Shawnee Piper - A Beginners Guide

Revised Edition: 2016
ISBN 978-1-283-50580-2
© All rights reserved.
Published by:
White Word Publications
48 West 48 Street, Suite 1116,
New York, NY 10036, United States
Email: info@wtbooks.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Tarot Card
Chapter 2 - How to Read Tarot Cards
Chapter 3 - How to Set up Tarot Cards
Chapter 4 - How to Learn to Read Tarot Cards Through Music
Chapter 5 - How to Do a One Card Tarot Reading
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Chapter 6 - Divinatory, Esoteric and Occult Tarot
Chapter 7 - Suit of Coins and Suit of Cups
Chapter 8 - Suit of Swords and Suit of Wands
Chapter 9 - The Sun and The Moon (Tarot cards)
Chapter 10 - The Devil and Death (Tarot cards)
Chapter 11 - The Emperor and The Empress (Tarot cards)
Chapter 12 - Judgement and Justice (Tarot cards)
Chapter 13 - The Tower and Strength (Tarot cards)
________________________WORLD TECHNOLOGIES________________________
Chapter- 1
Tarot Card
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Visconti-Sforza tarot deck. The Devil card is a 20th-century remake of the card
supposedly missing from the original 15th-century deck.
The tarot (first known as tarocchi, also tarock and similar names), is a pack of cards
(most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of
Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From
the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and
occultists in efforts at divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways.
The tarot has four suits corresponding to the suits of conventional playing cards. Each of
these suits has pip cards numbering from ace to ten and four face cards for a total of 14
cards. In addition, the tarot is distinguished by a separate 21-card trump suit and a single
card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or
may be played to avoid following suit.
François Rabelais gives tarau as the name of one of the games played by Gargantua in
his Gargantua and Pantagruel; this is likely the earliest attestation of the French form of
the name. Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In
English-speaking countries, where these games are largely unknown, tarot cards are now
used primarily for divinatory purposes. Occultists call the trump cards and the Fool "the
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major arcana" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana.
The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is
no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the
18th century.
Etymology
The English and French word tarot derives from the Italian tarocchi, which has no
known origin or etymology. One theory relates the name "tarot" to the Taro River in
northern Italy, near Parma; the game seems to have originated in northern Italy, in Milan
or Bologna. Other writers believe it comes from the Arabic word ‫ قرط‬turuq, which
means 'pathways'. Alternatively, it may be from the Arabic ‫ كرت‬taraka, 'to leave,
abandon, omit, leave behind'. According to a French etymology, the Italian tarocco
derived from Arabic ‫ حرط‬ṭarḥ, 'rejection; subtraction, deduction, discount'.
There is also the question of whether the word tarot is related to Harut and Marut, who
were mentioned in a short account in the Quran. According to this account, a group of
Israelites learnt magic, for demonstration & to test them, from two angels called Harut
and Marut, and it adds that this knowledge of magic would be passed on to others by the
devil. What can be taken into account here is the phonetic resemblance of tarot ‫ تورات‬to
Harut ‫ توراه‬and Marut ‫ ;تورام‬this resemblance, which is most evident when all three
words are transcribed to Arabic, is open for research to confirm whether it is coincidental
or etymologically significant.
History
Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, probably from Mamluk Egypt,
with suits very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins (also known
as disks, and pentacles) and those still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese
decks. The first documentary evidence is a ban on their use in 1367, Bern, Switzerland.
Wide use of playing cards in Europe can, with some certainty, be traced from 1377
onwards.
The first known tarot cards were created between 1430 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara and
Bologna in northern Italy when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were
added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks were originally called carte da
trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became
"trumps" in English. The first literary evidence of the existence of carte da trionfi is a
written statement in the court records in Ferrara, in 1442. The oldest surviving tarot cards
are from fifteen fragmented decks painted in the mid 15th century for the Visconti-Sforza
family, the rulers of Milan.
Divination using playing cards is in evidence as early as 1540 in a book entitled The
Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli which allows a simple method of divination,
though the cards are used only to select a random oracle and have no meaning in
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themselves. But manuscripts from 1735 (The Square of Sevens) and 1750 (Pratesi
Cartomancer) document rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot as
well as a system for laying out the cards. Giacomo Casanova wrote in his diary that in
1765 his Russian mistress frequently used a deck of playing cards for divination.
Early decks
Picture-card packs are first mentioned by Martiano da Tortona probably between 1418
and 1425, since the painter he mentions, Michelino da Besozzo, returned to Milan in
1418, while Martiano himself died in 1425. He describes a deck with 16 picture cards
with images of the Greek gods and suits depicting four kinds of birds, not the common
suits. However the 16 cards were obviously regarded as "trumps" as, about 25 years later,
Jacopo Antonio Marcello called them a ludus triumphorum, or "game of trumps".
Special motifs on cards added to regular packs show philosophical, social, poetical,
astronomical, and heraldic ideas, Roman/Greek/Babylonian heroes, as in the case of the
Sola-Busca-Tarocchi (1491) and the Boiardo Tarocchi poem, written at an unknown date
between 1461 and 1494.
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Le Bateleur: The Juggler from the Tarot of Marseilles. This card is often named The
Magician in modern English language tarots
Two playing card decks from Milan (the Brera-Brambrilla and Cary-Yale-Tarocchi)—
extant, but fragmentary—were made circa 1440. Three documents dating from 1 January
1441 to July 1442, use the term trionfi. The document from January 1441 is regarded as
an unreliable reference; however, the same painter, Sagramoro, was commissioned by the
same patron, Leonello d'Este, as in the February 1442 document. The game seemed to
gain in importance in the year 1450, a Jubilee year in Italy, which saw many festivities
and the movement of many pilgrims.
Three mid-15th century sets were made for members of the Visconti family. The first
deck, and probably the prototype, is called the Cary-Yale Tarot (or Visconti-Modrone
Tarot) and was created between 1442 and 1447 by an anonymous painter for Filippo
Maria Visconti. The cards (only 66) are today in the Cary collection of the Beinecke Rare
Book Library at Yale University, in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The most famous was
painted in the mid-15th century, to celebrate Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria
Visconti, daughter of the duke Filippo Maria. Probably, these cards were painted by
Bonifacio Bembo or Francesco Zavattari between 1451 and 1453. Of the original cards,
35 are in The Morgan Library & Museum, 26 are at the Accademia Carrara, 13 are at the
Casa Colleoni and four: 'The Devil', 'The Tower', 'Money's Horse (The Chariot)' and '3 of
Spades', are lost or else never made. This "Visconti-Sforza" deck, which has been widely
reproduced, reflects conventional iconography of the time to a significant degree.
Hand-painted tarot cards remained a privilege of the upper classes and, although some
sermons inveighing against the evil inherent in cards can be traced to the 14th century,
most civil governments did not routinely condemn tarot cards during tarot's early history.
In fact, in some jurisdictions, tarot cards were specifically exempted from laws otherwise
prohibiting the playing of cards.
Because the earliest tarot cards were hand-painted, the number of the decks produced is
thought to have been rather small, and it was only after the invention of the printing press
that mass production of cards became possible. Decks survive from this era from various
cities in France, and the most popular pattern of these early printed decks comes from the
southern city of Marseilles, after which it is named the Tarot de Marseilles.
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Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games
The original purpose of tarot cards was for playing games, the first basic rules appearing
in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona before 1425. The game of tarot is known in
many variations (mostly cultural); the first basic rules for the game of Tarocco appear in
the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona (before 1425; translated text), and the next are
known from the year 1637. In Italy the game has become less popular; one version named
Tarocco Bolognese: Ottocento has still survived and there are still others played in
Piedmont, but the number of games outside of Italy is much higher. The French tarot
game is the most popular in its native country and there are regional tarot games often
known as tarock, tarok, or tarokk widely played in central Europe.
Divinatory, esoteric, and occult tarot

