Tarot Spells

by Janina Renee

Most people think that Tarot cards are only for doing readings. Some know they can also be used as focal points in meditation. But those in the know have the secret--some incredibly powerful magic can be performed easily with the help of the Tarot. Now you can discover those secrets and use them to improve your life with Tarot Spells by Janina Renee!

Techniques of using the Tarot cards for magic are fully explained in this book. Also covered are preparations and additions, such as how to add candles, gemstones, colors and crystals to enhance your spell.

But mostly this book is about using the cards of the Tarot to cast spells that will change your life. You'll be able to cast spells to ease stress and increase psychic ability. You'll get a spell to encourage your debtors to finally pay you, and a spell to tap your unconscious mind for knowledge.

There are spells for healing and job hunting, for finding a home and to get more friends. There are spells to bring peace between you and other family members. You'll find spells for business, for success in competition and for courage. The list of spells just goes on and on!

If you have been using the Tarot, here is a chance to increase your knowledge of the power of the cards. The book is illustrated with beautiful designs from the Robin Wood Tarot, but you can use the spells with any Tarot deck. If you want to make changes in your life, here is a way to work magic with no tools other than your Tarot deck. For ease and power, you will want to work with the secrets revealed in this book.

Genres: Tarot, Wicca, Nonfiction, Divination, Occult, Spirituality, New Age

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference for spells with tarot cards.

[Sec · Rating 1 out of 5]

Originally, I wrote this review missing some details about the author, so I decided to rewrite it for the sake of everyone involved. Much of what I had issue with in this book in terms of the ableism was directly related to the author pushing neurotypical items as well as a potentially worrying comment that the author was trying to 'correct' neuroatypical people. In the 'about the author' section it says, “... Janina is currently experimenting with the application of folk magic techniques to problems related to autistic spectrum disorders and other learning disabilities.” Which to me read that the author was trying to 'fix' or 'cure' what the author viewed as problems in these areas by using folk magic, rather than attempting to make folk magic more accessible to those who are neuroatypical.

However, I've since been given an article which expresses that the author has since changed her understanding of how these items manifest, and she is attempting to make folk magic more accessible to those who are not normally targeted in spellbooks such as this one. The article is here: http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/arti... The author admitted that she was not aware of these things when she wrote this book, but she is attempting in her other books to make it more accessible.

I may have been harsh towards that author unjustly during some of my reviews of her material but that was with the assumption that the author had not changed her views or had not understood the problems with her views. So, when I review the ableistic comments or the problems in pushing certain techniques that are inaccessible for certain people, I will be addressing them with the understanding that the author has changed.

The Good

With that introduction, allow me to start with what I think are good points for this book. Mainly the biggest one that I must really appreciate here is that the author explicitly says that it's perfectly fine to adjust, adapt, or otherwise make changes to the spells published in the book. That's one thing that is not really discussed in a lot of spellbooks or if it is discussed, it's discouraged. This discouragement or this lack of talking about the adjustments that people make to things is really problematic in a lot of ways. So it's nice to see that an author is opening themselves up to allowing change to happen without making the reader guess whether or not that's okay.

The other thing that's really good is that the author is not attempting to teach the Tarot while simultaneously trying to teach how to perform spells with them, “You don't need any previous knowledge of the Tarot or ability with Tarot divination to work the spells provided in this book. Just go through your deck until you find the cards that the individual spells require, and then arrange them as the layouts indicate.” (p. 1) This makes this spellbook much more accessible in general to a wider audience than just people who work with the Tarot or use the Tarot to divine with.

Likewise I appreciate the concepts attempted to be discussed here, as something interesting. There's something to be said about taking a common Tarot divination mechanism – specifically card spreads or card layouts – and applying them to spellwork. However, I have some negative views on this as well, which I will get into later on in this review. Needless to say, that concept of applying Tarot spreads to spellwork hasn't been something I've come across before. There may be some earlier books on it that I haven't read yet, but this is the first time I've come across this idea needless to say. So it was refreshing.


