Starcat Presents

Introduction to the Tarot

What is the Tarot?

The Tarot is a deck of (usually) 78 playing cards that was developed between 1392 and 1440. The earliest record of Tarot cards is a set of “picture cards” designed for Charles VI of France in 1392-1393. According to one theory, the Tarot was originally used as playing cards for Italian tarocchini and (games similar to bridge). The divination aspect of the cards wasn’t popularized until the 1780s, which is also the time that the now discredited idea that the cards came from ancient Egypt was first put forth.

The deck is comprised of 56 “minor” cards divided into 4 suits and 22 “major” or trump cards. The minor cards are numbered Ace through 10, with four Court cards -Page, Knight, Queen and King. The suits are generally swords, wands, pentacles and cups, although the names and symbols may change from deck to deck. The cards were given a lot of esoteric meanings by various people and entities including the Golden Dawn, a secret society of magicians in the late 19th century. These included relationships to Numerology, Hebrew letters, Pagan gods and goddesses, and rituals. In many cases these additional meanings were very different depending on who was assigning them.

One of the members of the Golden Dawn, Arthur Waite, put together a Tarot deck in the early 20th century. He used his own ideas combined with the Golden Dawn attributions and got a fellow Golden Dawn member, Pamela Colman Smith, to illustrate the cards according to their ideas of what the Tarot should be. Known as the Rider-Waite-Smith or RWS deck (named for the publisher, author, and artist) there is symbolism in just about every line of the deck. This has become the most popular deck in the world, and the style of deck we will work with.

There are many different versions of Tarot decks that come from different places and times, including the Tarot de Marseille from 15th century France, the Sola-Busca deck, and the Visconti-Sforza tarot decks from a similar era. Each of these utilizes a slightly different version of the cards and the imagery varies considerably. Some have illustrated minor cards while others have stylized ‘pips’ instead. The names and people change among these decks, sometimes drastically. The Magician in the Rider-Waite- Smith decks is the Juggler in the Tarot de Marseilles, and the High Priestess is known as the Papess or Juno in different decks. Even within the RWS style of decks, the changes follow the theme of the particular variation.

Non-Tarot Divination Decks There non-Tarot decks of all kinds that are used for divination including Oracle decks, Angel Cards, Lenormand, Kipper, and meditation cards. These are used for purposes similar to Tarot cards, but have varying numbers of cards - from as low as 20 to as many as 144 - and may be based on any structure or any topic. The easiest way to explain the difference is that these cards speak a different language than Tarot. You can learn how to read these cards, but don’t expect that your knowledge of Tarot will help you pick up a different kind of deck and start reading with it right away. The differences may seem minor, but there are fewer similarities than you realize at first. That is not to say that non-Tarot divination decks are not excellent tools, they are just not the ones we will deal with in this workshop.

Prepared by Mark Rider [email protected] 845-399-7366 www. starcattarot.com

Choosing a Deck Almost everyone interested in the Tarot recognizes the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and there are hundreds of decks that use the same basic symbolism with different themes. These RWS “clones” are generally easy to read once you work with them a little, if you are familiar with the RWS cards. And since most “how to read tarot” books and courses work with the RWS, you can use whatever clone deck appeals to you to begin reading!

When I went to the Big Book Store to look for my first Tarot deck, I had it in my head that I had to start with the classic deck. I liked the idea of having that as my starting point, but there were so many other decks that drew my attention. Single decks, decks with companion books, decks featuring photorealistic images, decks that had cartoon figures – the only thing they had in common was that they were based on the same symbology. I walked out with the classic deck, and with the one that I kept going back to every time I tried to walk away from the shelves of cards.

The right deck for you is the one that calls to you. If you have a Big Book Store or a metaphysical shop near you, finding a deck is fairly easy. Some Big Box stores carry Tarot decks as well. And of course there are online sites that you can use to purchase decks that appeal to you.

Whether you plan to shop in a brick and mortar store or purchase a deck online, it is a good idea to do some research first. There are sites like Aeclectic Tarot that have reviews of lots of decks and pictures of the cards, which can be helpful in finding a deck you like. Google will pull up images of just about any deck you want to see. The main thing to keep in mind is what draws you to a deck may be the thing that turns someone off about the same deck. Don’t let a single review change your mind about a deck. If several people say that there are physical problems with a deck (poor card stock, misprints, bad finish, etc.) you can decide if that is a deck you want. But if someone has an issue with the imagery, the artist, the theme, or some other subjective aspect of the deck, do not let that keep you away from adding it to your collection.

The High Priestess is a card that indicates Mystery, Intuition and Hidden Knowledge. The standard RWS deck High Priestess is the first image below; the others are from Anne Stokes’ Necronomicon, Luis Royo’s Dark Tarot, and the DaVinci Enigma Tarot. All of the cards speak to the same concepts, but the differences between the way the decks show the same thing is what makes one deck call to you and another call to someone else. As you study the images on the cards, you probably find one that resonates with you or looks like one you would like to work with. If none of the cards below do that for you, then keep looking for a deck that has cards that DO attract you. Once you find that deck, you will be able to start working with it quickly since there is already a connection between you and the cards.