Tarot cards would later become associated with mysticism and magic. Tarot was not
widely adopted by mystics, occultists and secret societies until the 18th and 19th
centuries. The tradition began in 1781, when Antoine Court de Gébelin, a Swiss
clergyman, published Le Monde Primitif, a speculative study which included religious
symbolism and its survivals in the modern world. De Gébelin first asserted that
symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille represented the mysteries of Isis and Thoth. Gébelin
further claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian words tar, meaning "royal",
and ro, meaning "road", and that the Tarot therefore represented a "royal road" to
wisdom. De Gébelin also asserted that the Romanies (Gypsies), who were among the first
to use cards for divination, were descendants of the Ancient Egyptians (hence their
common name; though by this time it was more popularly used as a stereotype for any
nomadic tribe) and had introduced the cards to Europe. De Gébelin wrote this treatise
before Jean-François Champollion had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, or indeed
before the Rosetta Stone had been discovered, and later Egyptologists found nothing in
the Egyptian language to support de Gébelin's fanciful etymologies. Despite this, the
identification of the tarot cards with the Egyptian Book of Thoth was already firmly
established in occult practice and continues in modern urban legend to the present day.
Other uses
Literature
Tarot was used as early as the 16th century to compose poems, called "tarocchi
appropriati", describing ladies of the court or famous personages. In modern literature,
two exceptional examples of novels centered on the tarot are The Greater Trumps (1932)
by Charles Williams and Il castello dei destini incrociati (1969) (English translation: The
Castle of Crossed Destinies [1979]) by Italo Calvino. In the former, the tarot is used by
the main characters to move through space and time, create matter, and raise powerful
natural storms. In the latter, Mediaeval travellers meeting at a castle are inexplicably
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unable to speak, and use a tarot deck to describe their stories, which are reconstructed by
the narrator, calling forth implications of the nature of communication, fate, and the
presence of the transcendent in daily life.
Tarots appear in T.S. Eliot's modernist poem The Waste Land (1922), in connection with
the figure of Madame Sosostris, one of the characters which appear in the first part, "The
Burial of the Dead". Some of the cards mentioned in the poem really exist in the tarot
deck (the Hanged Man, the Wheel), some have been invented by Eliot.
Tom Deitz's 1991 novel Soulsmith begins with a man in prison who uses songs he hears
on the radio as virtual tarot cards to create mental readings for himself. The chapter titles
in Jeanette Winterson's Gut Symmetries (1997) are taken from the tarot cards, informing
the major theme of each chapter. The 2007 novel Sepulchre by British author Kate Mosse
features a fictional tarot deck. Randall Flagg or Walter o'Dim of the Dark Tower series
uses them in the end of the first book to tell the future of Roland and his ka-tet. The 2009
young-adult fiction novel Andromeda Klein heavily focuses on tarot, specifically the
Rider-Waite-Smith deck and magick theory.
Film
Alejandro Jodorowsky based the movie "Holy Mountain" on tarot symbolism. He talks
extensively about it in an interview in the DVD's extra features.
Psychoanalysis
Carl Jung was the first psychoanalyst to attach importance to tarot symbolism. He may
have regarded the tarot cards as representing archetypes: fundamental types of persons or
situations embedded in the collective unconscious of all human beings. The theory of
archetypes gives rise to several psychoanalytical uses. Since the cards represent these
different archetypes within each individual, ideas of the subject's self-perception can be
gained by asking them to select a card that they 'identify with'. Equally, the subject can
try to clarify the situation by imagining it in terms of the archetypal ideas associated with
each card. For instance, someone rushing in heedlessly like the Knight of Swords, or
blindly keeping the world at bay like the Rider-Waite-Smith Two of Swords.
More recently Timothy Leary has suggested that the tarot trump cards are a pictorial
representation of human development from infant to adult, with the Fool symbolizing the
newborn infant, the Magician symbolizing the stage at which an infant begins to play
with artifacts, etc. In Leary's view the tarot trumps may be viewed as a blueprint for the
human race as it matures.
Varieties
WT Le Chariot, from Nicolas Conver's 1760 deck
WT Example of 18th century "Tiertarock" or animal tarot
A variety of styles of tarot decks and designs exist and a number of typical regional
patterns have emerged. Historically, one of the most important designs is the one usually
known as the Tarot de Marseilles. This standard pattern was the one studied by Court de
Gébelin, and cards based on this style illustrate his Le Monde primitif. The Tarot de
Marseilles was also popularized in the 20th century by Paul Marteau. Some current
editions of cards based on the Marseilles design go back to a deck of a particular
Marseilles design that was printed by Nicolas Conver in 1760. Other regional styles
include the "Swiss" Tarot; this one substitutes Juno and Jupiter for the Papess, or High
Priestess and the Pope, or Hierophant. In Florence an expanded deck called Minchiate
was used; this deck of 96 cards includes astrological symbols including the four elements,
as well as traditional tarot motifs.
Some decks exist primarily as artwork; and such art decks sometimes contain only the 22
trump cards.
French suited tarots
WT Central European 54 card Tarock deck
WT Bourgeois Tarot or Tarot Nouveau
French suited tarot cards began to appear in Germany during the 18th century. The first
generation of French suited tarots depicted scenes of animals on the trumps and were thus
called "Tiertarock" decks ('Tier' being German for 'animal'). Card maker Göbl of Munich
is often credited for this design innovation. French suited tarot cards are a modern deck
used for the tarot/tarock card games commonly played in France and central Europe. The
symbolism of French suited tarot trumps depart considerably from the older Italian suited
design. With very few exceptional recent cases such as the Tarocchi di Alan, Tarot of
Reincarnation and the Tarot de la Nature, French suited tarot cards are nearly exclusively
used for card games and rarely for divination.
Non-occult Italian-suited tarot decks
These were the earliest form of tarot deck to be invented, being first devised in the 15th
century in northern Italy. The occult tarot decks are based on decks of this type. Four
decks of this category are still used to play certain games:
Tarocco Piemontese: the Fool
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• The Tarocco Piemontese consists of the four suits of swords, batons, clubs and
coins, each headed by a king, queen, cavalier and jack, followed by numerals 10
down to 1. The trumps rank as follows: The Angel (20—although it only bears the
second-highest number, it is nonetheless the highest), the World (21), the Sun
(19), the Moon (18), the Star (17), the Tower (16), the Devil (15), Temperance
(14), death (13), the Hanged Man (12), Strength (11), the Wheel of Fortune (10),
the Hermit (9), Justice (8), the Chariot (7), the Lovers (6), the Pope (5), the
Emperor (4), the Empress (3), the Popess (2) and the Bagatto (1). There is also the
Fool (Matto).
• The Swiss Tarot de Besançon is similar, but is of a different graphical design,
and replaces the Pope with Jupiter, the Popess with Juno, and the Angel with the
Judgement. The trumps rank in numerical order and the Tower is known as the
House of God.
• The Tarocco Bolognese omits numeral cards two to five in plain suits, leaving it
with 62 cards, and has somewhat different trumps, not all of which are numbered
and four of which are equal in rank. It has a different graphical design.
• The Tarocco Siciliano changes some of the trumps, and replaces the 21 with a
card labeled Miseria (destitution). It omits the Two and Three of coins, and
numerals one to four in batons, swords and cups: it thus has 64 cards. The cards
are quite small and, again, of a different graphical design.
Occult tarot decks
Etteilla was the first to issue a revised tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes
rather than game playing. In keeping with the belief that tarot cards are derived from the
Book of Thoth, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt. The 78-card
tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:
• The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump cards, consists of 22 cards without
suits: The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor,
The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of
Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower,
The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, and The World.
• The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits of
14 cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are the
King, Queen, Knight and Page/Jack, in each of the four tarot suits. The traditional
Italian tarot suits are swords, batons/wands, coins and cups; in modern tarot
decks, however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves, while the
coins suit is often called pentacles or disks.
The terms "major arcana" and "minor arcana" were first used by Jean Baptiste Pitois (also
known as Paul Christian), and are never used in relation to Tarot card games.
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Cover of the Thoth Tarot deck, designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda
Harris. The cover is similar to the illustration of the Two of Disks.
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah. In these decks
all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being under the
influence of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and bearing illustrated scenes on all the suit
cards. The images on the 'Rider-Waite' deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman Smith,
to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward Waite, and were
originally published by the Rider Company in 1910. This deck is considered a simple,
user friendly one but nevertheless its imagery, especially in the Major Arcana, is complex
and replete with esoteric symbolism. The subjects of the Major Arcana are based on those
of the earliest decks, but have been significantly modified to reflect Waite and Smith's
view of tarot. An important difference from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew
scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards. However the Rider-Waite wasn't the first
deck to include completely illustrated suit cards. The first to do so was the 15th century
Sola-Busca deck.
Older decks such as the Visconti-Sforza and Marseilles are less detailed than modern
esoteric decks. A Marseilles type deck is usually distinguished by having repetitive
motifs on the pip cards, similar to Italian or Spanish playing cards, as opposed to the full
scenes found on "Rider-Waite" style decks. These more simply illustrated "Marseilles"
style decks are also used esoterically, for divination, and for game play, though the
French card game of tarot is now generally played using a relatively modern 19th century
design of German origin. Such playing tarot decks generally have twenty one trump cards
with genre scenes from 19th century life, a Fool, and have court and pip cards that closely
resemble today's French playing cards.
The Marseilles style tarot decks generally feature numbered minor arcana cards that look
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very much like the pip cards of modern playing card decks. The Marseilles' numbered
minor arcana cards do not have scenes depicted on them; rather, they sport a geometric
arrangement of the number of suit symbols (e.g., swords, rods/wands, cups,
coins/pentacles) corresponding to the number of the card (accompanied by botanical and
other non-scenic flourishes), while the court cards are often illustrated with flat, two-
dimensional drawings.
A widely used modernist esoteric tarot deck is Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot. Crowley,
at the height of a lifetime's work dedicated to occultism, engaged the artist Lady Frieda
Harris to paint the cards for the deck according to his specifications. His system of tarot
correspondences, published in The Book of Thoth & Liber 777, are an evolution and
expansion upon that which he learned in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
In contrast to the Thoth deck's colorfulness, the illustrations on Paul Foster Case's
B.O.T.A. Tarot deck are black line drawings on white cards; this is an unlaminated deck
intended to be colored by its owner.
Other esoteric decks include the Golden Dawn Tarot, which claims to be based on a deck
by SL MacGregor Mathers.
The variety of decks presently available is almost endless, and grows yearly. For
instance, cat-lovers may have the Tarot of the Cat People, a deck replete with cats in
every picture. The Tarot of the Witches and the Aquarian Tarot retain the conventional
cards with varying designs. The Tree of Life Tarot's cards are stark symbolic catalogs,
the Cosmic Tarot, and the Alchemical Tarot that combines traditional alchemical symbols
with tarot images.
These contemporary divination decks change the cards to varying degrees. For example,
the Motherpeace Tarot is notable for its circular cards and feminist angle: the male
characters have been replaced by females. The Tarot of Baseball has suits of bats, mitts,
balls and bases; "coaches" and "MVPs" instead of Queens and Kings; and major arcana
cards like "The Catcher", "The Rule Book" and "Batting a Thousand". In the Silicon
Valley Tarot, major arcana cards include The Hacker, Flame War, The Layoff and The
Garage; the suits are Networks, Cubicles, Disks and Hosts; the court cards CIO,
Salesman, Marketeer and New Hire. Another tarot in recent years has been the Robin
Wood Tarot. This deck retains the Rider-Waite theme while adding some very soft and
colorful Pagan symbolism. As with other decks, the cards are available with a companion
book written by Wood which details all of the symbolism and colors utilized in the Major
and Minor Arcana.
Unconventionality is taken to an extreme by Morgan's Tarot, produced in 1970 by

Morgan Robbins and illustrated by Darshan Chorpash Zenith. Morgan's Tarot has no
suits, no card ranking and no explicit order of the cards. It has 88 cards rather than the
more conventional 78, and its simple line drawings show a strong influence from the
psychedelic era. Nevertheless, in the introductory booklet that accompanies the deck
(comprehensively mirrored on dfoley's website, with permission from U.S. Games
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Systems), Robbins claims spiritual inspiration for the cards and cites the influence of
Tibetan Buddhism in particular.
Deck-specific symbolism
Many popular decks have modified the traditional symbolism to reflect the esoteric
beliefs of their creators.
Rider-Waite-Smith deck
The tarot created by A.E. Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith departs from the earlier tarot
design with its use of scenic pip cards and the alteration of how the Strength and Justice
cards are ranked.
Crowley-Harris Thoth deck
Each card in the Thoth deck is intricately detailed with astrological, zodiacal, elemental
and Qabalistic symbols related to each card. Colours are used symbolically, especially the
cards related to the five elements of Spirit, Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Crowley wrote a
book--The Book of Thoth to accompany, describe, and expand on his deck and the data
regarding the pathways within. Unlike the popular Waite-Smith Tarot, the Thoth Tarot
retains the traditional order of the trumps but uses alternative nomenclature for both the
trumps and of the courts.
Mythic Tarot
The The Mythic Tarot links tarot symbolism with the classical Greek myths.
Hermetic Tarot
Hermetic Tarot utilizes the tarot imagery to function as a textbook and mnemonic device
for teaching and revealing the gnosis of alchemical symbolical language and its profound
and philosophical meanings. An example of this practice is found in the rituals of the
19th Century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In the 20th Century Hermetic use of
the tarot imagery as a handbook and revealer of perennial wisdom was further developed
in the work of Carl Gustav Jung and his exploration into the psyche and active
imagination. A 21st century example of a Hermetic rooted tarot deck is that of Tarot
ReVisioned, a black and white deck and book for the Major Arcana by Leigh J.
McCloskey.
Modern oracle cards
Recently, the use of tarot for divination, or as a store of symbolism, has inspired the
creation of modern oracle card decks. These are card decks for inspiration or divination
containing images of angels, faeries, goddesses, totems, etc. Although obviously
influenced by divinatory tarot, they do not follow the traditional structure of Tarot; they
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often lack any suits of numbered cards, and the set of cards differs from the conventional
major arcana.
Chapter- 2
How to Read Tarot Cards
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Tarot Cards
Do you have a deck of Tarot cards but are tired of flipping through the tiny book that
came with them? You can read cards easily by following a few simple steps. Use this
method to give great readings and learn the cards more quickly!
Steps
1. Be sure you relate to your deck. If it holds your attention, others may find it
interesting too. If the deck doesn't appeal to you visually, look at as many others
as possible. Go to several stores. Look online. Choose the one that really grabs
you at first sight. The more the cards appeal to you, the more quickly you will
remember their associations and meanings.
2. Separate the Major Arcana from the Minor.
3. Shuffle each set of cards, cut them and lay them out in rows of three across,
seven down with one card to the side. This will use all of the Major Arcana but
leave some excess Minor Arcana cards. Set these aside in a pile.
4. Make a list of the cards you've laid out. Pick a word that best describes each
and write it down beside them.
5. Look at the pictures on the cards. What do they suggest to you? Identify a
narrative pattern, as though you are looking at a book of illustrations and trying to
find the story. The patterns can go across, down, diagonally or first to last. The
card to the side signifies the most important element of the situation.
6. Ask yourself which situations in your life, or in the life of the person whose
cards you are reading, the cards seem to be alluding to.
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7. Next, look for narrative patterns that offer alternatives to the end first
perceived; things that could make the situation better or worse.
8. Consider the words you've assigned to each of the cards. How do these apply
to the stories you've identified?
9. Put it all together and combine your perceptions from the above steps into
one reading. You might be amazed at how much more accurate the reading is
than when you use the deck's guide.
10. Remember that if at some point a card feels like it has a different meaning to
you than what the book says, go with that meaning! That is perfectly okay
since that is really how you are supposed to read tarot cards as you become more
experienced. Just let the cards speak to you.
Tips
• Use the stack of 'extra' Minor Arcana cards to elaborate on particularly tricky card
interpretations. Select one or more cards from the stack and lay them on top of the
difficult card. Read these as a narrative set.
• Light incense and candles to create a relaxed environment for your reading. A
glass of wine and soft music can enhance it as well.
• Use crystals to add energy and ambiance.
• Use your card-shuffling time to clear your mind. Choose cards with backs that
appeal to you so that you can use them as a meditative point of focus.
• Consider the Major Arcana spread as illustrating the deeper, spiritual aspects of
life situations and the Minor as reflecting day to day matters.
• Turn all cards right side up if you wish to avoid reversals. These can add
additional insight but are not necessary and can make learning more complicated
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for beginners.
• When you feel ready to handle reversals, there are a couple of ways to approach
them. Some readers read reversals as merely opposite to a card's upright meaning,
but this can reduce your reading to a level so basic as to be of little value. It can
be more thought-provoking to ask if the reversed card has become less
straightforward in some way. For example, in a 10 of Cups reversed, is its joyous
energy blocked, delayed, apparent but not real, real but not apparent, hidden,
promised, or in some other way not fully present? Context will usually make it
clear which is the case.
• Sometimes a tarot reading's meaning can seem unclear or ambiguous. To sharpen
your readings, practice "reverse-reading": think of a meaning first (e.g., "speedy
resolution"), then try to think which card which might represent it (e.g., 8 of
Wands). When you ask a question of a tarot reading, imagine some of the answers
you might get and what cards would represent them--*before* you start to draw.
Warnings
• Some decks can give you nasty paper cuts. Take care!
• If you believe strongly in free will, that does not mean you cannot benefit from
tarot's descriptive power. Rather than a prediction, think of a tarot reading as a
road map which helps you choose where you want to go rather than steering you
in a particular direction.
• Remember to take this with a grain of salt.
Things You'll Need
• A deck of tarot cards

