What is Tarot?

Tarot is a set of seventy eight cards, each featuring different symbolic pictures. A standard Tarot deck is made up of twenty two cards called the Major arcana or trumps. Four suits of fourteen cards are called the Minor arcana. Tarot cards could be used for creative visualization, meditation, practical problem solving, self-improvement, as a tool of understanding, for divination and fortune telling. A Tarot deck is based on the seventy eight cards structure of fifty six minor cards and twenty two major cards. An oracle deck is any other deck of cards used for similar purposes to a deck of Tarot cards, and may also be called a divination deck or cart mantic deck.

The History

Historical evidence proves its beginning in Italy, in the fifteenth century. The cards had been used in Italy in the fifteenth century as a popular card game. Wealthy patrons commissioned beautiful decks, some of which have survived. The Visconti-Sforza created in 1450 or shortly thereafter, is one of the earliest and most complete. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the cards had been discovered by a number of influential scholars of the occult. These people were intrigued by the tarot and recognized that the images on the cards were more powerful than a simple game. They revealed the "true" history of the tarot by connecting the cards to Egyptian mysteries, the Kabbalah, alchemy, and other mystical systems. These pursuits continued into the early part of the twentieth century when the tarot was incorporated into the practices of several secret societies.

How Tarot works

We do not know the full range and power of the unconscious mind, but there are ways to explore its landscape. Many techniques were developed for this purpose, visualization and meditation dream interpretation. The tarot is another such aide. When we do a tarot reading, we select certain cards by shuffling, cutting and dealing the deck. Although this process seems random, we still assume the cards we pick are special. This is the point of a tarot reading after all to choose the cards we are meant to see. Now, common sense tells us that cards chosen by chance can not hold any special meaning, or can it be? The other feature of a random event is that it has no inherent meaning. If we roll a dice and get a six, but there is no purpose to this result. We can just easily roll a two, and the meaning would be the same or not? Do we really know these two out comes are equal? Perhaps there is meaning and purpose in every event, great or small, but we do not always recognize it. We are meant by nature to rely on the wisdom of our Inner Guide, but somehow we have forgotten how to access it. We trust our conscious minds instead, and forget to look deeper. But unfortunately, they just don't have the full awareness we need to make appropriate choices day by day. When we are operating from our conscious minds, we often feel as if events are forced upon us by chance. Life seems to have little purpose, and we suffer because we do not really understand who we are and what we want. When we know how to access our Inner Guide, we experience life differently.

Major Arcana

Major Arcana have twenty two cards, depict major symbols or archetypes. Among them are the Fool, the Lovers, Death, and the World, all of them signifying major ideas, phases or forces of life? The term "Major Arcana" actually means the "Greater Mysteries." It is believed that the progression of the cards in the Major Arcana actually tell the story of a soul's progression through Karma, or a seeker's path through his or her life. The word "Arcana" had been originated Latin for "life secrets." The deck begins with the Fool, an enthusiastic and a person eager to set out on his life path, regardless of what lies ahead, and ends with the World, which represents a perfect attainment of completion, or Nirvana. They are the most powerful cards in the deck. These cards are used alone when reading for divination since they are the archetypal symbols of human existence and mark stages of self-discovery and self-awareness. When a Major Arcana card is drawn, special attention should be paid to its position.

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana is made up of four suits; cups, wands, swords and pentacles. In fact, the modern deck is evolved from the Minor Arcana, and if you feel comfortable reading the jack as both the page and knight and doing without pictorial cards. You can read a playing deck. Each suit consists of sixteen cards and four court cards. The four Court cards of each suit make up the Court Arcana. These cards tell of the lesser events in our everyday lives. Like the Major Arcana, each suit tells a story as you progress from the Ace to the King, but each suit tells a slightly different story, depending upon which facet of life the suit reflects. Not only does each suit represent a different area of life (i.e. love, money, work) but they are each connected with an element, a direction on the compass and some of the court cards are associated with zodiac signs as well. In the past they had significance - suit was connected with a different social class: clergy, peasant, noble and merchant.

Colors of Tarot Colors and their significant meanings • Magenta : Sense of higher cognition • Red : Survival, instincts, action and security • Orange : Liveliness and happy memories • Yellow : Intellect • Turquoise : Deep compassion and inner healin • Green : Healing and well being • Pink : Love, compassion and femininity • Blue : Friendship, communication • Purple : Insight and wisdom • Indigo : Knowledge we need to progress along our path • Lavender : Calming, meditation • White : Truth, knowledge, illumination • Gray : Balance must be achieved • Brown : Conventional • Black : Thwarted ambition

Swords Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Page Knight Queen King