Tarot Magic Mini-Course: Lesson 10: Tarot Magic at the Crossroads

10 min readNov 16, 2024

Welcome to Tarot Magic — a revolutionary new way to use the archetypes of the tarot for powerful personal transformation, practical enchantment, and spiritual growth.

In this mini-course, I’m providing free access to selected material in the full Tarot Magic course. If you enjoy this material, please consider signing up for the complete course here.

Magic at the Crossroads

The concept of the crossroads as a place of magic extends into antiquity and across cultures. The crossroads is a liminal place, a place between the words, where the mundane and spiritual words intersect — and that’s where magic manifests.

One of the most profound moments in my study of magic was watching hoodoo expert Professor Charles Porterfield giving a talk at a witch conference in Salem, Massachusetts. He took a piece of chalk and drew a cross on the floor at his feet. “You don’t need to go to a crossroads,” he said, banging his cane in the center of the diagram. “You are the crossroads.”

And he’s right. (His books are fantastic, too, and highly recommended.)

In witchcraft, there’s a tradition of drawing a magical circle, and delineated circles have been part of ceremonial magic for centuries. Sometimes, the magical circle is viewed as an energetic enclosure, protecting the witch or magician from malign influences. This is considered especially important when doing any sort of summoning.

In witchcraft traditions, the circle is also used as a container for energy. Often, the energy is raised and concentrated within the circle, then projected outward toward a desired target or goal (sometimes called raising a cone of power).

A very easy way to create a liminal space — whether you wish to consider it a crossroads or a magic circle — is with the tarot aces. Since you have already created an altar with your aces, you can probably see where this is going. Here’s how you should proceed.

Creating the Crossroads with the Tarot Aces

Find a quiet place where you will have privacy and will not be disturbed. Gather the four aces and four of your tarot stands (if you don’t have stands available, you can just place the cards on the floor — but please endeavor to find some stands, as the vertical cards make a huge difference).

If you’d like, light some incense and put on some ambient/non-melodic sounds (again, I highly recommend Tintinnabulation, which you can find on streaming services or purchase the CD).

You will need space to sit or stand within an area you will delineate with the four aces, so make sure you have enough room to comfortably sit or stand within this crossroads (or, if you prefer, magical circle). Stand in the center of the space.

Place the stands in the four cardinal directions outside of your space. You can easily determine the directions using your phone’s built-in compass. Don’t worry if the room you are in is not rigidly aligned with the cardinal directions — if it’s close, just work as if the right angles of the room are aligned, even if it is somewhat off.

Place your aces on the stands, facing inward, on the standard directions (you probably have this memorized by now): Ace of Swords in the east, wands in the south, cups in the west, and coins in the north. Make sure the cards are facing inward (faces toward you).

Optionally, you can place an object representing each element with each ace — a feather for air in the east, a spicy red pepper or piece of lava rock for fire in the south, a chalice or cup of water for water in the west, and a crystal or some dirt for earth in the north. Or use candles with the elemental colors — white or gray in the east, red in the south, blue in the west, and green or black in the north. Use whatever makes sense to you, or look online for suggestions.

Sanctifying the Crossroads

When you have the cards arranged in the four cardinal directions, facing inward, you’ve created your crossroads. Stand in the center, close your eyes, and breathe slowly and deeply. Do you notice any difference in your mental state?

Now you can call forth the elemental energies from each of the four directions. There are many ways to this, from a large number of traditions. This is referred to as calling the quarters, calling the guardians of the watchtowers, and calling the elements/elementals. You may want to experiment with the many different traditions you can find in books or online. But one simple practice has always worked best for me, and that goes for most of my practice — simple is generally more powerful than complex (I sometimes call this the KISS principle: Keep it Simple, Sorcerer).

Try it and see how it works for you.

Calling the Elements

1. Stand facing the east and the Ace of Swords. Take a moment to gaze softly at the card. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Extend your arms to your sides and say (aloud, if possible): “Come to me, and fill me, air of the east.” Visualize and/or imagine blue air, white clouds, and wind. Feel the air on your skin. Then bring your arms across your chest, like you’re hugging yourself. As you bring your arms into your body, visualize or imagine pulling that cool, brisk air energy into yourself. As you hug yourself, feel the cool elemental air circulating through your body. Additionally, you can visualize the Ace of Swords as you feel the air energy moving within you. Relax in this feeling while taking a few deep breaths.

2. Now move to the south and the Ace of Wands (or turn in place, if you’re in a small space). Take a moment to gaze softly at the card. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Extend your arms to your sides and say (aloud, if possible): “Come to me, and fill me, fire of the south.” Visualize and/or imagine red-hot flames and elemental fire. Feel the heat on your skin. Then bring your arms across your chest, like you’re hugging yourself. As you bring your arms into your body, visualize or imagine pulling that hot, fiery energy into yourself. As you hug yourself, feel the elemental fire circulating through your body. Additionally, you can visualize the Ace of Wands card as you feel the fire energy circulating. Relax in this feeling as you take a few deep breaths.

