The Tarot

What Is Tarot?

The oldest known Tarot decks come from Italy and they are dated circa 1420.

Judging from the best available evidence, it appears that standard playing cards are actually older than Tarot cards.

 People may have speculated that Tarot is older than the 1400s but there is no proof of it.

 I am also glad that Wisegeek updated this article to show that Tarot cards were used for game playing prior to their use in divination.

It should be understood that Tarot is not exclusively a divination system. It is also a family of card games which are enjoyed today mainly in Europe.

 

The origin of the tarot card is unknown because there is no proof of whether or not they originated from europe.

 

 Tarot cards were created for playing a trick taking card game.

Not only were Tarot cards created for playing a card game, Tarot card games are still played today in continental Europe.

The article defines Tarot exclusively in terms of divination or fortune telling.

This is not correct.

This article is very biased in its definition of Tarot.

There are also numerous misleading statements and inaccuracies. Not all of Tarot is occult.

First things first...

acceptance - Admit it....you’re curious.

 Who isn’t?

 Everyone wants to know about the

future!

Hindsight might give you 20/20 vision for understanding what’s happened

in the past, but what (or who) helps you figure out what’s coming up in the future?

When you think of fortune-tellers, do you picture Whoopi

Goldberg in the movie Ghost, channeling spirits with a crystal ball?

or a person dressed in dangle earings with a cloth over her head??

  How about the Wizard of Oz (the mighty Oz sees all, knows all!), dispensing

magical powers to eager applicants who’ve proven themselves worthy?

Is it even possible to “predict” or “tell” someone what his or her future will

be?

Remember a little thing called Free Will? We do.

(We know some skeptics are among us.)

So right now you’re curious about the Tarot.

What, exactly, do Tarot cards

have to say about the future—most particularly, about yours?

Let’s take a

closer look at the cards.

This article is called

All About Tarot....

So?

Just a Pack of Cards??

We’ve seen you lingering in the New Age section of your local bookstore, eyeing the

Tarot decks.

Maybe you’ve heard about the Tarot from friends or co-workers who’ve had readings.

Their enthusiasm has you wondering.

Flipping through the deck, the medieval-looking drawings on the cards seem so exotic.

What could these mystical

talismans possibly mean for you?

Is it all just a bunch of hooey in a fancy-looking deck of cards?

If nothing else, you think to yourself,

it’s some fun for a Saturday afternoon.

Yet you have that nagging question of how that situation at work is going to turn out.

What would the cards have to say?

From time to time, we all look for guidance.

It could be on a grand scale,

something that will affect the very course of our lives, such as deciding whom to

marry or where to live.

Or it could be something of

smaller consequence but important in the moment.

We look to a lot of sources to help us make our decisions.

Here’s a list of some of the sources most of us

don’t think twice about consulting every day:

 We look to the five-day weather forecast to get a handle on whether we’ll need

to carry an umbrella, break out the sun block, or put the snow tires on the 4 x 4, remortgage?

 How about listening to the radio for the daily traffic reports? It’s essential to

know the most efficient and beneficial route for getting to work or a place you need to be on time.

So admit it.

Do you check your daily horoscope?

 Status meetings at work or guidance counseling at school help give us a good

perspective on what we’ve already accomplished, what needs to be done today,

and how to tackle future challenges.

 Medical doctors and other health-care professionals tell us how to develop good

life habits to keep our bodies healthy, while psychologists and therapists offer

good counsel to help improve our mental well-being and promote healthy relationships

with others.

 Many of us turn to our faith in a higher power to draw inspiration and guidance

through prayer and the study of sacred texts.

We have so many choices to make every day!

We’re just like the guy in the 7 of Cups

card: bewildered with choices. Which choice is the best one? Who can help us make

our choices? And how will things turn out?

The Tarot is an ancient method of fortune-telling that uses

the 78 cards of the Tarot deck

to create a story of you—past,present, and future.Card Catalog

What Is Tarot...

Tarot is one of many metaphysical tools that enable us to look into our lives and find

some extra information we hadn’t really understood or known about before.

Working with the Tarot brings to light a confirmation of thingsyou’ve always known

(your own inner wisdom)

or it adds a new perspective to a perplexing question or problem.

Tarot gives the guy in the 7 of Cups a context for understanding not only what his

choices are, but how he feels about them.

Are you like the guy in the

7 of Cups—faced with too

many choices and not enough

perspective to decide which is

the right choice to make?

