What do the various tarot card types represent?
Despite their vastly different designs, all tarot decks share a few characteristics. Each one has 78 playing cards, divided into the main and minor arcana. The major arcana, which are the deck’s 22 trump cards, generally allude to bigger influences and disclosures when they are revealed during a reading. These cards stand alone without a suit and represent key occasions or people in a person’s life.
In contrast, the minor arcana refer to influences and issues that are more commonplace. Wands, swords, pentacles, and cups make up the four suits that these 56 cards are divided into. (Occasionally, tarot decks will use different terminology, such as “Pentacles for coins, but they are exact equivalents to the four original divisions.) A different aspect of life is represented by each outfit. Wands typically represent imagination and passion, swords intelligence, pentacles work and wealth, and cups emotion. Additionally, each suit is associated with a certain set of astrological signs, such as wands being associated with fire, swords with air, pentacles with earth, and cups with water.
Since we’re beginners, the meanings you’ll most frequently refer to are the functional definitions, albeit these meanings can be used when cards symbolize people and their zodiac signs. For example, a three-card spread with three pentacle cards strongly denotes a financial concern. (More on the various spreads will follow.)
While much of this is up to the deck’s owner and what resonates with them, there are a few conventions that apply to the majority of tarot readings. If you’re reading cards for someone else, you should ask them to provide you with a question or suggest something they’re interested in, and keep that question in mind while you shuffle the deckalso referred to as “removing the effects of earlier research and readings. (An illustration would be, “When will I discover love?” Am I pursuing the correct career? “How can I get through my block?
Then you could query the person you are reading for (also known as “cutting the deck, once more concentrating on the querent. Although some readers will cut the deck for the querent, we prefer this option since it gives the querent a chance to feel linked to the deck personally. In any case, you will draw the necessary number of cards for your spread and, if you’re reading for yourself, place them between you and the querentor directly in front of you.
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What advantages can tarot cards offer?
Tarot is being used by some people as a mental health ally. Tarot readings can help you find meaning in your circumstances, uncover solutions, and start a conversation with a therapist.
Tarot cards include a spiritual element, which may appeal to people who don’t identify with established religion. To that end, tarot might conflict with your beliefs or be difficult for you to accept.
It can be tempting to see what you want to see because the cards have a variety of interpretations. Getting a second opinion, according to experts, helps lessen confirmation bias.
The final word? Tarot cards may be a useful tool if they give you a sense of calm and well-being. It’s acceptable to go on to something else if they don’t.
How do the 21 tarot cards translate?
The World card has multiple tarot connotations, according to A.E. Waite’s 1910 book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot:
THE WORLD, 21
Guaranteed success, payment, travel, route, emigration, flight, and relocation.
Inertia, fixity, stagnation, and permanence inverted.
The World is the culmination of one cycle of life and the interim period between that cycle and the following one, which starts with the fool. Between the heavens and the earth, the figure is masculine and female from above and below. It’s completion. The possibility for perfect oneness with the One Power of the universe is claimed to be represented by it as well as cosmic consciousness. It teaches us that in order to truly be happy, we must also give to the world by imparting what we have learned or acquired. According to Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene’s book The New Mythic Tarot (p. 82), the woman’s image, known in Greek mythology as Hermaphroditus, represents wholeness unrelated to sexual identity but rather of combined male and female energy on an inner level, integrating opposite traits that emerge in the personality charged by both energies. The opposite traits of male and female that cause us stress are united in this card, and the idea of becoming entire is portrayed as an ideal goal rather than something that can be attained.
The four creatures on the Universe card, according to Robert M. Place in his book The Tarot, symbolize the fourfold framework of the physical world, which encloses the holy center of the world, a location where the divine can incarnate. The fifth element is spirit, or the sacred center, and its name is Sophia, which means Prudence or Wisdom (the dancing woman in the middle). The fourth Cardinal virtue in the Tarot is prudence. The woman in the middle represents the aim of mystical seekers. This prominent character can be Christ in some older decks or Hermes in others. This card represents what is actually desired whenever it appears.