• pencil
• Paper
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How to Conduct a Tarot Reading
Tarot reading
One of the most enduring artifacts of the Renaissance is the Tarot. The Tarot first
appeared in northern Italy during the 15th century to be used as a card game similar to the
modern game of Bridge. It is one of the first card games to employ a trump suit and many
people especially in continental Europe play variants of the original Tarot card game.
Since the 18th century, The Tarot has also been used in the divinatory arts. The
symbolism of the Tarot can provide an insight into the events and feelings in your life,
guidance when we need to make decisions; not answers, but another perspective on your
situation. The art of Tarot divination is a way of using your intuition to gain a better
understanding of not only your life, emotions and feelings, but also those of others who
are important in your life.
Steps
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1. Buy a Tarot Book and a Deck. Buy a Tarot deck that you like, and a book that
will explain the interpretation of each of the 78 cards.
2. Create a Relaxing Atmosphere. This is not only important to your guest, but to
you as well. You will need to establish mutual respect with your guest (the
questioner), and gather thoughts on the symbolism of the Tarot. The atmosphere
ideally should be quiet, peaceful, and without distractions.
o It is important to get into the habit of creating the right mindset; however
you do this, try to create a focus for your thoughts.
3. Ask the questioner to shuffle the cards. Some Tarot card decks can be quite
large and awkward to shuffle; it doesn't matter how they are shuffled if your guest
can't shuffle in their hands.
4. Ask the questioner to cut the cards. It is important that they are thinking about
the question that they wish to ask while they do this.
5. Decide the spread that you will use. There are many different spreads which you
can use, here are a few of the most common:
o Three card spread. Lay out three cards. Left to right, each card represents
the Past, Present and Future.
o Five card Horseshoe spread. Lay out five cards in an upright arc. Left to
right, each card represents the Present Position, the Present Desires, the
Unexpected, the Immediate Future and the Outcome.
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o
The Celtic Cross Tarot card spread
Celtic Cross. Lay out ten cards as shown in the diagram to the right. Each
one of the numbered cards represent the Questioner's:
1. Present Position
2. Immediate Influences
3. Life
4. Root of the Reading
5. Past Influences
6. Future Influences
7. Feelings
8. Outside Influences
9. Hopes and Fears
10. Outcome
6. Ask the questioner to choose a card for each position in the spread. Many
Tarot practioners have the questioner pick out and lay down the card, they do not
touch the deck themselves.
7. Interpret the Cards. There are two sections within the Tarot deck, the Major
Arcana and the Minor Arcana.
o Major Arcana. There are 22 of these cards. In some Tarot Decks, these are
numbered, except the Fool. They represent different stages in life,
different aspects of yourself, the situations you will encounter and the
qualities you will need to help you.
o Minor Arcana. There are 56 of these cards. They are divided into four
suits with 14 cards in each, similar to normal playing cards. The suits are
Cups, Wands, Pentacles and Swords, and each suit comprises of 10
numbered pip cards, and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King).
 The Cups Suit (also known as the Chalice Suit) is linked with the
standard Hearts Suit, and henceforth with your feelings and
emotions, especially love, kindness and admiration. It is also
associated with the classical element of Water.
 The Wands Suit (also known as the Staves Suit, Rods Suit or the
Batons (the French word for Wands) Suit) is linked with the
standard Clubs Suit, and with your intuition, especially vision,
prediction and "gut-feelings". It is also associated with the classical
element of Fire.
 The Pentacles Suit (also known as the Coins Suit) is linked with
the standard Diamonds suit, and henceforth with the material
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world; your possessions and the things you cherish. It is also
associated with the classical element of Earth.
 The Swords Suit is linked with the standard Spades Suit, and with
your mind, especially your intellect and your decisions. It is also
associated with the classical element of Air.
Tips
• In some tarot divination circles, buying your own deck is considered bad luck;
they hold that you are to be given your first deck. In others you must chose a deck
of cards that call out to you.
• Many Tarot readers never let anyone else use their cards as the psychic reader is
supposed to always choose the cards and not the receiver.
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Things You'll Need
• A 78 card deck of Tarot cards suitable for divination. The Rider Waite Smith
Tarot and the Thoth Tarot are two of the most popular Tarot decks for this
purpose.
• Books on Tarot card interpretations. The internet has also become a useful source
for information on many of the common Tarot card meanings.
Chapter- 3
How to Set up Tarot Cards
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Ever wanted to read the tarot cards but don't know how? Then this page will tell you all
you need to know.
Steps
1. Set the cards in a pile in front of you and think about what you what to know
about, like a question.
2. Shuffle them for 15 seconds and concentrate on what you want to know from
the cards.
3. Use your left hand and cut the deck into 4 pile, moving from left to right.
4. Take the top card from the first pile place it in front of you. This tells you
what's at hand.
5. Take the top card from the second pile place in to the left side (below the first
card. This tell you what is influencing the situation.
6. Take the top card from the third pile and place beside the second card right
below the first card. This tells you what to ponder.
7. Finally take the top card from the forth pile and place it beside the third
card. This tells you what to do about the situation.
Tips
•
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Before reading the cards it is best to meditate to clear your mind.
Things You'll Need

• Tarot cards.
How to Do an Angel Card Reading
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Ever wondered how to do an angel card reading? Maybe this is the first time you've
considered giving it a try, or have attempted this, or other types of card reading, before
but found it confusing or found it didn't work well for you. Whatever your reasons,
follow these steps to learn how to carry out an accurate helpful card reading for either
yourself or for others.
Steps
1. Choose your angel card deck. These are widely available to purchase in various
book shops and online sites such as Amazon. Some popular decks include Doreen
Virtue's Oracle card range, most of which are easy to use for beginners as well as
for more experienced card readers. Check out what's available and choose a deck
that naturally attracts you.
2. Familiarise yourself with the different cards.
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Angel card decks usually come with a guide book including instructions on how
to approach this. You can choose to follow the guidelines given in the book or,
alternatively, even if you have a guide book, taking the time to browse through
the cards and get to know the varius images and phrase message on each of them
is just as good a way to start - you can always refer back to the guidebook at a
later stage once you start your readings. You can also get a better feel for the
cards by shuffling them and/or laying them out on a surface such as a table - or
just moving them around in whichever way feels right for you without any
specific action in mind. Once you've reached the stage where you feel you've
gotten to know the cards much better and are more comfortable with using as a
result, it's time to move onto the next step.
3. Consecrate your deck. Again you can either follow the instructions in the
accompanying guide book, if you have one, for this. Otherwise saying a simple
prayer - either mentally or aloud - acknowledging the angels' presence and
thanking them for their help with your further understanding of, and carrying out,
the card readings is fine.
4.
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Learn the different spreads. The term 'spread' refers to a specific card layout
pattern that the person carrying out the card reading chooses to use from which to
receive information. There are a variety of one's from which to choose, such as
The Three Card, Card of the Day, Pendulum and Intuitive method spreads -
amongst others. You may prefer to refer to your guidebook or as an alternative/in
addition do your own research to educate yourself on the different types. You can
use as many or as little of these as you like. Once you've decided which type of
card spread you'd like to begin with, then you're ready to move onto doing a
reading!
5. Carry out the reading.

o Sit quietly and think about the person you are reading for, and the question
that they wish to ask the angels. The person might be somebody you know
or yourself.
o If you're doing a reading for yourself ask the angels your question. This
can be done either aloud or in your head. If the reading is for somebody
else, you will need to ask them to direct the question to the angels instead.
o Shuffle the angel cards until you feel guided to stop. You may wish to say
a quick prayer to the angels' to guide your reading during this time to
ensure that it's accurate and clear. Use whichever words feel right for you,
so long as they are positive and express good intention. Remember to
thank the angels for listening at the end. Then lay your cards out,
according to whichever spread it is you've chosen to use.
o Study each of the images and phrase messages on each card. Pay extra
attention to any additional impressions about the card meanings you
receive. This might be in the form of visions, feelings or just thoughts.
Bear in mind how each card message fits into the context of the question
you asked, and follow your instinct. All this should help you to personalise
the reading to the specific situation that you, or the person on who's behalf
you're doing the reading, are asking about. However, if you find yourself
still feeling unclear at any stage, refer to your guidance book where
descriptions of additional card messages are usually included.
Tips
• Always do the readings in a quiet room or place, away from any other distractions
• Sometimes a card will fly from the pack whilst you shuffle, or simply stick out.
Always pay extra attention to these cards as they are special messages from the
angels
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• Trust that the first cards that you draw for a reading are the right ones, although
sometimes the meanings may not be immediately clear for the recipient of the
reading. Remember that sometimes it's the case that some time needs to pass
before the full meaning of the reading becomes obvious. It can also sometimes
happen that an angel might not respond directly to your, or somebody elses's
question, but instead to an underlying desire or query behind the spoken question.
Keep an open mind, always bearing in mind which question has been asked and
why it was.
• Summon as much trust and faith in your ability to converse with the angels as you
can when performing your readings. Some people believe that lack of faith and
trust in both yourself and the divine can lead to unclear confusing card readings.
If at any stage you find your readings aren't making much sense this could be the
reason why. If this happens,and you feel this is likely, ask the angels to increase
your faith and confidence in your natural card interpretation abilities and see if
this helps.
• Keep practicing. As with any other skill, performing and interpreting accurate
card readings is something which becomes easier and faster with repeated effort!
Things You'll Need

• At least one angel card deck
• An accompanying guide book if you're a beginner
• At least one willing person to do a card reading for, if you're not doing it for
yourself.
Chapter- 4
How to Learn to Read Tarot Cards Through

Music
Learning to read Tarot cards requires a lot of memorization and inspiration. You can use
popular music to help you. Match the picture on the card with a song of similar meaning.
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For the most part, the card meanings used are from Joan Bunning's book "Learning the
Tarot". The idea to use music was inspired by a quote from Mark McElroy's book,
"What's in The Cards for You?" page 24 and his card "Variance" from the "Bright Ideas"
Deck. Images used here are from the Rider-Waite Deck. For Example:
The Fool
Match the fool with songs like: "I'm just a Gigolo", Tiny Tim's "Living In the Sunlight,
Loving In the Moonlight" (Think SpongeBob), or Steve Miller Band's "The Joker". The
meaning of the card is found in the meaning of the song. Try a beginner reading by
shuffling your deck using just the Major Arcana, draw three random cards, lay them
down in a row. Let them represent your past present and future. Think of or listen to the
music these cards represent. How does this music relate to your past & present? What
song represents your future? Now you've done your first musical card reading!
Steps
1.
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The Magician
Match the Magician with songs like Bruce Dickinson's "The Magician" or
Magical Mister Mephistopheles from the Broadway Musical Cats.
2.
WT High Priestess
Interpret The High Priestess with the Beatles song, "Let it Be."
3.
WT The Empress
Find Peter Gabriel's "Shaking the Tree" featuring Shaggy. It's not easy to
find, but what a perfect song for this card.
4.
WT The Emperor
Interpret the Emperor with Fatherly authority and discipline. A Song like "I
fought the Law & the Law Won" comes to mind.
5.
WT The Heirophant
Use the song "Closer to Find" by the Indigo girls for inspirational meaning.
The Heirophant, like the Pope, represents spiritual guidance.
6.
7.
WT The Lovers
You can match the Lovers card to just about any love song, but the deeper
meaning of this card is represented by the Spin Doctor's "Two Princes"
indicating a choice between two lovers.
WT The Chariot
Imagine the victorious Champion entering a packed arena, with deafening

cheers from the crowd. What song would play in the background? Queen's "We
are the Champions" of course.
8.
9.
WT Strength
For a card that is almost always represented by a tamed lion, match with
your favorite version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". A wee muh way - A wee
muh way - A wee muh way.
WT The Hermit
Think of the band from down under, Men at Work. Check out the lyrics for
their song, "Who can it be now?"
10.
11.
WT The Wheel
Match the Wheel of Fortune with Alanis Morissette's "Ironic"
WT Justice
One man's justice is another man's crime; use Peter Gabriel's "Biko." to
remember the meaning of this card.
12.
WT The Hanged Man
"Always look on the Bright Side of Life!" from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
13.
WT DEATH
Don't be afraid when you see the Death card. Think "Dust in the Wind" by
Kansas.
14.
15.
WT TEMPERANCE
"Get the Balance Right" by Depeche Mode.
16.
WT The Devil
"Use Me" by Bill Withers. Many songs represent the Devil's addiction, vice, and
deadly sins, but this song uniquely begs "Keep on using me until you use me up."
Definitely something the Devil loves to hear. Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb"
comes to mind as well as Eric Clapton's "Cocaine".
WT The Tower
Look at the picture and sing to yourself "Under Pressure" by David Bowie &
Queen.
17.
18.
WT The Star
"Don't Give Up" a duet by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush. The Star card gives
tells the querant there is hope.
WT The Moon
"Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne. Though the lyrics of the song do not
fully capture the meaning of the card, you will surely remember to feel that you
are under a spell somewhat like a werewolf.
19.
WT The Sun
"Walk on Sunshine" like Katrina & the Waves.
20.
21.
WT JUDGMENT
Look at the souls rising to Heaven. Will you be one? Will you be remembered
forever? Songs like "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbalm, "Fame" by Irene
Cara, and "Immortality" by Celine Dion make great accompaniments to the
Judgment card.
WT The World
Be Enlightened with the World Card while Louie Armstrong's "What a

