How to Set Up a Tarot Altar

Are you looking for ways to expand your tarot practice? In today’s article, I will show you how to set up a tarot altar. 

About two years into my practice as a psychic tarot life coach, I wanted a new way to spruce up the area where I kept my decks. The issue was, how was I going to do this when I had limited space? That’s when I learned about tarot altars and their wide range of purposes.

My tarot altar is set up on the flat surface of the top of my bookshelf. Beneath this, I keep shelves of crystals, books, and essential journals for all of my tarot needs.

Grab your decks and a flat surface, and let’s create a sacred space for your tarot card and readings!

How to Set Up a Tarot Altar

What Is a Tarot Altar?

A tarot altar is a sacred space where you perform your tarot readings and connect with your cards. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it can be created on virtually any surface.

If you’re like me and live in a small space, have no fear! There are even Altoid tin tarot altars that you can make for your deck, and I’ll show you how!

Tarot altars can help you to:

  • Land a new, rewarding career.
  • Connect with a pet who has crossed over.
  • Discover who you were in a past life.
  • Enhance the bond between you and your tarot deck.
  • Expand your knowledge of tarot. 
  • Provide a fresh and unique way to expand your self-care practice.
  • Provide powerful energy to aid in manifesting your desires.

Plus much more! 

 How to Set Up a Tarot Altar

Ready to start working with the magic of tarot? Let’s set up your tarot altar space! 

Tarot Altar Tips

  • Pick colors, symbols, and intentions to help you for your highest good. For example, when it comes to intentions, focus on attracting the right person for you instead of forcing a relationship to happen. 
  • While this is a guide, please remember to trust your intuition and go with what you feel drawn to when creating your tarot altar.
  • Pick a spot for your tarot altar that won’t be disturbed by pets, children, or other people.
  • If you do not have enough space or need to be discreet about setting up an altar, you can check out Etsy for mini tarot altar kits.
  • Use flowers and acorns that you find outside to decorate if you feel drawn to nature.
  • If you are a water sign or connect to water, use sea shells representing the ocean. You can also use crystals like aquamarine and labradorite.
  • Clean your tarot altar before and after each session.
  • Smudging may also want to be done at least 3-4 times per week to keep the energy clear and high vibrational. You can also opt for smudge spray if you are sensitive to smoke or your household does not like the smell.

setting up the tarot altar

Set Your Intention 

Before using your altar, make sure to set your intention. If you aren’t sure about what to use as an intention, you can try something such as this:

“I set my tarot altar intention to help me improve my self-growth and improve my self-worth,”

To set your intention, stand over the surface or area where your altar will be and state your purpose aloud. Or, if you prefer, you can silently chant your intention.

Types of Tarot Altars

You may be pleasantly surprised to find many different types of altars. In this section, I’ll give you four examples and what they can be used for.

Love Tarot Altar

If you’re seeking the love of your life, you can set up a love-themed tarot altar. You may want to stick to romantic-themed decks to help keep the flow of romance at your altar.

Purposes:

  • Healing from a past lover.
  • Manifest new love.
  • Gaining divine insight into your relationship.
  • Discover what’s holding you back from finding the love of your life.

Suggested Altar Items to Enhance Love Intentions:

  • Rose quartz (love and compassion)
  • Dried rose buds and petals
  • Your favorite perfume that reminds you of love or rose oil.
  • You can also add hibiscus to evoke love as well.
  • Use the colors white and any shade of pink or red to promote feelings and invocations of love.

Spiritual Tarot Altar

If you want to strengthen your spiritual path or learn more about your spiritual journey, a spiritual-themed tarot altar may be for you!

Purposes:

  • Discover your soul’s journey.
  • Learn about your past lives.
  • Enhance the bond between you and a tarot deck.
  • Discover your spiritual gifts.
  • Get closer to your deities, angels, and spirit guides.
  • Perform cord-cutting rituals to release people and things that no longer serve you.
  • Strengthen your ability to work with your personal source of magic.
  • Remember loved ones, pets, and those that have crossed over.
  • Increase spiritual protection around your home.
  • Heal your energy fields.

