Tarot deck shown is the Rider Waite Smith published by US Games. Photo by Magenta
There’s something about Halloween that makes us want to pull out our tarot cards and have a proper look at ourselves. Maybe it’s the seasonal shift, or perhaps it’s just that October energy that seems to make introspection feel more accessible somehow.
We specialise in lowering the barrier between the spiritual and the psychological, so for those of you who have done the tarot readings, the the spells and the affirmations in the run up to previous Halloween festivals, and you still sense something is missing, then this is for you.
This time of year often gets reduced to costumes, partying and trick-or-treating, but we believe it’s actually a rather powerful moment for turning inward and when we think about using tarot for self-reflection, Halloween offers something quite unique.
This isn’t about fortune-telling or predicting what’s going to happen to you next Tuesday. Instead, we’re talking about using tarot spreads as tools for examining where you are right now, what challenges you’re facing, and what your intuition might be trying to tell you. It’s more like holding up a mirror than gazing into a crystal ball, blending the wisdom of psychology with the mystery of magick because healing shouldn’t make you choose between meaning and method.
This means we use the cards to help you notice aspects of yourself that you might be avoiding or simply haven’t paid attention to. These shadow elements, or the bits we’d rather not acknowledge, often contain the keys to personal growth. We’ve found that Halloween-themed tarot spreads can be particularly effective for this kind of inner work. Whether you’re looking to gain clarity on the year ahead goals-wise or simply want to use the cards as a way to reflect your own wisdom back to yourself, the spreads we’ll share today can guide you through some meaningful self-discovery.
The question is: are you ready to see what the cards might reveal about what’s been hiding beneath the surface?
A Simple Self-Reflection Spread to Start With
We know that diving straight into complex tarot spreads can feel overwhelming, so let’s start somewhere manageable. Let’s begin with a three-card spread that offers a surprisingly profound framework for inner discovery, and this one is particularly well-suited to Halloween’s reflective energy.
This approach focuses on three essential questions that help illuminate your inner landscape. The beauty lies in its simplicity, just three cards that create a powerful mirror for self-examination. Sometimes the most straightforward methods yield the deepest insights.
Card 1: What part of me needs to be seen?
The first card represents aspects of yourself that are seeking acknowledgment. Much like the “Within” position in some of the more traditional spreads, this card gives insights into your thoughts, emotions, and energy affecting your current situation. We’re looking for the hidden part of yourself that might be overlooked but deserves recognition.
When interpreting this card, pay close attention to how the imagery makes you feel. Consider how it relates to aspects of yourself that might be masked or repressed. This card often highlights strengths you’ve forgotten or parts of yourself yearning for expression. Trust your gut reaction because it’s usually telling you something important.
Card 2: What can I learn from my shadow?
The second card explores your shadow side and helps uncover what Carl Jung described as the shadow self. This card is the hidden, often unconscious parts of yourself. Your shadow represents fears, suppressed emotions, or aspects you might not be aware of. This card is about learning from that and that is where things get interesting…
When you look at the card, ask yourself: What about this card challenges me? How does it make me feel? Are there symbols or characters that seem particularly difficult? Your reactions often reveal important insights about your shadow aspects. We believe that the discomfort you feel when looking at certain cards can be just as valuable as the comfort.
For extra depth have a look at the relationship between this card and the first card. Are there similarities between what needs to be expressed and any fears or challenges?
Card 3: What can I release with gratitude?
The final card identifies what you’re ready to let go of with appreciation rather than regret. This position functions similarly to the “What you need to release” card in shadow work spreads, but with an emphasis on gratitude. It reveals patterns, beliefs, or emotions that have served their purpose and are now ready for transformation.
Again, for extra depth have a look at the relationship between this card and the other cards. Are there themes that are shared across all three cards? After completing your reading, take time to journal about these insights. This reflective practise helps process thoughts and emotions, making it easier to integrate lessons from your shadow work. Consider these reflective questions for your journal:
- How do these shadow aspects impact your life?
- What steps can you take to acknowledge and embrace these parts of yourself?
- How can you use this awareness for personal growth and healing?