The Bad

Much of this book is written under the premise that everyone can visualize and has the ability to control their thoughts in a meaningful way. While it's not explicitly stated that these things are expectations by the author, the entire series of spells in this book are primarily only on visualization. “The art of creative visualization has been recognized as a new form of magic, and the spells here call for visualizations in connection with placing of the cards. In the visualizations, the desired goals are imaged as being carried out and completed.” (p. xvi) Likewise, the author spends a good amount of time in the introduction talking about “magical thinking” and how positive affirmations or positive thoughts are the way that these spells manifest their goals.

The author continues this conversation about thoughts and states explicitly that “Thoughts have vibrations, and so your mental state influences the energy field around you. If you use negative, harmful spells, you are necessarily projecting negative emotions. These emotion will cling to you and act in a magnetic way to attract 'bad luck.' The opposite principle works when you use spells to do good.” (p. 3) In fact, the author is so against this kind of thinking, emotions, etc that the author doesn't even use cards in the Tarot deck that she views as being negative or bad.

This is a very narrow view on how spells work and a very pointed view on natural emotions that everyone has. I do appreciate that the author has a moral view about certain spells or certain aspects of spells, and refuses to publish them – though the author does publish other spells that the author disagrees with anyway. I prefer that if an author is going to go out of their way to prevent certain kinds of spells from being published in their books, which I fully support because I, on my blog, do not publish spells or materials I don't view as being ethically or morally right for me to provide to the wider public, then they should not publish material that they cannot stand behind. And no, publishing a little note about how you don't agree with it but it's requested a lot, does not sufficiently explain why you would go against your moral code.

The other type of ableism is that the author has spells which specifically talk about taking baths [in fact, the author suggests that you take a ritual cleansing bath every time you perform a spell, though the author doesn't push this as necessary], standing up, or moving around quite a bit. The author did put a warning in the beginning of the book that there might be some spells which require some kind of action that the person would have to do in order to preform the spell. But since the author made these spells, one would think that the author could have easily also made a way or suggested another way of doing these spells.

Heteronormativity and cis normativity

Much of this book is heterosexual directed, to the point where it gets a bit ridiculous. Every since couple, every relationship, every little thing is associated with someone being with someone who is the 'opposite sex.' It gets to the point in this book, that I wonder if the author has any idea that people exist outside of heterosexual relationships. I look at the publication date on this book (1990) and go, did this author not have any, any exposure to anyone outside of heterosexual couples? Perhaps the author is appealing to what the author viewed as the “regular” spell casting audience at the time in order to sell more books (remember the book brags that over 140,000 copies have been sold!). But does that mean we accept this disgusting excuse? No!!!!!!!! Furthermore, this book has been revised several times. That means that this book should have been updated on it's material. Especially this problematic kind of stuff.

Furthermore, the author has levels of cis normativity that makes me sigh. The author consistently uses the clunky phrases “he or she” or “his and hers” instead of them and their. It just reinforces a binary gender spectrum instead of opening up or allowing a generic gender pronoun to take place. It is just a reinforcement that the author doesn't know about or hasn't been exposed to anyone not of the binary gender. I mean the author does understand the use of generic pronouns, on page 79 she uses the phase, “one's circumstances in life.” Clearly the author understand that using a specific pronoun is bad, so why not just use something generic?

The author also refers to one's sex as one's gender. For example, in a conception spell, “This a generalized spell, so it's probably best to use something that's not sex specific. [referring to baby items] (For a sex-specific spell, refer to spells 27 and 28 on conceiving a baby girl or a baby boy.” (p. 94) It's clear the author doesn't think anything about assigning genders based on sex characteristics.

Likewise the author says items like “... which will carry a woman through the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth.” (p. 97) Because it's clear that the author thinks only women give birth and all women are capable of giving birth because they all have uteruses.