Note: the author of the deck is not always the artist who created the cards. In many cases the author has the ideas and they work with the artist to bring the deck to completion; sometimes an artist starts creating the deck and gets together with someone else to flesh out their ideas. Sometimes, the author and the artist are the same person. If you really like a deck that has been conceived by a particular person, or brought to life by a particular artist, look for more decks that they have created. You will usually be able to connect with those decks very easily.

The Meanings of the Cards The one thing everyone wants to know when they start out is how they will manage to memorize the meanings of 78 cards and perform a reading without having to refer to a book or a cheat sheet. The answer is that you don’t need to memorize anything if you can learn a few keywords about each card and learn to trust your intuition.

Although there are lots of symbols and nuanced meanings for each card, the meanings are influenced by the position in a spread and the cards around them. Trying to memorize every possible combination is impossible, so the best thing to do is focus on what you see in the cards and what it says to you at that time. If you know some basic keywords for the cards, this is a lot easier than it sounds.

The Major Arcana The 22 cards that set the Tarot apart from today’s playing cards are collectively referred to as the Major Arcana. These cards represent idealized examples of influences in our lives, and tell a story known as ’s Journey. Each card represents a step in the journey of self-discovery, although they rarely show up in a reading in a linear fashion. The cards and their basic meanings are:

Card Meanings 0 The Fool Innocence, New Beginnings 1 The Magician Grounding, Power, Skill 2 The High Priestess Intuition, Mystery 3 The Empress Femininity, Nature 4 The Emperor Authority, Father Figure 5 The Hierophant Religion, Beliefs 6 The Lovers Love, Relationship 7 The Chariot Control, Victory 8 Strength Compassion, Courage 9 The Hermit Introspection, Being Alone 10 The Wheel of Fortune Cycle of Life, Good Luck 11 Justice Truth, Fairness 12 The Hanged Man Pause for Reflection, Sacrifice 13 Death Known Ending, Change 14 Temperance Moderation, Purpose 15 The Devil Hedonism, Over Indulgence 16 The Tower Disaster, Unexpected Change 17 The Star Spirituality, Renewal 18 The Moon Deception, Fear 19 The Sun Happiness, Success 20 Judgement Rebirth, Judgement 21 The World Completion, Accomplishment

These meanings are very basic, and they are primarily a guide for starting out. Not everyone sees these as the main meanings, and as you work with the cards you will develop your own interpretations based on experience. Keep in mind that there are nuances with the way the cards interact with others in a spread, and you need to be open to saying what you see instead of trying to remember what you read in a book.

The numbers on the cards are used in the RWS system; other systems have Strength and Justice switched. We are not sure exactly why Waite reversed them, since he stated in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, “STRENGTH - FOR REASONS WHICH SATISFY MYSELF, THIS CARD HAS BEEN INTERCHANGED WITH THAT OF JUSTICE, WHICH IS USUALLY NUMBERED EIGHT. AS THE VARIATION CARRIES NOTHING WITH IT WHICH WILL SIGNIFY TO THE READER, THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR EXPLANATION.”

The Minor Arcana The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana are divided into 4 suits and numbered Ace through 10, Page, Knight, Queen, and King. The suits are traditionally Pentacles, Cups, Wands and Swords, although these will change depending on the theme of the Deck. The Barbie Tarot, for example, uses Purses, Flowers, Staffs and Hats, while the Alcohol Tarot uses Wines, Lager, Beers and Spirits, respectively.

Generally speaking, the Pentacles represent the Material World (health and wealth), Cups represent Emotions (feelings and relationships), Wands represent Action (work and ambition), and Swords represent Intellect (thoughts and communication).

There is a lot of crossover in the cards so there is not a hard definition for each suit. The 3 of Swords is a perfect example. The obvious imagery on this card is heartbreak, betrayal, pain and grief. So in one sense it could easily be a card better placed in the suit of Cups (emotions). But the message of how words and attitudes can cut us deeply keeps this in the realm of the Swords (intellect). Depending on the other cards in the reading and the question being addressed, the 3 of Swords could warn about an impending heartache, speak to an old betrayal, or caution that the Seeker needs to watch what they are doing to someone else through their words.

I do not point this out to discourage you; rather to show you that the Tarot is dynamic and fluid, and open to interpretation depending on any number of factors. This is why it is so successful in showing the potential outcome of the current situation, and why we must learn to rely on what we see rather than what we have memorized when we do a reading.

The numbers on the cards follow a basic pattern that can help with your readings. Again, these are not a fully fleshed out representation of the numbers, but they are a good starting point to work with.

Number Action Ace Initial 'spark' Two Decision to move forward or not Three Initial Action Four Stability Five Change and conflict Six Better Situation Seven Challenges Eight Inner Strength Nine Final Stages Ten Ending and new Beginning

One of the best ways to get comfortable with the cards is to study them and get to learn the story that each one tells. Look at the action represented by the number of the card, and see how that relates to what you see on the card. Use the suit’s meaning to help add some context to what you see and let your intuition take over. With a little bit of work you can get a personal understanding of the cards that will help you with how they relate to each other in spreads.

