Spelloween 2025: Day 4

Don’t mind me. Trying to get back into the groove of habits left behind. Today is October 4, 2025, and it’s time to have some fun. Each day of the month of October, I’m going to put together a little spell that involves one of my favorite tools: Tarot cards.

None of this is meant to be taken seriously, unless you want it to be so. All of this is in fun and with good intentions. All of this is meant to bring me joy. If you get some of that joy-juice as well, then all the better.

Day 4: The Empress – The Seneschal’s Report

Gather the following:

• The Empress card (or equivalent) from your favorite tarot deck. If you are not using a tarot deck but a different sortilege system, then use the card/token that corresponds to oversight of personal resources.
• A leaf of note paper. It should be large enough to write a sentence and a short list on, but not so large that it will be cumbersome to manipulate and fold later.
• A writing utensil.
• Do this prior to a night when you are sure that you will have a “good night’s sleep”. As that varies from person to person, you want to have sleep long enough to experience a dream. Being a lucid dreamer will help in the conclusion of this spell, but is not required.

The spell:

1. The idea for this spell is that you receive a “report” of some of what is important in your life and suggestions for how to improve those things. So, on the leaf of note paper, write the following sentence: “By decree of the Empress [or whomever is the Keeper of Resources in your deck], I require a report for the following:”
2. Under that sentence, write what aspects or functions in your life that you want to know more about. Identify tangible resources and actions like “the flow of my money”, “the state of my clothes”, “access to transportation”, “the usefulness of my larder”. The idea being that while you have immediate knowledge of what is immediately at hand, how your resources are being used and maintained is not always apparent except in emergency situations. So why not check on them now, when it’s not an emergency.
3. If you are unsure what to list or if there feels like there are too many things to consider, then write “By decree of the Empress, I require a report for those matters that require my immediate attention.”
4. Take the Empress card in your dominant hand and hold it above your head while taking the declaration paper and holding it in front of you.
5. Speak (with or without sound) the following: “I am the Empress of my life, and by rights I am due an accounting of what is in the bounds of my control. It is my will to know what matters require my immediate attention, and it is my will to be informed of such.” (If this wording is too stiff for you, feel free to change it to your personal preferences.)
6. Fold the note paper around the Empress card and place it under your pillow. If you are concerned about damaging the card, then place it under or as close to your bed as your furnishings permit.
7. Go to bed. (Sweet dreams!)
8. In the morning, write down what you remember of your dreams, even if the dream made no sense to you and doesn’t seem to have any connection to what you have written. Regardless if you remember your dreams or not, take a moment to think about what you had written the night before, and record any insights that just appear “out of the blue”.
9. Compare your morning notes with what you had written. Is there anything that jumps out at you? Are there concerns that you had not thought was anything important but you couldn’t help but think of them when you got up? If nothing happened, don’t think of this as a failure. It means that you are already considering what needs to be considered and that there is nothing new to report.
10. Return the card to your deck. Keep or discard the note paper as you will.
11. Optional: Be a little extra with your breakfast. Put whipped cream on your coffee. Use the Good China to eat your cereal from. Fold a napkin to put your toasted pastries on and serve yourself as hoity-toity as you can.

While this spell is repeatable, it’s not a good idea to request such a report each and every night. The Seneschal’s Report is to highlight what is not immediately apparent to you, and changing what it reveals takes time. A monthly check-up is a good habit to make unless your circumstances permit a longer report period or a more immediate one due to immediate concerns.