On another note, the author assumes that the pregnant women is of course, married. And married to a husband. Because there are no pregnant people who are not married, and of course there are no women who are married to other genders than men.

Even when divorcing, even when parenting, there is only heterosexual, cis people in relationships.

Potential Sexism

There are two beauty spells in this book that target cis women and cis men. While the author specifically states in the cis men's spell: “Note: the preceding spell for women would also work for men, and the spell given here would also work for women.” (p. 53) There's still a small element of sexism in play because for the cis woman's spell, the focus is primarily on her becoming beautiful in order to be healthy both mentally and physically. While in the cis men's spell, the focus is primarily on him becoming stronger or using his strength to become healthy both mentally and physically. To me, if both spells could be used for each other, then why not make a universal spell to cover both aspects? It seems a little ridiculous to make a 'women's' and a 'men's' specific spell if anyone could do either spell.

I'm not sure I'm clearly getting at what bothers me about this specific targeting. Mainly the conversation goes that masculine features or masculinity is being associated with strength and femininity and feminine features are being associated with beauty. There is some underlying issue with that thought process. Strength is not only a masculine feature and Beauty is not only a feminine feature.

In fact, there's another spell in this book which targets “mature persons” rather than a specific gender group which explicitly addresses regaining lost beauty. I don't understand how the author could make a spell like this one, and then have the other two sitting there targeting specific gender groups. It makes no sense.

This also rears it's head in the 'gender specific' baby spells. 'Baby girls' are associated with feminine toys and being soft, cuddly, and dressed in pink. Where as the 'baby boys' are associated with masculine toys and as 'little baby boy, dressed in blue.' Nothing soft or cuddly about that 'baby boy.' While the author does say that the color symbolism of gender is culturally based, there's still something to be said about how the author kind of associates certain things with certain genders and doesn't treat them equally.

And finally, there are other problematic items like slurs which are used in the introduction, pseudoscience and inaccurate facts, and blowing that “ancient ” blah blah smoke. But they aren't as prevalent or specifically targeted as the things that I covered here. I did want to mention that they existed, and I'm pretty sure there's other problematic things hiding that I didn't quite catch or that I should have addressed in this review. Needless to say this book was extremely plagued with various issues.

The Ugly

Probably one of the biggest problems in this book is that the amount of copied and pasted material in this book is large enough for me to actually count it. “To perform this spell, you may use the ritual provided in chapter 1, improvise a ritual of your own, or just proceed by laying out the cards and doing the following meditation, visualization, and affirmation,” by my count occurs 45 times out of 71 spells. There are exactly 23 differing variations occurrences of this sentence throughout the book. Only three times out of the spells in the book is the sentence not in the spell itself. However, in two of those occurrences it was because the author had written “See other spell” so in reality only one spell did not contain this paragraph. This is only one example of the amount of copied and pasted materials in spells.

There are several spells, which are the exact same spell, except targeted for one specific purpose or another. It seems to me that it would have been easier just to publish all the possible layouts that could be used or just have a method for generic changes that could have been placed in. Especially since those spells are just adding to the length of pages and the amount of rereading the same material or near the same material.

While I understand that people who are familiar with spell books may not read the book cover to cover, and they may not notice that there is quite a bit of this copied information, someone who may never have been introduced to a spellbook may read it this way to be discouraged with the sheer amount of it. It is unacceptable that should I take out much of the copied and pasted text, that the book itself would be considerably smaller.

