How To Correctly Phrase A Question For Tarot

Hey, Lady Diane! I'm hoping you'd please explain the differences between the 10s in Tarot? I only know that the 10 of Pentacles and Cups are both good, and the 10 of Wands and Swords are both bad. Would love to know more if that's ok with you! Thank you a lot!

The Differences Among Tarot’s Tens

The number 10 is the biggest in the Minor Arcana. Therefore:

The Ten of Wands is the biggest burden you can have.

The Ten of Cups is the biggest happiness you can feel.

The Ten of Swords is the biggest pain you can endure.

The Ten of Pentacles is the biggest abundance you can enjoy.

TEN OF WANDS

Main Meaning: Burden. Either in the sense of having too many tasks to accomplish for the day, or too many problems in life to deal with.

Positive Meaning: Being burdened by a harvest. First world problems. Like having too much money that you do not know where to put it all.

TEN OF CUPS

Main Meaning: Happiness. The kind you get from knowing there is a special someone or an entire loving family you can share your joys and sorrows with.

Negative Meaning: Nothing. The Ten of Cups at its worst only means that your fairy tale ending is delayed. In divine timing, it will arrive.

TEN OF SWORDS

Main Meaning: Pain. Physical or emotional. Feeling like you cannot take it anymore. As if death would be a sweet relief to your current ordeal.

Positive Meaning: The worst is over. You have experienced the peak of agony. From here on out, whatever follows will be tolerable.

TEN OF PENTACLES

Main Meaning: Abundance. Usually material. Not the kind that lasts for just a few minutes, but one that will stay for the rest of your life.

Negative Meaning: Nothing. Like the Ten of Cups, the Ten of Pentacles at its worst only means your stability is delayed but still promised.

I've been drawn to a few Greek deities for a while now, how to know the signs that they're trying to reach out? If that makes sense?

The old gods are not subtle. They are proud. They demand to be seen, heard, felt.

• They give you visions while you are awake.

• They whisper to you before you fall asleep.

• They send you unbelievably vivid dreams.

• Their portraits move, showing you if they are pleased or if they disapprove.

• They appear to you while you are divining, through tarot or scrying.

The Greco-Roman Gods in Tarot

This is how they show themselves to me… how they always have to the women in my family.

• The Fates – The Wheel of Fortune

• Venus – The Empress

• Pluto – Judgement

• Mars – The Tower

• Uranus – The Fool

• Neptune – The Hanged Man

• Saturn – The World

• Mercury – The Magician

• Charon – Death

• Jupiter – The Emperor

• Apollo – The Chariot

• Diana – Strength

• Athena – The Star

• Asclepius – Temperance

• The Graces – Three of Cups

• Hephaestus – Eight of Pentacles

• Dionysus – Nine of Cups

Unlike other gods, they do not love you by default. You have to initiate. Only then will they respond. They do not care for quiet devotion. They want bold admiration. And once you are their advocate, an insult to you is an insult to them. So expect decency from others. Or burn them to a cinder.

WHAT’S YOUR PERSONALITY?

I am SUN, and MOON is what makes me feel emotionally happy, but I express myself in MERCURY way. When it comes to love, I will be VENUS, but when I get angry, I become MARS. Though people see me as RISING. 

Life systematically challenges me to SATURN. My sense of humour is JUPITER. I’m URANUS when it comes to changes and I have the imagination of NEPTUNE. My secret energy and individual powers are aimed at PLUTO. 

Oh, and not to forget, I’ll be absolutely successful as MIDHEAVEN.

My deepest inner self can be compared to DOMINANT PLANET/DOMINANT SIGN.