Wonderful World" or "Ave Marie" play in the background.
Tips
• Using your own choice of music and cards will give your readings new
dimensions.
Chapter- 5
How to Do a One Card Tarot Reading
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The quickest way to get a simple answer from your cards is with a one-card-read. The
following steps can help you interpret you read.
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Steps
1. Make sure you are relaxed and focused.
2. Ground and centre yourself.
3. Form your question in your mind.
4. Ask your question (either aloud or internally), focus.
5. Fan the deck you are using face down.
6. Select a card you feel some pull to.
7. Look at the card.
8. Interpret the meaning.
9. Return the card to the deck, thank Spirit (or deity), and take in the wisdom
of the card.
Tips
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• If you are still want further depth to your reading, you might want to consider a
larger spread.
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Chapter- 6
Divinatory, Esoteric and Occult Tarot
Tarot reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the
current and possible future situations of the subject (or querent), i.e. cartomancy. Some
believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards
help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming
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subconscious. The divinatory meanings of the cards are derived mostly from the
Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism and from Medieval Alchemy.
History
Antoine Court de Gébelin
The original purpose of tarot cards is sometimes thought to be for playing games, with
the first basic rules appearing in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona before 1425.
Tarot cards would later become associated with mysticism and magic. Tarot was not
known to be adopted by mystics, occultists and secret societies until the 18th and 19th
centuries. The earliest known use of tarot cards for divination was in Bologna Italy,
around 1750, using an set of divinatory meanings entirely different from modern
divinatory tarot. Modern occult tarot begins in 1781, when Antoine Court de Gébelin, a
Swiss clergyman and Freemason, published Le Monde Primitif, a speculative study which
included religious symbolism and its survivals in the modern world. De Gébelin first
asserted that symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille represented the mysteries of Isis and
Thoth. Gébelin further claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian words tar,
meaning "royal", and ro, meaning "road", and that the Tarot therefore represented a
"royal road" to wisdom. De Gébelin also asserted that the Gypsies, who were among the
first to use cards for divination, were descendants of the Ancient Egyptians (hence their
common name; though by this time it was more popularly used as a stereotype for any
nomadic tribe) and had introduced the cards to Europe. De Gébelin wrote this treatise
before Jean-François Champollion had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, or indeed
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before the Rosetta Stone had been discovered, and later Egyptologists found nothing in
the Egyptian language to support de Gébelin's fanciful etymologies. Despite this, the
identification of the Tarot cards with the Egyptian "Book of Thoth" was already firmly
established in occult practice and continues in modern urban legend to the present day.
The idea of the cards as a mystical key was further developed by Eliphas Lévi and passed
to the English-speaking world by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Lévi, not
Etteilla, is considered by some to be the true founder of most contemporary schools of
Tarot; his 1854 Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (English title: Transcendental Magic)
introduced an interpretation of the cards which related them to Hermetic Qabalah. While
Lévi accepted Court de Gébelin's claims about an Egyptian origin of the deck symbols,
he rejected Etteilla's innovations and his altered deck, and devised instead a system which
related the Tarot, especially the Tarot de Marseille, to the Hermetic Qabalah and the four
elements of alchemy.
Tarot divination became increasingly popular in the New World from 1910, with the
publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarotin December 1909, (designed and executed by
two members of the Golden Dawn), which replaced the traditionally simple pip cards
with images of symbolic scenes. This deck also further obscured the Christian allegories
of the Tarot de Marseilles and of Eliphas Levi's decks by changing some attributions (for
instance changing "The Pope" to "The Hierophant" and "The Popess" to "The High
Priestess"). The Rider-Waite-Smith deck still remains extremely popular in the English-
speaking world.
Esoteric tarot decks
In the English-speaking world, where there is little or no tradition of using tarots as

playing cards, tarot decks only became known through the efforts of occultists influenced
by French tarotists such as Etteilla, and later, Eliphas Lévi. These occultists later
produced esoteric decks that reflected their own ideas, and these decks were widely
circulated in the anglophone world. Various esoteric decks such as the Rider-Waite-
Colman Smith deck (conceived by A. E. Waite and rendered by Pamela Colman Smith),
and the Thoth Tarot deck (conceived by Aleister Crowley and rendered by Lady Frieda
Harris) -- and tarot decks inspired by those two decks—are most typically used. Waite,
Colman Smith, Crowley and Harris were all former members of the influential,
Victorian-era Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn at different respective points in time;
and the Golden Dawn, in turn, was influenced by Lévi and other French occult
revivalists. Although there were various other respective influences (e.g., Etteilla's pip
card meanings in the case of Waite/Colman Smith), Waite/Colman Smith's and
Crowley/Harris' decks were greatly inspired by the Golden Dawn's member-use tarot
deck and the Golden Dawn's tarot curriculum.
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Le Bateleur from the Tarot of Marseilles
Tarot de Marseille in occultism
The late Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is the first known in the Anglophone world
to venture into esoteric tarot. Francophone occultists such as Court de Gebelin, Etteilla,
Eliphas Lévi, Oswald Wirth and Papus were influential in fashioning esoteric tarot in the
French-speaking world; the influence of these Francophone occultists has come to bear
even on interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards themselves. Even though the Tarot
de Marseille decks are not 'occult' "per se", the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille decks
arguably shows Hermetic influences (e.g., alchemy, astronomy, etc.). Referring to the
Tarot of the Bohemians, Eliphas Levi declares: "This book, which may be older than that
of Enoch, has never been translated, but is still preserved unmutilated in primeval
characters, on detached leaves, like the tablets of the ancients... It is, in truth, a
monumental and extraordinary work, strong and simple as the architecture of the
pyramids, and consequently enduring like those - a book which is the summary of all
sciences, which can resolve all problems by its infinite combinations, which speaks by
evoking thought, is the inspirer and moderator of all possible conceptions, and the
masterpiece perhaps of the human mind. It is to be counted unquestionably among the
very great gifts bequeathed to us by antiquity..."
In the French-speaking world, users of the tarot for divination and other esoteric purposes
such as Alexandro Jodorowsky, Kris Hadar, and many others, continue to use the Tarot
de Marseille, although Oswald Wirth's Atouts-only (major-arcana) tarot deck has enjoyed
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such popularity in the 20th century (albeit less so than the Tarot de Marseille). Tarot
decks from the English-speaking tradition (such as Rider-Waite-Colman Smith and decks
based on it) are also gaining some popularity in French-speaking countries.
Paul Marteau pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design approach to interpreting the

numbered minor arcana cards ['pip cards'] of the Tarot de Marseille. Prior to Marteau's
book Le Tarot de Marseille (which was first published circa 1930s), cartomantic
meanings (such as Etteilla's) were generally the only ones published for interpreting
Marseille pip cards. Even nowadays, as evidenced by tarot readings of members of
French-language tarot lists and forums on the Internet, many French tarotists employ only
the major arcana cards for divination. In fact, in recognition of this, many French-
language Tarot de Marseille tarot books (even good ones, such as Picard's) discuss the
symbolism and interpretation of only the major arcana. Many fortune-tellers in France
who use the Tarot de Marseille for readings will use only the major arcana and will use
an Etteilla deck if they are to use all 78 cards for the reading.
Occult tarot decks
Etteilla was the first to issue a revised tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes
rather than game playing. In keeping with the belief that tarot cards are derived from the
Book of Thoth, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt. The seventy
eight card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:
English English
Latin Description Cards
Name 1 Name 2
The Fool
The Magician
Major Greater Trump Consists of twenty two cards without
The High Priestess
Arcana Secrets Cards suits.
The Empress
The Emperor
The Hierophant
The Lovers
The Chariot
Strength
The Hermit
Wheel of Fortune
Justice
The Hanged Man
Death
Temperance
The Devil
The Tower
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The Star
The Moon
The Sun
Judgement
The World
Consists of fifty six cards, divided into four suits of fourteen
cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards. The
court cards are the King, Queen, Knight and Jack, in each of
Minor
Lesser Secrets the four tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits are
Arcana
swords, batons, coins and cups; in modern tarot decks,
however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves,
while the coins suit is often called pentacles or disks.
The terms major arcana and minor arcana were first used by Jean Baptiste Pitois AKA
Paul Christian and are never used in relation to Tarot card games.
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah. In these decks
all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being under the
influence of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and bearing illustrated scenes on all the suit
cards. The images on the 'Rider-Waite' deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman-Smith,
to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward Waite, and were
originally published by the Rider Company in December 1909. This deck is considered a
simple, user friendly one but nevertheless its imagery, especially in the Major Arcana, is
complex and replete with esoteric symbolism. The subjects of the Major Arcana are
based on those of the earliest decks, but have been significantly modified to reflect Waite
and Smith's view of Tarot. An important difference from Marseilles style decks is that
Smith drew scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards. However the Rider-Waite
wasn't the first deck to include completely illustrated suit cards. The first to do so was the
15th century Sola-Busca deck.
Influence of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Many of the images of the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith (RWS or WCS) deck are derived
from the "Tarot de Marseille". However, the influence of other decks is also apparent in
the RWCS deck, e.g., the 17th century Jacques Viéville deck for the Sun card and the
16th century Sola Busca deck for certain pip cards, notably the 3 of Swords and 7 of
Swords. The 19th century deck of Swiss-French occultist Oswald Wirth was also
influential for certain of the iconographic features of the Atouts or major arcana cards of
the RWCS deck.
The Rider-Waite-tarot deck has been extremely influential in the development of later
divinatory tarot decks to the extent that many are called 'Rider-Waite clones' to indicate
that they are easily read by those familiar with Rider-Waite. Examples of Rider-Waite
clones include, to vary
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Tarot reading
Tarot reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the
current and possible future situations of the subject (or querent), i.e. cartomancy. Some
believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards
help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming
subconscious. Though certain core themes persist seemingly unchanged, the divinatory
meanings of the cards are derived from many sources and can vary significantly based on
the time period and culture which produced the deck. It is generally accepted that the
Reader is required to develop their own personal understanding of the meanings of the
cards, using the commonly recognized meanings as a rough guide.
Esoteric/occult tarot as a mnemonic device
Some schools of occult thought or symbolic study, such as the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn, consider the tarot to function as a textbook and mnemonic device for their
teachings. This may be one cause of the word arcana being used to describe the two
sections of the tarot deck: arcana is the plural form of the Latin word arcanum, meaning
"closed" or "secret."
Common card interpretations
Though core themes and general meanings have remained unchanged for some cards, the
tone and specific depiction of each card can vary wildly depending on the time period,
culture, and personal interpretations of the Author/Artist. As a result and similar to most
other systems of symbolism, the common meanings are intended to be a general guide to
assist the individual in working out their own understanding.
Each card has several meanings, and the reader determines which meaning to apply based
on the card's location in the spread and which cards are turned up around it. Common
sense is also used to discard meanings which have no relevance to the question asked.
Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana closely match Anglo-American playing cards, having Ace-through-
Ten and four face cards. The face cards are Page, Knight, Queen, and King. Each suit of
the Minors corresponds to one of the four Alchemical Elements. Pentagrams corresponds
with Earth, Swords with air, Wands with fire, and Cups with water.(some variations exist
depending on artist, Pentagrams are sometimes depicted as Coins, Wands with Staves,
and so forth.) The Face cards also correspond to the Elements. The Page is Earth, the
Knight is Air, the Queen is Water, and the King is Fire. This makes the Page of
Pentagrams (or Earth of Earth), the Knight of Swords (or Air of Air), the Queen of Cups
(or Water of Water) and the King of Wands (or Fire of Fire) very strong cards.
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana are a set of usually twenty-two cards, sometimes numbered zero to
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twenty-one(though this depends on whether or not the specific author/artist included the
Fool as a numbered card or not), with no suit. There are usually many more elements in
the images specified by the literature for this set of cards. These cards are often
interpreted as describing the normal progression of a truly holy life(or the path to
enlightenment of the Initiate through the Mysteries), and often tell where a person is
along their journey, or if they have strayed. Such an interpretation is called the "Fool's
Journey" and it originated with Eden Gray.
Spreads
To perform a Tarot reading, the Tarot deck is typically shuffled by either the subject or a
third-party reader, and is laid out in one of a variety of patterns, often called "spreads".
They are then interpreted by the reader or a third-party performing the reading for the
subject. These might include the subject's thoughts and desires (known or unknown) or
past, present, and future events. Generally, each position in the spread is assigned a
number, and the cards are turned over in that sequence, with each card being
contemplated/interpreted before moving to the next. Each position is also associated with
an interpretation, which indicates what aspect of the question the card in that position is
referring to.
Sometimes, rather than being dealt randomly, the initial card in a spread is intentionally
chosen to represent the querent or the question being asked. This card is called the
significator.
Some common spreads include:
Name Description Spread

This is probably the most common spread. Ten cards are used,
with five arranged in a cross and four placed vertically beside the
cross. Another card is placed horizontally across the central cards
of the cross to make a total of 10. The first central card of the cross
is frequently the significator and the second card which is placed
over the first represents the conditions surrounding the question; or
the crossing card often represents an obstacle they must face, an
aspect of the question they have not yet considered. The third card
which is placed above the first represents what the person hopes
for in relation to the question being asked. The fourth card which is
Celtic Cross placed below the first is what the subject has already experienced
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in relation to the whole spread. The fifth card is placed to the left
of the first card and shows what was in the past. The sixth card is
placed to the right of the first card and shows the influence that
will come in the future. Then on the right of these cards are the
remaining 4 cards, which are placed from bottom to top. So the
seventh card represents the attitude of the question being asked.
The eighth card is how family or friends will influence the
question. The ninth card shows the hopes and fears in relation to
the question and the final card, the tenth card, is the Culmination
Card which shows the end result of all of the previous nine cards.
Another very common question asking spread. Seven cards are
arranged in a semicircle or 'V' shape. The cards, from left to right,
represent the past, present, influences, obstacles, expectations (or
Horse-shoe
hopes/fears), best course of action and likely outcomes. Some
variations of this spread swap the expectations and inspiration
cards around.
Three cards are used, with the first representing the past, the
3-card spread
second the present, the third the future.
Twelve cards are spread in a circle, to represent the twelve signs of
Astrological
the zodiac. A thirteenth card is placed in the middle; often the
spread
significator.
1-card spread It should be noted that a single card can constitute a spread.
Ten cards arranged in a four-rowed pyramid. Each row represents
Tetractys earth, air, fire or water and each card within the row has a very
specific meaning. The single card in the top row is the significator.
starts in the lower left part and follows the star pattern. The first
being what you see. The second, what you can't see. The third what
Star spread
you can change. The fourth what you cannot change, and the fifth,
what you can expect
Mirror This Spread works primarily on existing relationships, but can
Spread assess anything from a budding love affair to an established
partnership. It will often reveal inconsistencies between
viewpoints—for example, if the cards at 2 and 3 contradict one
another, there is need to reassess and readjust points of view, or
take into account the input of the other person. Obstacles will
sometimes produce very positive cards. The Probable result card is
drawn with circumstances as they currently are—but if changes
recommended by the reading are effected, then this final card can
change.
There are numerous other spreads—essentially, the reader may use any card arrangement
which they find by experience to be useful:
• The Magic Cross Tarot Spread
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• A Healing nine card Tarot Spread. It looks at your hope and expectations and
what opposes you. It can be used with colour therapy and numerology to allow
the querant to look at their deeper self.
Reversed cards
Some methods of interpreting the tarot consider cards to have different meanings
depending on whether they appear upright or reversed. A reversed card is often
interpreted to mean the opposite of its upright meaning. For instance, the Sun card
upright may be associated with satisfaction, gratitude, health, happiness, strength,
inspiration, and liberation; while in reverse, it may be interpreted to mean a lack of
confidence and mild unhappiness. However, not all methods of card reading prescribe an
opposite meaning to reversed cards. Some card readers will interpret a reversed card as
either a more intense variation of the upright card, an undeveloped trait or an issue that
requires greater attention. Other interpreters point out that card reversal is dependent on
the order of the cards before shuffling, so is of little bearing in the scope of a reading.
Chapter- 7
Suit of Coins and Suit of Cups
Suit of coins
The Suit of Coins or Pentacles is used in Latin suited playing cards, including tarot
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decks, and corresponds to the suit of diamonds in conventional playing cards. In
divinatory and occult tarot it is part of what is called the "Minor Arcana". Like the other
tarot suits it contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page, knight, queen and
king.
Divinatory and occult meanings

