little moments of body awareness can help.

Mudras are another great tool your body offers. Learn more about using mudras during times of stress here.

3. Breathwork

When we’re stuck in worry and fear, our breath often stays high in our chest. Short chest breaths signal to our body that there’s danger nearby. Directing your breath deep into your belly can help break the anxiety cycle and send messages to your body that it’s OK to relax. It also can take a little bit more focus to remember to breathe from your belly, which can give your mind a break too.

Deep belly breaths are a given if you’re meditating or practicing body awareness but can be an invaluable tool when you’re on the run. Running late and stuck in traffic? Have a screaming child in your arms? Whatever your stressor and wherever you’re at your breath is available to you. The hardest part about this tool is remembering that it’s available. You can learn more about breathwork here.

Remember how I said that meditation and mindfulness would help with all of the other tools? If you’re meditating regularly, even five minutes a day, the thought to take deep belly breaths may come to you more readily than if you’re not meditating.

4. Accept the imperfectness 

During times of stress and anxiety, it can be helpful, and sometimes necessary, to shift our expectations of ourselves. We so often compound our anxiety by placing pressure on ourselves to continue to perform at a near-perfect level even if we’re going through a stressful time. Warning, this one can feel the hardest because it often involves letting others see you in a vulnerable state.

Take an honest look at your week, what can you let go of to help you through this challenging time? Can you let go of cooking a few times and eat out? Can you call a friend or family member to ask for help with something you usually do for yourself? Can you take some time off from work to reset?Whether you choose to let some things go or are forced to, accept yourself and your life where it is in the moment, even if it doesn’t look the way you want it to right now. Accepting yourself where you’re at will let you off the hook from unnecessary self-imposed stress.

Working with a mantra can be helpful when working on acceptance. Find a list of mantras and learn more about using them here.

5. Crystals 

Even though crystals may not be a cure-all for working through stress and anxiety, they can still serve a purpose. I like to think of crystals as a physical reminder of the tools I do have during stressful times.

Grounding stones like jasper, obsidian, onyx and smoky quartz are great candidates when it comes to keeping calm during times of stress. Beyond the grounding energy these stones offer, keeping them nearby can remind you throughout your day that you do have tools to help you through times of stress.

For more tips to help you get grounded, check out this blog post all about the root chakra.

I hope these tips make you feel more supported and offer some relief if you’re facing a hard season of life. Know that it will pass and that The Universe wants nothing but the best for you. Your soul is here to learn and grow!

5 Steps to Access the Akashic Field

Accessing the Akashic field, often referred to as “Akashic records,” can come off as an elite and secretive practice. Maybe you’ve read or heard that you need a specific prayer or guide to access the information held within the Akashic field. Prayer and guides may indeed help, but they’re simply not necessary. Again, I’m not knocking these tools, but I don’t want you to cut yourself off from a spiritual experience because you’ve been told you need something special to access this field of energy.If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Akashic field,” it’s the same thing as the Akashic records.

If you’re unfamiliar with both terms or want to learn more about why some prefer the term “field” click here to read a previous post.

Here are my five suggestions for accessing the Akashic field.

Access the Akashic field in 5 steps

These steps are intended to be an ongoing practice. You can practice them all before sitting down to access the Akashic field or do them separately spread out over days. Each step will help you gain access to the Akashic field regardless of when they’re performed.

Raise your vibrational frequency

You’ve probably seen this term used in memes and on t-shirts more than anything else but it’s an important step when trying to access anything in the spirit realm. A slow vibration is closely linked to the physical realm, whereas a higher vibration is linked to spirit. Raising your vibration means you’re operating from a place of love and gratitude which is going to make this work come more naturally. Learn more about raising your vibrational frequency in this guest post from Reiki master, Deborah Arconti.

There are a variety of ways to raise your vibration including meditation, pranayama, some forms of yoga, prayer, mantra work, and creative activities. Keep reading, step two is a powerful tool for raising your vibrational frequency too.

Focus on your crown and soul star chakras

Your soul star chakra, located above the crown chakra, is the gateway to the Akashic field and where many believe your “records” are stored. Your crown chakra, a ball of energy located at the top of your head, must be healthy to access your soul star chakra. Focusing on your crown and soul star chakra are also powerful tools for raising your vibrational frequency. Win, win! Learn more about the crown chakra here and the soul star chakra here. These articles share tips to help you energize both of these chakras. If you feel that your crown chakra is strong and healthy skip ahead to the post about the soul star chakra.

