Tarot cards are a tool not only of divination but also for exploring the psyche and other dimensions, past, present and future.
The cards offer access to an interrelated system of psychic experiences. For example, the Tarot can be linked to the Kabbalah, astrology, crystals and numerology. The cards can also be used as a focus for meditation, leading to astral projection and past life regression. And, in themselves, the cards offer a complete system for magic and ritual and a means of developing hidden strengths and qualities.
The Origins of the Tarot
Throughout the centuries, the cards, through their archetypal images that span space and time, have offered answers to people’s deepest needs and questions. The cards contain the same wisdom expressed by the Ancient Egyptians, the Chinese and Indian cultures, the magical insights carried by the Romanies on their long wanderings across Asia into Europe, the hidden formulae of the alchemists and the secret esoteric teachings of persecuted medieval religious sects.
For the concepts behind any valid divinatory system are central to the human condition and in this most exciting, mysterious and spiritual form they find expression in universal images: mother, father, the divine child, the wise man, the virgin, the hermit, the hero, the lover and the trickster, the quest for immortality and enlightenment, as well as more traditional virtues of endurance, patience, moderation and justice.
Tarot cards in their present form seem to be a medieval creation although the images and themes are much older. The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris has seventeen ornate cards, sixteen of them Tarot Trumps, originally believed to have been made for Charles VI of France around 1392 but now thought to be Italian and dating from about 1470.
The modern Tarot pack comes directly from an Italian version, the Venetian or Piedmontese Tarot which has twenty-two trumps. The same form is found in the still popular French pack called the Tarot of Marseilles. Both designs were in general use by about 1500 in Northern Italy and France. The four suits represented different strata of society: the Swords were the aristocracy; Cups or Chalices the clergy and monastic orders; Pentacles or Coins the merchants; and Wands or Batons the peasants.
The cards have also been identified as containing the secrets of the priests of Ancient Egypt. The Arabic word Tariqua (the way of wisdom) bears some resemblance to Tarot and the Ancient Egyptian word Ta-rosh means the Royal Way. In 1856 Eliphas Levi made the first connections between the Tarot and the Kabbalah. He linked the twenty-two Major Arcana cards with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet that each possessed inherent esoteric significance as pathways on the Tree of Life. Other theories link the origin of the name Tarot with the Celtic Tara, the sacred Hill of the High Kings of Ireland from ancient times until the sixth century AD.
The greatest influence on modern Tarot reading is Arthur Edward Waite who in 1891 joined the Order of the Golden Dawn. He commissioned the artist Pamela Coleman-Smith to draw the pack for him and the result was the Waite Tarot pack with its richly illustrated Minor Arcana intended to promote visions as well as being used for divination. Waite associated the four suits with the four sacred objects of the Holy Grail quest and many of his cards reflect the romantic Arthurian background of the Grail legends. The Waite pack, the first to contain images depicting the meanings of the Minor cards, became the template for countless later decks.
Today, there are hundreds of Tarot designs to choose from ranging from fine art to cartoons. But almost all have retained the vision of the early designers and the underlying symbolism continues to grant access to our own and the universal well of wisdom, as it did for our ancestors.
Cleansing Your Pack and Spiritual Protection
When you buy a Tarot pack simple rituals can offer both spiritual protection and cleanse your cards based on the ancient elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water that were once regarded as the composition of all life.
It is important to establish a spiritual space in which to work and to close down this area after you have finished.
If you read for someone else, you can enclose them in a visualized separate circle of protection, so that if they do have negative vibes through sadness or anxiety, these are contained and dispelled at the end of the reading without entering your personal sphere. When you have read your cards for someone else, it is important to cleanse the cards afterwards to draw out any negative feelings.
The Major Arcana
The Tarot is called the Arcana because it is said to teach truths through symbolic language older than any written records, a language carried in myth and song, and so enriched by successive generations. These symbols address the unconscious mind and the psyche and so operate not through logical thought but by allowing these inner images to speak.
The Major Arcana, the first twenty-two cards of a pack, are frequently used alone for divination, since they are the archetypal symbols of human experience. They can also be considered as the stages of a journey through life, marking different stages in self-discovery and awareness.
- The Fool
- The Magician
- The High Priestess
- The Empress
- The Emperor
- The Hierophant
- The Lovers
- The Chariot
- Justice
- The Hermit
- Wheel of Fortune
- Strength
- The Hanged Man
- Death
- Temperance
- The Devil
- The Tower
- The Star
- The Moon
- The Sun
- Judgement
- The World
The Court Cards
The Court Cards link the archetypal Major Arcana and the building bricks of the daily trends and events in the Minor Arcana with the personalities about whom the readings are talking.