In occult and divinatory usage the suit is connected with the classical element of Earth,
the physical body and possessions or wealth. Coins as a Latin suit represent the feudal
class of merchants and traders, and therefore to worldly matters in general. Associated
physical characteristics include dark hair and eyes, dark complexion, and sturdy build.
In the Rider-Waite tarot deck and derivative decks, the suit is called the suit of pentacles,
and each card incorporates one or more discs each displaying a pentagram. In the Book of
Thoth it is called the suit of discs, and the cards are associated with the Taurus, Virgo,
and Capricorn signs of the Zodiac.
Two of Coins Four of Coins

Ace of Coins Three of Coins
Eight of Coins
Five of Coins Six of Coins Seven of Coins
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Nine of Coins Ten of Coins
Page of Coins Knight of Coins
King of Coins
Queen of Coins
Suit of cups
The suit of cups is one of the four suits of Latin-suited playing cards, such as tarot. The
suit of hearts is derived from the suit of cups. These are sometimes referred to as chalices
as well as cups. The element of cups is water, and the suit of cups pertains to situations
and events of an emotional nature. As such, when the tarot is used in divination, many
cups signify an emotional issue or love situation, or some event that affects the querent
emotionally. The watery astrological signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Additionally,
cups were the symbol of the clergy in feudal times, and thus cup cards can also be
interpreted as having to do with spiritual or religious matters.
Divinatory and occult meanings
Ace of Cups: Aces always indicate beginnings. Here the ace of cups indicates a new
beginning of an emotional nature. It can signify the birth of a child, or the beginning of a
love situation that affects us deeply. It is generally a card of happiness, and the beginning
of many blessings.
Two of Cups: Two of any suit indicates duality. Here it indicates two minds and hearts
coming together and functioning as one. The card portrays a young man and a woman
each bearing a cup, as if presenting it to one another. Above is the red lion of strength and
courage.
Three of Cups: The three Graces dance and cavort, each maiden bearing a cup. It
indicates a time of merriment and celebration.
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Four of Cups: A young man sits under a tree. One thinks of Buddha under the bodhi tree,
sitting crosslegged, but this youth is not serene. He seems dissatisfied with the three cups
before him. A hand from a cloud offers him a fourth cup, but the youth shows no interest.
It indicates a period of ennui and boredom, where nothing seems to be satisfying.
Five of Cups: A hooded figure with bowed head seems to mourn the 3 cups spilled before
him. Behind the cloaked figure stand two cups, upright. The 5 of any suit can be
considered difficult. Here it indicates hopes that have been dashed, or mourning over
something that is lost. The hooded figure remains unaware of the two cups still standing
behind—so the situation is not completely hopeless.
Six of Cups: Two youths play in a garden, surrounded by six cups. This card can indicate
happy memories, as well as a certain clinging to the past and how things used to be. It can
also indicate an invitation or gift coming from someone in your past.
Seven of Cups: A young person sees seven cups among the clouds and visions therein.
On one cup is the perfect lover or mate all people idealize. Another cup shows riches,
another the cloaked soul of the querent about to be revealed, another castles. Other cups
show a red dragon of inflamed passion and emotion, as well as a snake arising from
another cup. The card is a caution against over idealizing your situation and getting your
head lost among the clouds. Your dreams need a firm foundation in order to take root. Do
not build castles in the air and fantasize without taking responsibility for your actions.
Eight of Cups: Eight cups are arranged in a row. A figure leaves these cups behind as if
beginning a journey. An indifferent moon looks down upon the traveler. The traveler is in
a good situation where there is much promise and much to offer, but chooses to set out
for the unknown. It indicates a restlessness and wanderlust as well as overlooking the
good we already possess, in the hopes of finding something else.
Nine of Cups: This is known as the "wish" card. A well fed, self satisfied individual sits
with nine cups behind. It indicates a table of plenty and getting everything you desire. It
is the wish card, meaning your wish will come true.
Ten of Cups: A husband and wife join arms looking up at the rainbow over their house.
Two young children dance. Ten cups are seen among the rainbow. It is a card of
happiness, completion of all plans to your satisfaction, and a card of fulfillment and a
sense of wholeness. A happy marriage and family life.
Page of Cups: A dreamy youth holds a cup from wherein a fish pokes its head. This
indicates a versatile individual, one who have the gift of intuition and insight. The card
indicates a youth with a love for the arts, poetry and music and may be very fond of
dancing. It indicates ease in ones affairs as well as news of enjoyment and entertainment.
Knight of Cups: A young man on a horse with a winged helmet offers a cup. The card
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can indicate a sensitive male, unmarried, a suitor who seeks the hand of a lady. He is
honest and truthful, as well as is heartfelt. It can also indicate a matter of an emotional
nature that is occurring in the querent's life.
Queen of Cups: A queen on her throne at the seaside holds a cup she looks into. She sees
visions within. It indicates a woman who has the gift of intuition and is able to offer good
advice. She also may harbour a secret she is willing to share with you.
King of Cups: A king holding a scepter floats upon the water. It indicates someone who
is kind, even tempered, balanced and wise. He may be a member of the clergy, or a
counselor, professor or psychologist, doctor. He is a symbol of quiet strength and is
calming and reassurring.
Ace of Cups Two of Cups Three of Cups Four of Cups
Five of Cups Six of Cups Seven of Cups Eight of Cups
Nine of Cups Ten of Cups Page of Cups Knight of Cups
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King of Cups
Queen of Cups
Chapter- 8
Suit of Swords and Suit of Wands
Suit of swords
The Suit of Swords is a suit found in playing cards using the Italian and Spanish suits. It
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is also found in Latin Suited Tarot Cards. It's equivalent to Spades in Anglo-American
playing cards.
Common divinatory meanings

Swords correspond to the element of Air, and as such signifies freedom but also quick
change. The Swords suit also traditionally represented the military, which implies
strength, power and authority, but also responsibility, violence and suffering.
• Ace of Swords: The Reaver. Indicates decisive ability. Cutting through confusion.
Taking a radical decision or standpoint. The ability to see through deception, and
expose it.
• Two of Swords: The Choice. The two of swords indicates doubt over decisions. A
sense of powerlessness and apathy giving way to fear. If the other cards in the
spread are favourable, then the Two of Swords can indicate lack of bias and even
mindedness.
• Three of Swords: The Wound. This card represents the aspect of the mind which
is overly critical, especially of itself. The perverse impulse to dissect a problem
beyond the point of usefulness. The three swords are often depicted piercing a
bleeding heart. The swords symbolise the intellect, and the heart, the emotions
which always suffer under this treatment.
• Four of Swords: The Effigy. The four of swords symbolises avoidance. Setting
problems to the side, (the swords on the wall), while one prays for deliverance.
This card can also represent surrender, or in some cases, pacifism.
• Five of Swords: The Traitor. This card symbolises victory by betrayal. The
emptiness which descends after a harsh struggle. The alienation of others through
belligerence.
• Six of Swords: The Boatman. A dangerous journey. Readers do not always agree
on the alignment of this card. It can indicate a doomed endeavour, or conversely,
moving out of troubled waters. It also indicates responsibility for others.
• Seven of Swords: The Thief. This card represents covert activities. The attempt to
get away with too much, and being compromised as a result. If the reading is
favourable, the card may represent making sacrifices to move ahead. Simplifying.
• Eight of Swords: The Prisoner. Feeling trapped and oppressed by others, and
powerless to change. Often the condition is self imposed, but the cause is
attributed to external influences. This card can also indicate the stubborn
adherence to an ideal.
• Nine of Swords: Terror, the Nightmare. Tarot readers do not generally like to
categorise cards as "bad", or "good" but The Nine of Swords is probably the most
dreaded card in the deck, however it can indicate the process of letting go, grief,
and in combination with healing cards like The Queen of Wands, it is highly
beneficial.
• Ten of Swords: The Corpse. The nightmare in The Nine of Swords comes to an
end in The Ten. There may be exhaustion, and the result may not be ideal but the
ordeal is over and the truth has been outed. The Ten of Swords can also indicate
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the end of a repetitious cycle. Divorce.
• Page of Swords: The Spy. The ability to observe others keenly, while concealing
one's own nature. The talent for keeping secrets. Keeping one's head in the face of
danger. The ability to endure suspense.
• Knight of Swords: The Berserker. Wrath. Impatience. Fanaticism. Blind addiction
to action as opposed to thought. Also may indicate initiative and courage.
• Queen of Swords: The Widow, or necromancer. This card symbolises
independence, at its best. Power, intelligence, tactical thinking. The ability to
streamline a problem, and find the solution without fuss. At worst, The Queen of
Swords can represent isolation, depression and cruelty.
• King of Swords: The Warlord. Discipline with passion. Power and insight. Can
symbolise tyranny.
Two of Swords
Ace of Swords Three of Swords Four of Swords
Five of Swords Six of Swords Seven of Swords Eight of Swords
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Nine of Swords Ten of Swords Page of Swords Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
King of Swords
Suit of wands
In tarot, the suit of wands or batons can be used like one of the suits of playing cards (in
traditional games) or as a divination tool. It corresponds to the suit of clubs in
conventional playing cards.
In divination, the suit of wands represents the element of fire and gives information
relating to the traits of the fire element in astrology. Additionally it represents the peasant
or farmer class of feudal society (the Latin suit is commonly called Staves or Rods), and
relates to simplicity and to nature, as well as to poverty and submission.
In The Book of Thoth, the suit of wands is associated with the action of the Will and the
element of fire.
Two of Wands
Ace of Wands Three of Wands Four of Wands
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Five of Wands
Six of Wands Seven of Wands Eight of Wands
Nine of Wands Ten of Wands Page of Wands Knight of Wands
Queen of WandsKing of Wands
Chapter- 9
The Sun and The Moon (Tarot cards)
The Sun
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The Sun (XIX)
The Sun (XIX) is a trump card in the tarot deck. Tarot trumps are often called Major
Arcana by tarot card readers.
Description
A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretations.
However, not all interpretations follow his theology. Please remember that all Tarot
decks used for divination are interpreted according to personal experience and standards.
Some frequent keywords used by tarot readers are:
• Optimism---Expansion---Being radiant---Positive feelings
• Enlightenment---Vitality---Innocence---Non-criticism
• Assurance---Energy---Personal power---Happiness
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• Splendor---Brilliance---Joy ---Enthusiasm
Symbolism
Rider-Waite symbolism
An infant rides a white horse under the anthropomorphized sun, with sunflowers in the
background.
The child of life holds a red flag, representing the blood of renewal while a smiling sun
shines down on him, representing accomplishment.
A. E. Waite suggested that this card is associated with attained knowledge. The conscious
mind prevails over the fears and illusions of the unconscious. Innocence is renewed
through discovery, bringing hope for the future.
Divination usage
This card is generally considered positive. It is said to reflect happiness and contentment,
vitality, self-confidence and success.
Sometimes referred to as the best card in Tarot, it represents good things and positive
outcomes to current struggles.
Alternative Decks
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Sun is depicted by Apollo.
The Moon
WT The Moon (XVIII)
The Moon (XVIII) is the eighteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional
Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Symbolism
• Two large, foreboding pillars are shown. Some see them as tombstones, others
relate them to Karma.
• A wolf and a domesticated dog howl at the moon.
• A crayfish appears in the water.
• The Moon is "shedding the moisture of fertilizing dew in great drops".WAITE These
are numbered 15 in the Rider-Waite deck and are all Yodh-shaped. On this basis,
some associate this card with impregnation.
Rider-Waite specific
• Very clearly, the figure in the moon is frowning, reflecting displeasure.

