Table of Contents
Introduction
Types of Cards
Card Meanings/Spreads
Where to Buy
How to Store Your Cards
Introduction
The belief that reading cards
can provide insight into the future has been a
belief of the occult for centuries. This
mystical ability is one that can be learned by
anyone with a dedication and devotion to the
craft. Tarot card reading is often associated
with gypsies and a belief in spiritual powers,
but in truth tarot cards can have a different
meaning and use for every person who uses them.
You can believe that the power of the cards
comes from just about anywhere but the
underlying focus is to have a faith in the power
of the cards.
This skill is not always perfect
and the cards may seem to give false readings
but that may simply be because the true meaning
of the cards was shrouded or because the future
foretold by the cards has yet to occur. It is
also important to know that each card can have
numerous different meanings.
Types of Cards
There are a number of different
types of cards that can be used to perform
readings; the type you choose is purely a
personal one. Each set of cards can sometimes be
used to discern certain aspects of the future.
Esoteric tarot
decks
In the
English-speaking world, where there is little or
no tradition of using tarots as playing cards,
tarot decks only became known through the
efforts of occultists influenced by French
tarotists such as Etteilla, and later, Eliphas
Lévi. These occultists later produced esoteric
decks that reflected their own ideas, and these
decks were widely circulated in the anglophone
world. Various esoteric decks such as the
Rider-Waite-Colman Smith deck (conceived by A.
E. Waite and rendered by Pamela Colman Smith),
and the Thoth Tarot deck (conceived by Aleister
Crowley and rendered by Lady Frieda Harris) --
and tarot decks inspired by those two decks --
are most typically used. Waite, Colman Smith,
Crowley and Harris were all former members of
the influential, Victorian-era Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn at different respective points
in time; and the Golden Dawn, in turn, was
influenced by Lévi and other French occult
revivalists. Although there were various other
respective influences (e.g., Etteilla's pip card
meanings in the case of Waite/Colman Smith),
Waite/Colman Smith's and Crowley/Harris' decks
were greatly inspired by the Golden Dawn's
member-use tarot deck and the Golden Dawn's
tarot curriculum.
Tarot de
Marseille in occultism
The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn was essentially the
first in the Anglophone world to venture into
esoteric tarot. Francophone occultists such as
Court de Gebelin, Etteilla, Eliphas Lévi, Oswald
Wirth and Papus were influential in fashioning
esoteric tarot in the French-speaking world; the
influence of these Francophone occultists has
come to bear even on interpretation of the Tarot
de Marseille cards themselves. Even though the
Tarot de Marseille decks are not 'occult' "per
se", the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille decks
arguably shows Hermetic influences (e.g.,
alchemy, astronomy, etc.). Referring to the
Tarot of the Bohemians, Eliphas Levi declares:
"This book, which may be older than that of
Enoch, has never been translated, but is still
preserved unmutilated in primeval characters, on
detached leaves, like the tablets of the
ancients... It is, in truth, a monumental and
extraordinary work, strong and simple as the
architecture of the pyramids, and consequently
enduring like those - a book which is the
summary of all sciences, which can resolve all
problems by its infinite combinations, which
speaks by evoking thought, is the inspirer and
moderator of all possible conceptions, and the
masterpiece perhaps of the human mind. It is to
be counted unquestionably among the very great
gifts bequeathed to us by ancient
historyantiquity..
In the
French-speaking world, users of the tarot for
divination and other esoteric purposes such as
Alexandro Jodorowsky, Kris Hadar, and many
others, continue to use the Tarot de Marseille,
although Oswald Wirth's Atouts-only (major-arcana)
tarot deck has enjoyed such popularity in the
20th century (albeit less so than the Tarot de
Marseille). Tarot decks from the
English-speaking tradition (such as
Rider-Waite-Colman Smith and decks based on it)
are also gaining some popularity in
French-speaking countries.
