l i s a l a p e e r y . c o m

Tarot cards and readers conjure up all kinds of ideas. Some see the deck of 78 cards as taboo, a tool for conjuring spirits, evil, bogus, fraudulent. Others see an aid for making decisions and/or gaining understanding. Really, there's nothing mystical about it, if you have faith. To make things a little more understandable, here's a brief intro to Tarot cards and readings.

What It Is

The 78 cards have pictures on them, each one depicting the description. The pictures together tell a story, but more on that soon.

The deck is made up of 22 Major Arcana cards. These are the big issues surrounding the situation, or the mysteries. These cards tell a lot about people they represent. There are 56 Minor Arcana cards, the details, if you will. These cards are divided into 4 suits, like a playing card deck: Cups (emotions) Coins (money) Wands (social) and Swords (analytical). Each suit has cards 1 through 10, the page, knight, queen and king. Each card represents something, often a trait.

How the Cards are  Used

The cards are laid out in a spread. Each position in the spread has a question or meaning, and each card answers the question for it's position. The cards reflect what is going on in a given situation.  If you want to get more involved, you can also get meanings from the combinations of cards in the reading, and can also incorporate the meanings of the numbers and combinations of numbers. Some readers, like myself, incorporate the colors as well. The more abilities and knowledge the reader brings to the session, the more accurate the information will be. As a reader, the more tools you use, the more exciting or amazing the session can be.

Uses

People refer to the Tarot cards to get more information about the situations they are in. Tarot cards can tell about jobs, what's going on in relationships, and readers are often used by police departments to help with cases. No reader with integrity will use Tarot for true evil; in my experience, the darker stuff is usually left to kids playing with the cards in high school.

Because each card represents some sort of state of being or ideal, they are good for meditations as well.

Readers are all types. Many would say that all readers are innately gifted to be able to accurately read and advise and see what the cards are saying. I'm sure too there are just as many who simply learned how to read the deck by memorizing cards and combinations. There are also academic environments where readers can become certified based on their skills and abilities.

To get a sense of the variety of decks out there, check out learntarot.org. Or Google Tarot and see what you find on your own.