Meet Your Magician!

To help you understand how to use the Tarot, just consider us your Magician.

Throughout this book, we’ll be your teacher and guide, unlocking the creative power

of the cards and showing you how to interpret their many meanings.

Study the Magician card shown in the following figure. The Magician invokes the

Cup, Wand, Sword, and Pentacle on the table as the instruments of his creativity.

What a wonderful garden blossoms from the fruits of his efforts!

We’ll let you in right now on the great secret of the Tarot: The power to make the

Tarot more than just a deck of cards lies within you! That’s right. With practice, you

can learn to become your own Magician, your own wizard, your own oracle.

As Glinda the Good Witch told Dorothy at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, she’d always possessed

within herself the power to make her own wishes and dreams come true. And so do you.

The Tarot is an instrument of insight into your own Free Will. You are the

one who possesses the magic. Let’s find out more.

All About Tarot

The Tarot reveals what’s really happening below the surface of events around us.

 The Tarot is a visual medium; those of you who love pictures, art, music, design anything

picture-relatedan appreciate all the rich colors, symbols, numbers, and archetypes present in the

Tarot cards. It doesn’t take a degree in math or science to

work with this wonderful medium of enlightenment and personal awareness. It’s easy!

The 78 Tarot cards represent every element of life, every emotion we will experience,

every lesson that needs to be learned, and every condition possible to know.

The story the Tarot tells every time you receive a reading allows you to know more and

gives you the decision-making edge extra knowledge can provide.

We’ll be your Magician:

a teacher and guide to the

Tarot.

Oracles are sacred objects or altars used by many cultures throughout history

for the reception of divine guiding messages and holy truths. The site of the oracle is

considered a holy place, and often only priests or shamans can visit it.

Shamans or high priestesses were believed to have had divine connections. Therefore, they became

the “speakers” of the messages. Many ancient sites, such as the ruins at Monte Alban

in Oaxaca, Mexico, contain structures archaeologists believe were used by priestastronomers to interpret divine meanings for everyday events.

Card Catalog

 What Is Tarot

....

You’re in the Cards

The Tarot opens your intuitive sense. Its pictures stimulate your gut feelings. Do you

already have a Tarot deck? Start shuffling.

The Tarot cards absorb the thoughts, ideas, and curiosity of the person who shuffles the deck.

 By shuffling and concentrating

on the question at hand, it’s your energy that’s being reflected through the deck of

the Tarot. Your subconscious wisdom is shuffled into the cards. When the cards are

thrown into different patterns, or spreads, the

relationships between the cards reveal your personal

wisdom as you infused it into the deck.

The 78 cards of the Tarot deck are divided into

22 Major Arcana cards, which lead us through the

archetypal passages in life’s journey, and 56 Minor

Arcana cards, which illustrate the various things

that happen to each of us from day to day. We’ll

look at the Major Arcana in Part 3 and the Minor

Arcana in Part 4, but you can sneak a peek at

them now.

Tarot spreads are different methods of laying out the cards during a Tarot reading.

Tarot readings occur when the cards are laid out to reveal

a particular story.

The Sun, a Major Arcana

card, and the 10 of Cups, a

Minor Arcana card, represent

two ways we move into

the light of contentment, joy,

and strength in awareness.

The Sun depicts a mythological

motif, while the 10 of

Cups shows one way we deal

with everyday challenges and

opportunities.

The first difference you’ll notice is that the Major Arcana seem to represent mythological

motifs, while the Minor Arcana show more everyday events.

That’s exactly the case: The Major Arcana cover the big stuff, while the Minor Arcana are the everyday cards.

The Minor Arcana are further divided into four suits

 Wands

 Cups

 Swords

 Pentacles

These correspond to clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds

in a regular deck of cards. Each of the 4 suits

has 14 cards: 10 numbered cards (the Ace through 10)

and 4 royal cards (a Page, Knight, Queen, and King).

The four suits of the Tarot deck—Wands, Cups,

Swords, and Pentacles—correlate to the four elements

of the astrological signs of the zodiac, and for

good reason: They’re the four energies of life. You’ll

find out more about the fascinating relationship

between the Tarot and astrology when we look at

each card in detail in Parts 3 and 4.