Paul Marteau
pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design
approach to interpreting the numbered minor
arcana cards ['pip cards'] of the Tarot de
Marseille. Prior to Marteau's book Le Tarot de
Marseille (which was first published "circa"
1930s), cartomantic meanings (such as Etteilla's)
were generally the only ones published for
interpreting Marseille pip cards. Even nowadays,
as evidenced by tarot readings of members of
French-language tarot lists and forums on the
Internet, many French tarotists employ only the
major arcana cards for divination. In fact, in
recognition of this, many French-language Tarot
de Marseille tarot books (even good ones, such
as Picard's) discuss the symbolism and
interpretation of only the major arcana. Many
fortune-tellers in France who use the "Tarot de
Marseille" for readings will use only the major
arcana and will use an Etteilla deck if they are
to use all 78 cards for the reading.
Occult tarot
decks
Etteilla was
the first to issue a revised tarot deck
specifically designed for occult purposes rather
than game playing. In keeping with the belief
that tarot cards are derived from the Book of
Thoth, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related
to ancient Egypt. The seventy eight card tarot
deck used by esotericists has two distinct
parts:
•
The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump
cards, consists of twenty two cards without
suits; The Fool, The Magician, The High
Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The
Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength,
The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The
Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The
Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement,
and The World.
•
The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of
fifty six cards, divided into four suits of
fourteen cards each; ten numbered cards and four
court cards. The court cards are the King,
Queen, Knight and Jack, in each of the four
tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits
are swords, batons, coins and cups; in modern
tarot decks, however, the batons suit is often
called wands, rods or staves, while the coins
suit is often called pentacles or disks.
The terms
major arcana and minor arcana were first used by
Jean Baptiste Pitois AKA Paul Christian and are
never used in relation to Tarot card games.
Tarot is often
used in conjunction with the study of the
Hermetic Qabalah. In these decks all the cards
are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic
principles, most being under the influence of
the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and bearing
illustrated scenes on all the suit cards. The
images on the 'Rider-Waite' deck were drawn by
artist Pamela Colman-Smith, to the instructions
of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward
Waite, and were originally published by the
Rider Company in 1910. This deck is considered a
simple, user friendly one but nevertheless its
imagery, especially in the Major Arcana, is
complex and replete with esoteric symbolism. The
subjects of the Major Arcana are based on those
of the earliest decks, but have been
significantly modified to reflect Waite and
Smith's view of Tarot. An important difference
from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew
scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards.
However the Rider-Waite wasn't the first deck to
include completely illustrated suit cards. The
first to do so was the 15th century Sola-Busca
deck.
The influence
of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Many of the
images of the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith (RWS or
WCS) deck are derived from the "Tarot de
Marseille". However, the influence of other
decks is also apparent in the RWCS deck, e.g.,
the 17th century Jacques Viéville deck for the
Sun card and the 16th century Sola Busca deck
for certain pip cards, notably the 3 of Swords
and 7 of Swords. The 19th century deck of
Swiss-French occultist Oswald Wirth was also
influential for certain of the iconographic
features of the Atouts or major arcana cards of
the RWCS deck.
The
Rider-Waite-tarot deck has been extremely
influential in the development of later
divinatory tarot decks to the extent that many
are called 'Rider-Waite clones' to indicate that
they are easily read by those familiar with
Rider-Waite. Examples of Rider-Waite clones
include, to varying degrees, the popular decks:
Universal Waite tarot deck, Golden Tarot,
Aquarian tarot deck, Nigel Jackson Tarot, Gilded
Tarot, Golden Rider, and many more. This deck
has also influenced the terminology used by
English speaking tarot users such that English
translations of traditional French or Italian
decks often use the nomenclature of the Rider
Waite deck although the traditional decks often
pre-date the Rider Waite by great number of
years.
Card
Meanings/Spreads
Each card in the deck has a
different meaning and this can change due to the
position of the card and whether or not it is
upside down. The card meanings can also depend
on the type of spread used.
Card Meanings
While each deck comes with its
own set of meaning for each card there are a
number of common images that you may come
across. There are also different meanings for
different types of cards and different meanings
for the card based on whether or not it is
reversed.
For example the Death card if
upright means the beginning of new life or major
changes. It can also mean the ending a certain
phase in life. It does not actually have a
negative meaning or foreshadow death if upright.
But if the card is reversed it signifies a
change that is unpleasant or painful. It can
also mean mental, physical or spiritual
exhaustion. Despite the bad reputation of this
card in few if any decks and spreads does it
actually mean death.
The same can be said for the
lovers card. Upright it means harmony and union.
