Tarot Crash Course for Beginners #1 – All about the cards
Tarot is not only a divination tool, but can also be used in properly trained hands as a tool to provide advice and counsel to help us navigate life. It is an ancient form of divination that predates popular psychology, but has been shown to have archetypal energies that work well from a Jungian perspective. Tarot becomes a book of wisdom that offers you a living parable or myth that reflects your life path in the hands of the right fortuneteller. Describes a journey that reflects your path in life. Usually a story is a direct description of what will happen in a certain period of time, although talented readers can tell you much more than that by looking at the symbols in the cards! One of the main purposes of using the cards is to build a future narrative so that you can make decisions to change your destiny.
The reader shuffles the cards and arranges them in a certain pattern, usually called a “spread”. This can be compared to a snapshot or map of your life. Each card position in the spread layout represents a characteristic of the situation in question – what forces are beyond your control, what your strengths are in the current or future situation, and what the likely outcome is if you continue as I have been doing. As the cards fall into their positions, the meaning is created by the unique arrangement of the symbolic meanings of each card. Together they weave a synchronic tapestry that may seem random at first, but is actually a very careful map that you can follow or not as you wish to trigger or prevent the outcome of your reading. Synchronicity is a principle that is not only constantly mentioned in psychology, but also in quantum physics. The entire system of Tarot cards can be described as a pictorial or numerological expression of the human condition.
Tarot cards can be likened to a wise friend we can turn to when we want to make a wise decision about a relationship or career. The wisdom found in the Tarot is actually the same wisdom found within each of us. The whole purpose of a reading is to tell you what you don’t know so that you can use your free will to take appropriate action that is good for your soul. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean telling you what you want to hear, but instead what you NEED to hear.
It’s hard to believe, but tarot cards were not originally designed to predict the future! They were first used in the 16th century in Paris to play a card game similar to bridge. Since there were no soap operas in those days, the cards were also put to another entertaining use. The face cards, such as the Queen of Cups, the King of Swords, etc., were modeled after popular celebrities of the day. These cards were shuffled and then arranged into scandalous storylines. This parlor game was a source of great amusement to royalty and peasants alike.
In addition, 16th-century poets used the cards to compose verses called tarocchi apporporati. Poems will be composed for the characters in the trumps in the deck, such as queens, bishops, knights and pages, to tell a tragic or romantic story.
Tarot cards were not associated with divination until the 1800s, when a secret order of magicians in Venice, Italy discovered meaning in their numbers and symbols. Previously, these decorative cards were not used for divination. Since these magicians were the illuminati of their time, their reading methods were kept a great secret. The first known records of divinatory meanings attributed to Tarot cards did not appear until the 1700s in Bologna.
Plain playing cards have been associated with divination as early as 1487. Gypsies were adept at reading plain playing cards for centuries before Venetian magicians acquired the French Tarot deck. It is safe to assume that the meanings and distribution of the Tarot cards in use today are based on a hybrid of techniques derived from the Tzigani system of playing card reading, French parlor games, and Venetian interpretations of occult symbols!
To understand the Tarot, you need to familiarize yourself with the meanings of the four colors and the meanings of their symbols. The cups, coins, discs and wands of the Tarot deck derive their meaning from cartomancy. Cartomancy is the art of reading playing cards.
There are 78 cards in a traditional Tarot deck. These 78 cards are divided into major and minor arcana. The minor arcana is related to the regular playing deck. Most of the cards in the Minor Arcana represent events or qualities.
The additional 22 major arcana cards included in the traditional Tarot deck represent the stages of man’s individual passage through life, from non-existence, birth, love, marriage, death, spiritual ascension and back to non-existence. The Fool card numbered 0 is indicative of this eternal cycle.
The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are in addition to what might otherwise be described as an ordinary playing deck, which consists of four suits.
The meanings of the 22 Major Arcana cards are based on an old French parlor game that was used to predict the lives of celebrities of the day. Since then, they have mutated to symbolize important life events and personal qualities.
When you are first learning how to read tarot cards, it is sometimes valuable to have a list of abbreviated card meanings to use as you cast the cards. Although not all diviners use the same corresponding meanings.
Here is a list of the classic meanings of each of the 22 Major Arcana cards.
0 The Fool – a choice is offered, stupidity, spinning in a circle
1 The magician – creative energy, psychic power
2 The High Priestess – mystery, hidden influences, female supremacy
3 The Empress – abundance, fertility, motherhood
4 The Emperor – leadership, control, fatherhood
5 The Hierophant – Convention, Society, Restrictions
6 Lovers – love, relationships, intimacy
7 The Chariot – mind over matter, conflicts, war
8 Strength – courage, strength, endurance
9 The Hermit – wisdom, spirituality, connection with the Higher Self
10 Wheel of Fortune – unpredictability, changes in luck for better or worse,
11 Justice – legal issues, balance, karmic return
12 Hanged man – retreat, study, rest, wait
13 Death – change, physical death, end
14 Temperance – moderation, adjustment, patience
15 The devil – temptation, the material world, evil
16 The tower – conflict, problems, devastation
17 The star – hope, inspiration, happiness
18 The moon – unseen troubles, black magic, female sexuality
19 The Sun – marriage, success, male sexuality
20 Judgment – awakening, renewal, result of good or bad actions
21 The world – success, opportunity, clean slate
If you remove the additional 22 cards that make up the Major Arcana from the Tarot deck, the Minor Arcana are what’s left. The Minor Arcana of each Tarot deck contains 56 cards divided into four suits, each suit maintaining its own sphere of influence. The four suits are cups, pentacles (also called discs or coins in some decks), wands (sometimes called clubs), and swords. In a deck of conventional playing cards, cups are associated with the suit of hearts, diamonds with pentacles, clubs with clubs, and swords with spades.