Life Energies

The Tarot Suits and Their Astrological Elements Corresponding

Suit Element Meaning Astrological Signs

Wands Fire Action, initiate Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Cups Water Emotion, intuition Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Swords Air Communication, mental Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

activities

Pentacles Earth Possessions, the physical Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

You can think about the Tarot in a number of ways: as a tool for connecting with the

universal unconscious, as a way to get in touch with your sixth sense of what’s true, or

as an unfolding story revealed in pictures. Any way you look at it, interpreting the

Tarot is fun!

The Reader and the Querent

People like , the expert co-author of thisarticle , who have studied the Tarot for many years, are called Tarot readers.

As with any method of fortune-telling, reading

The Tarot deck contains

22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor

Arcana cards. The Major Arcana

cards depict an archetypal journey

through life, while the Minor

Arcana cards show everyday

events.

 

The Tarot is much more than merely memorizing what each card or symbol means.

In addition to understanding Tarot cards, Tarot readers have strong backgrounds in

disciplines ranging from psychology to mythology and recognize that a reading opens

life’s possibilities rather than narrows them to an inevitable course of action.

Just as certain people are natural painters while others can’t draw a stick figure,

some people are naturally good at reading the Tarot. The best Tarot readers understand

that no card has any one meaning, but rather is a metaphor for a variety of interpretations.

The person asking the reader a question is

called the Querent. Querents might ask specific

questions:

 “When will I meet my soulmate?” or “Will I win the lottery?”

 They might ask about the world:

“What’s going to happen in

the year 2005?” or

“Will any film ever top Lord of the Rings?”

Specific Tarot spreads can address

different types of questions, such as how to

set a goal, make a decision, or find a solution

to a problem. Readings can span a time frame

(“What’s going to happen in my life this year?”)

or reveal a message

(“What’s my purpose or mission in life?”).

You’ll learn all about different

Many Tarot practitioners do a daily reading where no question is asked at all.

Often,

they don’t even interpret the cards when they select them, but merely make a note of

what they are.

Then, at the end of the day, they come back to them and note the connections

between the cards selected and the day’s events.

The reader and the Querent don’t necessarily have to be in the same place. Readings

today take place online or with the absent Querent thinking about the question as the reader deals the cards.

What if the Querent wants to know about a family member, a spouse or life partner, or another person?

The Tarot will answer the question through the energy of the

Querent him- or herself. Whatever information is revealed through the Tarot will have to do with the Querent’s own relationship to the person the Querent wants to

know about. Remember, it’s the Querent’s energy that infuses the cards for a reading, and theirs is the energy that will come through.

A Tarot reader makes

interpretations of cards for a Querent, a person who asks a question of the Tarot. Querent comes from the Latin word quaero,meaning “to inquire or seek, or to embark on a quest.”

Readers consider Tarot cards metaphors, rich images that hold meanings that can be transferred or carried over to the Querent’s

particular situation or question.

 All About Tarot

Tarot Q&A

We know you’ve still got a lot of questions, so we’ll get a jump-start on answering

the five questions we get asked the most:

 Does Tarot really work?

How does Tarot work?

Can you read your own cards?

 Does Tarot seal your fate?

When can you start reading the cards?

We’ll answer these questions in the following five sections.

Keep in mind, though, first and foremost,

that Tarot is not a magic trick.

We’ll say it again: The magic in Tarot comes from you!

Does Tarot Really Work?

Okay, if the cards indicate wealth and financial reward, should you run out and buy

that new Armani suit or dress?

Maybe, maybe not.

The reader’s skill of interpreting the Tarot involves the ability to remain objective, to accurately describe the message

of the cards, and, with the Querent’s help, to put that message in the right perspective.

The cards are a great tool, but they’re not so great at giving orders or pronouncing

ultimatums. The message of the cards, properly understood, gently (or not so gently, depending on the situation) guides you to arrive at the correct decision that already

waits in your heart.

That doesn’t mean the Tarot does this by providing an easy excuse

to let you get your own way and buy that convertible!

Now, wait a second. If the cards are showing what you already know in your heart

to be true, why bother?

The answer is that the cards are in touch with a universal

intelligence—our human collective unconscious—something we westerners are not

always good at tapping into. Like the dream world that opens your mind as you sleep

(Sigmund Freud called dreams the “royal road to the unconscious”),

the Tarot cards

awaken that place deep within you that is in touch with your human nature.

Tarot works when you look closely enough to get the real message, to both receive

and understand it for what it really is.

 This means coming to the reading with an open

and unprejudiced mind. Don’t assume anything—either as reader or Querent—and be

ready for anything.