Suggest Altar Items to Enhance Spirutal Awakenings:

  • Amethyst (psychic awareness)
  • Sodalite (spiritual healing)
  • Moonstone (evokes intuition)
  • Dragons blood (resin that promotes powerful spiritual protection or enhances communication between you and your dragon spirit guides)
  • You can also add white sage to promote protection
  • Palo santo can be used to invite high vibrational spirit guides in.
  • You can add statues that represent your spirit guides as well.

spiritual tarot

Career Tarot Altar

If you’re looking to build your own business or enhance your career, you may want to try a career-themed tarot altar.

Purposes:

  • Find a new job
  • Cut ties with a job that is no longer serving you.
  • Start a new career.
  • Enhance your career skills.
  • Begin a new business.
  • Attract the right employees for your job position.

Suggest Altar Items to Enhance Finances or Career Intentions:

  • Aventurine (improves health and enhances abundance)
  • Citrine (promotes powerful abundance)
  • Clear quartz can also be used if you do not have aventurine or citrine.
  • Use tobacco flower or bay leaves to evoke money spells or enhance your career intentions.
  • You can also place a bill that you want to remove from your life directly on your altar.

College Tarot Altar

Are you in college and want to improve your studies? You may want to consider setting up a tarot altar.

Purposes:

  • Break habits holding you back from studying.
  • Improve your study skills.
  • Set intentions for the upcoming college year.
  • Attract positive college friends.
  • Discover what you may wish to major in.
  • Strengthen your test-taking skills.
  • Reduce social anxiety in college.
  • Overcome public speaking fear in classes.
  • Boost your confidence.

Suggested Altar Items to Enhance College Intentions:

  • Clear quartz (promotes focus)
  • Orange calcite (helps you absorb information while studying)
  • Amethyst (repel headaches that you may experience when slipping in an intense study session.
  • You can also use lavender to help you clear your mind so that you absorb information better.
  • Place any test or study material on your altar to help you enhance the chances of passing your next test or keeping the information you are learning from disappearing inside your mind.

tarot

Best Crystals for Tarot Altars

Crystals can help you amplify the energy and intention of your tarot altar. I have included a few to get you started:

Rose Quartz: Self-love, romance, compassion

Turquoise: tranquility, fortune, and protection.

Black Tourmaline: Repels negative energies, grounds, and protects.

Amethyst: Spiritual Awareness increases psychic energy and allows positive personal growth.

Angel Aura Quartz: Increases protection, connects you to the angelic realms, and high vibrational healing.

Setting Up Your Altar

Ideally, when setting up your altar, you’ll want to pick a theme and intention as stated in previous paragraphs. You’ll want to place an offering bowl in the center of the altar. You’ll then put your decks beside the offering bowl.

Next, you’ll select a couple of statues, flowers, or crystals and place them around the altar in any pattern you feel drawn to.

To represent your deities, you can use a white and green candle if you are polytheistic. If you believe in a monotheistic pantheon, you can use a status such as a cross, animal, or even a photo frame to represent your pantheon.

When ready to use your altar, begin by performing a consecration ritual.

Tarot Altar Consecration Ritual 

A consecration ritual helps you to align the tools and bless them for your tarot altar. You can also bless the tarot altar itself. I’ll show you how in this easy ritual below:

Items Needed:

  • Purified water (spring water will work as well)
  • Cup or Chalice.
  • A knife or athame (ritual knife meant to cut energetic cords)
  • Coins or cups of soil represent the earth.
  • Sage spray or another smudging tool such as palo santo.
  • Your chosen crystals, tarot decks, clothes, and bags.
  • White candle
  • Sage, or another smudging resource.
  1. Light a white candle and ask your guides to protect you and your tarot altar space.
  2. Begin by smudging yourself and your tarot altar area.
  3. Smudge all of the tools and decks.
  4. Now, pour the spring water into the chalice or cup.
  5. Run the blade over the white candle flame, careful not to burn the athame, while saying: “This athame will cut any unnecessary cords to me or my tarot altar.”
  6. Pass it over the water and say: “This athame is cleansed of any emotions attached to it.”
  7. Next, Pass it over the bowl of soil and say: “This athame is grounded and in tune with the cycles of the earth.”
  8. Next, take your tarot decks and repeat step 5 with it in place of the athame. 
  9. You will do the same for each tool on your altar.
  10. Next, take the cup of water, walk clockwise around your tarot altar, and say: “I cleanse and heal any emotional energy of this space.”
  11. Take the bowl of soil and walk in a clockwise direction around your altar, saying: “With earth, I ground and grow this altar space for abundance and finances.”
  12. Now walk around the altar with the candle and say: “I ignite passion and high vibrational energy to surround the altar and keep unwanted energy from entering this dedicated practice space.”
  13. When ready, pour the soil and water back into the earth, thanking the universe for blessing your tarot altar space. 
  14. Use a candle snuffer to put the candle out.
  15. Before leaving the altar, place the tools back in their original place and use a broom to sweep any energy that may have accumulated there.

altar

Getting Into a Tarot Altar Routine

Keeping up with a daily tarot altar routine will help you improve your relationship with your tarot practice. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Begin each morning with a meditation at your altar.
  • Draw a card to begin your day and end your evening.
  • Provide spiritual healing for yourself or others.
  • Use this space as a daily space for growth and prayer.
  • Daily journaling using the tarot and your altar.
  • Connect with a pet who has passed away.
  • Get clarity on what to do in a situation.
  • Discover who you are at a soul level.
  • Find your soul’s calling.
  • Enhance your psychic abilities.

Here’s an example schedule and what it might look like for you:

7 AM wake up.

8 AM wash face.

9 AM meditation at tarot altar.

10 AM daily tarot reading at tarot altar.

5 PM tarot altar meditation

6 PM nightly tarot reading.

8 PM tea and tarot journaling.

Before setting up your tarot altar, take a moment to look over some answers I have provided for some commonly asked questions.

Tarot Altar FAQs

Question: How do you Make a Tarot Altar?

Answer: To make an altar, you first will find your intention, select items you have a spiritual connection to, unique crystals, or smudging tools to keep your space sacred. Then you will hold a consecration ritual to help elevate and protect your altar space’s energy.

Question: What is the Purpose of a Tarot Cloth?

Answer: A tarot cloth is a piece of fabric usually made of silk or soft cotton that is wrapped around your tarot to protect it from collecting dust. It also helps to keep the energy of your tarot deck high vibrational.

Question: How do you Clean Tarot Sets?

Answer: Want to keep your tarot set clean on your altar? Here are a few ways you can keep the energy purified:
Smudging- use smoke from incense, palo santo, and sage, for example, to clear our energies from your deck.
Crystals- if you’re sensitive to smoke, you can use crystals such as clear quartz and selenite to remove energies that may have been absorbed in your deck.
Music- play soft, gentle melodies near your deck to clear the energies. You can even use frequency energy sounds to aid you in this process.
Moonlight- you can place your deck under a full moon to charge the deck. You can also place your deck under the waning moon to clear off energy.

Conclusion

Setting up a tarot altar can be beneficial to help you explore your tarot reading abilities, cast healing and powerful tarot spells, and help enhance your abilities. Remember that this altar is best decorated but what symbols, crystals, and tools have spiritual meaning for you.

Also, while this article is a guide, let your intuition guide you always.

Continue reading:

10 Card Tarot Spread Guide

Reconciliation Tarot Spread Guide: 3 Easy Spreads

Ostara Tarot Spread Guide: 2 Spreads for the Spring Celebrations

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