There are sixteen Court cards. The Court Cards usually refer to personalities who are dominant or difficult in our lives or who represent aspects of our own personalities that are significant or needed at a particular time, as stages in personal development.
The Pages
The Pages are cards of the Earth. They may refer to a child or represent an undeveloped aspect of the questioner’s personality as tentative ideas or dreams, or the first steps towards a new goal or relationship.
The Pages’ negative aspect is that they can represent a person who is childish.
Page of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Page of Wands
Page of Swords
The Knights
The Knights reflect the initial enthusiasm and passion of new relationships and ventures. Knights may refer to young adults or a partner or friend who is still free from responsibility or perhaps not fully mature. They can also represent a new facet of the questioner which is emerging to act out of character or to take up a cause.
Knights are the heralds of news. They are a reminder that the world can be an exciting action-packed place if we take our courage and cast aside those conventions that restrict us.
The negative aspect of the Knights is the immature person who pursues his or her own desires at the expense of others.
Knight of Pentacles
Knight of Cups
Knight of Wands
Knight of Swords
The Queens
The Queens represent a more mature woman, whether a mother or a female authority figure, symbolizing female fertility and wisdom. The card may also stand for your nurturing side. The Queens apply not just to women, but to the anima, the caring, gentle, receptive side of every male.
The negative aspect of the Queens is possessiveness or living other people’s lives for them.
Queen of Pentacles
Queen of Cups
Queen of Wands
Queen of Swords
The Kings
The Kings represent mature or older men or male authority figures. They embody power, achievement, paternalism, justice, wisdom and responsibility. The card may also represent your own animus, your desire and drive to succeed. Like the Queens, they can refer to male or female.
The Kings’ challenging aspects are domineering ways and inflexibility.
King of Pentacles
King of Cups
King of Wands
King of Swords
The Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana can hone in on specific issues and everyday problems. If you get a higher proportion of Major Arcana cards, traditionally it’s said that fate or outside influences have the stronger hand. It can also indicate that the issue under question is a central one and that we may need to take a long-term view. A predominance of minor cards can indicate that you have more choice. It can also point to either one or a number of smaller specific issues and suggest that it may be helpful to concentrate on a short-term plan.
Tarot Suits
Pentacles
Pentacles or Discs correspond to the element of Earth. Pentacles are closely linked with the attribute called sensations by Carl Jung, the five senses and above all common sense. They refer to everyday practicalities of life, financial matters, prosperity, physical and material security, property, legal and official matters, the home, family, the qualities of patience, caution, perseverance and placidity, children and animals. They promise firm foundations for any venture.
Pentacles may appear when you are working for a long-term goal and have faced many setbacks. The cards of Pentacles can offer hope and that all your efforts will bear fruit if you persist. You may be in a job or home situation where you will need to put in a lot of practical effort and pay scrupulous attention to detail but the material results will make your step-by-step progress worthwhile. Children, animals and all who are vulnerable may need your extra care.
On the negative front, you may be doing too much and feeling overwhelmed with all you have to do. The answer is to refuse to take on the burdens of those who are capable of managing their own lives and to delegate. Care for yourself as you do so for others.
Ace of Pentacles
Two of Pentacles
Three of Pentacles
Four of Pentacles
Five of Pentacles
Six of Pentacles
Seven of Pentacles
Eight of Pentacles
Nine of Pentacles
Ten of Pentacles
Cups
Cups or chalices are linked to the element of Water. They correspond to the attribute Jung called feeling, empathy, sympathy and a response from the heart not the head. They refer to love, emotions, relationships, fertility, healing, peace and reconciliation with others, sensitivity, adaptability and gentleness, the world of dreams and spiritual awareness, and people who are in love.
Cups indicate that there may be a commitment of the heart, a new stage in a love relationship that may involve adjustment or some hidden or unacknowledged turmoil with family, close friends or colleagues in which you may need to act as peacemaker. Or it may be that you feel very strongly about an issue or have a burning desire to follow a new course. Do what you feel and not what you think; love or the valuable instinctive feelings are often the best guide to people and situations. Opening your heart to those you love right now is the path to happiness. If in doubt, follow your heart and like water go with the flow.
On the negative front, you may be overwhelmed by the emotions of others. Resist emotional pressures and appeals to sentimentality.
Ace of Cups
Two of Cups
Three of Cups
Four of Cups
Five of Cups
Six of Cups
Seven of Cups
Eight of Cups
Nine of Cups
Ten of Cups
Wands
Wands or staves are linked with Fire. They correspond with the attribute Jung called intuition, the inspired solution, the inner voice and inner promptings that draw upon the wisdom of our ancestors. Wands represent creativity, originality and individuality, personal happiness, beginnings, communication and all artistic ventures, the world of ideas, of energy, excitement, action, ambition, success, career, health, travel, expansion, business partnerships, business partners or colleagues.