• The waxing moon has 16 chief rays and 16 secondary rays.
• The beasts are a dog and a wolf, which represent "the fears of the natural
mind".WAITE
• The crayfish crawls from the water onto the land.
• There is a pathway into the distant, dark unknown.
Interpretation
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According to Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the card represents life of the
imagination apart from life of the spirit. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural
mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it.
This reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The intellectual light is a mere
reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery which it cannot reveal. It illuminates our
animal nature, types of which are represented below—the dog, the wolf, and that which
comes up out of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is lower even than
the savage beast. It strives to attain manifestation, symbolized by crawling from the abyss
of water to the land, but as a rule it sinks back whence it came. The face of the mind
directs a calm gaze upon the unrest below, and the dew of thought falls. The message is:
"Peace, be still," and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature, while
the abyss beneath shall cease from giving up form.
Some frequent keywords are:
• Lack of clarity ----- Tension ----- Doubt ----- Fantasy
• Deception ----- Psychological conflict ----- Obscured vision
• Confusion ----- Illusion ----- Fear ----- Imagination ----- Worry
• Romanticism ----- Anxiety ----- Apprehension ----- Unrealistic ideas
Other meanings
This card has to do with sleep patterns. This can mean both dreaming and nightmares. If
one gets this card, one may be going through a particularly difficult emotional time.
Rather than losing yourself in the overwhelming imagery and fantasy that signal the
presence of the Moon, give form to this imagery through the creative arts (painting,
writing, or dancing). The association this card bears with imagery and fantasy can put one
in touch with visions and insight, creativity and psychic powers.
The Moon can be interpreted with the feeling of uncertainty, where the past still haunts,
unsure of a journey but still going ahead with it, feeling watched and because it is
commonly associated with dreams, fantasies and mysteries this card can also be
interpreted with surreal feelings and situations in your waking life.
Alternative decks
• In the old Italian Tarot decks, instead of the above scene there is an astrologer
measuring the large moon above him in some way.
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Moon is depicted by Artemis or Hecate.
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Chapter- 10
The Devil and Death (Tarot cards)
The Devil
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The Devil (XV)
The Devil (XV) is the fifteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot
decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Symbolism
In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Devil sits above two naked human demons—one
male, one female, who are chained to his seat. The Tarot Devil card is derived in part
from Eliphas Levi's famous illustration "Baphomet" in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute
Magie (1855). Baphomet is winged and horned, combining human and bestial features.
Many modern Tarot decks portray the Devil as a satyr-like creature. In the Tarot of
Marseilles, the devil is portrayed with facial features in unusual places, such as a mouth
on his stomach, eyes on his knees, and with female breasts and male genitalia.
According to Waite, the Devil is standing on an altar. In his left hand, the Devil holds a
great flaming torch inverted towards the earth. A reversed pentagram is on his forehead.
Eliphas Levi says in his book, Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual that:
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"A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil
and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and
demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the
heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates." In Native American tarot,
the attribution is often more complex than this.
Divination usage
The Devil of the Tarot is a fairly standard European depiction of Satan. Here the Devil
appears before Pope Sylvester II in a German manuscript.
Some frequent keywords used by tarot readers are:
• Materialism ----- Ignorance ----- Stagnation ----- Self-bondage
• Lust ----- Egoism ----- Obsession ----- Anxiety ----- Anger
• Ganance(?) ----- Hedonism ----- Passion ----- Instincts
• Sexuality ------ Temptation ----- Doubt ----- Vice
• Futility ----- Physical attraction ----- Pessimism ----- Insight
Please remember that all Tarot decks used for divination are interpreted according to
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personal experience and standards.
Interpretation
The Devil is the card of self-bondage to an idea or belief which is preventing a person
from growing or being healthy—an example might be a belief that getting drunk each
night is good for you. On the other hand, however, it can also be a warning to someone
who is too restrained and/or dispassionate and never allows him or herself to be rash or
wild or ambitious, which is yet another form of enslavement.
The Devil is the 15th card of the Major Arcana, and is associated with earth and
Capricorn. Though many decks portray a stereotypical Satan figure for this card, it is
more accurately represented by our bondage to material things rather than by any evil
persona. It also indicates an obsession or addiction to fulfilling our own earthly base
desires. Should the Devil represent a person, it will most likely be one of money and
power, one who is persuasive, aggressive, and controlling. In any case, it is most
important that the querent understands that the ties that bind are freely worn.
Mythopoetic approach
The Devil is both the Ur-Adversary, and a tremendous source of strength. He represents
nearly an inexhaustible source of energy. Battling him gives us strength. Submitting to
him completely is ego-death.
As with The Magician (Tarot card), the iconography of most of the standard Tarot suits
appear. His wings represent Air, the suit of Swords. The torch in his hands, and the
flames in the tail of the male devil represent Fire, the suit of Wands. The grapes in the tail
of the female devil invoke Earth; the same grapes appear in most of the cards in the suit
of Disks. Only water, Cups are missing. On one level, this is curious; water is of the
unconscious, and The Devil dwells in the subconscious. On another level it is
heartbreaking; what is missing from the Devil’s realm is The Grail, the kindly blessings
of the Cup.
Perhaps to make up for the lack of water, the kindlier aspects of this card can be seen in
the Two of Cups.
If the Major Arcana is analogized to the Sun’s circle across the sky, The Devil governs
the Sun at midnight, when it is most vulnerable to the Old Night. The ancient Egyptians
tell of the serpent demon Apophis, Chaos, who would sometimes lay in wait for Ra as he
piloted the boat of the Sun down the Nile to be born again in the morning. Sometimes,
Apophis would swallow the sun. Mercifully, the reversals of the night brought Set to an
unlikely rescue; he ripped Apophis open and let the Sun escape. Set, The Devil, is the
adversary but sometimes, he is our best and only ally.
In Jungian terms, he is The Shadow: all the repressed, unmentioned or unmentionable

desires that lurk beneath.
The Devil is related both through his cross sum (sum of the digits) and his iconography
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with Key VI, The Lovers. Both cards speak to our drives; the drives that take us out of
the garden; the drives that make us hard, make us warm, make us live. The central
character in each is winged; each lives in the archetypal ether. Each is crowned: the
Angel in The Lovers with fire, The Devil by a Pentagram and ram’s horns. Above each
rides a naked man and a naked woman. But in The Lovers, there is still some sense of
newness, wholesomeness, and hope; in The Devil they are chained by the neck and
partially transformed into creatures of the underworld; transformed by their taste of the
darkness; by the fruit of the underworld.
The chains are loose. They can be slipped. The Devil’s own torch can light the way out
and light the return, back to the surface.
Death
WT Death (XIII)
Death (XIII) is the thirteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot
decks. It is used in Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games as well as in divination.
Description
The Death card commonly depicts a skeleton riding a horse. Surrounding it are dead and
dying people from all classes, including kings, bishops and commoners. The skeleton
carries a black standard emblazoned with a white flower. Some decks depict the Crashing
Towers from The Moon with The Sun rising behind them in the background. Some
decks, such as the Tarot of Marseilles, omit the name from the card.
• The king is trampled by a reaping skeleton horseman, as the Pictorial Key to the
Tarot describes him, which appears to be a personification of death. The fall of
the king may represent the importance and magnitude of the critical event of this
card, or that death takes us all equally.
• The reaper carries a black banner emblazoned with the Mystic Rose, which
according to Waite symbolises life or rebirth.
• As in other cards, the gray background may indicate uncertainty surrounding this
event.
• The bishop may represent faith in the face of death, faith in the divine plan, and
faith that "God works in mysterious ways".
• The maiden seeming distraught by the fall of the king represents the sorrow and
great pain that often accompanies death.
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• The child, seemingly entranced by the occurrence, may represent bewilderment or
curiosity.
• In the darkness behind, according to Waite's PKT, lies the whole world of ascent
in the spirit.
o Although some believe the New Jerusalem appears as a silhouette across
the Sun, it does not appear clearly enough to be certain and may instead be
the tops of The Moon's mountains.
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The Grim Reaper as a personification of Death is a common motif in European
iconography; here, he illustrates a poem on the danse macabre.
Interpretation
However, not all interpretations follow his model.
Some frequent keywords used by tarot readers for the interpretation of Death are:
• Ending of a cycle——Loss——Conclusion——Sadness
• Transition into a new state——Psychological transformation
• Finishing up——Regeneration——Elimination of old patterns
• Being caught in the inescapable——Good-byes——Deep change
According to Eden Gray and other authors on the subject, it is unlikely that this card
actually represents a physical death. Typically it implies an end, possibly of a relationship
or interest, and therefore implies an increased sense of self-awareness—not to be
confused with self-consciousness or any kind of self-diminishment.
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Chapter- 11
The Emperor and The Empress (Tarot cards)
The Emperor
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The Emperor (IV)
The Emperor (IV) is the fourth trump or Major Arcana card in traditional Tarot decks. It
is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Description and symbolism
However, not all interpretations follow his theology. Usually all Tarot decks used for
divination are interpreted through personal experience and standards.
Some frequent keywords used by card readers are:
• Fathering ----- Stability ----- Authority ----- Power
• Control ----- Discipline ----- Command ----- Common sense
• Status quo ----- Order ----- Structure ----- Egocentrism
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• Tradition ----- Rigidity ----- Leadership ----- Experience
• Inflexibility ----- Conservative ways ----- Organization
The Emperor sits on his throne, holding a scepter, accompanied by the heraldic Eagle of
the Holy Roman Empire. This is usually on his shield though the heraldic eagle is
sometimes a free-standing statue or live bird. He symbolizes the top of the secular
hierarchy, the ultimate male ego. The Emperor is the absolute ruler of the world.
History
The essential features of the design for The Emperor card have changed very little
through the centuries. The Emperor sometimes got caught up in the censorship placed on
the Papess (The High Priestess) and the Pope (The Hierophant), as when the Bolognese
card makers replaced the Papess (High Priestess), Pope (Hierophant), Empress, and
Emperor with four Moors or Turks. In the Minchiate, the first of the two Emperors are
assigned number III because of the removal of the Papess (High Priestess) from the deck.
Interpretation
The Emperor symbolizes the desire to rule over one's surroundings, and its appearance in
a reading often suggests that the subject needs to accept that some things may not be
controllable, and others may not benefit from being controlled.
As with all Tarot cards, multiple meanings are possible. Where the Empress is the
Feminine principle, the Emperor is the Masculine. Most individuals will relate to this
card in the same way they relate to their own father.
The Emperor is Key Four of the Major Arcana. Fours are stable numbers; four walls, four
seasons, four corners. It takes a massive amount of energy, comparatively, to move them.
The strength of The Emperor is the stability he brings. The weakness is the risk of
stagnation.
Emblematic of the power of The Emperor is the origin of the god Zeus. After Gaea
created the world, she created a consort, Uranus (sky). Uranus imprisoned Gaia's
youngest children in Tartarus, deep within Earth, where they caused pain to Gaia. She
created the archetypal scythe and gave it to Kronos, who ambushed his father and
castrated him.
Kronos followed in the sins of his father, only he let his children be born, then swallowed
them. In the end, his son Zeus (through the good offices of another avatar of The
Empress, Rhea) escapes being consumed and engineers a revolution.
Instead of eating his children, Zeus eats the Goddess destined to bear the child who will
engineer his downfall, Metis. And he becomes the Emperor.
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The Emperor is connected to Key 13, Death, through its cross sum (the sum of the digits).
Emperors maintain their power through death and through their relationship with the
other 13 of the tarot; The Queens (who legitimate their rule and bear their heirs). He is
also strongly associated with Life; his scepter is an ankh, the symbol of life. But he is in
the mountains, separated from the pulse of life. The sign of the Emperor is associated
with the sun sign of Aries. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and is the leader. The
Emperor, like Aries, is fiery, powerful, authoritative and very egotistical.
King Minos is another aspect of this archetypal image. He was, mostly, a good king who
increased and protected Crete for many years. But he took his kingdom by means of a
trick. He and his brothers disputed who should rule, and he prayed to Poseidon to send a
sign from the sea that he was the chosen of the gods, which he promised to immediately
sacrifice to the god. Poseidon sent a magnificent bull, and Minos was proclaimed king.
But he balked at fulfilling his promise to slay the animal, and substituted a bull from his
own herds. In so doing, as Joseph Campbell put it he “converted a public event to
personal gain, whereas the whole sense of his investiture as king had been that he was no
longer a mere private person. The return of the bull should have symbolized his
absolutely selfless submission to the functions of his role.” And the consequences were
catastrophic; Poseidon afflicted the Cretan queen, Pasiphae, with an unquenchable desire
for the bull. Their coupling produced the Minotaur, who was fed on human flesh.
The Emperor’s power and apparent stability bring great comfort, self worth, power. But
the danger, as Minos discovered, is that we may gain a sense of personal entitlement
beyond our actual rights. That way leads to corruption, material or spiritual.
Generally, when the Emperor appears in a spread, he is something to be overcome. Some

rigidity of thinking, some inflexibility of approach, some external force keeping us from
our destiny. A comforting myth the Querent has outgrown.
Sometimes, he represents the exterior forces we must accommodate. Sometimes, he is the
superego.
The two rams on each sides of his throne represent Aries presenting him as a powerful
dictator for his time and showing his potential thirst for conquering in war.
Alternative decks
• The parallel, fourth Major Arcana card in the Osho Zen Tarot deck is called The
Rebel, and carries some similar connotations.
• In the Vikings Tarot Ullr depicts the Emperor. He is shown with a bow, a pair of
skis, a shield, and a sleigh.
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• In the X/1999 Tarot version made by CLAMP, The Emperor is Kyougo Monou.
• In the The Legend of the Legendary Heroes Tarot, The Emperor is Sion Astarl.
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Emperor is depicted by Zeus.
The Empress
WT The Empress (III)
The Empress (III) is the third trump or Major Arcana card in traditional Tarot decks. It
is used in Tarot card games as well as divination.