The true message of the Tarot might surprise you!

 What Is Tarot

How Does Tarot Work?

We’d like to call on a really smart man,

 psychoanalysis pioneer Carl Gustav Jung

(1875–1961),

to answer this question for us.

Jung was fascinated by the patterns of life

and the way seemingly unconnected events were in fact connected. He noted that every day of human experience is filled with what could only be called meaningful

coincidences, or synchronicity.

Jung’s study of synchronistic events led him to examine ancient occult practices from

astrology to the I Ching, and the Tarot was no exception.

He found that the mysteries revealed by these practices were in fact not mysteries at all, but events common to each of

us on our paths of life. Jung called our common situations

(and common recurrent characters) archetypes and

believed that ancient fortune-telling methods

revealed these archetypes to us symbolically. He

noted that although modern science

“is based on the principle of causality,”

occult methods look

to a “picture of the moment.”

Jung concluded

the pictures on Tarot cards are

“descended from the archetypes of transformation.”

We agree with Jung that Tarot cards are a way for us to connect to the archetypal

wisdom of the human collective unconscious.

The Tarot deck in its entirety is a

portrait of the human condition, its potential, and its possibilities. Shuffle the deck and deal the cards:

Your Tarot reading is a reflection of those possibilities inherent

in your life and present situation.

Synchronicity is the principle of meaningful coincidence,

studied in depth by psychoanalysis pioneer Carl Jung. Jung also

postulated that human experience could be categorized into common archetypes:

typical patterns,

situations,

images,

or metaphors

that recur among all humankind.

What have dreams got to do with the Tarot?

 A whole lot, it turns out.

The metaphors in our dreams and in Tarot cards have a lot in common.

Jung asserted that all humans share common archetypes, but that most of us can get in touch

with them only through our unconscious.

Dreams are one way of tapping into our

unconscious thoughts, feelings, and awareness—and the Tarot is another.

In the Cards

Can You Read Your Own Cards

Most Tarot readers read their own cards every day.

Yes, they’re professionals,

but how doyou think they got to be pro?

 A serious student of the Tarot devotes a lot of time

to reading her or his own cards—and coming to understand intuitively what those cards are saying.

Likewise, the best way for you to begin to study the Tarot is to pick a deck that appeals to you and then live with those cards

for a while.

Spread them out. Pick them up and look at them.

Lose yourself in the pictures.

Work through the exercises that are designed to help you become

familiar with the Tarot and to explore your own emotions and reactions to the deck.

Don’t read ahead to the “meanings” of the cards we give in

 Those meanings are only launching points for your study of the Tarot, and you shouldn’t

let yourself be limited by them—not now at the beginning of your journey, and not

later on either, when you know the cards well. Ultimately, Tarot cards are a tool to

unlock your imagination, and how you read the cards—alone or with someone else—

is up to you.

Does Tarot Seal Your Fate?

No. Nothing “seals” your fate. Your life path is a series of possibilities,

branching off

in one direction or another with each decision you make.

 A Tarot reading might suggest

to you what could happen if you continue along a certain path, but it’s up to you

to take the responsibility of choosing your own direction, if you dare.

Much of the fear and superstition associated with the Tarot—and with all the occult

sciences is that they somehow do foretell the future and seal your fate. Nothing about

the Tarot is inexorable or inevitable.

What you do with what the cards show is up to you!

The Tarot reveals possibilities and probabilities, not certainties. In fact, the only thing

that’s certain about life is that nothing’s certain. Fate is what you make it.

When Can You Start Reading the Cards?

When can you begin giving readings?

Today!

One of Arlene’s most memorable first readings was about a former boyfriend. The

question: “Why did the relationship end?”

(Arlene felt unhappy about the ending, of course.)

The cards came up to tell her that everything about the relationship provided lessons

for Arlene to get her ready for the next relationship. Whoa, Arlene said to herself.

Then, one year later, sure enough, a more compatible relationship came. Practice

makes perfect—not only with the Tarot cards, but with relationships, too!

Do You Really Want to Know the Future?

Sometimes what we’re looking for might be not so much a glimpse of the future, but a glimpse of our true selves.

The better we know ourselves, the more likely we are to

have the confidence and self-esteem to work through our life decisions fully and with

the care essential to produce splendid outcomes.