SUN:

Aries: A REBEL Taurus: A GUARDIAN Gemini: A MASTERMIND Cancer: A ROMANTIC Leo: A RINGLEADER Virgo: A HEALER Libra: AN ARTIST Scorpio: AN ENIGMA Sagittarius: A WANDERER Capricorn: AN OWNER Aquarius: AN INNOVATOR Pisces: A DREAMER

MOON:

Aries: CHALLENGES Taurus: STABILITY Gemini: COMMUNICATION Cancer: CARE Leo: PRAISES Virgo: SECURITY Libra: INDIVIDUALITY Scorpio: POWER Sagittarius: EXPERIENCES Capricorn: AUTHENTICITY Aquarius: FRIENDSHIP Pisces: ART

MERCURY:

Aries: A DIRECT Taurus: A PRACTICAL Gemini: A LIGHTHEARTED Cancer: A SENTIMENTAL Leo: A DRAMATIC Virgo: AN IMPATIENT Libra: A TACTFUL Scorpio: A PIERCING Sagittarius: A PLAYFUL Capricorn: A CONCISE Aquarius: A LOGICAL Pisces: A VAGUE

VENUS:

Aries: PASSIONATE Taurus: RELIABLE Gemini: REASONABLE Cancer: NURTURING Leo: GENEROUS Virgo: HELPFUL Libra: THOUGHTFUL Scorpio: INTENSE Sagittarius: FLIRTATIOUS Capricorn: PROTECTIVE Aquarius: INTRIGUING Pisces: COMPASSIONATE

MARS:

Aries: AGGRESSIVE Taurus: STUBBORN Gemini: DESTRUCTIVE Cancer: NASTY Leo: LOUD Virgo: DISTANT Libra: CRITICAL Scorpio: VENGEFUL Sagittarius: INDIFFERENT Capricorn: VIOLENT Aquarius: SARCASTIC Pisces: SELFISH

RISING:

Aries: THE FIGHTER Taurus: THE MASTER Gemini: THE CHARMER Cancer: THE HELPER Leo: THE INDIVIDUALIST Virgo: THE PEDANT Libra: THE AESTHETE Scorpio: THE SCEPTIC Sagittarius: THE COMEDIAN Capricorn: THE VINTAGE SOUL Aquarius: THE ADVISER Pisces: THE ANGEL

SATURN:

Aries: BE TOLERANT Taurus: LOSE WHAT I LOVE MOST Gemini: MAKE QUICK DECISIONS Cancer: FACE LONELINESS Leo: SACRIFICE MY DIGNITY Virgo: DEAL WITH DISASTERS Libra: FIGHT Scorpio: CONTROL MY INSTINCTS Sagittarius: BE STUCK IN A RUT Capricorn: FACE FAILURE Aquarius: BLEND IN Pisces: FACE OVERWHELMING STRESS

JUPITER:

Aries: TEASING Taurus: GROSS Gemini: BONDING-IN-THE-MOMENT Cancer: PARODIC Leo: HYPERBOLIC Virgo: DARK Libra: IRONIC Scorpio: DRY Sagittarius: ANECDOTAL Capricorn: SELF-DEPRECATING Aquarius: WITTY Pisces: QUIRKY CULTURAL

URANUS:

Aries: ENTHUSIASTIC Taurus: CAUTIOUS Gemini: FLEXIBLE Cancer: IMPATIENT Leo: PUSHY Virgo: PASSIVE Libra: CURIOUS Scorpio: DISTRUSTING Sagittarius: ECCENTRIC Capricorn: ANXIOUS Aquarius: IMPASSIONED Pisces: UNPREDICTABLE

NEPTUNE:

Aries: A MADCAP Taurus: A STRATEGIST Gemini: A SCHIZOPHRENE Cancer: A CHILD Leo: A POET Virgo: A SHAMAN Libra: A DAYDREAMER Scorpio: A MANIAC Sagittarius: AN IDEALIST Capricorn: AN OCCULTIST Aquarius: A VISIONARY Pisces: A PROPHET

PLUTO:

Aries: SEXUALITY Taurus: IMPROVEMENTS Gemini: INTELLECTUALITY Cancer: EMOTIONAL INTENSITY Leo: DOMINATION Virgo: OBSESSIONS Libra: RELIGION Scorpio: BLACK MAGIC Sagittarius: EXPLORATIONS Capricorn: AMBITIONS Aquarius: MANIPULATION Pisces: INTUITION