Arthur Edward Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot
interpretations. However, not all interpretations follow his theology. Please remember
that all Tarot decks used for divination are filtered through personal experience and
standards.
Some recurring keywords are:
• Mothering ----- Fertility ----- Sexuality ----- Abundance
• Material prosperity ----- Pleasure ----- Comfort ----- Power
• Nature ----- Delight ----- Desire ----- Physical attraction
• Health ----- Sensuality ----- Beauty ----- Satisfaction
The Empress sits on a throne wearing a starry crown, holding a scepter in one hand. The
Scepter is representative of her power over life, her crown has twelve stars representing
her dominance over the year, and her throne is in the midst of a field of grain,
representative of her dominion over growing things.
History
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The Empress seems to have had a rather uneventful five centuries. Waite and the other
occultists are responsible for the starry crown, the emblem of Venus, the waterfall, and
the vegetation and wildlife. The Hermitage informs us that in historical decks, the
Empress sits on a throne, almost always holding a shield or orb in one hand and a scepter
in the other. The shield typically bears an eagle, the heraldic emblem of the Holy Roman
Empire. The Empress Adelaide, beatified by the Catholic Church, seems a likely
historical person this card may allude to.
Interpretation
According to Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, The Empress is the inferior (as
opposed to nature's superior) Garden of Eden, the "Earthly Paradise". Waite defines her
as not being Regina Coeli (the Blessed Virgin Mary), but rather a Refugium Peccatorum -
a fruitful mother of thousands: she is above all things universal fecundity and the outer
sense of the Word, the repository of all things nurturing and sustaining, and of feeding
others.
The Empress is mother, a creator and nurturer. In many decks she can be shown as
pregnant. She can represent the creation of life, of romance, of art or business. The
Empress can represent the germination of an idea before it is ready to be fully born. The
Empress is often associated with Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love, and
indeed the Rider-Waite deck brandishes her symbol upon a heart-shaped bolster. The
Empress is also often interpreted to be Demeter, goddess of abundance. She is the giver
of earthly gifts, although at the same time, she can be overprotective and possessive. In
anger she can withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped.
Due to her fury and grief, Demeter keeps the Earth cold and barren until Spring when her
child is returned to her.
Mythopoetic Approach
She is the Queen of Heaven, as shown by her crown of stars. She is the Great Goddess,
the consort of the dying god. She’s associated through her cross sum (the sum of the
digits) with Key 12 The Hanged Man, the Dying God, her Son (or daughter) and Consort,
who dies at Autumn Equinox or Winter Solstice, and is reborn with Winter Solstice,
Spring Equinox, or Beltane. She’s also associated with Key 21, The World, the final card
of the Tarot. Through death, rebirth, and reproduction the world is renewed.
She is associated with Isis, both as the mistress of heaven and as the Ur-Poisoner.
According to some tales, Isis achieved the queen ship of heaven by poisoning Ra with a
serpent and refusing to heal him until he told her his secret name. Isis’s consort was
Osiris, an example of The Hanged Man.
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The Empress is closely associated with the suits of Disks (Earth) and Wands
(fire/masculine generative force). She is the mistress of the Knights (12th cards of the
Minor Arcana), who as Grail Knights are in some sense searching for her, and, like their
counterpart in the Major Arcana, the Hanged Man, may well die for her.
She is also associated with Ishtar and Inanna, who went alive into the underworld and
came back. She is sometimes associated with Demeter, the mother of Persephone. When
Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped and raped Persephone, Demeter stopped
everything from growing until a deal was struck whereby Persephone spends part of the
year with her, part of the year dead.
The fruit on her gown suggests a pomegranate. The pomegranate, of course, is the fruit
that Persephone thoughtlessly or hungrily ate in the underworld, which binds her to it for
part of every year. It also suggests the wall hanging behind The High Priestess’s throne,
veiling us from the greater mysteries.
When she appears in a spread, she may represent life itself asserting itself through our
attempts to master it. She can also represent the smothering of a blanket of ivy as it
paralyzes and chokes the forest. She often represents mothers, good and bad, or the
demands of the real world. She can also portray the blood flowing throughout all living
things, and the womb and the tomb.
The Empress may also represent the Object of Desire. Most obviously, the love of the
beloved, the love and approval of parents, especially (but not solely) mothers. While this
may be healthy, over attachment to the object (or to the idea of the object) can be a
danger sign.
If the Empress is the Object of Desire, the Hanged Man (or a Hanged Man substitute
from the Minor Arcana) is the one who desires. This can inspire Great Works, or trap the
Querant in pathology. Attachment can lead to death, metaphorically or otherwise. When
The Empress kills (again, metaphorically or otherwise), it is usually by consuming,
suffocating, or poisoning.
The Empress may represent the veil of illusion, Maya (illusion). In the Book of Thoth
deck, she holds a lotus in her hand, associating her with the mother of the Buddha, the
mother of the knowledge that transcends the world.
In her beneficent aspect, she gives, nurtures, and/or celebrates life. In her negative aspect,
she takes it, either literally or figuratively.
When Demeter is inverted it portends either an opposite or challenge to the previously

portrayed aspects of her card. If the card shows up upside down it would mean difficulty
(although not lack of success) in her positive attributes. This would include denial by the
certain loved one, or the potential to change this future through personal action. The
inverted Empress should be a sign of not necessarily the opposite of the Empress herself
but a rise to challenge, (i.e. your loved one won't come around etc.) to be yourself, to be
the Empress yourself and become the one an individual needs to be in order to
accomplish one's goal. Essentially this means one needs to be themselves very strongly
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and through that and become stronger (in many ways potentially) to become the person
they need to be in order to overcome certain obstacles in their life. The Empress can have
a very strong influence on man lives whither inverted or upright
Alternative decks
• In the Vikings Tarot, Saga the Empress sits on a beach with a seal, a vast ocean
stretching out behind her.
• In the X/1999 Tarot version made by CLAMP, The Empress is Kanoe.
• In the The Legend of the Legendary Heroes Tarot, The Empress is Iris Eris.
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Empress is depicted by Demeter.
Chapter- 12
Judgement and Justice (Tarot cards)
Judgement (Tarot card)
WT
The Judgment (XX). Rider-Waite deck
Judgement (XX), or in some decks spelled Judgment, is a Tarot card, part of the Major
Arcana suit usually comprising of 22 cards.
Very clearly, it is modeled after the Christian Resurrection before the Last Judgment.
• An angel, possibly Gabriel, is depicted blowing a great trumpet, from which

hangs a white flag bearing a red cross, most likely the St George's Cross.
• A group of humans (man, woman, and child) of grayish complexion stand, arms
spread, looking up at the angel in awe. The people are apparently emerging from
crypts or graves.
• There are huge mountains or tidal waves in the background, which almost seem
like glaciers as they are so white and blue. These may signify insurmountable
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obstacles and the impossibility of avoiding the Judgment, or may be a reference to
the ocean giving up its dead on the day of judgment, as described in 1
Thessalonians.
Divination usage
However, not all interpretations follow his practices. Please remember that all Tarot
decks used for divination are interpreted up to personal experience and standards.
• Judgment ----- Rebirth ----- Inner Calling ----- Absolution
• Restart ----- Accepting past mistakes/actions ----- Release
• Forgiveness ----- End of repression ----- Reconciliation ----- Renewal
• Decision ----- Salvation ----- New beginning ----- Hope ----- Redemption
When Judgment appears in a reading, it is usually interpreted as a signal of an impending

judgment, such as of postponed decisions. As the card symbolizes resurrection, it can also
be interpreted to herald the return of individuals from the past. The card also represents
God's promise of life after death. In a reading, especially near the Six of Cups, it may
represent a preoccupation with the past, while also suggesting a new beginning and
clearing out of the past. Tarot scholar Tara Miller writes that "Judgment represents the
House of Gabriel, the knowing that Judgment Day can come at any moment; live your
life to the fullest, as the trumpet of Gabriel is at hand."
Alternative Decks
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, Judgment is depicted by Hermes.
Justice
WT Justice (XI)
Justice is a Major Arcana Tarot card, numbered either VIII or XI, depending on the
deck. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Description
The Justice card, as a member of the Tarot deck, appears in early Tarot, such as the Tarot
de Marseilles. It is part of the Tarot's major arcana, and usually follows the Chariot, as
card VIII, although various decks vary from this pattern. Justice (virtue), accompanies
two of the other cardinal virtues in the Major Arcana: temperance and strength.
A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of the most famous of modern Tarot
interpretations.. His version of the Justice card contains, as his cards usually do,
references to classical Mythology. In his deck, the card is 11 (switched with the Strength
(Tarot card)).
• Impartiality ----- Distance ----- Coldness ----- Justice
• Objective mind----- Criticism ----- Being clever ----- Insensitivity
• Decision ----- Intellect ----- Analysis ----- Realism ----- Severity
• Responsibility ----- Rationality ----- Clear vision ----- Logic and reason
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Justice, in many Tarot representations, is Athena.
Athena was the patron goddess of Athens, credited with bringing not merely the idea of
justice, but a model for justice, to Athens, Greece. Embedded in many versions of this
card is the story of the cursed House of Atreus. Atreus broke a promise to Artemis, who
in turn cursed his family, which was a house or lineage descended from Pelops and from
Tantalus, who had fed his own son to the gods at a dinner party.
The story culminates with an episode involving Agamemnon, a hero of the Trojan War.
Agamemnon was not always heroic, at least in modern eyes. He sacrificed his own
daughter, Iphigeneia, to get a favorable wind to Troy. In vengeance for this unfatherly
act, his wife, Clytemnestra, mother of Iphigeneia, orchestrated his murder. Their son,
Orestes, in turn sought vengeance for the death of his father by killing his mother. He was
then pursued around the world by The Furies, who avenged mothers killed by sons.
Athena then called an end to the cycle of vengeance and empaneled the first jury.
Justice mediates the various claims of right, of morality, of duty. In a world of scarcity,
not every claim can be met. Justice, in theory, sets forth a system to judge between the
claims. The tarot card is therefore typically closer to the notion of Jurisprudence than to
the abstract concept of Justice.
The Justice card is closely connected to The High Priestess through its cross sum (the
sum of the digits). Unlike the hidden knowledge of the High Priestess, Justice is decided
in the open; we are left hoping that our intellect and our intuition take us to the same
place.
Justice is also connected to Judgment (Tarot card), Key 20, the ultimate weighing of
souls.
Maàt was a goddess of justice in Egypt. She ties Judgment with Justice, as she helped
judge the souls of the dead. Therefore, on many Tarot cards of Justice, Maat appears.
The notion of Justice is older than Athena, of course, even among the Greeks. Themis, a
Titan, lurks in the archetype too. She was a goddess of natural order, and judged souls
after death. She is the intersection of the Sacred and Secular orders. Themis was the
mother of The Fates, who must be accommodated.
Plato said that Athena came from Africa, and if that is so, it is likely that Athena’s origins
lie in the Egyptian goddess Neith. Like Athena, Neith was a goddess of war and weaving,
associating the card with the tangle of ordered threads that make up the fabric of
communal life. Neith was also, in some stories, the mother of Ra, making her an avatar of
the Mother Goddess who is the womb and tomb of the Sun. In Native American tarot
decks, this card is sometimes associated with Spider Grandmother.
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Justice is also associated with the 11th cards of the Minor Arcana, The Pages (at least in
Waite and Ryder-Waite, who assigns Justice the number eleven). Pages represent the
beginning of a journey. Justice is a necessary, but not sufficient, step in becoming fully
human. It can be seen as a beginning.
While Athena usually upholds the existing order, demanding that everyone receive their
due as defined by the current order, she is also the older sister of her brother. This is
significant because the second child of Metis is fated to overthrow Zeus (The Emperor).
Zeus ate Metis to prevent her from bearing this second child, but there are those who say
he awaits the call, and that Athena may take up his mantel if he is never born. Then,
Justice may overthrow Power.
When Justice appears in a throw, it usually signals that some injustice needs righting, that
something in the world is dangerously out of balance. This could be interior to the
Querent (not giving the self its due; arrogance), or it could be the calling of the Querent
(to right some external wrong). It is important, however, that the Querent be aware that
most things in the exterior world that they perceive (at least as mediated by a tarot throw)
are in fact an externalization of some interior process or conflict.
Justice Reversed is the classic signal of life out of balance.
In Waite's classic version, to the right are represented the scales (Libra), signifying
balance; to the left is the sword, signifying accountability.
Numbering
blindfolded. WT
Allegory of Justice, by Raphael. In the Italian Renaissance, Justice did not usually appear
Justice is traditionally the eighth card and Strength the eleventh, but the influential Rider-
Waite-Smith deck switched the position of these two cards in order to make them better
fit the astrological correspondences worked out by the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn, under which the eighth card is associated with Leo and the eleventh with Libra.
Today many decks use this numbering, particularly in the English-speaking world. Both
placements are considered valid.
Chapter- 13
The Tower and Strength (Tarot cards)
The Tower
WT
Tower1
The Tower (XVI) (most common modern name) is the sixteenth trump or Major Arcana
card in most cartomancy Tarot decks. It is not used as part of any game.
History
This card follows immediately after The Devil in all Tarots that contain it, and is
considered an ill omen. Some early painted decks such as the Visconti-Sforza tarot do not
contain it. Also, some Tarot variants used for game playing omit it.
Early printed decks that preserve all their cards do feature The Tower. In these decks the
card bears a number of different names and designs. In the Minchiate deck, the image
usually shown is of two nude or scantily clad people fleeing the open door of what
appears to be a burning building. In some Belgian tarots and the seventeenth century tarot
of Jacques Vieville, the card is called La Foudre or La Fouldre, ("The Lightning") and
depicts a tree being struck by lightning. In the Tarot of Paris (17th century), the image
shown is of the Devil, beating his drums, before what appears to be the mouth of Hell;
the card still is called La Fouldre. The Tarot of Marseilles merges these two concepts,
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and depicts a burning tower being struck by lightning or fire from the sky, its top section
dislodged and crumbling. Two men are depicted in mid-fall, against a field of
multicolored balls. A. E. Waite's version is based on the Marseilles image, with bits of
fire in the shape of Hebrew yod letters replacing the balls.
The Belgian Tarot depicts a tree struck by lightning
A variety of explanations for the images depicted on the card have been attempted. For
example, it may be a reference to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, where God
destroys a tower built by mankind to reach Heaven. Alternatively, the Harrowing of Hell
was a frequent subject in late medieval liturgical drama, and Hell could be depicted as a
great gate knocked asunder by Jesus Christ, with accompanying pyrotechnics. The
Minchiate version of the deck may represent Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden
of Eden.
WT
In this manuscript picture of the Harrowing of Hell, Jesus forces open the fiery tower gate
of Hell to free the virtuous dead from Limbo. The enactment of this scene in liturgical
drama may be one source of the image of the Tower.
A tower has just been hit by lightning and is aflame. The top of the tower is crumbling
and falling to the ground beneath. In some decks, two figures fall from the top of the
tower; in others, the people themselves are on the ground in flames or are themselves hit
by the lightning. Sometimes they are simply onlookers to the fire.
Since The Tower comes after the Devil, it can refer to being liberated from the Devil's
sway.
Divination usage
Some frequent keywords used by card readers are:
• Chaos ----- Sudden change ----- Impact ----- Hard times
• Crisis ----- Revelation ----- Disruption ----- Realizing the truth
• Disillusion ----- Crash ----- Burst ----- Uncomfortable experience
• Downfall ----- Ruin ----- Ego blow ----- Explosive transformation
Upside down:
• To be currently in a harsh and chaotic situation but exiting in a good manner.

