Tarot card reading is a type of cartomancy in which practitioners are said to be able to predict the past, present, or future by using tarot cards. They create a question first, then deal out cards to answer it. There are 78 cards in a conventional tarot deck, which can be divided into the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. You can use any card system with suits associated with distinguishable elements, such playing cards with a French suit (e.g., air, earth, fire, water).
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Do the meanings of the tarot cards vary?
This section is for you if you’ve ever wondered what a “three-card spread is. Tarot readings can be done in a variety of ways, and frequently the instructions that come with the cards will show images of the most common spreads. You’ll soon discover that there is a spread for any circumstance, and you can always come up with your own, too. These include the straightforward three-card spread, the Celtic cross, and a seven-day spread.
After the deck has been shuffled and divided in half by the client, the reader will pull three cards from it (more on that in a moment). The past, present, and future are typically represented by the first call pulled, second call pulled, and third call pulled, respectively. Depending on the reading and the question being posed, the timeframes can be understood to indicate either tomorrow or ten years from now.
A daily card reading is another popular way to use tarot cards. In this practice, one card is chosen at random from the top of the shuffled deck and used as a reminder or a direction for the day. Anyone wishing to become more acquainted with the tarot deck and the meanings of the cards can find this to be a very beneficial practice.
As vital as it is to think about the specific meaning of each card, it is also crucial to think about the atmosphere and symbolism of the spread as a whole. There is just as much information to be learned from the whole picture as there is from its component parts, especially in bigger spreads. This is an opportunity to collaborate with them if you are reading for someone else. This will be more difficult the more pressure you put on yourself to mind-read. It should be a relief to know that reading tarot cards doesn’t make you psychic: It’s acceptable to inquire about the cards with the audience and come up with ideas for how the cards might relate to their initial query collectively. When a customer asks about money, you might pick two cups cards and “the lovers,” but sometimes the cards won’t match up at all. This could imply that their love life was what they truly wanted to talk to you about. Doesn’t everyone?
Tarot reading can be done in many different methods, but they all require practice. It takes effort to learn 78 different cards, especially when many of them have numerous possible interpretations. However, the more you study and handle the cards, the more comfortable you’ll feel using them as a tool to better understand both yourself and others.
There are several books you can buy and classes (online and off) you can take to hone your interpretation abilities if you want to move up in the tarot world. Online courses are occasionally made available by Tarot for Change author and well-known tarot reader Jessica Dore. A sliding rate eight-week course is also available via Little Red Tarot. Free courses from teachers like John Ballantrae, who has a very relaxing accent, and spiritual advisor Mystic Rainn are also widely available on YouTube.
Does astrology include tarot cards?
Tarot has evolved over time into an intuitive art that may assist you in planning for both the best and worst scenarios. Tarot cards are filled with symbolism, but you might not be aware of how closely it is related to astrology. In need of a Tarot deck? The Major Arcana, for instance, contains a card for each sign of the zodiac.
What kind of religion are tarot cards?
Tarot cards are frequently cited as a component of New Age thought and practice along with astrology, aspects of Buddhism, paganism, and First Nations teachings in the eclectic scholarly approach to the New Age.
Can you interpret your own tarot cards?
It most certainly is. Tarot is a technique that aids in deepening our understanding of the present moment, honoring our intuition, and predicting future possibilities. Although it might seem complicated, the technique is actually quite straightforward.
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 point of view. 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 considering why you’re responding the way you are in order to reflect on the best way to address the underlying cause if you ask the question and are unsatisfied with the response.
After a breakup
Draw one card for each of the following inquiries if you’ve recently broken up with someone and want to know more about the reason or determine whether you’ll get back together:
- How energetic is the partnership right now?
- What caused the divide in the first place?
- What do they really think of me right now?
- What do they intend for me right now?
- What kind of relationship will this be in the future?
- Which action is ideal for me to take right now?
When job searching
You can lay out this spread and see what kind of career guidance the tarot can offer if you’re feeling uncertain about your career path or thinking about a new employment. Draw one card once more for each query.
- How active am I in my career right now?
- What challenge must I overcome?
- What is my calling in life?
- How can I follow this calling more closely?
- What should I do to prepare for the upcoming month?
When deciding between two options
This spread can highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each option, guiding you toward the best decision if you’re using tarot to decide between two possibilities (two job offers, two apartments, perhaps a love triangle???). The deal is this: Per card, pose one question.
- What is the fundamental cause of this fork in the road?
- What is the likely result of choosing option A?
- What is the most likely result for option B?
- What more should I take into account that was overlooked?
- What’s the best thing I can do right now?
When something is off with a friend
You may explore what insights and solutions this spread reveals if you’re concerned about the status of a friendship or feel that something is amiss but can’t figure out why. Ask one question per card, once more, I repeat.
- What makes this friendship so crucial?
- What led to this sudden change in tone, and why?
- What has changed, in my friend’s opinion?
- What can I do to make this matter more urgent?
- What is the next step for this friendship?
- What should I do at this moment?
Is tarot reading challenging?
But because there is so much to understand and memorize, reading tarot can seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be that way, and that’s what we’re here to tell you. You’ll be an expert by the time your friends from college come around for drinks tonight if you just follow our quick-start tarot instruction.
Tarot reading has been practiced since the 14th or 15th century and may have started out as a card game, similar to poker, rather than a spiritual activity. Tarot cards were utilized for divination starting in the late 18th century, but a spiritual component also emerged. They have also been applied to psychological research. Even Carl Jung thought of the playing cards as a tool to depict the “archetypes of mankind.”