It also means choices that must be made using
ones intellect and these choices do not even
have to be about love. If the card is reversed
however could point to infidelity,
indecisiveness and a warning to not make any
major decisions at this time.
These two examples show that you
should also read the information that is
included with your cards and do the proper
research before making assumptions about what
the cards mean. Many times the meaning behind
the cards is exaggerated in order to create a
more impressive effect but true tarot card
readers will embrace this ambiguity and know the
importance of reading the cards together.
If you focus on a basic deck of
78 cards that will include a number of different
groupings of cards. These include the Major
Arcana, the suit of wands, the suit of cups, the
suit of swords and the suit of coins. Each of
these suits and groupings can have different
meanings based on how they are revealed and
spread out together.
Common card
interpretations
Each card has
a variety of symbolic meanings that have evolved
over the years. The many of the interpretations
bear striking similarity to philosophy found in
the Kabbalah or in Alchemy. Custom or themed
tarot decks exist which have even more specific
symbolism, although these are more prevalent in
the English-speaking world. These are frequently
created by amateur philologists who believe that
they have a new insight into the proper analysis
of the texts of Kabbalah and Alchemy. The
literature specifies elements which must be
present in each card for the deck to be proper
Tarot. Artists are free to represent these
elements in any way they choose, and they
usually try to draw the picture in such a way as
to reveal a new truth. One example of how
detailed they can get is the Major Arcana card
The Moon. This card has several elements
including a crawfish (or lobster), which is
usually drawn very small, but is rarely omitted.
Each card has several meanings, and the reader
determines which meaning to apply based on the
card's location in the spread and which cards
are turned up around it. Common sense is also
used to discard meanings which have no relevance
to the question asked.
Minor Arcana
The Minor
Arcana closely match Anglo-American playing
cards, having Ace-through-Ten and four face
cards. The face cards are Page, Knight, Queen,
and King. Each suit of the Minors corresponds to
one of the four Alchemical Elements. Pentagrams
corresponds with Earth, Swords with air, Wands
with fire, and Cups with water. The Face cards
also correspond to the Elements. The Page is
Earth, the Knight is Air, the Queen is Water,
and the King is Fire. This makes the Page of
Pentagrams (or Earth of Earth), the Knight of
Swords (or Air of Air), the Queen of Cups (or
Water of Water) and the King of Wands (or Fire
of Fire) very strong cards.
Major Arcana
The Major
Arcana are a set of twenty-two cards, numbered
zero to twenty-one, with no suit. There are
usually many more elements in the images
specified by the literature for this set of
cards. These cards are often interpreted as
describing the normal progression of a truly
holy life, and often tell where a person is
along their journey, or if they have strayed.
Such an interpretation is called the "Fool's
Journey" and it originated with Eden Gray.
Reversed cards
Some methods
of interpreting the tarot consider cards to have
different meanings depending on whether they
appear upright or reversed. A reversed card is
often interpreted to mean the opposite of its
upright meaning. For instance, the Sun card
upright may be associated with satisfaction,
gratitude, health, happiness, strength,
inspiration, and liberation; while in reverse,
it may be interpreted to mean a lack of
confidence and mild unhappiness. However, not
all methods of card reading prescribe an
opposite meaning to reversed cards. Some card
readers will interpret a reversed card as either
a more intense variation of the upright card, an
undeveloped trait or an issue that requires
greater attention. Other Interpreters point out
that card reversal is dependent on the order of
the cards before shuffling, so is of little
bearing in the scope of a reading.
The Spread
To perform a
Tarot reading, the Tarot deck is typically
shuffled by either the subject or a third-party
reader, and is laid out in one of a variety of
patterns, often called "spreads". They are then
interpreted by the reader or a third-party
performing the reading for the subject. These
might include the subject's thoughts and desires
(known or unknown) or past, present, and future
events. Generally, each position in the spread
is assigned a number, and the cards are turned
over in that sequence, with each card being
contemplated/interpreted before moving to the
next. Each position is also associated with an
interpretation, which indicates what aspect of
the question the card in that position is
referring to.
Sometimes,
rather than being dealt randomly, the initial
card in a spread is intentionally chosen to
represent the querent or the question being
asked. This card is called the significator.