MIDHEAVEN:

Aries: AN ATHLETE Taurus: AN ARCHITECT Gemini: A TEACHER/PROFESSOR Cancer: A WRITER/POET Leo: AN ACTOR/A FILM DIRECTOR Virgo: A DOCTOR Libra: A DISIGNER Scorpio: A PSYCHOLOGIST Sagittarius: A POLITICIAN Capricorn: A LAWYER/JUDGE Aquarius: A SCIENTIST Pisces: A MUSICIAN

DOMINANT PLANET:

Sun (Solarian): A MAJESTIC Moon (Lunarian): A TENDER Mercury (Mercurian): A FATAL Venus (Venusian): A FASCINATING Mars (Martian): A POWERFUL Jupiterian (Jupiter): A CHAOTIC Saturn (Saturnian): AN ANCIENT Uranus (Uranian): AN IRREPRESSIBLE Neptune (Neptunian): A WAVERING Pluto (Plutonian): A MYSTICAL

DOMINANT SIGN:

Aries: LIGHTNING Taurus: FOREST Gemini: NORTHERN LIGHT Cancer: SEA Leo: HEAT Virgo: FOG Libra: RAINBOW Scorpio: TSUNAMI Sagittarius: WILDFIRE Capricorn: VOLCANO Aquarius: STORM Pisces: MARSH

For me it’s ✨🥰♑️💕♌️ sounds about right-

your first column of emojis describes your personality! what’s yours?

Hi love! Thank you for all the work you do — your blog is incredible. I wanted to ask you about offerings. I know you mentioned dark chocolate when you do personal readings; what else do you use for offerings, and can you talk about them in general? I haven't seen anything about offerings on your blog, so my apologies if you answered this already! Thank you so much!

What You Can Offer the Old Gods

They do not live on mortal land. We kindly summon them to us. So before every offering, ask, “Will this be worth their journey or not?”

FOOD THAT SATISFIES

During a ritual or ceremony, offer them a full course meal, complete with fruit, meat, bread and wine. Something abundant, fragrant and befitting a god.

FOOD THAT IMPRESSES

When you come across unique food, give them some. Luxurious chocolates… a specialty from a city you visited… Anything worthy of their interest.

FOOD THAT TOUCHES

Each time you bake, give the first batch to the gods. Even if your sweets are nothing too remarkable or elegant, it is your effort that you offer.

OBJECTS THAT HONOR

A silver arrow for Diana. A porcelain shell for Venus. A music box for Apollo. Anything related to the gods’ identity, or whatever reflects their personality.

OBJECTS THAT CONNECT

A tarot deck… a scrying mirror… a rune set… Any conduit for visions or messages. Offer it up to the gods, so that they may speak to you through it.

OBJECTS THAT ENDEAR

A poem for Mercury… your trophy for Mars… your medal for Saturn… Even cheap items, if they mean something to you, will be something to them too.

We need an understanding of levels

Folks out there act like there isn’t any intermediate and advanced witchcraft content available to them. Even 20 years ago most of what is easily available now was not at your finger tips. Because of all this availability it seems like people don’t realize what is basic, intermediate or advanced. Spoilt with everything available, they wonder what advanced even is. Everything listed down here can be found online, in distance classes, and in books that are for sale at modest cost:

The basics are knowing the major neopagan holidays, how to cast a circle, cleanse, ground, shield and follow spell and ritual instructions for simple goals like attracting prosperity, inspiration and a little luck. Easy to follow and clear cut ethics. The instructions for learning visualization. You can start elsewhere than neopagan but there will be similar basic practices, and there are hundreds of books of the same basic content and lots of sites and blogs too.