Each of these four suits rules their own special spheres of influence.
The suit of cups deals with emotional matters, love, sexual marriage, fertility and creativity.
The Pentacle suit relates to matters such as wealth, finance, trade, prosperity, career and economic security.
The suit of Swords refers to legal matters, the wheels of progress, heartbreak, betrayal, opposition, breakthroughs, and the need to impose order on chaos.
Wands represent the mind, inspiration, guidance, the world of ideas, deep thought, intellect, purpose and potential.
Here’s a handy list of the abbreviated and abbreviated meanings of the 56 cards in the Minor Arcana.
Wands
Ace start of luck, passion, inspiration
2 business success, partnership
3 offered help, charity
4 rest after childbirth, compromise
5 struggle, contest
6 startling news, invention, applied science
7 courage in the face of difficulty, futility
8 quick action, message, good news
9 overcoming obstacles, poor
10 unreasonable use of power, too much force
Messenger page
A knight begins or ends with a question, proposition
Queen mother, artist, creative woman
A king, a man of power, an entrepreneur
Cups
Ace new love, union of souls, birth
2 new friends, new love, soul mate
3 abundance, health, prosperity
4 displeasure, displeasure
5 regret, disappointment
6 happiness from the past
7 unrealistic dreams, delusions
8 discarded things, waste, addiction
9 material abundance, financial progress
10 family life, excess, indulgence
Page arrival of good news
Knightly proposals, invitations
Queen romantic woman, vain woman
King romantic man, sensitive man
Swords
Ace victory, swift justice
2 indecision, awkward compromise
3 breakups, love triangle
4 changes, improvement
5 success without happiness
6 difficulties are solved by themselves, medical help
7 failed plan, unachieved goals, disappointment
8 limitation, hard thinking, evil
9 grief, agony of mind
10 ruin, despair, betrayal
Upsetting page message, interloper
A chivalrous end to a problem, a quick resolution
A strong-willed queen
A royal man with military power
Coins
Ace start to riches, great idea
2 two situations at once, commerce
3 skills in arts, permanent job
4 material possessions, gifts
5 loneliness, abandonment
6 charity, despair
7 pause in growth
8 employment
9 enjoyment of wealth
10 family money, promotion
Good financial news page
Knightly patience in business and financial matters
Queen rich woman, independent woman, matriarch
King of business man, rich man
The face cards of the Minor Arcana represented the Who’s Who of the Tarot. These personalities were originally based on the antics of famous people from 16th century France. The face cards are the “people” cards in the deck, often symbolizing the arrival or influence of a man or woman in your life. They are represented by the four face cards in each suit – cups, clubs, coins and swords. These are the persons represented by the Kings, Queens, Knights (sometimes Princes) and Page (or Princesses) in the Minor Arcana of the deck. The four offices of King, Queen, Knight and Page vary in name somewhat from deck to deck – but they are all correct about the deck and the correspondences you work with in that deck.
For those of you who have always wondered “who exactly” these people come to your reading, here’s a quick guide to what they should look and be like:
Queen of Cups Blonde young woman. Often good-looking, vain, thoughtless.
Princess of Cups A beautiful, naïve sexy usually fair haired woman. Immature.
Queen of Disks A slightly older woman. Well done. Practical. Nobody’s a fool.
The Princess of Discs A caring, often dependent woman. Early healer.
Queen of Wands Darker hair, artistic, entrepreneurial, independent, feminist, intelligent.
Princess of Wands Brown or blond benefactor. Practical. He takes matters into his own hands.
Queen of Swords Dark-haired, widow, sad woman. An abandoned woman. cunningly
Princess of Swords Dark haired schemer. Depressed. Promiscuity. In need
King of Cups Blonde alpha male. Warm, Generous, Loving, Controlling.
Knight of Cups Knight in shining armor card. A suitor. Warm, generous loving.
King of Discs Father Father type. Medium to dark hair. Businessman
Knight of the Discs An active, athletic, stubborn type. Controlling. It can be violent.
King of wands. A dangerous womanizing man. Selfish. Dramatic. Sexy
Knight of Wands Medium to dark haired young man. Player. In vain. Selfish
King of Swords A cruel, powerful, bitter man. Sometimes emotionless. Swift.
Knight of Swords A sullen, dark-haired, sexy but depressed young man. Poetic
Tarot Crash Course for Beginners #2 will cover the basic divination spreads and layouts.
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