Tarot Card Reading
Tarot has been around for centuries, even though curiously enough, it wasn’t originally conceived with the intention to serve as a divinatory system, but as a game! Tarot reading is a topic that fascinates and scares, though actually, there’s nothing to be afraid of! Be as it may, this is a subject that leaves no-one indifferent, whether it is because it ruffles some feathers or because of the aura of mysticism that surrounds it.
Almost everyone has questions about the Tarot. What is Tarot? Can everyone be a reader? How or where was it created? Can I get an accurate love tarot reading? If you are curious about Tarot, keep on reading this article to find out the answers to all the questions that you may have about how it works or how can it help you.
What is Tarot Card Reading?
Tarot reading is a divinatory system that allows you to analyze the present so that you have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of your circumstances and the current events that are affecting your life, as well as those influences that you may not be taking into account, as well as explore your potential future and the avenues that you can take in order to pursue one outcome or another.
Tarot is just a deck of 78 cards divided into two different sections: Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. Major Arcana, also known as Trumps are cards such as The Lovers, The Moon or The Wheel of Fortune and are indicators of key events in a determined situation. The Minor Arcana are 56 cards that resemble a traditional deck of playing cards. However; Tarot and playing cards used for divinatory purposes are two different things. Tarot has its own system while reading the future with playing cards is called Cartomancy.
Tarot dates back to the XVI Century and current sources point towards Italy for its creation, more concretely Milan and Florence. The oldest decks partly preserved in current times are the Visconti-Sforza or Tarot Minchiate. These decks have been reproduced and restored based on the original imagery and are currently commercialized for their use.
Meaning of the Tarot
The meaning of Tarot is one of the subjects that cause the most curiosity amongst those who are new to the matter or want to know more. Delving into the meaning of best tarot cards individually speaking would be more a subject for a book than a subject for an article, however, you can continue reading to learn a bit more about how is it divided so that you get a grasp on its meaning.
While a Tarot deck is mainly divided into the two sections mentioned above, there are many other things to be taken into account. Each card of the Tarot can be interpreted in a different way depending on the context of the question. While The Magician can be a card that speaks of the ability to make things happen or persuasion skills in a career context, it can be a warning sign in a love reading from a psychic, suggesting that your love interest may be playing tricks on you!
Besides the fact that each card can be interpreted in different ways, the Minor Arcana are divided into four different suits: Swords, Cups, Pentacles, and Wands. Each of these suits corresponds to an element: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire in the same order, and thus, to an aspect of life.
Therefore Swords deal with the matters of the mind, communication, ideas, inner conflict and such. Cups are related to feelings, romance, intuition, and spirituality. Pentacles deal with the material world, finances, family and legacy, and Wands deal with passion, work, conflicts with others and will.
The Major Arcana are considered to be highlighted in reading or indicators of major events in a given situation or throughout the person’s life, corresponding from an elemental perspective to the fifth element, also known as Spirit or Akasha.
Types of Tarot Readings
There are as many types of tarot readings as there are readers in the world! Not only because you can have a tarot reading for your love life, spirituality, financial worries, career options or family issues, but because there is an immense amount of tarot spreads available and many readers do create their own.
There is the misconception that a Tarot reading is a psychic reading, but this is not always the case. Since the Tarot is a systematic method of divination, it doesn’t really require psychic skills. A Tarot reading can be supported by intuition or a certain psychic skill, but it is not the same as a psychic reading.
You can have a free psychic reading or free tarot card reading online, though these are usually given with pre-written meanings that are not adapted to your particular situation. You always have the chance to have a few minutes for a free love tarot card reading!
Many practitioners pull daily tarot readings or weekly tarot readings to get an idea of the major energies that will be at play at a given moment or get a heads up of the challenges to come in the near future.
One card tarot readings are quite common for yes or no questions or when you want to know, for instance, how your proposal is going to be received at work, if it is a good moment to have a conversation with your friend about that mishap that you had a few weeks ago or if your love interest is receptive to a date.
There are some programs online that offer free daily tarot readings for love, career or other matters, as well, you can find oracle card readings, free daily one card tarot readings and online card readings at Phuture.Me.
Three card tarot readings are very common and allow for a bigger perspective! The most common spread is the past - present - future three-card tarot reading that allows you to get a glimpse of the foundation of a given situation as well as its current implications and future events. However, it is usually in your best interest to allow your reader to choose what kind of spread is more suitable for your situation or at least have a chat about it.
Tarot Reading and the Zodiac
Tarot reading is associated with astrology in terms of meaning and deep study of the cards, however, it is not strictly related to the zodiac.
At this point, you may be wondering why do readers usually insist that you give them your zodiac sign if it is not necessarily related. Is it because they’re going to perform a Gemini tarot reading? Not really!
The reason why your reader wants to know your sun sign or zodiac sign or the one of your person of interest is so that they can identify you or them within a reading. Tarot cards have astrological associations, and they will know who is who when they know what they are looking for. A Taurus tarot reading doesn’t differ from a cancer tarot reading! It is all about assigning a significator (the card that represents you or a person of interest for the reading) or identifying one within a spread.
How can tarot reading help me?