Intermediate material is setting up a daily practice, getting good with a divination method, getting very familiar with herbal, tree, stone or animal lore, writing your own spells and rituals using correspondences and standard patterns, some study of myth and folklore. Thoughtful understanding of gray area ethics and honor. A lot of self exploration and strengthening. Instructions for out of body experience.

Advance material will be communicating with various spirits and/or deities. The specialization in the arts of a particular path or role like priesthood, tool making, bardic storytelling, writing your own grimoire or copying your tradition’s book of shadows. Initiation into that path and optionally coven practice. Confidence in astral travel. More specific and targeted spell craft and ritual based upon your compiled experiences and those shared with you by teachers and peers. Ecstatic practices during ritual and spell work. Deep self knowledge, facing difficult demons and shadows and acting in full accordance with your own ethical compass.

Post advanced: learning the specialities of more paths perhaps becoming a leader, teacher, warrior, writer, or mystic in your tradition. Learning more depth and self knowledge through teaching or leading or even through deeper life dedication. It is not every person who has gone through the levels duty to teach, it takes extra talents outside of the craft like writing ability, pedagogy, and even the luxury of time and space to provide for others.

It all comes down to your own personal level of dedication and amount effort you can or will put in how far you can go. And one can have a very meaningful and impactful practice at any level dependent only upon satisfying their own drive for self knowledge and wisdom and truth of the spirit world, deities and/or nature. Everyone’s advanced path will look different though intro paths can be fairly similar, they all are unique too.

The tarot posts here on Tumblr offer a lot of misinformation because I've seen so much contradicting info on what parts of life the minor suits represent. You're the only one I trust to actually know the correct assignments so can you please enlighten me? Would mean a lot! Thanks Lady Di!

YOUR LIFE AND THE SUITS IN TAROT

Wands are your passions.            

The Ace of Wands could mean finding a new hobby, like painting or hiking. The Two of Wands could mean planning the renovation of your home, if interior design or woodworking is among your passions.

Passion is related to creativity. So the Six of Wands could mean your Instagram posts gaining a lot of attention, if you are into fashion or photography.

And we tend to be very passionate about our favorite celebrities and our crushes, so the Eight of Wands could mean receiving attention from someone famous or somebody you are interested in.

Cups are your emotions.

The Ace of Cups could mean the arrival of a new lover, while the Two of Cups could mean romance blooming between you and a friend

Emotions are not always positive. Sometimes it is as if they do not even exist, like in the Four of Cups, where you are bored from feeling nothing. Other times they are negative, like in the Five of Cups, where you could be grieving a death or a breakup.

The Page of Cups could be an invitation to go out on a date. The Knight of Cups could be a marriage proposal. Both offers involve strong emotions.

Swords are your thoughts.

These thoughts could be mundane, like the Two of Swords asking you to decide between steak and salmon for dinner.

Other times, they could be of the higher kind, such as the Four of Swords conveying that your mind is at peace, because you have found your true spiritual path.

Most of the time, though, these thoughts are about day to day affairs, such as the Page of Swords confirming that you will get the job, or the Eight of Swords predicting how stressed you will be because of an exam.

Pentacles are your foundations.

Since we are living in a material world, most of our foundations are material. The Ace of Pentacles could mean starting at a new job, while the Six of Pentacles could mean receiving a bonus.

Foundations are related to stability. So the Five of Pentacles does not necessarily mean you will lose everything and become a beggar. It could simply be predicting that you will suffer a salary deduction because of the pandemic, causing you to feel less financially stable than usual.

For this reason, the King of Pentacles is the most stable figure in this arcana, closely followed by the Queen and the Knight.

They often overlap.

Because all of life overlaps.

If what you are most passionate about is money, then when the Suit of Wands talks to you, it would be speaking about finances, instead of hobbies. And if you are emotionally focused on spirituality, then instead of symbolizing a new lover, the Ace of Cups could mean a new religious journey.

The Three of Swords, for example, is about heartbreak. So why is it not under the Suit of Cups? Because when we are heartbroken, our heart is actually quiet. It is our mind that screams in pain, and that is the Suit of Swords’ domain.