Since there is so much copied material, one might be able to infer that there is only one single technique that is written in this book, and it is frankly boring to read basically the exact same spell 71 times with minor differences. Even in terms of card layouts the book is predominately 3 card layouts in some shape or another, by my count there are 40 three card layouts in this book. There is only one 7 card layout in this book, and that's the highest or most complicated layout that this book even gets. It's like the author thought to themselves, let me make a book about Tarot spells, specifically let's do one spell technique and copy the format repeatedly. Now we have a book. Done. Off to the publisher. There are many different uses for tarot cards in spellwork. Some of them do use tarot cards as the primary focus of the spell – like this book puts them at – where the imagery of the card is the important aspect in the spell. I was hoping, with a title like Tarot Spells, that there would be a variety of different ways that tarot could be used in spellwork. Not just simply, here's a layout, here's a meditation/visualization, and here's something to say after you're done with the meditation/visualization, seventy one times in a row.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe that the author made it through a publishing round with the exact same thing replicated so many times.

One other thing that is very ugly about this book, is that the author pushes that one must ask someone's consent in order to perform spells on them. “Yes, [you can do spells for other people] if you have the consent of the other person...” (p. 289)

However, there are several spells in this book that do not easily allow themselves for consent. And more worrisome, is there are several sexual spells which do not even remotely offer sexual consent. If the author is pushing a consent driven ethical discussion, would it not be clear in these spells that consent is mandatory? In a lot of ways, some of these spells are super creepy.

One extremely pointed example of this lack of consent in spells in this book, is spell number 62, where in you are demanding money back from someone whom you've loaned money to. In the spell, the the caster points a knife at the person's significator [the card that represents that person] in order to make them feel it (the point of the knife) to pay back the money. Does that lend itself to asking someone to consent to you putting a spell on them? Likewise other examples are spells that are for separating a divorce couple or for making people who are having a quarrel stop fighting.

At the end of it all, I view this book as “You read one spell, you read them all.” It's not very deep in terms of spell casting technique, plus there's quite a bit of problematic stuff loaded into the text. It's not ~as bad~ per say as some of the other books that I've reviewed cover to cover, but that doesn't mean I'm going to excuse or recommend this book. It's one of those books where if you are the select target audience of the book (meaning able bodied, neurotypical, cis, heterosexual) then the book, I'd say, is written for you. It's not something that I think that people should have to go through. There's too much bullshit and not enough substance for me to say that this book is worth the now 17.95 that it costs to get. Not what I paid for it, but that's what a new copy is priced at.

[Steve Cran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book as a gift from a friend. Following pagan tradition it is a gift for a gift and I gave my friend a Santa Muerte Candle. Phoenix you are still remembered.

This book is an older edition. The spells are relatively simple to do. Unlike most Wiccan spells such tools like candle, incense , athame a and wands are optional. Most spells make candle, flowers and crystals optional.

At the books beginning there is a general opening and closing of the spell. The opening and closing is generic and no particular deities are called upon. The option is yours whether you want to use it, modify it or disregard it.

After the general opening and closing there is a meditation for each card you put down for the spell. Finally there are affirmations. You can break these visualization and affirmations off from the spell and use it independently as a stand alone should you so choose.

The appendices which are rather many give over lots of good information about what each tarot card means, what different colors correspond to and a few other goodies on Chrystal's plus there is an extensive bibliography in the back.

The spells are great for beginners just getting started and some of the more advanced practitioner might appreciate the simplicity.

[John G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken me a few years, probably about three or so to put together my system of understanding and using the tarot cards. I like this book a lot, borrowed it from a friend and have yet to give it back. Shhhh! Anyway, this book is more about calling forth and directing powers rather than reading the cards, but you get a strong sense for the cards too in essence of how they are used in the spells and in a section in the back where she talks about significators. This is a very positive and light spirited book, find it very useful and helpful, admit I don't delve a lot into aspects of magic, but have no problem adhering to what's in this book and using the spells as meditations or even as a form of prayer. Oh yeah, the other parts of my system are the Golden Tarot deck by Kat Black and for interpretation I use "Tarot For The Healing Heart: Using Inner Wisdom To Heal The Body and Mind" by Christine Jette.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most pagans have a tarot deck in their arsenal of tools. Why not use it for spell work as well as for divination?