Ask

An overlooked tool in any new practice is to ask for what you want. If you’ve practiced a soul star chakra meditation and are feeling in tune with spirit, the next step is to ask clearly what you’d like to experience from the Akashic field. Here are some suggestions.

• What lessons am I here to learn?

• Who was I in my most recent past life?

• What lessons did I learn from my most recent past life?

• What are some traumas I experienced in past lives? (Please, be cautious when asking to experience past life traumas. I recommend experiencing past life traumas with a professional in past life regressions. However, if you feel that this is something you are prepared to handle or need to process, it can be a powerful healing too.)

• How can I live this life to my highest potential?

• Where are some places I’ve lived in past lives?

• What people in my life have I interacted within past lives?

• Is __________ the best choice for me in this life?

Trust

You raised your frequency with a meditation, asked to experience a past life, felt a sensation that you were near an ocean, but it didn’t seem like a strong enough sensation so you completely wrote it off. Sound familiar?

In the beginning, it can be easy to question or completely negate your spiritual experiences. Doing deep spiritual work like this is not something that’s often brought up at dinner while growing up. Your natural instinct might be to dismiss your sensations! Maybe you’ve lived two or three decades of being told that the spirit realm doesn’t exist, or that it’s bad to try to access it. If this isn’t your story, that’s great! Trusting your experiences may come naturally to you. Otherwise, be nice to yourself and if you get a sensation, even a faint one, trust it 100%.

Practice

If you don’t feel like much happened the first time you tried accessing the Akashic field, keep at it. The more time you spend raising your vibration and getting comfortable with the sensations you receive from doing this kind of work (which will be experienced differently by everyone) the easier it will be and the more information you’ll receive.

Just like there’s more than one way to meditate, there’s more than one way to access the Akashic field. I encourage you to try these five steps, but if they don’t work for you it doesn’t mean you’re unable to access the Akashic field, you might need to try a different approach and that’s OK.

The Akashic Field

If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance that you’ve accessed the Akashic field already and didn’t even realize it. Read through the questions below to see if you have.

• Have you ever been somewhere for the first time and had a sense that you’ve been there before?

• Have you ever given a talk or presentation and felt like the words flowed through you from outside of yourself?

• Have you ever had a hunch about something that later came true?

• Have you lost your sense of self and time while working on a creative project?

• Have you had dreams or visions about yourself in a different life?

• Have you ever felt destined for a specific career or life path?

• Have you ever known the answer to something without knowing where the information came from?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ve likely accessed the Akashic field. Keep reading to learn what this field is and why you might want to access it more often!Card featured from The Ritual Deck.

Card featured from The Ritual Deck.

What is The Akashic Field

You may have heard the term “Akashic Records” and have an image in your mind of a big bright library with angels and spirits buzzing around. The true meaning of Akasha is bigger than anything our human minds can truly comprehend, including a sparkling library.

Akasha is a Sanskrit word that translates to ether. I know, you’re probably thinking, “great, what the heck is ether?”. Ether, or Akasha, encompasses all things and thoughts; past, present, and all future probabilities. It’s where the universe was born and where it resides still. I like to think of Akasha as the brain of the Universe or God.

Everything about your current life, past lives, and future life probabilities are stored in the Akashic field. Something as all-inclusive as this is difficult for our human brains to understand and that is why the term “records” is often used. I feel that the name “Akashic field” is more accurate because it is not something outside of us that we go and visit, it is something all around us and inside of us that we can tune into.

If you prefer the term Akashic records, that’s ok! I only explain the differences so you can have a more complete understanding of the Akashic field without limiting its scope.

Let’s recap. Here’s a short list of what the Akashic field is:

• Where every thought that was ever thought, word that was ever spoken, and action that was ever taken is stored.

• Information on past lives, present lives, and all future probabilities are stored.

• A frequency or vibration that can be tuned into to access.

• Accessible to anyone

Why Access The Akashic Field?

Ever feel paralyzed by not knowing how to move forward in your life? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you were on the right path? Accessing the Akashic field can give you a sense of peace and inner knowing that you’re on a path that is in alignment with your highest potential.As I said before, the Akashic field has all future probabilities, not all future answers. That’s because you have full autonomy over your life. You always have options, and there is no “wrong” answer, just different learning experiences.For example, if you’re deciding between living a life of eating Hot Pockets on your couch and watching Netflix 24/7 or pursuing your passion for becoming a nurse (with occasional Hot Pockets and Netflixing), you’ll likely gain more from the latter. Not to say that the Hot Pocket and Netflix situation wouldn’t be a learning experience, but, you’ll probably be happier, and undoubtedly be of service in a more fulfilling way as a nurse. By accessing the field, you could have an inner knowing that being a nurse would give you a more fulfilling life. This is a pretty extreme example, but I think you get the idea!Here’s a list of other reasons why you might like to access the Akashic field.

