Ask a question, concentrate, shuffle, pick a card, and discover your destiny...

Most of you who happen to find this page want to know how to read Tarot cards and tell your own fortunes.  Forget that this started out as a common card game, these cards today are used as a tool in the art of Divination; the practice of intuitive perception. First used in the early Italian Renassiance when people were beginning to understand the hidden aspects of nature and science, the cards became more developed and complicated, filled with Astrological and philosophical symbolism to represent various stages in everyday life.  The cards were also saturated with the Christian cultural world view of the times and sometimes the Major Arcana (the 21 trumps) are said to represent the stages of Christ's life and sometimes they were used to spiritually educate individuals who could not read (which was most of the population in the Dark Ages).  So, the next time someone tells you that the Tarot cards are diabolic, remember that the people who first used these cards were the Italian and French Catholic aristocracy who commissioned artists to decorate them as elaborately as archtitects designed the cathedrals.  Thousands of decks are now in use all around the world, come in various sizes and shapes, embellished with beautiful illustrations from artists with diverse cultural backgrounds, and, besides being used for fortunetelling, are incorporated into spiritual rituals, creative corporate brainstorming, and as visual aids in therapeutic circles.  However you decide to use them, consider Tarot to be a living work of art that can be utilized by anyone with a strong imagination! 

The 78 card Tarot deck consists of:

• the Major Arcana, consisting of 21 trump cards and the Fool card;
• the Minor Arcana consisting of 56 cards:
• • ten cards (also called Pip Cards) numbered from Ace to 10 in four different suits; traditionally batons (wands), cups, swords and coins (pentacles) (40 cards in total);
  • four court cards, Page, Knight, Queen and King in the same four suits mentioned above (4 per suit, thus 16 court cards in total).  

A Generic Guide to the Tarot

Altogether the Major Arcana (22 cards if you include the Fool) are frequently said to be a symbolic journey through life in which the Fool overcomes obstacles and gains wisdom. This idea was first suggested by tarot author Eden Gray in the mid-20th century.  The Major Arcana, therefore, are cards that represent the big picture or major obstacles of life and when these cards appear in a spread, read them as such.

The Major Arcana, being the elements of the big picture in life, consist of these simple meanings:

The Minor Arcana fill in the details; consider these cards to be the supporting characters in someone's life story.  Each of the Minor Arcana's four suits (consisting of 56 cards; ace through 10 including the court cards) represent a specific area in life:

• the Wands cards deal with business, jobs, career, the creative arts;

• the Cups cards deal with emotions, relationships, dreams;

• the Swords cards deal with thoughts, science, analysis, conflicts;

• and the Pentacle cards deal with money, nature, family, food, and possessions.

The Minor Arcana's four suits also represent the elements and times of the year:

Tips on how to get started reading Tarot cards

• Start first by choosing a deck with imagery you feel comfortable with or inspired by.  A good deck to start with is the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot deck featuring illustration by Pamela Colman Smith.
• Don't become intimidated with all the individual meanings of the cards, just start reading the cards by concentrating on one card each day and looking up the meaning for the card in a book such as The Pictorial Key to the Tarot which can be found for free online at Sacred-Texts.com.
• The best way to learn Tarot, after studying meanings out of a book, is to start writing down your own personal meanings of the cards and how they relate to you in your life.  Again, pick just one card a day and don't try to digest all the card meanings in one sitting!
• Keep a journal or blog to record your progress as you relate to the meanings of your cards.  As you learn to master the Tarot, you will discover over time that your impressions of each card will change or become more detailed and accurate.
• Traditionally it is suggested that Tarot readers should lay their cards out on a silk cloth or scarf not worn or used by anyone but the reader.  It is an option many have taken to creative ends; many readers have made their own Tarot table cloths that provide a nice place to set the cards with a personal, decorative touch.  Again, it is suggested that your Tarot cloth should be made of silk material, but some have opted to use satin or even cotton to just as good effect.
• Once you are more acquainted with the meanings, start to shuffle all the cards together and, after concentrating on a question, lay out the cards in spreads of three; the first card will represent the past, the second the present, and the third the future.  This is the easiest spread to start with for all beginners.
• Don't expect a "yes" or "no" answer directly from the cards; the cards are just a tool to help you determine if an answer is positive or not.
• Consider reading the cards in a spread as reading a story with just pictures.  This is exactly how psychics read the cards.  Seriously.  You just make up a story about the person based on what the images on the cards spell out.  Ask yourself how the story you see can apply to yourself or the person you are doing the reading for.  It sounds weird, but it's easy once you get used to it and gain more confidence in yourself.
• Towards the end of each reading, look for narrative patterns that can give you or your querent (the person you're giving a reading to) clues as to how to best resolve the situation they're asking about.
• Keep in mind that the Tarot cards ONLY will show possibilities about the future and are used as a tool or guide displaying future alternatives.  You and the querent always have the choice to change things for the better or not.
• Again, instead of reading from a book of Tarot meanings in parrot fashion while doing your first couple readings, rely upon your own intuition and imagination, then combine your personal perceptions about the images on the cards together to come up with creative, entertaining advice for a friend or stranger.  You will soon discover that your readings will become more accurate when you depend upon your own interpretations.  You will also discover that the meanings of the cards are very universal, can vaguely apply to anyone, and that you won't be far off from the interpretations of traditional Tarot symbolism.
     