Tarot cards: Are they revered?
to create art I have a few “extra” tarot decks on hand so I may either a) give clients a special card if a reading is especially insightful, or b) create tarot artwork for my pals.
The other day, when I was slicing through the Queen of Swords, it occurred to me that not everyone would be comfortable with this.
There are many myths, shoulds and shouldn’ts, and superstitions surrounding tarot that you are free to accept or reject.
Keep your playing cards in silk sleeves. Silk is lovely, but cotton, cardboard, tin, and wood are also lovely. Or somewhere you keep your playing cards. You can count on them not to care.
Never allow anyone else to handle your cards. It seems like a very personal choice.
After or before readings, you ought to clean your playing cards. A beautiful rite, although not everyone will enjoy it. I never wash mine. Am I wrong?
Tarot card superstitions are common because many believe the cards are sacred and should be revered as such. So what exactly does the word “sacred” mean?
To quote Wikipedia:
Sacred refers to something that is valued because of its holiness. In general, holiness, also known as sanctity, is the quality of being holy (viewed by religious people as connected to divinity), or sacred (considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspiring awe or reverence among believers).
First, let’s just delete the word “religious,” as many of the readers do not consider themselves to be religious. Instead, let’s concentrate on the word “spirituality,” agreeing that “holiness” for us means that a sacred thing is connected to spiritual growth, a feeling of closer connection to our higher selves, the universe, God, or whatever else you might believe exists “above” us.
It’s what you do with them that makes them sacred.
As you shuffle them, concentrate your attention on either yourself or your customer. making use of them to reach your intuition. delivering their messages to others and assisting those in need of guidance, consolation, or encouragement. writing a report about them. finding out about them thinking about them.
By incorporating them into your spiritual routine, you can make your playing cards sacred. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a crystal meditation reading after yoga on a Bali beach or an emotional, intoxicated reading with a friend at the end of the night. Your tarot cards become sacred through the asking and the seeking.
I’ve read from Dori Midnightit’s introduction to her Dirty Tarot Cards previously, an oracle deck that includes cards with names like “Slutty,” “Pie,” “Lucky Penny,” and “Hairdye.”
I refer to this deck as “dirty” since it is anything from ethereal or pure and is instead made up of images of the things we own, touch, covet, or otherwise take care of in our chaotic lives.
I really believe that we can seek wisdom from anything at any time and receive it. Since the things that make up our existence are sacred, insight is plentiful.
She has stated that. what makes up our lives. Before you approach your tarot cards with your queries, they are not sacrosanct.
Questions you don’t really want answered
Even though it might seem apparent, it’s advisable to refrain from asking the tarot cards questions that you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to. That’s because answers to these questions can reveal information you’re just not quite ready to hear.
“Tarot can definitely come off as offensive if you’re not willing to hear the truth or consider an opposing opinion. Tarot reading Nicole Fortunaso
According to tarot reader and life coach Nicole Fortunaso, “tarot may truly come out as offensive if you are not willing to hear the truth of the problem or look at an alternate viewpoint.” She advises analyzing why you’re reacting the way you are in order to reflect on how to effectively address the underlying problem if you ask the question and aren’t satisfied with the response.
What kind of religion are tarot cards?
Tarot cards also include four suits, but they are different depending on the region: French suits are found in Northern Europe, Latin suits are found in Southern Europe, and German suits are found in Central Europe. Each suit contains 14 cards: four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave/Page) and ten pip cards, numbered from one (or Ace) to ten. In addition, the tarot features a unique 21-card trump suit and a solitary card known as the Fool; this 22-card group of cards is referred to as the Major Arcana in the world of divination. The Fool may serve as the top trump or alternatively may be played to avoid doing so, depending on the game. In parts of Europe, these tarot cards are still used to play traditional card games without any occult connotations.
