An Introduction To Tarot
Tarot is a beautiful tool with a rich history, but there are a lot of myths around it and it can seem daunting if you don’t know much about it. So here’s a very brief introduction into the art of tarot.
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
What Is it?
A deck of tarot cards features 78 cards, consisting of 22 ‘Major Arcana’ cards, which are the named cards you’ve probably heard of; ‘The Lovers’, ‘Death’, ‘The Tower’ etc, and four suits of ‘Minor Arcana’. The four suits are traditionally Wands, Pentacles/Coins, Swords and Cups, but these can vary based on each deck. The Minor Arcana cards are numbered from Ace to Ten, followed by Court Cards, in a very similar way to a regular deck of playing cards. The cards are often illustrated and the artwork is a really important part of each deck. Each card comes with a rich history of traditional meanings and symbolism, which is combined with the intention of the creator, the symbolism in the specific artwork and the interpretation of the reader to create a reading. There are tonnes of different types of tarot decks, from traditional to modern to total obscure. If it has a fan base, it probably has a tarot deck.
Where did it come from?
There is A LOT of information about the history of tarot and there’s a lot of contradictions over what the exact origin is, but here is a super simplified version. Versions of card decks that were a similar format to the tarot we see today, with ‘Major’ or ‘Trump’ cards, and four suits date back to the late 14th or early 15th century, but they were used as a parlour game for wealthy families in Europe. They first began being used for divination purposes in the late 1700’s, when Jean-Baptise Alliette wrote a book and accompanying tarot deck with meanings of tarot cards, connecting them to occult symbolism, egyptian mythology and astrology. In 1909, the Wrider-Waite-Smith deck was created, by A.E. Waite and illustrated by Pamala Coleman Smith. This deck is the most common tarot deck used today and inspired many of the modern decks.
Wrider-Waite-Smith Deck, Photo by Viva Luna Studios on Unsplash
How do they ‘work’?
Reading tarot is a form of divination, which means to contact or receive messages from a higher power, spirit or higher consciousness. You’ll sometimes see tarot used alongside psychic abilities or mediumship (communication with spirits) or sometimes as a stand-alone tool. The way tarot is read will depend on the reader, what abilities and tool they use, and what they believe about tarot. My personal belief is that tarot offers an opportunity to connect with our higher consciousness, or subconscious, to point us towards what we know but can’t see, to connect with what’s under the surface. Each card holds connections to parts of the varied and complex human experience, drawing parallels between the physical and the spiritual worlds, understanding the balance between light and dark. The way I personally read tarot involves combining reading the imagery on the cards, the traditional meanings of the cards and my own experience and intuition, to read the situation and energy of a person. This relies heavily on the energy of person being read, so the resulting reading is solely about them, and not about anyone else involved in the situation.
Can they predict the future?
I personally don’t use tarot for fortune telling or predicting the future, I don’t think it is accurate or helpful. Even when I pull ‘future’ cards, it is all about the energy and the situations that are going on right now, it is a reflection of the present and can change at any moment. I believe we have free will at all times and we create our own future, rather than following a pre-destined path. I take this stance when I talk about any future cards in my readings, and will never tell you what is going to happen, only how you can prepare for the future in general, and how your present thoughts or actions may manifest long term.
Photo by Soulful Stock on Unsplash
I hope that has been a helpful introduction to tarot, I hope to share more on the subject in the future so if there’s anything you want to know, put it in a comment below. And if you’re ready to get your own personalised tarot reading sent directly to your inbox, click here.