[Tarot Insights] We’re still dreaming 😴🐟

A promotional banner for "Tarot Insights with Arianna Smith." The banner features a dark teal background with elegant white text spelling out "Tarot Insights." On the right side, an oval cutout shows a woman's hands arranging six colorful tarot cards on a white table. The cards display various mystical images, adding a vibrant touch to the otherwise simple and sophisticated design of the banner.

In this edition: ✨

An IFS-Inspired Spread to Work with Protective Parts
A Simple Spread for Spring Equinox
Deck Love: The Spacious Tarot
Community Wisdom Request (in the PS)

While capitalism and grind culture tell us that March 1st is go time, when we connect with the astrological sign of this season, Pisces, it’s the opposite energy.

Pisces is a sign of mutable water, the most fluid, deep, and ethereal of them all. It's the wisdom that comes from experience, dreams, completion of cycles, and spiritual depth.

Until the Spring Equinox, we are, in essence, still dreaming.

Now, we are waking from slumber, feeling the tendrils of winter dreams.

What if coming out of winter slumber does not feel like a cozy rest, but a string of nightmares?

What if the spring for you signals dread—perhaps fear and overwhelm with the coming heat of your region, or the sensory onslaught of summer activities?

Or perhaps it is a time of joy for you, showing you where to take action on long-awaited goals.

This is where I turn to Tarot.

The most accessible way to work with the Tarot, especially if you’re woo-curious or still exploring your spirituality, is to use tarot as a tool for the present moment.*

I appreciate all different styles of reading–those who have psychic gifts and can use tarot for divination and prediction or to connect with the deceased.

However, I find that when I use tarot for prediction in an ungrounded space, it’s, essentially, a bid for control.

Ahh, hello, Anxiety. 👋

As an IFS therapist, I see anxiety as a protector. Just ask what age your anxiety sees you at. It is rarely this present moment, typically a younger time, as a child or when you were in a vulnerable, overwhelmed state.

If you’re coming out of winter feeling anxiety, or simply want to tap into the depth of Pisces Energy, try these two tarot spreads.

Working with Protective Parts: An IFS-Inspired Tarot Spread 🛡️

How to use this spread:

Be sure to identify a part–even just a loose sense– you want to work with before pulling cards. Choose a card in your deck that represents this card.

Don’t feel the need to be perfect in your parts work or tarot practice to do this spread. This is simply for exploration and connection.

A light gray background features six blank tarot card outlines arranged in three rows: one card at the top (labeled “1”), three cards in the middle row (labeled “2,” “3,” “4”), and two cards at the bottom (labeled “5,” “6”). At the top, the title reads “Working with Protective Parts: An IFS-Inspired Tarot Spread.” Beneath the card layout, six questions appear: What is a card that represents this part? (Chosen from Deck) How can I befriend this part, even if it feels difficult? When or how does this part show up in my life? What does this part want me to witness or know? How might I offer kindness, gratitude, or curiosity towards this part? A card to help me access Self-Energy as I get to know this part? (This card may also reveal what is blocking self energy.) The name “Arianna Smith” and the website “www.tarotwitharianna.com” appear at the bottom of the image.

How can I befriend this part, even if it feels difficult?
When or how does this part show up in my life?
What does this part want me to witness or know?
How might I offer kindness, gratitude, or curiosity towards this part?
A card to help me access Self-Energy as I get to know this part? (This card may also reveal what is blocking Self-Energy.)

Emerging From Slumber: A Spread for the Spring Equinox 🌱

A light gray background shows four blank tarot card outlines arranged in two rows of two cards each, labeled “1,” “2,” “3,” and “4.” The title at the top reads “Emerging From Slumber: A Spread for the Spring Equinox.” Four questions appear below: What energy is leaving me as I head into spring? What energy is present with me right now? What is coming into my awareness? How am I being invited to engage with Spring Equinox energy? “Arianna Smith” and the website “www.tarotwitharianna.com” appear at the bottom of the image.

What energy is leaving me as I head into spring?
What energy is present with me right now?
What is coming into my awareness?
How am I being invited to engage with Spring Equinox energy?

🌏 Southern Hemisphere friends, I didn’t forget about you!

Use the Spring Equinox spread by changing out the seasonal terms.

Also, enjoy this blog: 5 Mystical Ways to Celebrate the Fall Equinox.

Deck Love: The Spacious Tarot

A bright blue, rectangular box lies open on a wooden surface. The inside lid reads “This Space is for You,” while on the right side sits a tarot card titled “The Magician,” depicting a sword, a coin, and a cup against a soft sky. A small cluster of crystals rests on the upper left corner of the box, and a trailing green plant leaf is visible in the top right. — Photo Credit: The Spacious Tarot

When my colleague, Teresa Beehan, showed me The Spacious Tarot during our connection call, I knew I had to get it.

What I especially like about this deck, besides the gentle art, is the elemental, nature-based theme. They also renamed the Court Cards as Child (Page), Explorer (Knight), Guardian (Queen), and Elder (King).

If you’ve never connected to the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith drawings on the card, but you do enjoy the structure of Majors and Minors, you might enjoy this deck!

Check out other decks I love in my witchy bookstore (aff link). When you buy from my bookstore, a small percentage goes to me to help sustain this newsletter, but more importantly, your purchase supports independent bookstores.

If you use the tarot spreads in this edition or have a tarot/oracle deck that you love–would you hit “reply” and share?

Photos of your deck or cards pulled when using a featured spread are always welcome, especially if you're using a deck I don’t have. 😉

Stay witchy,

Arianna

P.S. Join me for a Cozy Cowriting Session ☕ on the Spring Equinox, March 21st at 8 am PT/9 am MT/10 am CT/11 am ET.

P.P.S. *H/T to Lindsey Mack, a tarot teacher who has taught so much about using tarot as a tool for resourcing the present moment.

P.P.P.S. Community Wisdom Request 🙏 I am moving next month! I welcome any wisdom you have that helps you stay grounded when you’re changing homes–tips, tricks, rituals. All ears.

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