Remember, tarot is ultimately a mirror reflecting what you need to see, both the obvious and the hidden. For us, the cards aren’t fortune-telling devices, they’re tools for self-reflection that work best when you approach them with genuine curiosity about yourself.
More Complex Halloween Spreads
Once you’re comfortable with that three-card approach, you might want to try something with a bit more depth. These themed spreads are designed to work with Halloween’s particular energy, and we’ve found them quite effective for getting beyond surface-level insights.
Spread 1: The 6 Card Spread For a Social, Emotional and Spiritual Check-in
This six-card layout gives you a more detailed overview of where you are across all areas of life. We suggest finding somewhere comfortable, taking a moment to centre yourself, and connecting with whatever wisdom feels accessible before you start shuffling. Then draw cards for:
- What is happening right now?
- How can I move through it with ease?
- What am I learning from this life cycle?
- What is currently leaving?
- What should I make additional room for?
- What’s my medicine for the moment?
Here’s something important, before you reach for any guidebooks spend time with your immediate response to the cards. Notice the colours, patterns in the suits, the imagery, how they make you feel. Your first reaction often contains more wisdom than you might expect.
Spread 2: The Five Card Spread Hallow vs Hollow – What truly matters to you?
We particularly like this Halloween-themed spread because it helps you distinguish between what’s genuinely meaningful (hallowed) and what might just be taking up space (hollow) in your life. The wordplay isn’t just for fun, this spread connects directly to Halloween’s deeper roots while giving you a framework for some serious reflection.
Draw cards for:
- A Trick: Where to shake yourself up
- A Treat: Where to nurture yourself
- Something Precious: What deserves your attention
- Something Powerful: A strength to tap into
- A Remembrance: Something from the past to honour
This layout can be quite revealing about where you’re spending your energy and whether it’s actually serving you.
Spread 3: Scorpio Season – Five Card Spread for Deep Emotional Insight
The Scorpio energy that pervades Halloween season is particularly suited to intense emotional work. Scorpio connects to the Death card, which represents transformation and rebirth rather than literal endings and this spread doesn’t mess about:
Pull five cards for:
- What have I been living under an illusion about?
- What fantasy or false belief must I release?
- What hidden truth do I need to own?
- What wise choice can I make regarding this truth?
- How will owning this truth transform my life?
These five and six card spreads can take you well beyond surface-level awareness into genuine transformation territory. We’d recommend creating a quiet, safe space for yourself before attempting any of these, particularly that last one. You’ll be exploring shadow aspects and making friends with parts of yourself that might feel distinctly uncomfortable. Journalling afterwards helps integrate whatever insights emerge from your Halloween self-reflection practise.
Creating a Safe Space for Inner Work
Here’s something we’ve learned from years of working with tarot: the cards have a way of showing you exactly what you’re not ready to see, and sometimes when you’re not ready to see it. This is particularly true when you’re doing the kind of shadow work that Halloween spreads tend to encourage.
We believe that emotional safety isn’t optional when you’re doing serious inner work with tarot. It’s rather like creating a protective circle, not because the cards themselves are dangerous but because the insights they reveal can be unexpectedly challenging.
Why Emotional Safety Matters During Tarot Reflection
Tarot acts as a mirror, and mirrors can be unforgiving. When you’re exploring shadow aspects or confronting parts of yourself you’d rather avoid, having a sense of safety allows you to engage with whatever comes up without becoming overwhelmed.
We’ve seen people dive into intense tarot work without the proper preparation, and it made for difficult watching. Just be aware that the cards might reflect something your logic side is just not equipped to handle at that moment. Creating emotional sanctuary gives you the space to process these difficult revelations.
This safety isn’t about avoiding uncomfortable truths. Rather, it’s about creating the right container for those truths to emerge and be processed constructively. Think of it as the difference between having a difficult conversation in a supportive environment versus being blindsided in a hostile one.
Journalling Your Tarot Insights
We cannot emphasise this enough: write things down. The insights that feel crystal clear during a reading have a tendency to become fuzzy within hours, possibly because our minds protect us from information we’re not quite ready to fully integrate.