• Learn from past life experiences.

• Heal traumas from past life experiences that may be affecting you during this life.

• Move through the world with more confidence and less doubt.

• Understand what you’re here to learn or overcome.

• Live life to your fullest potential.

• Strengthen your intuition.

• Connect with your higher self.

• Feel more connected to other humans.

This information is accessible to anyone, and it doesn’t require a special prayer or chant to do so. You can find more about how to access the Akashic Field here.

Using the Cardinal Directions in Ritual

The cardinal directions, North, South, East, and West, can help you with more than navigation. Each direction holds a meaning of its own and corresponds to one of the four elements. There are both simple and complex ways of using the cardinal directions in ritual.

A variety of cultures honor the cardinal directions. This article is looking at them from a Pagan and Wiccan perspective. The four directions are often used by Native Americans on the medicine wheel. Neither way is wrong or right, just different, and for different purposes.

Read on for meanings and three ways to start using the cardinal directions in your magickal practices.

Connection to the Four Elements

Each direction corresponds to one of the four elements; understanding these connections can help you better understand the energy of each direction.

• North corresponds to Earth

• East corresponds to Air

• South corresponds to Fire

• West corresponds to Water

A quick note about these correspondences. The elemental correspondences can vary depending on your location, cultural background, or intuition. Catherine Beyer explains this in her article The Five Element Symbols of Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit.

The Golden Dawn originated in England, and the directional/elemental correspondences reflect a European perspective. To the south are the warmer climates, and thus is associated with fire. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west. The north is cold and formidable, a land of the earth but sometimes not a lot else.

If these correspondences don’t feel right to you, that’s ok! For example, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you may find that the correspondences feel off. You can reassign the elements in a way that feels natural to you or is in better alignment with your cultural background.

Direction meanings

Here’s a more in-depth look at some meanings and correspondences of each direction.

North

• Physical body

• Health

• Chakra: Root

• Element: Earth

• Color: Green

East

• New beginnings

• Change

• Transmission of information

• Chakra: Third Eye and Throat

• Element: Air

• Color: Yellow

South

• Hardships

• Challenges

• Willpower

• Chakra: Solar Plexus

• Element: Fire

• Color: Red

West

• Emotions

• Endings

• Self-worth

• Chakra: Heart and Sacral

• Element: Water

• Color: Blue

Three ways to use the cardinal directions in ritual

1. Add a layer of meaning to your ritual

The easiest way to start implementing the cardinal directions into your magickal practice is by facing the direction that makes the most sense for what you’re doing. This idea can be applied to oracle and tarot card readings, candle magick, ritual, spellwork, meditation, or working with the moon.

Here are a few examples:

• Face North if you’re doing a meditation focused on your health.

• Face East if you’re performing a card reading for the new moon because the new moon represents new beginnings.

• Face South if you’re asking your guides about how to overcome a problem.

• Face West if you’re doing a ritual to help you let go of something.

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2. Calling the quarters for protection

The next time you’re practicing a ritual or psychic work start by calling on the four directions, this is also referred to as “calling the quarters.” Calling the quarters will bring you protection and the energy of all of the elements during your practice. It’s also said to create a sacred space that is connected to the spirit realm.

There’s more than one way to call the quarters. A quick google search will offer you a variety of options, but here’s one way:

Imagine each direction as a wind that you’re invoking into your space. You can even imagine a specific Goddess or God for each direction. As you call in each direction, stand facing the direction you’re calling in and ask it to join you for your ritual practice. Many like to start by calling in the North winds first because it will keep your ritual grounded. Rotate in a circle, going through each direction, asking it to join you. When you’re done performing your ritual work, release the winds, and thank them for their assistance and protection.

3. Altar placement

Whether you’re creating a new altar or updating your current altar, the direction it’s facing will have an effect on it. Try to place your altar in a direction that matches the season of life you’re in or want to be in.

Has your altar or sacred space been in the same location for a long time? It might be a time to rearrange and face your altar in a direction that’s in better alignment with your life. Check the meanings for the directions above and note which one feels like where you’re at or want to be right now.

What Are Tarot Birth Cards + How To Find Yours

Tarot birth cards, also called soul cards, are cards based on the numerology of your birthday that can give you more information about who you are.