The author provides several spells using tarot cards and other common items in a magickal practicioners household such as salt, stones, candles, etc. Many of the spells are quite simple to work as well. The applications for the spells are practical and are actually situations that occur in the average life.

If you practice magick, and you have a tarot deck, this is a worthwhile, practical, and natural addition to your magickal library!

Note: The cover shown on goodreads is of an old edition. I have a newer copy and the cover has had a rework.

[Addicted to Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book more for background information on spells, how they work and how the tarot symbols correspond to psychology and etc etc.
I am reasearching on magical realism and exploring more on the history of magical realism or fantasy.

This review is based on my research and not on the casting of spells.

[Plamen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very accessible book written around a powerful (though deceptively simple) idea: using tarot cards to aid in positive visualization. As someone who just got a tarot deck last week, I'm basically the definition of beginner when it comes to the occult. Still, I could feel the energy behind the author's seemingly cheesy verses and exercises (the word "spells" makes me think too much of videogames).

The spells all conform to the same structure: There's an introductory verse, you draw out a few specific cards (2 of Cups if you want to hook up, Hanged Man if you want to de-stress, etc), perform one or two ceremonial actions (Write down a worry on paper and burn it in the fire, for example), and recite the closing verse.

The power of this is that the author encourages you to make all this as simple or complicated as you want. Need a little pause in the morning before you rush to work? Renee can help. Want to do the Lesser Banishing Pentagram before and after each spell? Go for it. For those of us who want to learn a bit more about the occult but find Crowley et al. too technical, this is the book for you.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I didn't like this book: it smacks of wishy-washy New Age crap. But it actually fits really well with a lot of the way I think about magic, about ritual, and about using positive thinking to create results. Some of the "spells" are pretty cheesy - lots of stuff about pets and so on - but in the main, I like the way they're set out. The "magic words" are also fairly banal, but I like the way you're encouraged to write or improvise your own.

The main problem I have with it is that I can't see it working with my preferred Tarot deck, the Crowley Thoth deck. It really needs a more "witchy" one, and I don't get on with those. However, as a series of guided meditations, it's quite good.

[The Shakti Witch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear concise instruction from beginning to end for casting spells with tarot. Deck cleansing and charging instructions are provided alongside a full cleanse and charge instruction for crystals. Spells are limited to positive only so no hexing etc.

This is a great book for beginner spell casters and those wishing to take the use of their tarot decks further.

[Tabitha Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The copy I got was written almost twenty years ago when tarot just started to become "re-popular", it covers the most basic of spell practices and does keep it on the lighter side. It does however cover some not so nice aspects. The only thing I truly disagree with from the book is her suggestion that you don't need to know the tarot cards meaning to use it in a spell. Don't go messing with stuff unless you know what you're messing with. I would suggest this for someone who is familiar with tarot, but not familiar with doing spell work. It's quick simple spells that are most visualizations and meditations.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far this book looks okay, but a little plain. I am not sure there's everything I want in it. It shows which cards to place in front of you and what to say to get different spellls to work.
It also asks for different items for spells like candles.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book, but I feel that two of her others are even better. It was one of the first to show this approach to tarot in modern times, and as such, is an important accomplishment. Thank you Janina!

[Tabitha Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book i ordered off of Amazon was older than my sons and pretty much put spell work in "new age" terms. that being said here, the book is freaking awesome.

[Granny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book which deserves a wide readership among the Tarot community. For those who have mastered the basic meanings of the cards, it is an excellent next step.

The premise of the book is a list of basic living prospects, and how to harness the power of the imagery of (and Spirit behind) the cards to create spells to improve your situations. Some examples include: Help in finding lost animal, Tapping the unconscious mind for knowledge, Summoning motivation, and so on.

I do recommend that a reader have read or taken classes in ethics, to have a good grounding in what spells may be appropriate. I have lived with the belief that it is not right to cast a spell to influence the free will of another person, so spells like attracting good luck are okay in my belief system, but a spell to get a job might be more problematic.