Your journalling approach should feel natural to you. Some people write pages of reflection, others prefer bullet points. What matters is capturing not just what the cards seemed to say, but how you felt about what they said.
Consider these questions as you write:
- What physical sensations did you notice during the reading?
- Where did you feel resistance or excitement in your body?
- Which cards made you want to look away?
Setting the right atmosphere can help make journalling feel less like homework and more like a continuation of your ritual. We’ve found that keeping the same candles lit or music playing can help maintain that reflective state.
Staying Grounded After Intense Readings
Halloween spreads can leave you feeling rather stirred up. This is perfectly normal, but you’ll want to come back to earth before going about your day.
Practical grounding techniques work best so start by drinking some water mindfully, not just gulping it down, have something to eat, or do some gentle movement. Physical sensations such as these can help anchor you back in your body after spending time in the realm of symbols and archetypes.
We’ve also found it helpful to “park” intense readings for a day or two before attempting to make sense of them. Sometimes what feels earth-shattering in the moment looks quite different after you’ve slept on it. This emotional cooling period can provide valuable perspective when you return to the insights you noted down.
The key is acknowledging that this inner work can be potent stuff, and treating yourself accordingly.
Design Your Own Halloween Spread
Once you’ve experimented with the spreads we’ve shared, you might find yourself wanting something more tailored to your particular questions. Creating your own Halloween tarot layout can be the most personal way to approach self-reflection through the cards. Your custom spread becomes a mirror that’s designed specifically for what you need to explore.
Choose a theme that resonates with you
The theme becomes the backbone of your spread, influencing both how it looks and how it feels to work with. Halloween gives you plenty of rich material to draw from whether this is transformation, shadow work, ancestral connections, or seasonal cycles. What matters most is choosing something that speaks to where you are in your life right now.
Some Halloween-inspired themes worth considering:
- The Moon: What is an illusion versus what is a genuine gift in your life
- The Mask: The different faces you wear and what lies beneath
- The Veil Between Worlds: Connecting with your intuition or exploring what’s been hidden
The key is to pick something that makes you curious rather than something that feels like homework.
Decide how many cards and what questions to ask
We’d suggest keeping your spread to fifteen cards or less. Any more than that and you risk overwhelming yourself with too much information to process meaningfully. Start by brainstorming every question related to your theme, then pare them down until you have a coherent story unfolding across the positions.
Each card position should serve a specific purpose such as representing different people in a situation, various choices you’re considering, or layers of understanding you want to uncover. The positions should flow logically from one to the next, building towards insight rather than just collecting random information.
Use symbols and archetypes that feel meaningful
Halloween’s symbolism offers powerful imagery for personal exploration. Jung’s archetypes of Persona, Shadow, Anima/Animus, and Self can provide excellent frameworks for Halloween spreads. These symbols help you externalise your internal world, making it easier to gain new perspectives and insights.
Think about how you want to arrange your cards visually. Perhaps a pentagram for protection and balance, or a simple line that represents a journey from one state to another. The physical layout should support the story you’re trying to tell through the cards.
Trust what feels right for your own Halloween self-reflection practise. After all, you know your inner landscape better than anyone else.
Halloween Tarot: Your Journey Forward
Halloween provides a rather unique opportunity for tarot-based self-reflection, and we hope the spreads we’ve shared give you a practical starting point for this kind of inner work. The three-card approach offers simplicity when you’re beginning, whilst the themed layouts can take you deeper when you’re ready for more intensive exploration.
Of course tarot isn’t going to solve all your problems and nor does it predict your future with crystal clarity. What it can do is create space for you to notice patterns, acknowledge aspects of yourself that might need attention, and perhaps gain some perspective on where you are right now. The cards themselves don’t hold magickal powers, you do. The insights come from your own willingness to look honestly at what emerges.
So this Halloween, consider giving yourself permission to sit quietly with your cards and see what emerges. You might discover something useful about yourself, or you might simply enjoy a moment of reflection during a busy season. Either outcome is perfectly valid, and both are more valuable than you might initially realise.
References
Credit where credit is due, we aim to cite our sources because we value truthful content. 1 source were referenced during research to write this, but you are encouraged to follow our other links as well.
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