Birth cards can give you more information about your identity, your inner world, and your journey in this lifetime including your potential, key themes, strengths, and struggles.

Keep reading to learn how to calculate your cards and discover their meanings!

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BIRTH CARD(S)

As with most things in tarot, there is no hard and fast rule on calculating birth cards. There are a couple of methods, and here I’m going to share the method that I use personally and have found the most powerful!

1. Write out your birthday numerically. For example, if your birthday is October 19th, 1994, the digits you’ll be working with are 10-19-1994.

2. Add up each individual number in your birthday. Keeping with the example above, that means I’m adding 1 + 0 + 1 + 9 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 4 to get 34.

3. Add up any remaining digits if they are greater than 22. Since I got 34 in the step above, that means I’ll now add 3 + 4 to get 7. So the number of your birth card is 7!

If you received a number greater than 22 in step 2, like in this example, then that’s it! But if you received a number equal to 22 or less, then you’ll actually have two birth cards.

Say the number you received in step 2 was 18. The number of your first birth card will be 18, and the number of your second birth card will be 1 + 8 = 9. So you have 2 numbers to work with!

Mary K. Greer is a prominent tarot teacher who has a specific method with birth cards. In her practice, the number 18 will identify your personality card, what you are here in this lifetime to learn. The number 9 will identify your soul card, which shows your purpose across multiple lifetimes.

4. Look up the major arcana tarot card that corresponds to your number(s). I’ve made it easy for you! Keep scrolling to learn what card is associated with each number and what it means.

WHAT YOUR BIRTH CARD MEANS

1: THE MAGICIAN

The Magician, the first card of the major arcana, is a path of manifestation. You may have a lot of ideas, and you’re learning in this lifetime how to channel them, pull them down, and make them manifest in this physical reality.

2: THE HIGH PRIESTESS

In this lifetime, you are learning to embody your lunar nature. You may have a naturally strong intuition and psychic abilities, or this may be something you work to cultivate throughout your life. Working on your psychic development as well as connecting to and honoring your intuition is important for your life path.

3: THE EMPRESS

The Empress as a birth card is an invitation to connect with your creative energy and your Venusian nature. This card is about magnetizing and attracting to you, rather than pushing or forcing. It invites you to nurture yourself and to learn how to receive in this lifetime.It can also indicate a need to explore your relationship with your mother or heal something in your matrilineal line.

4: THE EMPEROR

The Emperor is an invitation to take up space. Throughout your life, you will need to work with the theme of owning your right to take up space, to expand, to be an authority, and to build what you desire without apology.

5: THE HIEROPHANT

The Hierophant teaches us how to be a channel for the wisdom of the Universe, of our guides, of the angels and other cosmic beings. In the Hierophant, we learn to channel truth and to share it with others without overly attaching to outcomes, getting stuck in our ego, or recreating harmful systems of power and authority. Throughout your life, this is a lesson you are learning and an energy you are stepping into.

6: THE LOVERS

With the Lovers as your birth card, you will be learning how to honor and unite duality within you. Throughout your life, you learn how to accept and love all the different, sometimes conflicting, parts of yourself. Evolving through your relationship with others is another big theme of this card, inviting you to allow your relationships (platonic, romantic, business, family, etc.) to trigger you, open you, and evolve you for deeper healing.

7: THE CHARIOT

The Chariot brings an energy of fierce will and determination. But it’s also the number 7 and is ruled by Cancer, adding a more watery flavor and indicating a deeply spiritual path. With the Chariot as your birth card, you’re learning to explore sacred action, action as a spiritual practice, and to trust in the power of your will to bring you where you want to be.

There’s this idea of success and victory with this card as well, indicating that you’ll need to continually redefine over your life what success means to you and what you’re actually moving towards. Is it based on your ego? Or is it truly based on your soul’s mission and purpose?

8: STRENGTH

Strength as your birth card means that you are learning about your relationship to your own power in this lifetime. Strength invites us into a deep knowing of our own power, but it’s a soft, subtle power - not one that dominates, that harms, or is in your face.

It’s a more lunar sense of power, a deep trust in your power that allows you to surrender, to open, to be vulnerable, and to trust yourself and the universe. Stepping into this energy and this sense of power is an important theme on your life’s path.

9: THE HERMIT

The Hermit teaches us how to integrate our own knowing. The Hermit isn’t looking for teachers or knowledge outside of themselves, they know they have a path where deep internal seeking is required.