Some common
spreads include:
-
Celtic
Cross: This is probably the most common
spread. Ten cards are used, with five
arranged in a cross and four placed
vertically beside the cross. Another card is
placed horizontally across the central cards
of the cross to make a total of 10. The
first central card of the cross is
frequently the significator and the second
card which is placed over the first
represents the conditions surrounding the
question; or the crossing card often
represents an obstacle they must face, an
aspect of the question they have not yet
considered. The third card which is placed
above the first represents what the person
hopes for in relation to the question being
asked. The fourth card which is placed below
the first is what the subject has already
experienced in relation to the whole spread.
The fifth card is placed to the left of the
first card and shows what was in the past.
The sixth card is placed to the right of the
first card and shows the influence that will
come in the future. Then on the right of
these cards are the remaining 4 cards, which
are placed from bottom to top. So the
seventh card represents the attitude of the
question being asked. The eighth card is how
family or friends will influence the
question. The ninth card shows the hopes and
fears in relation to the question and the
final card, the tenth card, is the
Culmination Card which shows the end result
of all of the previous nine cards.
-
Horse-shoe: Another very common question
asking spread. Seven cards are arranged in a
semi-circle or 'V' shape. The cards, from
left to right, represent the past, present,
influences, obstacles, expectations (or
hopes/fears), best course of action and
likely outcomes. Some variations of this
spread swap the expectations and inspiration
cards around.
-
3-card
spread: Three cards are used, with the first
representing the past, the second the
present, the third the future.
-
Tetractys:
Ten cards arranged in a four-rowed pyramid.
Each row represents earth, air, fire or
water and each card within the row has a
very specific meaning. The single card in
the top row is the significator.
-
Star
spread: starts in the lower left part and
follows the star pattern. The first being
what you see. The second, what you can't
see. The third what you can change. The
fourth what you cannot change, and the
fifth, what you can expect
-
The Mirror
Spread: This Spread works primarily on
existing relationships, but can assess
anything from a budding love affair to an
established partnership. It will often
reveal inconsistencies between
viewpoints—for example, if the cards at 2
and 3 contradict one another, there is need
to reassess and readjust points of view, or
take into account the input of the other
person. Obstacles will sometimes produce
very positive cards. The Probable result
card is drawn with circumstances as they
currently are—but if changes recommended by
the reading are effected, then this final
card can change.
***spread***
1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8
Card 1: The
querent Card 2: The way you see the other person
in the relationship Card 3: The way they see
themselves Card 4: What the person represents to
you Card 5: What you represent to them Card 6:
Obstacles within the relationship Card 7:
Strengths within the relationship Card 8:
Probable result There are numerous other
spreads—essentially, the reader may use any card
arrangement in which they find by experience to
be useful.
The Magic
Cross Tarot Spread
A Healing nine
card Tarot Spread. It looks at your hope and
expectations and what opposes you. It can be
used with color therapy and numerology to allow
the querant to look at their deeper self.
Where to Buy
There are a number of different
online sites where you can buy a wide range of
tarot cards. Perhaps one of the biggest is
www.houseoftarot.com where there is a huge
selection of different card decks and books on
the subject to help you quickly learn how to
read tarot cards.
If you are not too picky about
the type of deck or how artistic the pictures
are, many bookstores will offer a few tarot sets
and instruction books. These tarot cards are
usually very basic but will perform the same
functions as a more artistic and expensive tarot
card deck. These sets will usually run for less
than $20 so they are a great way for beginners
to get into learning to read the cards.
How to Store Your Cards
While tarot card themselves are
durable and can just be kept in the case they
are kept in. But many people who believe in the
spiritual powers of the cards will suggest
special cases or wraps for the cards. For
example many cards decks will suggest that they
be wrapped in silk. But this is not set in
stone, because just like the meanings for each
card can be ambiguous so can be the proper way
to store them.
Some people will choose to
purchase special pouches or boxes with which to
keep their cards. This is a way to add special
care and importance to the cards, but it is not
necessary. Most tarot card readers will suggest
that you store and keep your cards in the way
that you choose and a way that makes you feel
happy and comfortable.
Like any hobby learning how to
read tarot cards is a skill that takes practice
and one that you should do as long as it makes
you happy. It can be a truly interesting hobby
that can help you learn more about yourself and
others in a very unique and spiritual way.
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