Knowing the Tarot Cards

Tarot Reading - In order for you to develop a deeper sense of understanding on how a tarot reading works, you first have to get to know the different tarot cards and what they mean.

There are different types of tarot decks. The two most commonly known are the Italian suit and the French suit. In the Italian suit, the common symbols are composed of the coins, swords, cups, and batons. Often times the coins are also called pentacles and the batons as wands. However, this deck, similar to the Spanish suit is not confined to tarot readings alone. The suits are still used for standard card playing games to date.

The French suit uses the common symbolism known to most people today in the conventional playing cards. The symbols used in a French suit are the diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts. It also this suit system that was reduced to a number of 54 cards instead of what used to be 78 cards. The French suit is only seldom used for tarot readings.

A standard deck of tarot cards usually consists of 78 cards. These are broken down into 22 Major Arcana cards 56 Minor Arcana cards. The Major Arcana are often used to depict the major situations people encounter in life. The cards should be read started from the fool’s journey and ends with the card of The World. The fool’s journey signifies a person’s inner child whereas The World signifies the end of a person’s journey. It is the Major Arcana cards that represent important life changes that are encountered in your life.

The Minor Arcana cards, on the other hand, pertain to everyday occurrences. It is the Minor Arcana cards that are subdivided into four different suits. The four suits have their own representations and are related to the four elements. The wand signifies the element of fire. Cups signify the element of water. The element of air is represented by the swords and the earth element is represented by the pentacles.

The Minor Arcana also represent a person’s varied approach to life. The wands, for example, represent creativity, movement and action. This suit is associated with characteristics such as enthusiasm, risk-taking, confidence, and adventure. The cups symbolize an emotional and spiritual approach. It is associated with feelings, relationships, and your inner state of mind. The swords, on the other hand, represent thought and reason, as well as intellect. The sword is concerned with truth, ethics, and justice. Lastly, the pentacles represent security, material concerns and practicality.

For readings of divination, a popular use of the tarot cards, the cards have to be arranged in certain patterns for certain types of readings. This pattern is called a spread, and together with the type of cards drawn, the reader can generate a reading that is suited to your situation.

Now that you know what the cards in the tarot deck represents, you can develop a deeper understanding of how they all work together as a whole to come up with a reading. The process may seem simple to look at, but there is much thought put into each reading made.