Emporiblog - A Beginners Guide to Tarot

Hello all!! Today's post will focus on the basics of Tarot!! Pictured above is a part of my collection. My Halloween Tarot was given to me by a dear friend and is such one of my most treasured decks. 

Believed to have first appeared in the 15th century, Tarot started out as a regular card game, similar to bridge. It wasn't until the 1700s that Tarot began being used in divination practices. It is said that you should never purchase your own deck, I however have ignored this many times but if you want to adhere to this guideline, don't be afraid to ask your friends and family to purchase said deck as a present or an early one. If it is unsafe for you to approach family and friends about purchasing a Tarot deck, it is okay to bypass this guideline. 

The basics

The Tarot deck is divided into two parts: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana with the Minor being further divided into 4 suits. The name of these suits differs from deck to deck. In the traditional Italian tarot the suits swords, batons, coins and cups are used but in modern occult tarot decks, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves and coins is often called pentacles or disks.

Major Arcana 

The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards as follows:

- 0 The Fool

- 1 The Magician

- 2 The High Priestess

- 3 The Empress

- 4 The Emperor

- 5 The Hierophant

- 6 The Lovers

- 7 The Chariot

- 8 Justice + or Strength |

- 9 The Hermit

- 10 Wheel of Fortune

- 11 Strength + or Justice |

- 12 The Hanged Man

- 13 Death

- 14 Temperance

- 15 The Devil

- 16 The Tower

- 17 The Star

- 18 The Moon

- 19 The Sun

- 20 Judgement

- 21 The World

+ Traditional Deck 

| In Rider-Waite tarot deck

Each card is either numbered (usually in Roman numerals) and/or named but this again varies from deck to deck with some doing one or the other and some just use a picture. 

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana is split into 4 suits (see above) although each deck has its own variation. Each suit typically has the following:

- Ace

- Two

- Three

- Four

- Five

- Six

- Seven

- Eight

- Nine

- Ten

- Page

- Knight

- Queen

- King

The cards normally have a number of items on them corresponding to the number of the card and the item e.g the 8 of Swords will have 8 swords pictured somewhere in the artwork. Whereas, the Page, Knight, Queen and King typically depict a human figure, usually holding the item. 

For our LQBTQ+ people, there are gender neutral decks available but they are relatively new and not as easy to find as traditional decks so it may take some searching!! 

Reading the cards

Some people like to cleanse their decks before every reading. If you have a new deck I would recommend cleansing and letting the deck get used to your energy by handling it. Now asking a question to the deck can be done in different ways. First you must clear your mind and focus on the question you wish to ask. Here's a few ways to do it.

- Hold your hands above the deck and repeat your question either out loud or in your mind as many times as you feel necessary, then shuffle

- Hold your deck in your hands and repeat your question out loud or in your mind as many times as you feel necessary, then shuffle

- Repeat you questions as many times as you feel necessary whilst you shuffle

Shuffle for as long as you feel is right. I personally shuffle until enough cards have fallen naturally from the deck, arranging them in the order in which they have fallen. 

I will do a separate post on Tarot spreads as there are several spreads, each with their own purpose and meaning. 

Once you're satisfied and your cards are arranged in the spread of your choice, it's time to flip the cards. Each cards have their own interpretations. For beginners, it's perfectly fine to consult a guide until you feel comfortable with your own interpretations. Once you've made your own interpretations, it's worth making a note of each one for future reference. 

Now each card has two meanings: right side up usually indicates something positive and the inverted meaning is usually a warning often the opposite of the card's positive but don't be alarmed!! Within the inverted meaning there is also clues on what to look out for and how to limit the situation.

If you feel that the cards you have drawn have not answered your question, feel free to perform another reading. I would recommend getting comfortable reading for yourself before you read for some else.

Tarot are to be used for guidance only and must be respected

I hope this guide is useful to you. There will be more in depth Tarot posts to come so stay tuned!

Blessings,

C )0(

👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

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