Indeed you are falling but landing with your feet over the soil.
• The same of the normal position but less negative because their incorrect position
can block some powers of the card.
Interpretation
Many differing meanings are attributed to the card:
• To some, it symbolizes failure, ruin and catastrophe.

• To others, the Tower represents the paradigms constructed by the ego, the sum
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total of all schema that the mind constructs to understand the universe. The Tower
is struck by lightning when reality does not conform to expectation.
• Epiphanies, transcendental states of consciousness, and Kundalini experiences
may result. In the Triple Goddess Tarot, the card is named "Kundalini Rising".
• The Tower further symbolizes that moment in trance in which the mind actually
changes the direction of the force of attention from alpha condition (pointed
mindward) to theta condition (pointed imaginal stageward). A Theta condition
(especially in waking versions of theta states) is that moment when information
coming into the ego-mind overwhelms external or sensory stimuli, resulting in
what might otherwise be called a "vision" or "hallucination."
• Each card in the Major Arcana is a related to the previous ones. After the self
bondage of The Devil, life is self correcting. Either the querents must make
changes in their own lives, or the changes will be made for them.
• The querent may be holding on to false ideas or pretenses; a new approach to
thinking about the problem is needed. The querent is advised to think outside the
box. The querent is warned that truth may not oblige schema. It may be time for
the querent to re-examine belief structures, ideologies, and paradigms they hold
to. The card may also point toward seeking education or higher knowledge.
• Others believe that the Tower represents dualism, and the smashing of dualism
into its component parts, in preparation for renewal that does not come from
reified, entrenched concepts. The Ivory Tower as a parallel image comes to mind,
with all its good parts and its bad parts.
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The destruction of the tower of Babel is depicted in this Bulgarian manuscript
Alternate Decks
• In Anne Rice Tarot deck the Tower card depicts Armand
• In X/1999, the Tower is Tokiko Magami & Tooru Shirou (This makes Tower &
Strength (features Yuzuriha Nekoi & Inuki) are the only cards in the X tarot set
that has more than one character, since the other cards has only one character for
one card; the examples are that Kamui Shirou represents the Magician, Kotori
Monou represents the Lovers, Subaru Sumeragi represents the Hanged Man,
Seishirou Sakurazuka represents Death, Karen Kasumi represents Justice,
Princess Hinoto represents the High Priestess, Kanoe represents the Empress,
Arashi Kishuu represents Temperance, Satsuki Yatooji represents the Hermit).
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Tower is depicted by Poseidon.
Strength
WT Strength (VIII)
Strength is a Major Arcana Tarot card, and is numbered either XI or VIII, depending on
the deck. Historically it was called Fortitude, and in the Thoth Tarot deck it is called
Lust. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Description and usage as in divination
standards.
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Self-control Being solid Patience

Forteza
A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretations (Wood,
1998). However, not all interpretations follow his practice. Tarot decks, when used for
divination, are interpreted by personal experience as well as traditional interpretations or
Compassion
Composure Stability Perseverance Moderation
Kindness Gentleness Slowness Softness
Serenity Comprehension Discipline Inner strength
The design of this card is fairly constant across tarot decks. The key characters are that of
a woman and a lion, with the woman looking calm and gentle, yet dominant over the lion.
Many cards, including that of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, have the woman clasping the
lion's jaws. Another feature of the RWS deck is a lemniscate (a kind of geometric form)
hovering over the woman's head. Other decks have the woman sitting upon the lion, or
merely with one hand upon it. Some decks feature just one of the characters; flowers are
often presented on this card.
History of tarot
The Strength card was originally named Fortitude, and accompanies two of the other
cardinal virtues in the Major Arcana: temperance and Justice. The meaning of Fortitude
was different from the interpretation of the card: it meant moderation in attitudes toward
pain and danger, with neither being avoided at all costs, nor actively wanted.
The older decks had two competing symbolisms: one featured a woman holding or
breaking a stone pillar, and the other featured a person, either male or female, subduing a
lion. This Tarocchi del Mantegna card (image, left), made in Ferrara around 1470,
illustrates both. The modern woman-and-lion symbolism most likely evolved from a
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merging of the two earlier ones.
Interpretation
The modern interpretation of the card stresses discipline and control. The lion represents
the primal or id-like part of the mind, and the woman, the 'higher' or more elevated parts
of the mind. The card tells the Querent to be wary of base emotions and impulse. For
example, in The Chariot card, the Querant is fighting a battle. The difference is that in
Strength, the battle is mainly internal rather than external.
In the Crowley deck this card is entitled Lust, and receives a different focus, as a sun sign
(zodiac), namely Leo, implying a potency that is sexual, creative, and intuitive, which are
all attributes of the element Fire. The other Leonine quality of generosity, or mercy, is
also an aspect of this power or strength. There is a further connection with the heart
chakra in kundalini yoga.
If inverted, the Querant is in danger of losing control to impulses and desires. Pride and
unwarranted anger are also often associated with the inverted card.
Some refer to it simply as a challenging situation requiring persistence and effort.
Hercules, the son of Zeus, is an archetype of strength. He is a Solar Hero, as shown by his
archetypal 12 labors – each one standing for one sign of the Zodiac.
Strength can manifest itself in unexpected ways. One of Hercules’s adventures was to
clean the Augean Stables, which had been filling with horse excrement for as long as
anyone could remember. Hercules diverted a river, washing the manure into the
surrounding fields, renewing the land.
Cybele is associated with large cats, and is often depicted either enthroned with one or
two flanking her, or in a chariot being pulled by large cats. Some contemporary sources
have associated Cybele and Artemis with this card.
Moreover, it is associated with Gilgamesh, the King of Ur, who abused his power and his
people. The people prayed to the goddess Ishtar and she sent Enkidu to teach Gilgamesh
to be human. The two of them bonded, and fought monsters. Unfortunately, they
overreached themselves, and Enkidu died.
In the myth, Gilgamesh is horrified by the death of Enkidu and goes on a quest to defeat
death. He fails, but in the process, he learns what he needs to become a good king. Here,
strength is symbolized as mastering the challenges presented.
Additionally, this card is associated with the suit of Wands. Fire, a generative masculine
force, is leavened somewhat by the fact that it is dominated by a feminine figure.
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Strength is associated through the cross sum (the sum of the digits) with The Star. The
Star is often interpreted as paradoxical and a bad omen. While the comet is associated
with foretelling the birth of kings, the Star signaled to Dante that he had found his way
out of the Underworld.
The Lion in the standard card represents the Sun, making Strength a solar hero, much like
Hercules or Herakles, with whom lions are associated.
Because it is usually the eighth card, it is associated with Arachne. Arachne challenged
Athena to a weaving contest and was victorious. Then, Athena transformed Arachne into
the eight-armed spider, to punish her for the victory. (In some versions, Arachne was not
turned into a spider immediately, as Athena was able to accept defeat. However, when
Arachne began bragging to everyone around her that she had defeated Athena, the
goddess turned her into a spider - punishing her not for her victory, but for her
[excessive] pride.) The danger of challenging the mysteries is that we may be destroyed
or transformed by them.
Eight is also associated with the Great Goddess because it takes eight years for Venus
and Earth to sync up against the zodiac.
When Strength appears in a throw, it may be a signal that The Querent is facing a
challenge that requires a strong response, rather than brute force. Occasionally, strength
comes by diverting forces, diverting rivers, or fighting on a new battleground. It is a sign
that the Querent has left home and needs to start drawing on all of his or her resources to
meet the challenges of the exterior world.
The danger of Strength is that it can work against the Querent.
In Gnosticism, Demiurge is symbolised as Lion-headed serpent, and his mother is

Sophia.
Numbering
Strength is traditionally the eleventh card and Justice the eighth, but the influential Rider-
Waite-Smith deck switched the position of these two cards in order to make them a better
fit with the astrological correspondences worked out by the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn, under which the eighth card is associated with Leo and the eleventh with
Libra. Today many decks use this numbering, particularly in the English-speaking world.
Both placements are considered valid.
Alternative decks
• In the Vikings Tarot this card shows Thor trying to lift the Midgard Serpent,
which he had been deceived into thinking was just a giant cat.
• In the X/1999 Tarot version made by CLAMP, The Strength is Yuzuriha Nekoi
WT
and her Inugami, Inuki.
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, Strength is depicted by Hercules.

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Chapter 1 - Tarot Card

Chapter 2 - How to Read Tarot Cards

Chapter 3 - How to Set up Tarot Cards

Chapter 4 - How to Learn to Read Tarot Cards Through Music

Chapter 5 - How to Do a One Card Tarot Reading

Chapter 7 - Suit of Coins and Suit of Cups

Chapter 8 - Suit of Swords and Suit of Wands

Chapter 9 - The Sun and The Moon (Tarot cards)

Chapter 10 - The Devil and Death (Tarot cards)

Chapter 11 - The Emperor and The Empress (Tarot cards)

Chapter 12 - Judgement and Justice (Tarot cards)

Chapter 13 - The Tower and Strength (Tarot cards)

Divinatory, esoteric, and occult tarot

WT Le Chariot, from Nicolas Conver's 1760 deck

WT Central European 54 card Tarock deck

Non-occult Italian-suited tarot decks

Occult tarot decks

Unconventionality is taken to an extreme by Morgan's Tarot, produced in 1970 by

Crowley-Harris Thoth deck

Modern oracle cards

How to Read Tarot Cards

Things You'll Need

• A deck of tarot cards

The Celtic Cross Tarot card spread

How to Set up Tarot Cards

Things You'll Need

5. Carry out the reading.

Things You'll Need

How to Learn to Read Tarot Cards Through

Imagine the victorious Champion entering a packed arena, with deafening

Match the Wheel of Fortune with Alanis Morissette's "Ironic"

"Get the Balance Right" by Depeche Mode.

"Walk on Sunshine" like Katrina & the Waves.

Be Enlightened with the World Card while Louie Armstrong's "What a

How to Do a One Card Tarot Reading

Divinatory, Esoteric and Occult Tarot

Antoine Court de Gébelin

Esoteric tarot decks

In the English-speaking world, where there is little or no tradition of using tarots as

Tarot de Marseille in occultism

Paul Marteau pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design approach to interpreting the

Occult tarot decks

Esoteric/occult tarot as a mnemonic device

Common card interpretations

Name Description Spread

• The Magic Cross Tarot Spread

Suit of Coins and Suit of Cups

Divinatory and occult meanings

Two of Coins Four of Coins

Ace of Cups Two of Cups Three of Cups Four of Cups

Five of Cups Six of Cups Seven of Cups Eight of Cups

Suit of Swords and Suit of Wands

Common divinatory meanings

Nine of Wands Ten of Wands Page of Wands Knight of Wands

Queen of WandsKing of Wands

The Sun and The Moon (Tarot cards)

Some frequent keywords used by tarot readers are:

• Optimism---Expansion---Being radiant---Positive feelings

WT The Moon (XVIII)

• Very clearly, the figure in the moon is frowning, reflecting displeasure.

Some frequent keywords are:

• Lack of clarity ----- Tension ----- Doubt ----- Fantasy