Click here to learn how to read the suits outside of their territories.

Hey I was was wondering how you make offerings to the gods? I don’t have much of a safe place in my home to do it because of my family, but when I can there’s a huge old oak tree I take fruit and wine to.

Ways to Worship Discreetly

Some of us still have to hide, unfortunately.

Altars with No Portraits

Choose an item that represents your deity. For Venus, a red rose. For Apollo, a mini lyre. For Mercury, a scroll. For Mars, a lamp of LED fire.

Shrines Hidden in Plain Sight

Build a small shrine on your nightstand, a section of your bookshelf or a nook inside a cabinet. To others it will look like décor. Nothing more.

Dry and Packaged Sweets as Gifts

A box of brownies, a jar of cookies, a bar of chocolate… Compared to fruit or meat, no prying eyes will expect these to be meant for deities.

Poetry, Song and Art as Presents

Whatever talent you have, humbly offer it. If you are good with words, write your deity a poem. If you are gifted in music, compose them a song.

Indoor Plants as Offerings

Gift your god a plant, and nurture it in their name. Speak to it as you water it. Between you and your deity, let it be a living conduit. Never let it wilt.

Dear Lady Diana, thank you for telling us how to invoke our higher self. However, I don't know how to really know when I'm in contact with them when I read tarot. I fear that I'm just convincing myself that I am but in reality it's only the conscious me or else, that I'm unwittingly channeling the message of other entities.

Is there a "universal" way for being sure that you'd be willing to share with us? I'll be forever grateful.

Foolproof Way of Confirming Your Higher Self’s Presence

When you have been speaking with your higher self for a long time, you just know. The presence of a pretender would feel like pants that are three sizes too big, or baby shoes being put on by an adult. 

But if you are not yet used to communing with your higher self, keep reading to know when it is present.

Entities and ghosts can access our minds. That is how they convince us of their charades. They mimic the voice of our dead loved one… show us an event from our childhood… and speak to us of secrets we never dared tell anyone.

But there is one thing in our mind that even the most powerful undead are incapable of retrieving. Our olfactory memories. Our recollection of odors. The scents that we remember. Because unlike our other senses, what the nose records is simply too personal.

Visual and auditory memories are the easiest to access supernaturally. They are stored like DVDs in our minds. Almost anyone can play them.

Tactile and oral memories are more difficult to grab ahold of. By their nature, they are hidden from outsiders. But since occult beings can see the visuals and hear the sounds that go with them, they can mimic what we once felt or tasted.

And yet, no two people smell something in the exact same way. Our genetic differences or the make of our physical bodies means that when you and I smell the same molecule, I may detect something citrusy while you may detect something floral. Our olfactory memories are hidden from anyone outside of our own existence. Apart from us, only our higher and shadow selves can access them.

So before beginning a ritual involving your higher self, ask it to “show” you a scent from your distant or recent past. Voice it out loud, if you wish. Any entity who is listening will not be able to cheat.

If a minute passes without the scent you asked for showing up, invoke your higher self again. At the moment, it is not present.

Hello. I have a question about spreads. Do we always have to use a spread that already exists or its okay to make up your own spread for something? thank you. I really admire your skills💖

Feel free to make your own tarot spreads.

With the exception of the Celtic Cross, I only use spreads that I or my ancestors created. Here are some of them:

Past Life Spread

Life Purpose Spread

General Life Prediction Spread

Soulmate Spread

Sex Life Spread

Future Children Spread

Death Prediction Spread

Dream Interpretation Spread

High Priestess Spread (For Quick Predictions)

True Colors Spread (For Questions of Intentions)

Two Paths Spread (For Making a Difficult Decision)

Combined Spreads (Tarot, Oracle, Lenormand)

Ancestors Spread (For Speaking with the Dead)

When Spread (Timing with the Celtic Cross)

Major Arcana Grand Tableau (Yearly Reading Spread)