Wands indicate that your world is full of movement and that if you can focus on a particular goal or find a new solution to an old problem, you will achieve happiness and fulfillment. It is time to act independently and to concentrate on personal goals.
The negative aspect of Wands is an inability to persevere when the initial enthusiasm has worn off and to take on more new projects than you can possibly handle.
Ace of Wands
Two of Wands
Three of Wands
Four of Wands
Five of Wands
Six of Wands
Seven of Wands
Eight of Wands
Nine of Wands
Ten of Wands
Swords
Swords are linked with Air. They correspond with the attribute Jung called thinking, the power of logic and rational deduction, and so Swords is the suit of reason, courage, determination and calculation. They often appear after or during difficulty. They represent the power to cut through barriers and initiate necessary change. They also stand for limitations, challenges, tradition, formal learning, justice formal and informal, and assessment.
Swords say it is time for the head, not the heart, to apply the reality principle and to cut through illusion, red tape and doubts to focus on whatever must be done; then carry through the task single-mindedly without hesitation. Swords say that we start from where we are and not where we would like to be.
The negative aspect of Swords is a tendency to allow inner fears or past failures to stand in the way of moving forward. The message time and again in these cards is that reality is never as bad as our fears.
Ace of Swords
Two of Swords
Three of Swords
Four of Swords
Five of Swords
Six of Swords
Seven of Swords
Eight of Swords
Nine of Swords
Ten of Swords
Interpreting the Numbers
Aces
The number One is the ultimate beginning and end, source of all energy. Tarot Aces are vital and exciting cards because our lives are full of new beginnings and the Aces tell us to meet each challenge with energy and enthusiasm. The chance to start again and the belief that the sun will rise again and tomorrow is another day can be the only things that give us hope during difficult times. When you get an Ace of any suit you know that new opportunities or an unexpected change of plan or attitude are on the horizon.
The Twos
Twos deal with partnership issues, both in love and business and with balancing events or resolving disparate demands on our time. They represent duality and diversity; the polarities of light and darkness, good and bad, masculine and feminine, competitive and nurturing but with the positive energies of increase. They can either indicate the problem of trying to juggle two balls that keep flying in opposite directions or the harmony of two people dancing in step. In a reading it can be a number of union or division, of double the strength or the splitting of power and resources in opposite directions.
The Threes
Threes are thought to have great significance as the number of body, mind and spirit. The cards of Three have strong creative element and represent the achievement of initial goals and hope that whatever has been gained is a sure foundation for future success. A Three in a reading can speak of short-term results in your efforts and encourages you to enjoy or accept what is happening now in the knowledge that change will follow.
The Fours
The Fours are the cards of organization and stability, the real world with its limitations that can seem stultifying or reassuring. They are the cards of security. Four represents the earthing and grounding of mind, body and spirit within the material plane. The Four cards represent the conflict between accepting what we are and what we have as opposed to the unknown, the exciting, the desire to hold ourselves back where we know it is safe. Many of the limitations we impose on our lives are through fear of change and the unknown.
The Fives
The Fives are linked with communication and versatility. The instability of the Tarot Fives at best can encourage us to question a stagnant or redundant situation and communicate our needs and fears, and at worst to abandon what we have worked so hard to create.
The Sixes
The Sixes reflect peace and harmony and events that turn out better than expected. However, they also represent an element of escapism and idealism. The Sixes mirror, not only outer calm, but also an inner peace or need for it because sometimes the Tarot can show us what we desire as well as the current situation.
The Sevens
The Sevens deal with wisdom acquired through experience. Seven is the most spiritual and mysterious number and is found in many religious symbols. The Sevens also deal with our unconscious wisdom and the search for something more than material success. There may be a hint of illusion for it is the number of dreams and imagination but dreams can be the first step to finding happiness.
The Eights
The Eights are the cards of overcoming obstacles and restrictions and abandoning what may be redundant. They are the cards of change and are full of movement, adapting and learning new skills.
The Nines
The Nines talk of action and the courage and determination to succeed whatever the odds, of self-reliance, of striving for perfection, self-confidence, a strong personal identity, independence or, at their most negative, total isolation. They are the cards of supreme effort.
The Tens
The Tens herald completion which can represent either perfection or endings before new beginnings and new hope. They also talk of eliminating all that is redundant in our lives. For life rarely stands still and often, as soon as we have arrived, we find ourselves en route to a new destination.
Reference:
Eason, C. (2000). Complete Guide to Tarot. Freedom, Ca: Crossing Press.
