Introduction to Tarot

This is a very brief introduction to Tarot for those of you who aren't familiar with it. It's from a very personal perspective - most of this is from the companion book to my Touchstone Tarot, due out in May 2009 through Kunati.

The Tarot is a set of 78 cards used for divination or personal insight. A traditional tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana, and four Minor Arcana suits each containing 14 cards numbered Ace to Ten, then Page, Knight, Queen and King.

The Major Arcana, or Trumps, can be corresponded with Jungian archetypes - human attributes and concepts that are universal across cultures. They represent the big issues in life, those which transcend the everyday.

Multiple Majors in a spread indicate a significant time in your life, perhaps a turning point or an epiphany. There are powerful forces at work. Solutions given over to Fate and what seems "meant to be."

The Minor Arcana consists of four suits - Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins (or Pentacles)

Wands are the suit of fire and correspond to the modern playing card deck's Clubs. They represent the medieval peasant class, those who work the land and craftspeople. They're a suit of strength, confidence, practical ability and the ability to make the most of what you've got. The wands are always sprouting new leaves, representing the life energy and creativity suggested by this suit.

Multiple Wands in a spread indicate fire, intensity, creativity. An auspicious beginning to a new business or creative project. Solutions based on trial and error: "Let's just see if it works."

Cups are the suit of water and correspond to the modern playing card deck's Hearts. They represent the medieval clerical class, and as such suggest spirituality, study and reflection.

Multiple Cups in a spread indicate emotions, feelings, love both worldly and divine. Keep your feet on the ground though, do not get lost in romantic dreams. Solutions based on emotions, what feels right.

Swords are the suit of air and correspond to the modern playing card deck's Spades. They represent the medieval ruling class, indicating worldly authority and leadership.

Multiple Swords in a spread indicate action, ideas, decisions. Power asserted. A conflict or debate is in the air. Conceptual solutions based on theory or logic.

Coins also known as Pentacles, are the suit of earth and correspond to the modern playing card deck's Diamonds. They represent the medieval merchant class, suggesting financial matters, commerce and trade. These are cards of the material world.

Multiple Coins in a spread indicate business activities: money, finance, investment. Worldly matters. Practical solutions based on personal experience.

Tarot evolved in the Italian Renaissance, although it's modern usage can be attributed to the early 20th Century's Rider Waite Smith deck.

Kat's Tarot FAQ

1. What are Reversals? Should I use them?
2. What is a Significator? Should I use one?
3. Do I need to ask a specific question when I do a reading?
4. Divination or intuition?
5. Should a deck be a gift?
6. Should you let other people touch your cards?
7. Should they be stored in something special?
8. Is it wrong to read cards for a third party?
9. If I'm a Christian, is reading tarot wrong?

What are Reversals? Should I use them?

In tarot a "Reversal" means a card that is laid upside-down.

Whether or not you get Reversals in "real life" depends on how you shuffle your cards, and how you handle them when not doing readings. If you're the only one who ever handles your deck and you shuffle in a straight manner, you probably won't ever get a Reversal.

Many readers, myself included, don't use Reversals. I always lay the cards right way up. All cards have both positive and negative meanings, and are interpreted in terms of context, their position in a spread. I don't feel the need to basically double the number of meanings in a deck when I'm doing my readings.

As many people do read Reversals though, I've included the option on this site - just check the box when you do your reading, or set it in your Profile to always include Reversals.

For some cards, traditionally reversed meanings can be the opposite of the upright meaning, but for other cards it can just be the same meaning, but with less emphasis.

I'm a firm adherent of the "make your own meanings" school, and since reversed meanings aren't really evident from looking at the cards, I wouldn't recommend using Reversals if you prefer to use your intuition in reading the cards.

What is a Significator? Should I use one?

A Significator is a card selected to represent the sitter. It's usually one of the Court cards—Page, Knight, Queen or King, or else a Major Arcana such as the Hierophant or High Priestess. It is found in the deck before shuffling and placed on the table near where the spread will be laid - or, in the case of this website, you set it in your Profile Page.

Reading with a Significator, like reading with reversals, is optional.

I sometimes use a Significator. Mine is the Queen of Wands of course, since in many decks it includes a black cat.

Do I need to ask a specific question when I do a reading?

No, you can just do a general reading by filling in something like "Daily Reading for Me" in the question field.

I personally find tarot more helpful when you do ask a specific question, although sometimes even though you're asking about something specific, the cards can very insistently tell you that there's another, more important issue that you should be considering.

Divination or intuition?

Ah, the old debate. Is tarot reading fortune telling?

It can be, but it doesn't need to be. A tarot deck is a tool that can be used in many ways, depending on the reader.