In addition to developing your personal relationship with the cards, study the books that come with the decks. Many of the themed decks come with a book that goes into detail about the cards and what the author of the deck intended them to represent. Even the decks without a companion book come with the Little White Book (LWB) inside the box; that is usually little more than a basic guide to the cards. Aside from the companion book or LWB your deck came with, there are a lot of books available that help you gain insight into the cards.

It is worth taking the time to browse through the books available at your local bookstores to find ones that call to you in the same way the cards will call to you. There are so many different approaches to learning the Tarot it is important to find the books that you can learn from. Whether the style of a Beginner’s Guide works best for you, or an in-depth study of the Tarot sounds like what you want, be sure to read a few passages in the book to make sure that the author’s style communicates their knowledge to you. I have several books that sounded interesting and came highly recommended that do not work for me as a learning guide. Just like reviews of decks are subjective, reviews of books that teach Tarot are based on the person doing the review. If you feel that a book is not for you after reading a bit of it, don’t let the opinions of others push you towards getting it.

Keep in mind that as you learn more about the Tarot, resources that you once dismissed may turn out to be just what you are looking for later on. When the student is ready the teacher will appear, even if the student dismissed the teacher in the past!

Tarot Spreads When we draw Tarot Cards from the deck and arrange them on the table creating a spread, there are a lot of things that come into play. The images on the cards and their relative positions to each other help us to see patterns and relationships between the cards, which helps us to see the answers to the situation the Seeker is asking about. Although they can look very intimidating and complicated, most of the spreads that Readers use follow the basic idea that the position of the cards indicates an aspect of the situation. If we know what aspect the position represents, we can understand how that card relates to the overall situation being examined.

The simplest and arguably most flexible spread consists of three cards. They are usually laid out from left to right and represent a progression from one to the next. The positions can indicate:

Past – Present – Future Current situation – Obstacle – Advice Situation – Action – Possible Outcome Physical – Mental – Spiritual

There are literally dozens of variations on the three card spread, which is part of the reason they are so popular. A one card reading can be very difficult if you are just learning the cards, and more than five cards in a spread can be intimidating. Three cards provide more information than a single card, and the spread itself helps give context to the message in the cards.

What do these cards say to you for the three-card spreads listed above?

Tarot Spreads are the subject of numerous books, websites, and articles. There are some that everyone recognizes (Celtic Cross) and others that seem to be made up on the spot by the reader. One of the first Tarot readings I got consisted of the Reader turning cards over one after the other and coming up with information and questions from that. They paused every few cards to discuss what they saw, then on to the next few cards getting turned over.

The basic idea is to come up with a few spreads that you can use as a go-to for a given situation / question: Love, Career, Relationships, Success, Partners, Money, Finding new Love, Healing, Yes or No, etc. Don’t worry about using the “right” spread – as long as you understand what the positions represent before you draw the cards you will be doing fine.

REFERENCES AND INFORMATION

Suits Pentacles Wands Cups Swords Other Names Discs, Coins Rods, Staves Chalices, Goblets Blades, Athames Health, Creativity, Love, Emotion, Thought, Challenge, Symbolism: Wealth, Action, Empathy Observation Physical Passion Colors: Green Yellow Red Indigo Seasons: Fall Spring Summer Winter Taurus, Virgo, Aries, Leo, Cancer, Scorpio, Gemini, Libra, Zodiac: Capricorn Sagittarius Pisces Aquarius Elements: Earth Fire / Air* Water Air / Fire* Realm: Home Spirit Heart Mind : Gender: Female Male Female Male

* The Elemental Associations for Wands and Swords are reversed in a number of decks. The Golden Dawn associated Air with Wands and Fire with Sword; Waite reversed these two. Raven Grimassi uses wands as air and swords as fire in his traditions, explaining that he can’t see associating Wands with the element that will destroy it! What every newbie tarot reader should know about the history and myths of tarot https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/what-every-newbie-tarot-reader-should-know-about- the-history-and-myths-of-tarot

Sites People http://starcattarot.com Mark Rider http://benebellwen.com Benebell Wen http://tarotbyhilary.com Hilary Parry http://www.ciromarchetti.com Ciro Marchetti http://angelorum.co Lisa Friedborg https://marygreer.wordpress.com Mary K. Greer http://www.thetarotlady.com Theresa Reed http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot Sacred Texts http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt Pictorial Key to the Tarot

Other Resources http://www.ata-tarot.com American Tarot Association http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot Aeclectic Net Tarot http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/tarot-card-spreads Psychic Library Tarot Spreads http://tarotelements.com Catherine Chapman “Learn Tarot for Yourself”

Books

Tarot for Beginners A Practical Guide to Reading the Cards Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings Barbara Moore

78 Degrees of Wisdom The New Tarot Handbook Rachel Pollack

Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach to Using Tarot for Personal Growth Benebell Wen

21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals Mary K. Greer

Tarot Fundamentals Various