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TarotThe Tarot is a deck of seventy-eight cards used for divination (and meditation) purposes, comprising the Major Arcana, consisting of twenty-two trump cards (or twenty-one plus 'The Fool'), and the Minor Arcana, consisting of fifty-six 'suit cards'. 'Arcana' is the plural form of the Latin word 'arcanum', its meaning being 'closed' or 'secret'.Like a standard deck of playing cards, there are four suits in the Minor Arcana, each consisting of ten cards numbered from Ace to ten, traditionally batons (wands), cups, swords and coins (pentacles) -- forty cards in total. The difference between the Tarot and a normal deck of cards, apart from the Major Arcana, is that a Tarot deck has four court cards (or honours) in each suit. Instead of Jack, Queen and King we find Page, Knight, Queen and King, thus sixteen court cards as opposed to twelve. The earliest known extant specimens of Tarot cards are three decks of North Italian origin dating back to the early to mid-fifteenth century, all made for the then rulers of Milan, the Visconti family. These were called 'carte da trionfi' or 'cards of the triumphs'. It is thought that the oldest of these existing Tarot decks was probably painted by Bonifacio Bembo to celebrate a wedding which joined the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan. Soon afterwards, the cards became more popular and were used for the games called 'Tarocchi', still played in Italy today. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the cards became popular in occult circles and studies, initiated by occultists such as Etteilla (Jean-Babtiste Alliette), Antoine Court de Gebelin and, perhaps more recently and famously, Aleister Crowley with his renowned 'Thoth' deck, which is still available today. Since then they have been associated with mysticism and magick. This idea of the cards as a mystical key was further developed by Eliphas Lévi in the mid-nineteenth century and passed to the English-speaking nations via the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a magical fraternity founded in London in 1888 by Dr William Wynn Westcott, Dr William Robert Woodman and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Lévi's 'Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie' (Transcendental Magic), published in 1854, gave a completely new interpretation to the cards, which for the first time related them to Kabbalah. In the modern Western world, the Tarot is usually seen as a means of divination, which is the practice of obtaining/gleaning information from supernatural or other 'hidden' sources. Alternatively, in an even more modern aspect, it is seen as a psychological tool for accessing the unconscious to reach the Divine. However, early references refer only to the use of the cards for game-playing and gambling, and in some European countries such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Tarot is still a popular and widely played game. Nowadays, dozens of different decks of Tarot cards are widely available, the majority depicting their own interpretation of the original images, but each still retaining the original basic design. Two of the most famous and sought after are:
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The Major ArcanaThe twenty-two trump cards of a Tarot deck are known collectively as the Major Arcana, and are shown below. You must bear in mind that all Tarot decks differ in their depiction of the meanings of the cards, so it is certain that other decks will not appear to be the same as the one shown here, but this does not affect the meaning of each card. This particular deck, designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris, is called the Thoth deck. Despite its being crammed with extremely symbolic Kabbalistic, Thelemic, and Masonic symbolism, it remains one of the most popular Tarot decks of all time.
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Sample SpreadsIn this section I am showing details of and interpretations for two of the more simple spreads used in Tarot reading, a typical Three-Card Spread, and the Horseshoe Spread, although many more such as the Six-Month Special, the Horoscope, the Celtic Cross, the Calendar, the Tree of Life and others are used.
Three-card SpreadThis spread is one of the simplest, probably the simplest of all the spreads available, to master. It only involves laying out three cards in a row, each representing the past, the present and the future respectively, as shown below.
The Horseshoe SpreadThis is a very simple spread, useful for answering questions. It is particularly suitable for beginners since it does not involve too many cards. Each card can be looked up in turn to quickly relate its meaning to the position. And since each position represents a distinct sphere of influence, meanings which seem inappropriate can be discarded immediately.
Asking your question Questions must be unambiguous. It is well worth remembering that the clarity of the answer you get depends entirely upon the clarity of the question you asked. When two choices are involved, ask one question for each of them!
There are three versions of the Horseshoe spread (the layout remains the same). Click on the link below to go directly to the version you require, or simply scroll down the screen.
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The Thoth Tarot deck, a divinatory tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to instructions from Aleister Crowley, who referred to this deck as The Book of Thoth, and also wrote a 1944 book of that title intended for use with the deck.
The Rider Waite deck, originally published in 1909, is the most popular tarot deck for tarot card reading. Other names for this deck include the Waite-Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith, or Rider tarot deck. The cards were drawn by illustrator from the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and were originally published by the Rider Company. The deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants.
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