The Celtic Cross: the basics of a traditional Tarot card spread

The Ritual of Reading Tarot

1. Set the stage: lay out your Tarot cloth, light some incense, play instrumental music to get you into an introspective mood.
2. Clear your mind: meditate, practice yoga, or do whatever you feel is right for you to get yourself to quiet the daily chatter that goes on in your head.
3. Say a prayer and/or ask for a blessing: no matter what your religion, ask whomever you worship to guide you to see the truth and rid the room of intrusive energy or spirits.
4. Concentrate on a question: Before shuffling the cards, think or have your querent think about something they want to know more about.  Sometimes they will think of several things at once, so try to give them some time to concentrate other wise you'll both be at the table for a long while answering every little question that comes to mind.  Notice I didn't say "Ask a question" but "concentrate on a question?"  When you are serious and thoughtful the more likely it is that you will get something constructive out of this creative visualization exercise. 
5. Shuffle the cards: shuffling the cards is like mixing up a big casserole bowl of the many elements of life, so as you shuffle be open to the variety of possibilities open before you, you never know what is going to land in your lap!  You can either shuffle for yourself or the querent.  I usually have the querent handle the cards.  Other readers suggest that this isn't a good idea and would rather be the only ones handling their cards.  That's an especially good suggestion if you're doing readings for parties so that drunks don't spill their beer on your cards!  Everyone has their own way of shuffling, find the one best for you.
6. Cut the deck into three piles:  once the cards are shuffled, give yourself or querent an extra few minutes to choose several different alternatives.  One of my teachers taught me that if the querent chooses the left pile that they will be wondering about the past, if they choose the center pile they will be more concerned about the present, and if they choose the right pile they're thinking more about the future.
7. Pick a pile:  sounds like the beginnings of a magic trick, eh?  You can hear the carnival barker saying now: "Pick a pile, any pile, what you'll get nobody knows until the cards are shown!"  It's as simple as that; pick a pile and lay that pile on top of the rest of the cards.  The pile that was picked will be the one you will draw the cards from.
8. Start to lay the cards out, face down, into a pattern: this is the actual laying out of a spread like the Celtic Cross pictured above.  Each position that you place a card in will represent a subject or time period in the narrative you'll come up when reading the cards.
9. Read the cards, individually, one by one: according to the placement or pattern of the spread you are using, start to read the cards in sequence on an individual basis.  Do this step by step until you get to the last card in the spread.
10. Begin to summarize the reading with the last card drawn:  the last card is usually the Outcome of the reading and should be utilized as the kickoff point to start the end of the reading.
11. Summarize the reading by reviewing all the cards drawn:  starting with the Outcome card, back track a little and review the other cards.  Piece together the images and the meanings with your own personal interpretations.  Bring some resolution to the reading just like you would bring closure to the end of a story you have just written.
12. Leave things open for a few last minute questions: perhaps there was something in your narrative that perked your querent's interest and they'd like some more insight into that area?  Open the field for questions and draw additional cards if you'd like to examine an area of the reading more closely.
13. Pack up the cards: sometimes you can spend too long looking at the cards and still not see the forest for the trees!  Bring some closure to the reading, shuffle the cards again to help clear your mind from the subjects that were just examined, and pack up your cards.  
14. Remember to say thank you and you're welcome: if you started things with a prayer/blessing, it's only fair to say your thank yous to the Powers-That-Be for providing you with some divine intuitive perception.   
    

The Name of the Game is based on Chance: A little bit of History on the Tarot

Many suggestions have been made in the past to explain the original meaning of the word "Tarot". Pronounced 'tar-(")O with a long "O" on the end (the last "t" is silent), the playing cards are much older than the name they were given. The earliest accounts of the name appear in the year 1505 parallel in France (Taraux) and Ferrara (Italy, as Tarocchi). Later also called Trionfi or triumph, the name developed later as general term for trick-taking (trumpfen in German, trump in English).  Originally the cards were used in games of chance and back in the early Renassiance the Catholic church eventually banned them to tone down all the rowdy gambling that was going on. The only cards they didn't ban were 52 cards; thus leaving just the Minor Arcana (with the exception of the Page) and the Fool (who would later be known as the Joker) that make up the Playing deck of cards used today.  The earliest known decks of Tarot were called carte da trionfi or "cards of the triumphs". Soon afterwards, the cards were used for the games called Tarocchi. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the cards became popular in occult studies, initiated by occultists such as Etteilla and Antoine Court de Gebelin. If you'd like a more detailed account of the history of the name and the game of Tarot, check out the following links:

Trionfi.com: Research of the history of Tarot
An Overview of the Tarot at Kuro5hin.org
Reference on Tarot at Sacred-Texts.com
Learning the Tarot: Free on-line course
The Skeptic's Dictionary section on the Tarot
Tarot History Information Sheet by TarotL

All contents above are derived (unless noted otherwise) from original articles by valentinaxxx