This isn’t about having a lonely life, it’s about knowing that your evolution comes when you allow yourself the time alone to go inside of yourself, to close off from the external, to integrate and process whatever has come up for you.

10: THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

The Wheel of Fortune as a birth card indicates that in this lifetime, you are learning the balance between action and surrender. You’re learning to trust the balance of fate and free will, of control and trust. Major changes may tend to be a pattern for you, but know that they’re always in your highest and best good.

11: JUSTICE

Justice as a birth card is all about truth. You are learning to believe not what you wish was true but what is actually true - a difficult and powerful lesson. Justice holds a sword to cut away that which is not true - inviting us to look at the truth of who we are, the truth of who others are, and the truth of injustice in our personal lives and in the greater systems that overlay it all.

In the more literal sense, your life might be involved with law, contracts, and partnerships in some way.

12: THE HANGED ONE

The Hanged One is an invitation to step into a new perspective and to get comfortable with discomfort. You are learning how to surrender to what is, to be in the liminal space between where you’ve been and where you desire to be, and to sit with uncomfortable situations, emotions, and thoughts without judgement.

13: DEATH

Death, ruled by Scorpio, is a path of transformation. Your life is about death and rebirth, about shedding the snakeskin of the ego, continuously evolving into the most soul-centered version of you.

14: TEMPERANCE

Temperance is a path of alchemy and magic. Temperance teaches us how to alchemize our pain, our trauma, our shadow into our greatest gifts, into our purpose, into our unique magic. This is what you are learning in this lifetime with Temperance as your birth card.

15: THE DEVIL

The Devil teaches us how to see, claim, and love all the darkness within us. When we see, claim, and love all of our shame, our fear, and our shadow, it becomes a source of our power. With the Devil as your birth card, your invitation is to get deeply acquainted with your shadow rather than letting it run as unconscious programming, controlling your life.

16: THE TOWER

The Tower is a path of cleansing and burning down old structures- internally and externally. The burning down of internal structures can look like: deprogramming unhealthy ways of talking to the self, releasing old emotional patterns like codependence or manipulation, or finally releasing self-hatred and loving yourself. The burning down of external structures can look like moving homes or cities, fighting for restorative justice, ending unhealthy relationships, changing jobs, etc.This is an energy you are moving through throughout your life.

17: THE STAR

The Star, ruled by Aquarius, is a healing path. The Star is an invitation for deep personal healing of core wounds and traumas (from this lifetime and past lifetimes) that has a ripple effect into the collective, into your ancestral line, into your descendants.

With the Aquarius ruling of the card, your path could also involve humanitarian work and efforts, helping facilitate healing for humanity.

18: THE MOON

The Moon is a path of re-wilding. With this birth card, you are learning to tap into and connect to your wild, primal nature - who you were before the world told you who and how to be. Connecting with your wildness is a sacred path of connecting with yourself, your needs, and your desires - and being brave enough to claim and step into them.

19: THE SUN

The Sun is a path of being seen. With this card as your birth card, throughout your life you are learning how to allow yourself to be seen - not as you have been, or think you should be, or wish you were - but how you actually are in each and every moment.

Bringing all the parts of you - even the parts of yourself you don’t love yet - into the light to be honored and witnessed is how you release shame and step into your fullest potential.

20: JUDGEMENT

Judgement, ruled by Pluto, is a path of breakthroughs around judgement and criticism. You are learning that every judgement we have for someone else is just a mirror of what we don’t love within us. With this card, you’re learning to release judgement and criticism towards yourself first and foremost, and all beings everywhere.

21: THE WORLD

The World is a path of endless potential, of closing karmic loops. With the World as your birth card, there is the potential to end painful cycles that may have gone on through generations in your ancestry or through many past lives by doing your own healing work.

22: THE FOOL

Technically, the Fool card is actually 0. But in this practice, you can use the number 22 to identify the Fool card. With the Fool as your birth card, you are learning to release the ego mindset of “I know” or “I should” and step into a curious mindset or “what if?” Or “I could.”The Fool is the embodiment of a seeker, willing to take leaps into the unknown, trusting that they are fully guided and supported.

The meaning of your birth card will likely evolve over your lifetime. At certain points in your journey, you may relate to the card in different ways or feel into a different aspect of it. That’s great! Like life, each tarot card is complex and multifaceted.

You can start to get to know your birth card on a deeper level by meditating on it, journaling with it, putting it on your altar, and working with embodying it.

Interested in learning more about birth cards? I recommend getting Mary K. Greer’s famous workbook Tarot For Yourself and diving in!