Part of a set of Tarot articles

The tarot have a long and fascinating history, and for many it is hard to separate the visions of gypsies with dark mascara, outlandish clothes and jewels surrounded by candles in a dark room shuffling their decks with a looming crystal ball to the side and the fact that they are a deck of cards. Understand the power of the tarot cards comes from your belief in them. While some may chose to use the tarot for amusement there are others, many others that use them to gain insight into what is and what will be.

You do not have to go to someone to have your cards read. You can do it yourself, in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Actually, I recommend that you do it yourself. Here I am going to provide to you instructions on tarot cards. Keep in mind that there isn’t really a right or wrong way to use or read your tarot cards. There are however things that you should do and things that you should never do.

First you will need a deck of tarot cards. There are some that believe your first deck should be a gift, not one that you bought for yourself. Feel free to buy the deck yourself, and spend some time picking the deck that you want. I am a firm believer in picking your own deck because you want a deck that you are comfortable with and that “speaks” to you. Tarot cards can be found at a good bookstore or a metaphysical shop.

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To read tarot cards you need to have a deck that speaks to you. The colors, the faces, the vibe you get from the cards. This deck represents you at this moment. If you have a connection to the deck, your readings will be better.

Each deck comes with a set of basic instructions. These instructions will offer you ways to shuffle your cards, the different layouts you can use as well as the meaning to each care. You may be one of those people that these basic instructions on reading are enough for. There is nothing wrong with that. There are others though, that will want a more personal reading. To have a more personal reading read on.

You need to be able to spend some time with your deck. Once you can do this you will be able to do a reading. Keep your instruction book handy in case you need it, but don’t be bound to it. Take this time to go through your deck, spread the cards out and look at the cards as a whole. Like a typical deck of cards, there are most often four suits in a tarot deck. The name of them will be different based on the deck that you have. Your instruction booklet will help you with this. In the book you will get a general description of the suit, do not worry about the individual cards.

Shuffle the deck and set the deck face down in front of you. Pick up the card on top and look at it, what is it saying to you? Just from the way the card looks, the picture on it, what do you the card means. This will be your interpretation of the card, remember it, if you need to write down what the card means to you. You are going to do this with the whole deck.

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Those same columns drawn in different ways take on other meanings, such as if the columns are colored black and white it represents the dualism present in life. Arched columns are symbolic of a gateway and if there are four columns they stand for the four elements.

Stars are also used a lot on tarot cards have different meanings as well. The stars can stand for the entity that holds the soul, mind and spirit or they can stand for the actual constellations for the zodiac signs. If there are seven stars on the card then they are said to represent the seven solar systems that created our world…
As you go through your cards you will notice that many of them contain animals … has a meaning on the card. A crane stands for wisdom and justice. The eagle is for justice as well but also temporal power, strength and majesty. A hawk however is a symbol of transformation. If you see only the wings of either the eagle or the hawk and the flank a solar disk this is the symbol for the Sun God and the spiritual principle. Bees and or butterflies stand for the soul, eternal life and rebirth. Sea creatures such as lobsters, crabs or crayfish represent the emergence of humanity and the fertilizing potential contained in water.

Shapes are every present in the tarot as well.  A triangle represents the trinity or the three Platonic bodies. How the triangle is pointed gives significance as well. A triangle that is pointing downward and is cut in half by a horizontal line represents earth. An upward pointing triangle cut by a horizontal line represents fire. The spherical orb alone represents worldly power, but if it is combined with a cross then it takes on a more spiritual connotation.