Tarot cards are mostly employed for amusement and divination in English-speaking nations where these activities are less popular, typically with the aid of specially created packs. Although academic research has shown that tarot cards were partially invented in northern Italy in the 15th century (16 of the modern 22 Major Arcana cards) and combined with a deck of four suits, “the Mamluk deck,” some people who use tarot for cartomancy believe the cards have esoteric links to ancient Egypt, Iran, the Kabbalah, Indian Tantra, or the I Ching. The Mamluk deck of cards was created in or before the 14th century and arrived in Western Europe after paper was produced in Asia (see Playing Card – Egypt and following sections). By the end of the thirteenth century, Europeans were making the Mamluk deck with customized “court cards” and suit symbols.
Although some people think that tarot cards were not used for divination until the late 18th century, there is evidence of an early tarot deck that was “used in divination to determine the querent’s prospects in love” (Fernando de la Torre’s “Juego de Naypes” deck of Spain, 1450), each card having an image and verse.
What tarot card has the most influence?
The Fool is typically seen as a card from the Major Arcana when performing a tarot reading. Contrary to popular belief, the Fool does not fall under either category in tarot card games. Instead, the Fool serves a function that is distinct from both the simple suit cards and the trump cards. As a result, the Fool has no number assigned to it in the majority of tarot decks that were initially created for playing games. Although Waite assigns the Fool the number 0, in his book, the Fool is discussed between Judgment (number 20) and The World (number 21). The Tarocco Piemontese is the only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0. Since the 1930s, the corner index for the Fool in Tarot Nouveau decks has frequently been a black inverted mullet. The Fool is one of the most expensive cards in practically all tarot games.
In tarot cards, what does the devil represent?
In The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, written by A.E. Waite in 1910, the Devil card is associated with numerous types of divination:
15. THE DARK ONE.
Ravage, brutality, vehemence, extreme measures, force, and fatality are examples of things that are predetermined but are not, therefore, wicked. Negative traits, frailty, petty behavior, and blindness are reversed.
The Devil in the Rider Waite Smith deck is inspired in part by Eliphas Levi’s well-known drawing “Baphomet” from his book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855). The Devil in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck has bat wings, ram horns, harpy feet, a reversed pentagram on the forehead, a raised right hand, and a dropped left hand carrying a torch. On a square pedestal, he squats. Male and female naked demons with tails are cuffed to the pedestal. In addition to combining human and animal aspects, Levi’s Baphomet had goat horns, breasts, a torch on his head, bat wings, a raised right hand, and a lowered left hand. The Devil is often portrayed as a satyr-like monster in contemporary Tarot cards. Waite claims that the Devil is perched atop an altar.
The devil is represented as having breasts, a face on the belly, eyes on the knees, lion feet, and male genitalia in pre-Eliphas Levi Tarot decks like the Tarot of Marseille. In addition, he possesses bat-like wings, antlers, a raised right hand, a dropped left hand, a staff, and wings like bats. Two animals with tails, hooves, and antlers are chained to his circular pedestal.
The planet Saturn and Capricorn, the corresponding Earth sign, are linked to the Devil card.
How do angel cards work?
Mystical interests have never been so popular, whether due to memes or existential pique. We bug our parents for our exact birth time (because knowing your rising sign is the height of self-awareness), “manifest” our desires through meditation or visualisation (which, to some of us, looks like staring at the ceiling and Pinterest), and deliberately decide whether or not to consult a psychic out of fear that they might predict that something even tinier might go wrong for us in the future. However, as our spiritual armament grows, so does our capacity for independent judgment: Are there too many presumptions in astrology? When you don’t genuinely know what you desire, what good is manifestation? Is having a glimpse into your future even useful? Do you remain here with us? Whatever your stance on these issues, spiritual endeavors are empowering since information is always a powerful tool. Even whether that knowledge takes the form of checking someone’s natal chart as a crucial risk assessment or putting black obsidian under your pillow to get rid of hatred.
But empowerment is a struggle, and struggles may be draining or even painful. Sometimes, all we want is to be taken care of (especially in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic). Angel cards provide us access to the energies of heavenly beings that merely desire to comfort humanity and make it happy. Readings are more concerned with the interaction of energies (think “vibes”) than the overt symbolism of something like Tarot, despite the fact that decks vary in terms of their language and picture. But what are the actual applications of angel readings? Cynics, there are in reality six things: awareness of our divine selves, collaboration for spiritual growth in relationships, integration for the pursuit of meaningful work, alignment for the acceptance and appreciation of life’s natural cycles, and nourishment (eating food and thinking thoughts that fulfil you). Their ultimate goal is to inspire the inquirer.
