What are tarot cards?      BACK

 

Tarot cards are a set of 78 cards broken down into 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards.  The word arcana is the plural for arcanum - meaning 'Profound Secret or Secrets'.

 

The tarot cards are a set of picture cards.  The pictures or imagery on the cards are used to help you open your 'inner-consciousness, or subconscious' (often referred to as your inner guide, inner voice, and so on) so as to enable you to 'interpret the cards' and give meaning to them and a particular situation or question that the cards are being asked.

 

The Major Arcana in tarot decks are almost always rich in imagery using symbolism and allegory to inspire and trigger the readers (the person reading the cards) insights and impressions of the card.  On the other hand, with the Minor Arcana cards this rich imagery can only be found in some decks.

 

Normally when a deck has this rich imagery on both the Major and Minor Arcana cards these are referred to as Standard or Traditional Rider-Waite decks since the first use of imagery for all the cards (both Major and Minor) are attributed to man named Arthur Edward Waite.  The deck he developed was first printed by a company named Rider ... thus the term Rider-Waite deck.

 

Decks that do not have this 'rich imagery of using symbolism and allegory' normally revert to looking more like a regular deck of playing cards with 6 wands (6 of clubs) on the 6 of Wands card, 8 cups on the 8 of Cups card (8 of hearts) and so on.  These are normally harder for people to learn on and don't convey nearly as much as decks which use imagery on all the cards.

 

It is important to remember that the tarot cards are NOT magical, nor do they have any type of special powers.  The special abilities and insights come from the person reading the card, or cards, and the imagery on the card and that the cards themselves are only a tool for opening the reader to the possibilities that the card, or cards trigger/suggest in the person reading them.

What are tarot cards used for, how can they help me and others?      BACK

 

Tarot cards are used for divination, personal insights, to help you learn about yourself, to give depth to your life, for meditation, reflection, contemplation, problem analysis, brainstorming, decision clarification, to stimulate your intuition, and for spiritual growth just to name a few of the things the tarot is used for. 

How does the Tarot work?     BACK

Despite what you might read and hear no one knows how the tarot works.  There is actually no proof that it even does work except for your own (and other peoples) experiences reading the cards/spreads.  The tarot is one of those things you have to take on faith, especially when first starting out.  Later when you learn to read the cards and how to do spreads you will see for yourself that it works ... or not, depending on whether it works for you (or doesn't) and the amount of time you are willing to spend learning the tarot.  You will see all kinds of suppositions, theories, etc. but these are just guesses or a certain person's viewpoint.  How the tarot works is anyone's guess, and that's just what they are ... guesses!

Don't be fooled by all the rigmarole many people (especially writers) want to wrap the tarot in as to how and why it works.  It either works for you or it doesn't.  The other stuff is just window dressing.