After working with this book, you should quickly catch on to the basic format the author is working with in creating Tarot spells, and can work on beginning to create more personalized spells. I also want to thank the author for including a spell on healing addictions; which is an often overlooked but much needed aspect within the spiritual community.

The appendices are also excellent, I appreciate the one on choosing a significator which is also useful for integrating cards beyond the Major Arcana into your spells, even if you don't use them as significator cards per se. They include ritual aspects, tools and crystals, understanding color magic. The opening chapters and the other appendices also give important supporting context to your spells.

You may want to pick up a copy of "Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics" by Emma Restall Orr as a foundation before starting this book. But I have been teaching from and suggesting this book for years, I think you will appreciate it, too.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book popped on my radar a few years back, but I was too cheap to pick it up.

This book is very good. It is organized pretty well. It has a good variety of “spells”. These are really great meditation exercises and journaling exercises. This provides actionable advice for problems in a variety of areas. Might be great for teenagers and others who have not learned coping strategies, effective communication, assertiveness, negotiations, etc. You can really scale up the witchyness into a full spell or scale it down to meditation, journaling, and affirmations. The only thing I don’t like is that most of the affirmations are cheesy. But I think most of that stuff is cheesy. That’s why I like tarot for this stuff. Pictures, no words, no dress up, no tools, just psychology. 😀

[Marilou · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book works for me because I am highly visual and I have worked with the Tarot for years. Archetypes speak to me and I liked the idea of constructing a thought-energy and then feeding it through visualisation.
The spell idea is really great and inspiring. But this book is in need of serious editing when it comes to genders. I am reminded of the show « Father knows best » from the 60´s. Please Janina, attend to this asap!

[Sabbatha Bastet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing much to say other than I’ve had a copy of this book for more than twenty years and have had success with the spells within. Not miracles of course you won’t find that anywhere. But noticeable positive results. Simple to do as well.

[Sherry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my Go To's

[Sugarpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this in February and have done about all I am going to do with it for now. I used her intro and closing to the spells to say that I have and my own and either works.

[K Kriesel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been wanting to learn more about using Tarot in spellcraft and this book clearly jumped out at me. I know about Tarot history and what Tarot is, but don't know most of the specific cards nor spreads. This book seemed to be a good step in that direction.

Tarot Spells is very fluffy and Renee even wrote herself how she doesn't like to include negative cards. While Wicca isn't specifically mentioned, the spells and ethics are clearly based on mainstream "Wicca." The Tower card is used once, never the Death card (which isn't even a negative card!), and the Devil card is mentioned as an "extreme option" a couple times. On top of the fluff, the same dozen cards are used over and over and over again.

But the approach to Tarot spreads is excellent for a beginner like myself. Renee does explain very well the purpose for different spreads, as well as guided meditations/visualizations. Those dozen cards she re-uses are no longer unfamiliar to me!

This is a good book for beginners who are able to critique what they read rather than follow blindly; it's a good addition to a beginner's bookshelf. But once I learn more, I will probably sell/donate my copy of the book.

[Marcello Tarot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non è questione di crederci o non crederci. Non ho mai tentato gli incantesimi presentati in questo volume, pertanto non posso esprimere giudizi sull’efficacia; il libro mi è stato regalato e l’ho letto con una certa curiosità. E con fiducia, perché già conoscevo l’autrice, e ancora una volta il suo stile di scrittura è felice e pensato per essere di aiuto. E già questo, in sé, fa meritare al volume le 4 stelle. E non guasta neppure la conclusione dell’autrice: «spero che questo libro vi aiuterà a vedere la vita in modo magico e a sviluppare al meglio il vostro potere interiore per influenzare il mondo attorno a voi» (traduzione mia).

[Catherine Rowan]

Oh Gods, it's in a box somewhere...