How should my tarot deck be cleaned?
While rearranging the cards in the tarot deck is a good approach to purify and clear their energy, there are some circumstances in which you might wish to perform a more specialized ritual. If you’re just getting started with tarot, cleaning your deck can be an excellent place to start.
You might want to clean your tarot deck for a variety of reasons, including:
- beginning with a fresh deck
- readings for other people
- You think you need to recharge.
- Your card readings seem a touch “odd” or “disconnected”
- Your deck hasn’t been used recently.
- Your deck has been handled by others
- You think you’ve been utilizing your deck a lot. A LOT, especially for books with strong emotional content
Why should you cleanse or clear your tarot deck?
Tarot deck cleansing helps keep the energy flowing between you and your deck. Consider it as a little spiritual hygiene to maintain a strong and clear connection. It’s not necessary, but if you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, try a few of the energetic cleansing techniques listed below and note which ones seem to work the best for you.
How often should you cleanse your tarot deck?
This is another way of stating USE YOUR INTUITION: there are no hard and fast laws. Don’t stress if you don’t believe it is necessary for your deck. Alternately, if you like to cleanse them once per week or once per month, that’s great. If it feels appropriate to you, you can even place your favorite crystal on the balcony each night.
If you frequently place crystals on your deck and store it on an altar while not in use, you might not feel the need to cleanse it frequently because this quick ritual will likely be sufficient to keep your deck feeling nice.
There are numerous ways to cleanse your cards, just as there are numerous reasons why you might desire to do so.
Different ways to cleanse your tarot deck
Use holy smoke. Light a dried rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, or palo santo cleansing wand until it begins to smoke. Hold the smoke a safe distance below the deck while holding the burning herbs in one hand and the deck in the other so that the smoke drifts upward onto the cards. Turn the deck so that the smoke covers it from all angles. Next, safely put your deck to the ground and put out the fire.
On the deck, set a selenite stone (or a black tourmaline or a transparent quartz). It works well to leave it like way for an hour, but I prefer to leave it overnight.
Set them on display during a new moon. The New Moon is energy of a blank slate; you can purify the deck by setting it on a window sill on a new moon night. At this moment, you can also make a brand-new intention for your deck.
Place the cards in a salty dish. A strong and stabilizing cleaner is salt. My preferred choice for a thorough cleansing is this. Allow it to sit anywhere from one to eight hours in a dry area.
Unorderly shuffle. Spread the cards out on the ground, then shuffle them around like a child playing in dirt. This method’s freedom and randomization serve as an excellent reset.
the shuffle and sort. Set up the deck in rows of seven cards across, commencing with the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22. (see photo above). Next, arrange the cards, Ace through King, one for each suit, as follows: Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and Wands. View the deck in this configuration, then mix everything up (like the chaotic!) and shuffle it thoroughly.
Can I read tarot cards on my own?
It’s normal to be a little clumsy when you first start practicing the tarot. Tarot study is similar to learning a new languageit takes time to become proficient. But what happens if you no longer require the booklet and have intimate familiarity with the deck? Are you able to read yourself? No, except for a few rare instances. Simply put, it’s a horrible idea.
You see, the majority of us turn to astrology or tarot when we’re looking for clarity amid a period of ambiguity. In contrast to astrology, which is quite technical, our consciousness restricts our capacity to read tarot cards. Working with your personal interpretation of the cards, you are not constrained by short- and long-term cycles like the planets’ orbits. It might be tricky to go beyond your current circumstances while utilizing the tarot to better understand a trying scenario. Even if all the cards are spread out in front of you, putting them together requires such a broad perspective that it is all but impossible to fully understand the meaning of each card. Basically, any biases you already have will always be reflected in your tarot reading!