Ask anyone who is into tarot reading, and they will tell you it has a lot to do with one’s spirituality because it’s more of a symbolic and imagery-based medium that can help you get a step closer to your ultimate truth.
It’s also a guidance system that can lead you towards clarity about a lot of things in your life- including your desires, wants, intuition connection, soul searching and if you believe in it, your spirit guide. But before any of the deeper truths, we first need to dive into what a tarot is and where it comes from.
What Is A Tarot Card?
As mentioned, tarot can be related closely to spirituality. Just as there are so many forms of divination in the world, tarot cards also act as a medium or tool to help you get closer to what is within you into a reality.
The idea is to use these cards and their symbolic meanings to help you connect with your intuitions and guide you toward a clearer future.
Despite popular belief that tarots are in line with fortune telling, it’s actually far from it in its core essence. Originating in the 14th century, tarot card reading has its roots in Europe, and it started as not a fortune-telling system but as a mirror for people to reflect on their lives.
It has more to do with what is happening presently in your life that can be interpreted in different ways to predict what might happen in the future due to your present circumstances. Hence, it was a way for readers to try and help people tap into their inner feelings and thoughts so that the core truth might come up to the surface and ultimately help people make decisions about these thoughts and feelings in the present.
The Deck Of Tarot Cards
There are many variations of the tarot card deck, but the most popular of them has 78 cards in total, which are divided into two major categories- the Major Arcana, which has 22 cards, and the Minor Arcana, which consists of 56 cards.
The Major Arcana Deck
Major Arcana cards are a deck of 22 cards that symbolize spiritual lessons and karma in life. Major Arcana cards are those that represent urgent messages about your life, which can help you reflect upon your life decisions and help you grow from these major instances.
Minor Arcana Deck
Minor Arcana cards are 56 in total and have a total of four suits that come in themes. All the Minor Arcana cards’ suits come in numbers ranging from one to ten, along with four court cards, which are the King, Queen, Knight, and Page.
These cards contain symbols that reflect on all the trials and tribulations you face in your life and might guide you through answers on how to navigate these events in the best way possible.
The Four Suits Are:
- The Cups: These cards signify water and are used to symbolize your emotional self.
- The Swords: These are cards of the air element and are representative of your mind
- The Wands: These cards are of the fire element and are closely associated with your energy.
- The Pentacles: These cards are of the earth element and linked to your physical self.
Oracle Deck
Sometimes tarot card readers might also use oracle cards alongside tarot cards to give them more insight into your tarot card dealings. Plants, gods, crystals, animals, goddesses, etc can mostly symbolize Oracle cards.
Tarot Spreads
A tarot card reader will shuffle the deck of cards and lag it out in any number they think is relevant to you in a spread. Many types of tarot spreads are designed to help answer whatever kind of question you want answered through your reading.
Depending on your question, it can also depend on how many cards you want the reader to draw from the deck. Sometimes, it can also be just a thought or a circumstance that you need answers to and not a question per se.
For every tarot spread, there are different meanings assigned to each. This is where the prediction part of the very accurate three tarot card reading happens- for example, your spread might signify your future, past or present or even a possible outcome in relation to the question you have at hand.
How Do Tarot Cards Work?
It goes without saying that tarot cards are not of the supernatural realm or are magical. The magic of these cards lies solely in how you interpret them. It’s more of a way in which you can connect and converse with a self that is deeper than what you lay out on the surface.
Tarot readers believe that people are always receiving signs and messages from the spiritual realm, which are sometimes easy to misinterpret if you only look at them from the surface level. However, the reader’s correct interpretation of these cards, along with the proactive reception of these interpretations, can give you an insight into your higher self.
A tarot spread might even help you find meaning and answers to all the unanswered and hidden questions. It’s like solving a mystery within you through the imagery and symbols in these cards.
How To Read Tarot Cards
If you’re a beginner trying to learn how to read tarot cards, here is a step-by-step on how you can make this easier for you:
- Always start with a deep breath and meditate on connecting with the tarot deck that is in your hand. Remember that it is all about intuition.
- Start shuffling the deck as you ask the questions that you want answers to through the tarot cards.
- Meditation is important whilst you shuffle the deck to find the best-suited card to answer your questions.
- When you feel like you’re ready to deal the cards, count up to a number and start cutting the deck. As mentioned, it’s all about intuition, so when you get a feeling about a certain card, just allow it to come to you naturally as you deal with those cards.
You might deal with a card that is upside down or one that is upright. All these have different interpretations, so it’s completely up to you how you want to read them as the cards are dealt.
Remember that reading these cards is less about the reader and more about the person with the question. You have to remember that whoever is asking the question or seeking the answers has put their trust in your reading and hence, you ought to be honest about your reading.
In Conclusion
A tarot reading can be a cathartic experience or an eye-opening one that might allow you to start seeing things from a new perspective. You might also end up realizing issues, aspects, and factors you have never considered before.
If you’re ever in a position where you feel like starting tarot reading, it’s always a good idea to start reading it for yourself and answering your questions before reading for someone else. Once you get the hang of how to deal with your intuitions, it will become easier for you to read for someone else.
