Basics Tips
Read these 4 Basics Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Tarot tips and hundreds of other topics.
Do I need some special psychic abilities to read the Tarot?
No you do not. Everybody has some latent psychic ability within themselves. The point is to develop this ability while focusing on your specific personality, the appeal of your cards, and the person you are reading for.
It is of course best if you begin by doing readings only for yourself. This will help you to get to know your cards and spreads thoroughly. As you become increasingly good at interpreting your cards, you'll become more confident, and you can begin doing readings for others.
You should give yourself time and enjoy the process of getting to know the cards. Reading them is a combination of knowing each card meaning and your intuition. Ultimately, the answer is that anyone who wants to can read the Tarot.
What is a Tarot Deck?
A Tarot deck consists of 78 cards. These are decorated with symbols, pictures, colors, and numbers. Each card also has a “name," which is associated with its meaning in relation to the deck as a whole and its interpretation.
The cards are divided into two groups: the Minor Arcana or everyday cards, and Major Arcana or life lesson cards. There are 22 Major Arcana cards. The rest are Minor Arcana, but these also have their own specific hierarchy. Each group or 'house' of minor arcana is numbered from 1-10, and each also includes what are generally known as the "Court Cards", consisting of the page, the knight, the Queen and the King.
Where did the Tarot Begin?
The history of the Tarot has been more or less lost in the mists of time. Even experts can't agree on so much as when exactly the first Tarot deck saw its first light. The first Tarot deck's origin is placed somewhere between teh 14th and 15th centuries. It is however generally agreed that the first Tarot deck was created in Italy.
It is said that the original purpose of the Tarot was simply to play games. Indeed, the Tarot is the ancestor of our playing cards today. The first Tarot was based upon the playing cards of the time, with number cards and court cards. The difference was that a Queen was added to each court suite, and 22 cards not belonging to any of the suites were also added.
At the time, the Tarot was most popularly used in a card game that was similar to bridge, called the Game of Triumphs. Of t he 22 added cards, 21 were used as permanent trumps in this game, and they outranked all the other cards, much like they do in Tarot readings today. The Game of Triumphs and the Tarot cards became very popular throughout Italy, and later spread to France, Sicily, Austria, Germany, and the rest of Europe.
It was only centuries later that occultists in France and England began to see deeper meanings in the Tarot images. This led to the use of the cards as divination tool and its general use in the occult arts.
For more on the fascinating history of the Tarot, feel free to visit "The Hermitage" at http://www.tarothermit.com/. This is an excellent site that explores the history of the Tarot, and how the cards relate to our playing cards, as well as how the Tarot itself is used today.
What Tarot is not
The Tarot is not a prediction tool. It will not give you any indication of exactly what will happen in your future. It is therefore unlikely that a reading will reveal tall, dark, handsome strangers anywhere in your near dating future.
The Tarot is also not evil. Some people have been led to believe that the Tarot is evil by misguided leaders, teachers or parents. They are simply a collection of cards with pictures on them. Any properties that your deck has are those that you ascribe to them. You use the cards for your purposes, as you see fit.
At its very basic level, the Tarot cards can be seen simply as a tool to help you on your life path. Your readings can clarify and organize the events in your life, and help you decide what you need to do. It can also give an indication of likely outcomes for certain actions, but this should not be confused in any way with predicting the future.