The Tarot can be a wonderful tool to help you get in touch with yourself. Instead of

waiting passively for life to happen to you—

reacting to events and emotions without

fully understanding or appreciating what’s going on around

you can use the Tarot to enhance your experience and active participation in the events and emotions

of your life.

How proactive are you?

Let’s imagine your apartment lease is up in six months.

You’re not happy where you are but can’t decide where to move. You …

 Wallow in indecision for months and end up extending your lease to put off the

move for another year.

Muse about moving to a city or town, or place you’ve always loved, like the Highlansd , Scotland,

Nevada, or St. Michael’s, Maryland. .. anywhere

You’ve been talking about it for years, actually.

But you wait until the last minute to take it seriously and lose the opportunity to plan a move to that dream location.

 Embark on a diligent search for a new apartment without addressing your feelings

about where you’d really want to live or why you’d want to live there.

Just

moving anywhere is progress enough. And forget about buying a house … that’s

too much to contemplate, much less do!

Pack up your belongings and move back in with your parents or another family

member. It’s really just temporary.

Are you secretly looking for an oracle to divine your true path and tell you

what to do? Avoid that temptation and listen to your own inner voice. When you take

responsibility for your decisions into your own hands, heart, and mind, Tarot can

become a wonderful tool for personal exploration and growth. But it’s not a substitute

for your Free Will. Don’t be a slave to the cards!

Fools Rush In

 All About Tarot

The Tarot is only one tool you can use to make your life decisions resonate closer to

your heart’s true desire.

It’s not about surrendering to fate or being handed a one-way

ticket to the future.

It’s about making choices that are honest and that feel right for

you. It’s about getting in touch with your own life energy and using that energy to

live up to your fullest potential as a human being.

What road should you take?

What future lies in store for you? How will you grow

and learn?

Come on the journey through the Tarot with us, and you’ll find yourself a Fool for the world!

The Fool embarks on the

journey of life.

The Least You Need to Know

Tarot cards are a tool for understanding ourselves and connecting to a great universal

wisdom: the human collective unconscious.

A Tarot deck consists of 78 cards.

The 22 Major Arcana cards describe the passages of life’s journey.

The 56 Minor Arcana cards describe everyday issues and events.

 The Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.

 The Tarot reveals the possibilities and presents a forum for self-exploration but

does not predict or tell your future. You choose your own fate

 

 

The Tarot is a deck of cards now commonly used in 'fortune telling', or divination. Divination using cards is called cartomancy.

The deck consists of four numbered suits like a regular deck of playing cards, and twenty two picture cards numbered one through twenty-two (in some decks, zero through twenty-one).

The cards appeared at roughly the same time as the now-universal 52-card deck, and it is a matter of dispute which came first.

The Tarot deck has fourteen cards in each suit, versus thirteen for playing cards; the Tarot 'court cards' include a page along with the knight (knave), queen and king.

 

The twenty-two picture cards, now called the Major Arcana (the suited cards are the Minor Arcana), were originally permanent trump cards.

That is, in a trick-taking game, any picture card would take a trick over a suit-card.

They illustrate universal story themes; the Fool is a young man setting off on a journey with a pack insouciantly slung over his shoulder.

He is often depicted not watching where he's going, and about to walk off the edge of a cliff, while a small dog yaps at his heels in warning. Other cards depict concepts rather than people - the wheel of fortune is fate or karma, and the figure of Judgment is justice in all its forms.

The suits have direct analogies to standard playing cards: swords are spades, cups are hearts, pentacles (coins, discs) are diamonds and wands (staves) are clubs.

The use of the Tarot as a tool for telling fortunes is of fairly recent invention, dating back to the end of the eighteenth century.

The most familiar deck is the so-called Rider-Waite deck.

The designs were by Arthur Waite, a member of the occult society Order of the Golden Dawn, in collaboration with artist Pamela Colman Smith, so the deck is sometimes called the Waite-Smith deck. It was first published by the Rider Company in 1909.

Hundreds of different Tarot decks now exist. Decks that downplay or remove the Christian symbolism are increasingly popular, and some feminist decks significantly downplay the male dominant roles found in traditional decks.

Some decks have discarded the suit system altogether and are structured around different themes - animals in a Native American inspired deck, for example.

As Always...

If you have any other questions I’m happy to assist you & look forward to being of service to you.

 

May the rest of your journey be peaceful and tranquil and may your angels be with you and all who surround you..

 

Thank you for reading.

Love & Light

J

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