Using Tarot Cards to Check for a Curse Excerpted from Have You Been Hexed?, by Alexandra Chauran If you are already familiar with the decks of seventy-eight cards used to tell fortunes, you may be more comfortable using them for divination than other tools. However, obviously tarot cards are limited since there is no single card with a picture of your enemy on it and a confirmation of a curse or hex. In fact, if there was a one in seventy-eight chance of get- ting a curse card pulled in a reading, everyone would tend to avoid using tarot cards due to their inaccuracy and tendency to frighten the reader. Certainly some tarot cards are challenging, and some have little posi- tive to say. But when somebody’s reading consists entirely of the more negative cards, it’s easy to conclude that everything is not going all that well in that person’s life. A completely negative reading, although rare, would be consistent with someone who is suffering the effects of a hex. In particular, when cards of the suit of swords, which indicate conflict, are drawn almost to the exclu- sion of any other suit, this can point to an individual who is cursed. For example, the Nine of Swords can be consistent with somebody who is losing sleep due to an enemy attempting to hex or appear in his or her dreams. The Ten of Swords can also indicate the feeling of being overwhelmed and help- less, which often accompanies a hex. The Three of Swords would likely be present in the case of one whose love life is the target of a curse. The Seven of Swords can be a card indicative of malicious magic when associated with other signs. If most or all of the fives show up in a tarot reading, that is a sign of the instability and loss that can be the goal of most hexes. Pay attention to the major arcana, the twenty-two most powerful cards in the deck. These are the cards you would not find in a regular playing-card deck. Their presence would be warranted in a curse reading since they represent powerful energies, especially when one is at a crossroads in life. No single card can represent a curse with clarity, but some major arcana cards, es- pecially when reversed, can be more telling than others. In particular, pay attention if any of the follow- ing cards show up: the Moon, associated with cycles, deception, and fear; the High Priestess, associ- ated with magic; the Death card, associated with endings and loss (but not actual death!); the Devil for self-imposed curses and obsession; and the Lovers, which can mean one’s own passions getting the better of them. All these cards are worthy of attention. In summary, there is no single tarot card that tells you you’re cursed. But if you were to get all of the fives in the deck, most of the suit of swords, and a few revealing major arcana cards, the reading would suggest a major negative life change that might be associated with a curse. Tarot cards aren’t the best tool for determining the presence or absence of a curse, and they’re certainly not a required tool. [However,] if a reader is already a skilled tarot practitioner and feels comfortable using them for the purpose of hex detection, they can make a useful addition. Copyright 2013 Llewellyn Worldwide Reprinted by permission of Llewellyn Worldwide, Inc..