The Tarot Cards

Tarot Cards have quite a history. The best history I can recall is the use of the cards during the old times of Judaism well before Christ. They were used for fortune telling by common people and royalty. Today the Tarot is used by people who want to gain a better insight on their future. This is the main usage today among many.

HOW THEY WORK - Tarot cards vibrate with the energy from the querent (person asking the question) and is amplified by the reader. Since we are a part of the collective conscious, a good reader can amplify the energies to see well beyond the room. They tap into the spirit world on occasion and future events can be seen due to the lack of time in the spirit world.

THE CARDS - There are 78 cards that are split between Major and Minor Arcana. The 22 major cards have a bigger significance in the reading, and a lot of them in a single reading has very strong meaning of many forces working for or against the querent. The rest of the 56 cards are like a regular deck with an extra face card. There are 4 suits commonly known as:

Wands - matters of growth, active energy and new enterprises.

Cups - matters of love and family.

Swords - matters of strife and conflict.

Pentacles - matters of money and the material world.

WARNING - When you buy a deck, it is yours. It vibrates with your energy and wants to help you help others. This is your deck, so do not lend it to anyone. Tarot cards are very powerful. You can use the deck to strongly enhance your spells like candle burning. The main warning here is not to do negative spells with your deck. If you do, your deck will become chaotic and its original purpose of regular readings will become no longer possible. You must also destroy the deck with a spell of disenchantment and burn them. Thus, do not use the deck for this purpose unless absolutely necessary.

THE READING - The most common and effective way to do a reading is the Celtic Cross. Each position has a certain meaning on its own and then the card is translated corresponding to the position.

           |---|                               |---|
           | 5 |                               | 10|
           |___|                               |___|


         |---|                                 |---|
|---|    | |---|      |---|                    | 9 |
| 4 |    |_|_1_|_     | 6 |                    |___|
|___|     ||___| |    |___|
          |__2___|                             
                                               |---|
                                               | 8 |
                                               |___|
           |---|
           | 3 |
           |___|                               |---|
                                               | 7 |
                                               |___|
--------------------------
Your Card (Significator) - This Card is the one that represents you. It goes
                           under the first card.
Pos.1 (Present Situation) - Describes your present circumstances.
Pos.2 (Covering Card) - This helps or hinders your present situation.
Pos.3 (Foundation) - This tells you the underlying meanings of the question.
Pos.4 (Past) - Something that has come to pass.
Pos.5 (Future) - Something that may come to pass if things don't change.
Pos.6 (Future) - This will come to pass unless severe measures are taken.
Pos.7 (Your Influence) - Your feelings & influence on the question 
                         at hand.
Pos.8 (Family Influence) - Friends & family influence and feelings.
Pos.9 (Hopes/Fears) - Positive or negative influences depending on the card.
Pos.10 (Final Outcome) - The collective meaning of all the cards plus 
                         this one.

METHOD:

1. Find a card that will represent the querent. I usually find a court face card for the person. Read the meanings of the cards and pick the best one. Put this card in the middle.
2. Shuffle the cards as the reader first. Silently or aloud ask the spirits around to help you give a accurate reading.
3. Hand the cards to the querent by turning the cards so they face them the same way as they faced you.
4. Tell the querent to shuffle the question into the cards and to concentrate very hard on the question.
5. Take the cards back so they face you as they faced the querent.
6. Side flip the cards so that you once again preserve the position of the meaning. You can either stop and explain each card in its position, or as I do, lay them all out and get a gist of the reading.
7. After all the cards are laid out, take a look at cards. There are certain patterns that should not be overlooked.

READING HINTS:

• Have your book and use it. A good reading is a mixture of the written meanings and your feelings and experience of the cards.
• More than four of any suit or the Major Arcana in the ten card layout has special meaning. Overall, 4 Major cards mean that other forces and/or people rule the situation at hand and not the querent. 4 wands or more mean overall growth issues. 4 cups or more mean love issues rule. 4 swords or more mean strife. 4 pentacles or more emphasize material and/or money issues.
• Practice with a friend or yourself for a while and write down the outcome of what you think the reading will mean. Readings usually take 1-6 months for them to come true.
• Read a lot of books on the Tarot.
• Read both meanings of the cards whether it is reversed or not. Knowing the total meaning of the card helps you give advice on alternate actions that will bring about a differnet outcome. I usually look at the positive side of cards in a negative meaning to give the person a chance to change their moldable fate.