Learning the art of tarot cards

By admin · Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Many people are drawn to tarot (the t is silent) because of the beautiful and thought provoking iconic art images. Others are drawn because of the occult aspects of it. If you treat tarot as a parlor game, that is the kind of answers you will get. If you treat it as a method of self-discovery and enlightenment, you will get much different results.

The traditional tarot deck has 78 cards. They are divided into the major and minor arcana. Non-traditional decks may have more cards, more suits, or a different set of rules altogether. If you want to learn traditional tarot try the Rider-Waite, the Hanson-Roberts or the Aquarian Tarot. Some prefer a themed deck like Arthurian, Pagan, Norse or Egyptian. There are literally thousands of decks on the market. If you have smaller hands, you might want a smaller deck.

My favorite way to choose a deck is to find a store with a good variety to pick from. Most metaphysical shops will have a book of card samples so you can see a bit about each deck. Some people pick a deck because the artwork really calls to them. Other people close their eyes, run their hands over the row of decks and trust their intuition. Still others were given a deck as a gift or decide to buy the same deck a friend uses.

There are those that get very upset if you touch their cards. But by the time you get the cards at the store, many people may have already touched them. Some people like to do a ritual cleansing (such as holding the deck over a smoking candle and smudging them). Other people believe the deck is just a tool, and they cleanse their own person rather than the cards.

Do whatever feels right to you. It’s nice to wrap them in silk or have a special pouch or box for them. Personally, I like to hand each querant the cards and let them shuffle or mix them. I want some of their energy on the cards. After the reading is done, I cleanse the cards by shuffling them myself to clear them and infuse them with healing light. If you are really adamant about no one touching your cards, you can hold the person’s hands instead to feel their energy.

So here you are with your first deck. Hopefully it came with a book of meanings. The little pamplets aren’t very easy to follow. Having read many books, I’ll clue you into a little secret. The books contradict each other. About 2/3 of the books say that Swords=Air and Wands=Fire. The other third switch those two meanings. So if you try to memorize the meanings and skip from book to book, you are going to