There are the face or royal cards, or the jack/page, king, and queen, in both pip Tarot decks and standard playing card decks. The pip cards are the final ten cards in each suit.
As a result, each minor suit’s cards 1 through 10 feature few images, much like a standard deck of playing cards.
In This Article...
As this is my first ever Pip Tarot deck, learning numerology and understanding what each suit represents seem to be two key factors that are helping so much.
Without as many visual cues to tell me what each card signifies, it’s also really challenging my understanding of the Tarot. When you first utilize pip cards after becoming accustomed to the traditional Waite-Smith Tarot method, you’ll undoubtedly realize how much you’ve visually memorized versus how much you know simply by thinking of a particular card.
Don’t rule out anything that comes to mind for you intuitively while reading any cards for divination. There’s a good chance you need to hear this message.
Which two tarot deck types are there?
Around 1789, Etteilla was the first to publish a tarot deck created especially for esoteric uses. Etteilla’s tarot included themes pertaining to ancient Egypt, in keeping with the unfounded assumption that such cards were originated from the Book of Thoth.
Esotericists utilize a 78-card tarot deck that is divided into two parts:
- 22 cards without suits make up the Major Arcana (greater mysteries), sometimes known as the trump cards:
- 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, The World, and The Fool are just a few of the characters mentioned. The Fool is the only card in the deck that is not numbered; it is sometimes dealt at the start of the deck as 0 or at the end as XXII. Cards from The Magician to The World are numbered in Roman numerals from I to XXI.
- 56 cards make up the Minor Arcana (lesser secrets), which is divided into four suits of 14 cards each.
- Four court cards and ten numbered cards. The King, Queen, Knight, and Page/Jack in each of the four tarot suits serve as the court cards. The four suits of the classic Italian tarot are swords, batons, coins, and cups; however, in contemporary occult tarot decks, the coins suit is frequently referred to as pentacles or disks, while the batons suit is frequently referred to as wands, rods, or staves.
The words “Major Arcana” and “Minor Arcana” are never used in relation to tarot card games, which follow a different set of rules, and were initially coined by Jean-Baptiste Pitois (also known as Paul Christian). Some decks only exist as works of art, and these decks may only include the 22 Major Arcana.
The Tarot of Marseilles, the Rider-Waite-Smith, and the Thoth tarot decks are the three most popular esoteric tarot decks.
Aleister Crowley, who together with Lady Frieda Harris created the Thoth deck, said the following about the tarot: “This deck of cards has a very hazy history. Some scholars want to date it back to the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt, while others want to move it forward to the fifteenth or possibly sixteenth century. The only notion about the Tarot that is truly intriguing is that it represents the universe admirably and symbolically, using information from the Holy Qabalah.”
What is the tarot deck’s strongest card?
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.
What are pip cards of minor arcana?
The suit cards in a tarot deck are known as the Minor Arcana, or Lesser Arcana.
Pip cards numbered one (ace) through ten, combined with court cards (or face cards) in each of the four suits, make up the Minor Arcana cards, which first appear in tarot card games. The Minor Arcana are frequently drawn in modern tarot cards, a practice made famous by the Rider-Waite-Smith deck in 1910. The Minor Arcana cards are used in tandem with the Major Arcana in tarot card readings to denote everyday insights and to suggest subtleties and intricacies.
The Minor Arcana in Tarot decks inherited from Italian and Spanish decks normally consists of 56 cards, with 14 cards in each of the four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles)alternatively, batons, clubs, staffs, or staves (coins, disks, or rings).
Commonly, the court cards are the page, knight, queen, and king. The court is expanded by two new cards in the classic Visconti-Sforza tarot deck: the damsel and the mounted lady. Some variations substitute princess and prince cards for the page and knight cards. There are 56 cards in the traditional Tarot of Marseilles, but later decks based on the French suits of clubs (), hearts (), and swords (
Which tarot deck should newcomers purchase?
It stands to reason that the Rider Waite Tarot Deck is a classic. You can’t go wrong here either, even though it’s not as attractive as the newest decks. It’s reasonably priced and ideal for beginners.
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!
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.
What tarot decks do experts use?
The following are the top 5 tarot card sets, in the opinion of expert readers:
- the tarot deck by Rider-Waite-Smith. Amazon.
- The Modern Tarot Library’s Modern Witch tarot deck. Amazon.
- Tarot deck from St. Croix.
- Tarot deck by Morgan-Greer. Tarot.com.
- The tarot deck and book set called The Wild Unknown. The Unknown Wild.
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.
What tarot card comes in at number one?
In most conventional Tarot decks, The Magician (I), sometimes referred to as The Magus or The Juggler, is the first trump or Major Arcana card. In the English-speaking world, the meaning associated with divination is far more well-known. It is employed in both game play and divination.
The Magician, usually referred to as the atouts or honors, is the lowest trump card in the context of a card game. The Major Arcana are reinterpreted as the trump cards in the occult environment, where they are given a deep esoteric significance. In this situation, The Magician is regarded as the second overall and first numbered Major Arcana card, succeeding the Fool, which is unnumbered or marked 0. As a subject of occult study, the magician is seen as a sign of strength, potential, and the fusion of the material and spiritual worlds.
What is the value of pip cards?
Pips, which are tiny markings on the front of playing cards, are used to identify a card’s suit and rank. As an illustration, a typical 52-card deck has four suits, each with 13 cards: spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. The jack, queen, and king are the three face cards in each suit. The final ten cards are known as pip cards, and they are numbered one through ten. (In most games, “one” is transformed to “ace” and is frequently the highest card, followed by face cards.) Each pip card has an encoding that informs the cardholder of the card’s worth at the top left corner (and bottom right corner because the card is also inverted upon itself). Corner indices are more frequently found in Europe, making it easier for left-handed players to fan their cards. The suit’s pips are located in the card’s middle. The number of pips matches the number of the card, and they are often arranged in the same order from deck to deck.
Card points are commonly referred to as pips in point-trick games where cards frequently score their value in pips (or equivalent if they are court cards, e.g. a King may be worth 13)
The Ace of Spades typically has a different pip design, frequently featuring a particularly large pip or even a representative image, along with information about the deck’s manufacturer, in many French-suited packs.
The pips used in France and England, which date from at least the thirteenth century CE, are historically distinct from those used in Germany.