Easter in the Land of Oz: The Spiritual Opportunity
Easter, Tarot and the Spiritual Opportunity
Here in Australia, Good Friday has a particular feel to it. The shops shut, the city slows down, and even if we’re not religious, the atmosphere shifts – it’s like the whole country takes a breath.
Good Friday is a bit like a collective descent. In the Christian story, it’s the moment everything breaks: the teacher is betrayed, hope seems to die, and nothing makes sense anymore. You don’t have to identify as Christian to recognise that energy; most of us know what it’s like to stand in a life‑moment that feels like “this should not be happening.”
In the Tarot, I see Good Friday in the Death card, the Hanged Man, and the 10 of Swords – those thresholds where something is ending, perspective is forced to change, and an old story can’t be carried any further. It’s not about punishment; it’s about honesty. What is actually over? What can’t be sustained? What are you being quietly asked to lay down?
You don’t need to rush to the “happy ending” of Easter Sunday. Good Friday can simply be a day to tell the truth about your pain, your fatigue, your grief, or your anger – and to let one small thing die with dignity: a pattern, a mask, a role, a belief about yourself. This is sacred work.
If you sit with your Tarot deck on Good Friday, you might ask:
“What am I being invited to release, so that when new life comes, there will be room for it?” Consider this a one card Tarot spread if you will.
Easter Saturday – The In‑between Day
In one way, Easter Saturday is the pause between stories. Not the drama of Good Friday, not the joy of Sunday – the strange middle space where nothing seems to be happening on the surface, but everything is quietly rearranging underneath.
Energetically, it feels like the 4 of Swords, the Hermit, and the soft side of the High Priestess. This is cave energy. Cocoon energy. The part of the journey where you can’t see the outcome yet, only the fact that the old chapter has closed and the new one hasn’t fully arrived.
In a culture that loves answers and “what’s next?”, Easter Saturday is wildly counter‑cultural. It invites us to rest in not‑knowing, to let the nervous system drop a level, to sit with Spirit in the silence between breaths.
If you’d like to do a two card reading today, perhaps you can ask;
1. What is gestating in the dark deep inside me?
2. What would it feel like to stop pushing for an outcome, just for today?
In the in-between space you know you don’t have to understand the whole story. You’re allowed to just be, like the seed resting in the soil.
Easter Sunday – Resurrection and New Life
Easter Sunday is the moment the story tilts towards life again. In Christian language, it’s resurrection; in everyday language, it’s the way light sneaks back into places we were sure would stay dark forever.
In the Tarot deck this is Judgement and The Sun: the call that wakes something deep inside you, and the warmth of being fully seen, fully alive, in your own skin. It’s not a return to “how things were.” Rather, t’s the birth of a different you, on the other side of all you’ve released.
Here in Australia, we meet this resurrection energy in autumn, as the madness of daylight savings ends, the days naturally shorten and the trees begin to think about letting go. That’s its own kind of magic: new life rising inside us while the outer world is turning inward.
If you’re up for doing another card reading for yourself, why not ask:
1. What part of me is being called back to life?
2. What joy or calling am I ready to say a wholehearted ‘yes’ to?
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Thats not the point, it never is. Just notice where the light is returning – and let yourself step towards it.