I began reading the cards right around the same time that I started my first herbal business. When I was 12. And by herbal business, I mean concoctions that I made in a closet-like room under the house and labeled with designs I made in MS Paint (nostalgia moment!).

I also bought my first deck of tarot cards that year. A few years earlier, my Grandma had shown me some basic tricks on how to convince folks you were psychic with a regular deck of playing cards along with some basic fortune-telling tips. It was with my bought-with-babysitting-money Waite-Smith tarot deck that I fell madly in love with the world of tarot. With this deck of 78 scenes of the magickal and mundane my sense of self bloomed as what once felt like disparate pieces of my world suddenly began to have storylines of clarity between them.

I'm still reading the cards and still concocting herbal wares (though I've upgraded from MS Paint). The two practices have long overlapped and intertwined (and I've happily taught both tarot and herbalism for a few years now). I realized early on that to understand plants I couldn't always rely on human language patterns - plants often expressed themselves more visually and abstractly. With the complex-yet-simple images of my beloved tarot deck I found that I could access deeper levels of conversation with my equally beloved plant kin. The tarot helped to rewild my tongue, so to speak, and I found myself able to wordsmith more effectively and honorably about my experiences with plant remedies.

So, in honor of the season of Hallows and our continuing work of building sustainable and wisdom gleaning relationships with our plant allies, I offer the following tarot spread for conversing with plants you encounter along your path.

Wild Tongue: Plant Ally Tarot Spread

Card 1: The plant profile
- An overview of the plant's energies and gifts. Try summing up the story of this card from a first person (or plant) perspective. "I bring the gift of courage to trust my own strength" might be the message from Borage (Borago officinalis) if you pull the Strength card.
Card 2: What the plant strengthens
- Pay attention to the beneficial energies of the card, as well as elemental clues (such as Wands or Fire telling us that the plant may be warming or alternatively, good for overheated conditions such as inflammation). Pull out your materia medica and a plant actions list (action words like alterative, mucilaginous, and diaphoretic) to find helpful words to translate this card.
Card 3: What the plant teaches us
- While plant lessons are complex, this card shows the most consistent lesson that this plant teaches those who use it. Pull out an emotion words chart (here's one with over 4000 emotion words!) for additional word choices to help you translate this card.
Card 4: The type of person who most needs this plant's medicine
- Knowing what type of person a plant is most useful for can help us better relate to a plant and its healing gifts. Pay attention to the characters in the card, their expressions and surroundings.
Card 5: The plant's message to you right now
- The final card is a message from the plant specific to you and your current needs.

I hope that the Wild Tongue: Plant Ally Tarot Spread creates many opportunities for you to converse with your plant kin!