I use tarot myself as a form of counseling and to help me work out solutions to problems. I think it's helped me over the past decades to be more self-aware than I otherwise would have been.

Personally, I don't believe in predetermination. I don't think our fates are fixed. When I read "Future" cards, I see it as a likely outcome given current potential and direction, i.e., something that can be easily changed by active intervention.

I don't consider myself to be psychic. I prefer to think I'm just intuitive. Over the years though, the cards have come up with some readings that do their best to challenge my psychic agnosticism. Once at a Renaissance Faire, I was doing three-card readings, and a woman was emphatic that the cards laid were "wrong." I collected them up, gave the deck back to her and got her to shuffle again. I'd never normally do that, but she was being such a pain about it, and I just couldn't be bothered arguing. She cut the cards and then from the top of the deck I laid the exact same three cards out. We were both so shocked we just looked at them. After a while I said the obvious: "I don't think they're the wrong cards."

Should a deck be a gift?

I don't personally believe it has to be, but a deck sure does make a wonderful gift as it's not just an object, it's a set of possibilities.

I bought my first deck when I was fifteen. I gave the money to a friend and got her to walk into the store and buy it for me as I'd heard the "rule" that you shouldn't buy a deck for yourself. In retrospect that seems supremely silly, as it misses the point of why a gifted deck is so much better than one you buy yourself.

Ideally, someone gives you a deck because they care about you enough to want you to make your own decisions, and they think tarot can help you to do that.
Or perhaps they think you're great at counseling and that you might make a good tarot reader.

Or they see a particular deck and know you're into tarot but don't have this one, and they think it's very "you."

I treasure the decks that have been gifted to me, and I've given many more decks to other people than I could sensibly afford. Most of the people I've given a deck to have never had a deck before, and say they're not into tarot, but if just a few of them get curious and end up finding it a useful tool in their life, I'm very happy. If not, perhaps they will give it to someone else. I suspect that tarot decks keep moving until they find their true home.

Should you let other people touch your cards?

I think this is a matter of personal taste. Personally I'm happy with people handling my cards.

Especially if I'm reading for others, I want them to feel an empowered part of the process, and so I encourage them to shuffle and cut, and to pick the cards up from the spread to look at details in the cards themselves.

If someone particularly creepy handled my cards though, I'd probably want to do a cleansing ritual.

Should they be stored in something special?

Storing your cards in a box or bag is a good idea if they don't come with a protective box. Some people believe they should be stored in silk or wood, but others disagree just as emphatically! Keeping a few heads of dried lavender or a chip of cedar with them to discourage pests could be a good idea, although I have to say in over 20 years, not one of my decks has ever suffered from bug attack.

Some of my favorite decks have their own special home, a collection of antique cigar and jewelry boxes and lush handmade bags trimmed to match the deck. For the deck I carry in my handbag, I have a well-padded, lined bag that ties securely closed and protects the deck from keys and anything else that's kicking around in there.

Is it wrong to read cards for a third party?

I can understand why some people, especially those with psychic abilities, have an ethical problem in talking about someone who isn't present at the reading. Whether it's your sitter's friend, sister, partner, or even a celebrity, telling things about other people that they haven't consented to reveal can be seen as an invasion of privacy.

On the other hand, I believe that part of who we are is defined by our relationships and the people we choose to have around us. Their behavior and their issues affect us very deeply. They are part of who we are. It's not a cut and dried case of "us" and "them."

In the classic ethical dilemma, a reader is asked by a sitter if her husband is having an affair. If the reader has a strong conviction that it is the case, do they tell the sitter? Do they hint at it? Do they deny that they see it in the cards? Do they try to reframe the question so it's about the sitter and her relationship with her husband rather than his behavior, or will that make her feel she's responsible for her husband's affair?

I'm not going to tell you what's right and wrong. I think our emotions and responses are so complex that any ethical decisions need to be based on the actual situation in hand and the context of the reading. It's up to you to decide.

If I'm a Christian, is reading tarot wrong?

I've been asked this a few times, probably because Golden Tarot contained a lot of Renaissance Christian imagery. Touchstone doesn't contain nearly as much religious imagery because by the Baroque era, most art was being commissioned by wealthy individuals rather than churches, but this is still a question that I get asked.

The earliest tarot decks were commissioned by Catholic families, including families with members who became popes.

Branding tarot, fortune telling and even dice and playing cards as "the work of the devil" came much later.

I'm not a Christian, but I know of a number of high profile tarot experts who are. Biblical references to divination are mixed, and as with other aspects of your religion, I'd encourage you to research the issue and make your own decision. You might have noticed, I'm pretty big on people making their own decisions. Personal responsibility is very important to me.