The list of ways in which Tarot reading can help you is endless. It is not only a tool that allows you to predict but a tool that helps you get a better understanding of what is going on in a determined situation or what forces are at play. In fact, one of the greatest virtues of Tarot, very often undervalued, is its ability to help you understand the present better.
Understanding the present is not only so that you can fact check what you’re being told, but about helping you see the woods where you’re only seeing the tree and giving you a more ample perspective of the situation that you are dealing with so that you can make the most optimum decision given the current circumstances.
Tarot can help you by giving you the tools to make a relationship work, by highlighting what are the strengths and weaknesses of the relationship or giving you information about what is lacking there or what you need to do more of. As well, it can help you plan ahead your professional life, getting an idea of the impact that one decision or another could have in your life in the long run or help you identify what are the most promising opportunities coming your way. It is also a magnificent tool to help you with family conflict or even inner conflict and combined with licensed therapeutic assistance, it can be an aid to help you go through traumatic events or help you get to the root cause of a problem.
How do tarot cards work?
A thousand readers will probably give you a thousand answers about this one. There are readers more psychology oriented that believe that cards are archetypes that help you explore a situation and identify with the issues that we all face, bringing to light what needs to be known. Others believe that there is some sort of divine force involved or that your energy attracts the cards that need to be on the table. However it goes, the truth is that what is on the table is almost always what needs to be!
It is not only about the cards, though. The cards themselves do not hold intrinsic power, it is the reader who does the magic and through thorough training is able to interpret the message for you, following the system and topping it up with their own intuitive skill.
FAQ Section
Can I Do a Tarot Reading on Myself
It is absolutely possible to read Tarot for yourself if you have the necessary knowledge and skill to carry out the task! Reading for yourself requires the ability to be objective and stay away from the situation. Most readers who say they are unable to read for themselves experience difficulties detaching from the situation enough for them to be able to see things clearly as they would for someone else.
After all, no matter how much you care, everyone is always willing to be more objective with someone other than themselves. Another reason why there is the extended myth that one cannot read Tarot for themselves is that the ability to know what is most likely to happen for yourself creates a situation where you are more likely to develop control issues or try too hard to get your way, sometimes finding yourself in undesirable situations as a result.
If you are able to manage these two things, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t read the Tarot for yourself. However, if you find it difficult, there’s no shame in asking someone else to do it for you! Many sites offer a wide selection of psychic readers online that are more than willing to read for you in matters of love, career, family and more.
What to Ask During the Tarot Reading?
An open question leaves more room for an open answer, and for this reason, it is advisable to ask your questions as detailed as possible. “Will I find love?” Only gives room for a yes / no answer that is not of much use, while asking “How will my next relationship be?” or “What are my chances of getting into a relationship within the next 12 months?” are questions that give room to more detailed, practical and useful answers.
Also, many make the mistake of seeing the Tarot as a purely predictive divinatory system, and so its more practical side gets neglected. Do not make all of your questions about whether something will happen, but about what is in your hands to do to make it happen!
Can Tarot Reading Really Predict the Future?
Yes, it can! Tarot can and does predict the future. However, there’s a misconception about how the future works that make people believe that it is not true. Everyone has the ability to affect the future and to change how it pans out, so it is not advisable to blindly follow the predictions of Tarot, completely disregarding your own responsibility and weight in the matter. This is why there are questions such as the “How to” questions that are so important, because they are not just giving a prediction, but giving power back to you by giving you information about how to reach your goal or desire.
Does everyone have the ability to read tarot cards?
Reading Tarot is a skill that everyone can learn. It is like learning any other thing, such as a language or a crafting skill. It requires dedication and constancy. Of course, as it happens with everything else, being naturally talented does help, but the truth is that no special powers or gifts are required in order to read the Tarot with confidence and accuracy.
Do I Have to Be Psychic to Do Tarot Readings?
No. There is a widely spread misconception that Tarot Reader = Psychic that is far from the truth, and it is like assuming that hairdressers are manicurists. While some hairdressers are also manicurists, it is not an inherent part of the profession! You can, though, be a psychic and do Tarot Readings, but it is not essential to be a psychic in order to read the Tarot successfully.
A psychic reading doesn’t require any tools, for it is carried entirely in an extrasensory way. A Tarot reader is actually pretty much a translator, an interpreter of the language of the cards who is able to decipher the message and give the information to their querent.
What Are Tarot Card Combinations?
Tarot card combinations are the way in which a group of cards is read. Each one of the 78 cards of a Tarot deck has an individual interpretation (with nuance depending on the context and the question) but that is not all that it takes to read tarot proficiently. It is not just a matter of interpreting card by card (the reason why sometimes, Tarot readings feel generic, especially those that are generated by a program, such as those who offer a free love tarot reading, or one given by an inexperienced reader) but seeing the spread as a whole.
It is important to pay attention to the way in which the cards are interacting with each other, the combination with a card with the cards around it adds to the meaning, and sometimes modifies the original interpretation that a reader would give to the card on its own! Some people who don’t understand Tarot in full are sometimes mad at the readers because they saw The Lovers in their reading, yet the reader said their relationship wouldn’t succeed, without paying attention to the fact that the surrounding cards are making that Lovers card ill-aspected! Understanding combinations is the mark of a proficient reader and an objective to aim to if you want to become the best Tarot reader you can be!
