365 Tarot Spells by Sasha Graham

365 Tarot Spells by Sasha Graham

The Tarot has developed greatly over the past few decades and its exponential rise in popularity has meant that it has become the definitive teaching system for most students who are working within the sphere of magick and the occult.

At some point in their studies of the Tarot most readers begin to notice that not only do the cards reveal the future but that they also seem to manifest their own sense of magick.

This is this an aspect of the Tarot that has been rather less well documented in the past than its perceived primary role as a fortune-telling tool.

Tarot for the Year

Sasha Graham has taught the Tarot and led many Tarot events in the New York area. She is also the author of several highly-acclaimed books on the subject.

In her latest book 365 Tarot Spells she focuses upon the role that the Tarot plays in magick by producing a collection of specific exercises, meditations and spells for use by the Tarot magician.

In her book Graham has assigned each day of the year to a specific occult or historical event and around this she wraps a specific magical ritual to celebrate the energies or characteristics of that event.

Some of these spell rituals require additional magical implements but most of them are centred solely upon the use of one or more sequences of cards. Her preferred deck of choice is the Rider-Waite inspired Llewellyn’ Classic Tarot deck by Barbara Moore.

Daily Exercise

Each page of 365 Tarot Spells is assigned to a day of the year and in each case the format that the page takes remains effectively the same. Consequently each day includes such details as;

  • Day of the year
  • Description of the exercise/spell
  • Explanation for the chosen theme of the day – usually a world event in history
  • Illustration of the chosen card
  • An incantation
  • Required ingredients
  • Details of the method, visualisation and meditation

In the accompanying text for each spell the author explains how the daily exercise should be undertaken. Some of these require a little additional non-Tarot work or prior preparation – tasks such as cooking, dressing candles or mixing oils.

After working through 365 examples of how the Tarot can be used to unlock the magick in its readers life the book then closes with an index of the various spells used throughout the publication.

Review

The Tarot is undeniably a powerful tool of magical invocation and whilst many practitioners of the art use them simply as mirrors into the inner worlds it is also possible to use them as keys for manipulating the energies of the subtle planes.

This book explains exactly how this is achieved using key correspondences of the Western Magical Tradition. In doing so the author references the occult teachings of Wicca and the Golden Dawn alongside the psychological ideas of C G Jung.

The result is a publication of remarkable insights and opportunities for the reader to extend or expand their understanding of the inherent metaphysical dynamics contained within the cards.

Some while ago, I reviewed Sasha Graham’s companion publication to this one titled 365 Tarot Spreads. I gave it a deservedly glowing review and, consequently, I expected great things from this follow-up. Not only was I not disappointed but I have to say that in many ways, this book is even better than its predecessor.

The presentation of Graham’s material here has been beautifully executed, making it a superb publication both in content and production. The result of this is that 365 Tarot Spells is simply an outstanding Tarot workbook – one that will utterly delight, astound and excite anyone practiced in Tarot divination as well as those who know a little about Wicca and solitary magical practice.

Even in today’s saturated market of Tarot books this is publication that is refreshingly different and is one that genuinely looks at the Tarot with a very real sense of renewed purpose.

5/5