3. Now move or turn in place to face the south and the Ace of Cups. Take a moment to gaze softly at the card. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Extend your arms to your sides and say (aloud, if possible): “Come to me, and fill me, water of the west.” Visualize and/or imagine cool flowing elemental water — perhaps as the waves of an immense ocean. Feel the moisture on your skin. Then bring your arms across your chest, like you’re hugging yourself. As you bring your arms into your body, visualize or imagine pulling that wet and flowing energy into yourself. As you hug yourself, feel the elemental water circulating throughout your body. Additionally, you can visualize the Ace of Cups card as you feel the water energy circulating. Relax in this feeling as you take a few deep breaths.

4. Finally, move or turn and face the north and the Ace of Coins. Take a moment to gaze softly at the card. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Extend your arms to your sides and say (aloud, if possible): “Come to me, and fill me, earth of the north.” Visualize and/or imagine heavy and dense earth energy — perhaps an immense mountain, or interior of a cave. Feel the heaviness on your skin and your connection to the earth beneath you. Then bring your arms across your chest, like you’re hugging yourself. As you bring your arms into your body, visualize or imagine pulling that dense and solidifying energy into yourself, rooting you in place. As you hug yourself, feel the elemental earth circulating throughout your body and anchoring you through your feet. Additionally, you can visualize the Ace of Coins card as you feel the water energy circulating. Relax in this feeling as you take a few deep breaths.

5. Now, move or turn back to the east/Ace of Swords.

Imagine or visualize all four of the elements — air, fire, water, and earth — commingling within you: the mental/intellectual energies of air, the hot passionate desire and ambition of fire, the emotional, psychic and mystical energies of water, and the solid, physical and stabilizing energies of earth. Visualize the energies streaming from the four directions to your center and filling you completely.

Say (aloud if possible): “I am air, I am fire, I am water, I am earth.”

Pay attention to how you feel. You’ve established your crossroads and invited the elements. Now you can utilize the sacred crossroads, whether it’s for meditation or practical rituals.

Closing the Crossroads

When we open or create a sanctified space, it’s important to close it. This can also be a simple process, too.

1. Facing the east/Ace of Swords, with eyes open. Cross your arms in the center of your chest, then spread them open to your sides, saying, “I thank and release you, air.”

2. Turn to face the north/Ace of Coins (you are closing the crossroads counterclockwise).Cross your arms in the center of your chest, then spread them open to your sides, saying, “I thank and release you, earth.”

3. Turn to face the west/Ace of Cups. Cross your arms in the center of your chest, then spread them open to your sides, saying, “I thank and release you, water.”

4. Turn to face the south/Ace of Wands. Cross your arms in the center of your chest, then spread them to your sides, saying, “I thank and release you, fire.”

5. Finally, turn back to the east/Ace of Swords. Pick up the ace from its base. Continue counterclockwise, picking up the Ace of Coins, then the Ace of Cups, then finally the Ace of Wands.

6. Face east. Clap your hands three times and say, “It is done.” That completes the ritual. Shake your body, jump up and down, and have a snack or a drink of water to help ground yourself.

Alternate Method: Creating a Magic Circle

Some people prefer the metaphor of a magic circle to a crossroads. Or you may already operate within a tradition that utilizes magic circles. The process is largely the same, with the following changes.

After you call in the air energy of the Ace of Swords, extend your arm with your index finger (or index and middle fingers). When you turn to face the south/Ace of Wands, use your extended finger to draw a line from the Ace of Swords to the Ace of Wand. You can visualize the line as white or light blue. Continue for each of the aces/elements, so that when you’ve returned to the east you’ve drawn a complete circle around your space.

You may want to use a magic wand or ritual knife (athame) to draw the circle. As you close the circle, you essentially “undraw” or erase the circle, visualizing it disappearing, as you turn counterclockwise.

Otherwise, the process is exactly the same and neither is more or less effective — it’s simply a preference, so try both if you wish and stick with what you like best.

That ends the Tarot Magic Mini-Course! Congratulations!

But there’s a LOT more …

There is much more included in the complete course, which I hope you will consider. The full course includes:

Making tarot talismans
Creating tarot mojo bags
A 22-week Journey into the Major Arcana—this is the life-changing exercise that will forever deepen your connection with the cards
Practical enchantment: More info on using tarot in spellwork
(Tarot) cards as weapons: Protective magic with tarot cards
Tarot and Psi: Developing and sharpening your intuition
Bringing magic to your readings
Adding Tarot Magic to other magical and spiritual traditions

If that sounds of interest, please check out the full Tarot Magic course today! And if you enjoyed this mini-course, please share it with your friends!

Michael M. Hughes is a writer, speaker, game designer, and magical thinker. He is the author of Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change(coming soon in a revised and updated edition), the Blackwater Lights Trilogy,as well as numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction, and he speaks and teaches classes on magic, tarot, pop culture, psychedelics, and more.

His comprehensive tarot course, The Art and Magic of the Tarot: Foundations, is available here, as well as his most recent course on Tarot Magic.

Michael’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, CNN, The L.A. Times, Rolling Stone, Comedy Central, Wired, Elle,Vox, Cosmopolitan, The Tamron Hall Show, and even the ultraconservative The American Spectator, which wrote: “He may play footsie with the devil, but at least the man has a sense of humor.”

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