The majority of 78-card tarot decks follow the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition and make use of related archetypes and iconography.
Additionally, there are tarot decks from various traditions, such as Marseilles tarot decks, as well as oracle cards, which can have any quantity of cards with their own particular imagery. But chances are, if you’re new to tarot, your deck is a Rider-Waite-Smith one.
Each of the 78 cards in these tarot decks has a distinct meaning. You don’t have to keep all of that in your head, even though it is a lot to know about them. The following are the key facts to be aware of:
1. The Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana are the two categories of Tarot cards.
Similar to a standard deck of playing cards, the 56 Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. The total journey of your life is covered by the 22 Major Arcana.
Are periods appropriate for tarot reading?
You would expect that by the year 2020, society will have overcome long-standing taboos and become more educated. In offices, hospitals, schools, and colleges, we surveyed a number of young ladies. But little appears to have changed. These are some things that women are still told today.
1. If you’re a woman and angry, you must be having a period.
2. If you’re a woman in pain, you must be having your period.
3. If you’re a woman and you’re walking funny, you must be having a period.
4. Even at home, while you’re on your period, you should have a separate room, dishes, and restrictions.
5. Consuming cold food or beverages can stop your flow.
6. You are unable to exercise, visit a place of worship, or swim when you are menstruating.
7. Avoid cooking, hair-washing, and handling dairy products or pickles when you’re menstruating.
8. Women often utilize the excuse of PMS to escape uncomfortable circumstances.
9. Tarot readings are not permitted during times.
10. Women are more susceptible to supernatural beings and are more easily possessed during their periods.
11. Periods for women are voluntary and controllable. Because they enjoy the drama and the days off, they have them every month.
We’re sure you’ve found many of them to be gratingly familiar if you’re a woman. But if, like us, you’ve rolled your eyes till you thought they might pop out of your head, pause and consider why.
Why do we still lack a fundamental understanding of how a woman’s body works physiologically in this day of rapid scientific advancement, a wealth of data, and the Internet? Modern, educated women may not wish to have children or be held captive by these misconceptions and lies about menstruation. However, the majority are helpless against ignorance, a lack of appropriate education, and ignorance.
It all boils down to what people were taught as children when it comes to how our friends, coworkers, family members, and neighbors believe. Don’t you think we would be having a different kind of discourse today, whether you live in a city, a small town, or a countryside, if having periods were accepted as normal rather than taboo?
The truth that there is nothing “impure about menstruation” does not empower young women. There has never been a greater pressing need for this topic’s education and understanding across cultural and economic boundaries. The changes in their bodies and how to handle them should be anticipated by young females. Girls can continue in school and aid working adult women, especially in more disadvantaged places, to keep gainfully occupied throughout the year by providing education, sanitary napkins, and sufficient water and bathroom facilities.
However, change won’t happen until there is a movement that holds the view that all women’s lives can be improved with a single switch. Instead of outdated misconceptions with no basis in reality, girls and women of all ages need to start hearing new messages. Two-thirds of young girls in smaller towns and villages frequently don’t understand what’s happening to them when they first encounter periods, whereas women in cities have advanced to using sanitary pads, tampons, or menstrual cups. When and how should they be informed?
when they are young and during academic coursework. Discussions regarding periods need to sound more like this while they are still in school and developing:
We should be more cognizant of our flow, menstrual patterns, and the potential for infections during our periods. However, it doesn’t weaken you.
No more than you would be if you bought yourself soap or toothpaste, purchasing sanitary napkins shouldn’t make you feel humiliated.
It’s not necessary to hide and discard used sanitary towels while no one is looking.
Contrary to women who use filthy wads of cotton or rags, using sanitary napkins can reduce your risk of developing cervical cancer.
Cheaper does not always equate to better. Look for goods and businesses that are making an effort to demonstrate their dedication to timely menstrual hygiene education (especially post COVID).
Whisper has been leading the effort for the past three decades, teaching 45 lakh girls in 40,000+ schools about menstrual health and giving away free sanitary pads. Not only have they taken on period taboos head-on, but they have also educated and empowered women to become change agents at the most fundamental levels and earn a living by selling sanitary products. This ought to be the legacy we leave for future female generations. We need to picture a society in which periods are not taboo and where people aren’t scared to talk about them, share information, and work to make the world a better and safer place for all.
What distinguishes astrology from a tarot card reading?
“While astrology offers more general predictions, tarot cards take a highly individualized approach to making predictions. Numerous people at once may be affected by astrological predictions. Tarot allows you to delve deeply and intricately into any subject you are interested in, whereas astrology does not. That’s not to suggest you can’t receive a comprehensive prognosis; astrology can provide one, but it requires complex computations of your birth chart. It is regrettable that so few astrologers today go into great detail in order to provide an accurate prognosis.”
My Tarot deck needs to be cleaned.
There are occasions when you might want to perform something more particular and ritualized rather than simply shuffling the tarot deck to purify and clear the energy of the cards. Cleaning your deck could seem like a nice place to start if you’re just starting to understand tarot.
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. To keep the link strong and clear, think of it as a little spiritual hygiene. 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 worry about it if you don’t think your deck need it. 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). Although an hour would suffice, I prefer to let it rest like this for the entire night.
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.
Shuffle in chaos. 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.