Tarot

[Wishimaywishimight]

Hi, just wondering if anyone could explain what Tarot is all about, what are the the purpose of the readings etc? There was a psychics fair near here recently, I thought about going but then didn't. Since then Facebook pages relating to psychics, mediums, tarot etc. keep popping up (I had 'liked' the event on FB) and it has made me a little curious about Tarot and wondering about buying myself some cards and an instruction book.

Go for it OP, I love Tarot, I dabbled in my teens, stopped for a few years and picked it up again a few years ago, I read for myself & friends regularly, I am not an expert by any stretch, but it always seems to be pretty accurate.

It's nothing really to do with any supposed psychic ability.
It's more of a tool to make you think and see different perspectives. And enjoy cool artwork.

As people said above, it's not "magic" but it's a great tool for looking at a problem from a different perspective.

There are some really beautiful decks out there, you want to choose one with pictures on all the cards. Some decks, like the Marseille, only have pictures on the 22 major arcana cards, and the other 52 cards are pip cards a bit like those in a deck of cards.

The Rider-Waite is a good beginners deck with images on every card.

But you can find a deck for almost any interest. if you're into animals there are decks with animals on every card, or Greek myths, or New York Urban scenes... The card names and meanings are basically the same, it's just the imagery that varies to put the same message over.

Virtually all decks come with a lwb (little white book) tucked into the box that gives the basic meaning of each card and a sample layout or two that you can do to read them.

If you find you get interested then there are a lot of websites or books that will tell you more in depth stuff. For instance the suits of the minor arcana have additional background meanings to them, the suit of cups represents west/water/emotions/intuition. The suit of swords represents east/air/intellect/logic/lawyers...

The major arcana, (the 22 cards that everyone thinks of when they think of Tarot cards, the fool, the high priestess etc) also represent "The fools journey" or the archetypal journey of the hero/heroine through the various trials of life from their basic state into enlightenment.

It's very interesting when you start looking into it all. And it introduces you into a whole world of art symbolism too...what a dog represents in art (faithfulness etc), what a rose represents.... And those same symbols are also used in famous paintings as well.

Lots of different ways to look at it - some people use it for fortune telling, others use it for meditation purposes at various levels of intensity, or to build a story, or, as GrimDamnFanjo says, to help you get insights into situations, your thought processes, and clarify a situation.

If you're just starting off, then the Rider-Waite deck is the one that's usually recommended - like many decks, it has 78 cards in total, 22 "Major Arcana" which are usually taken as representing the "Big" things in life - the archetypal mother, archetypal teacher, etc; 16 Court Cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Page), which are usually seen as representing people in your life and/or aspects of yourself (and sometimes situations), and 40 minor arcana, 1 to 10 in each of 4 suits (cups, coins/pentacles, wands/staves, and swords). Each suit corresponds to a suit in what we now use as the standard deck of cards (so cups corresponds to hearts and is usually about relationships, swords are usually taken as being equivalent to spades, and so on).

If you do decide to study it for long enough you'll also find it has links to astrology, numerology, and various other aspects of the "spiritual" and psychological.

There are hundreds of different decks out there to explore if you feel like it but the Rider-Waite is about the most common. The same goes for readings, from the "standard beginners" Celtic Cross (10 cards, starting with the current situation, and moving through to a probable outcome, depending on what you decide to do.

Enjoy the journey!

Edit: that should have read 56 pip cards in the minor arcana, not 52. The Tarot suits have 4 court cards in each suit, not three.

It really does sound like something I would like to explore. I had a look on Amazon and they have the Rider-Waite deck so I am going to order it. I had thought about it previously but had it mixed up in my head with the occult, ouija boards etc which frighten me so I am happy to hear that it's nothing to do with all of that.

Thanks so much for your responses, I really appreciate them.

Hope you find it interesting. once you have a chance to get to know it, it would be interesting to hear what your favourite card(s) are. Most people who use the Tarot seem to get drawn to a couple of cards that just mean more to them than the others, (Mine are the Magician and the Hanged Man).

On the face of it "the hanged man" sounds dark, but if you look at the face of the man hanging upside down on the card he actually looks totally content and has a halo...and there's all sorts of mythology behind it, such as the Norse god Odin, who voluntarily hung himself upside down from the world tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights in order to understand the knowledge other worlds and bring back the knowledge of how to write and understand the runes.

Dont do it.

@lightand Do what? They're pretty pictures on bits of cardboard, that's all.

Do you advocate against reading Harry Potter as well?

I use them sometimes for meditation and often find them useful. Sometimes if I want a quick take on something, I use a random tarot card generator to help me think.

Will0wtree is quite right, if you count the Court cards in then there are 56 minor arcana. (I tend to separate them but then I have an intermittently troublesome family, on both sides!) And you'll often find the same cards coming up in readings, mine are regularly (not always though) the High Priestess and the Tarot.

For what it's worth, although I've always been interested in this kind of thing since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I wouldn't personally go near an ouija board, but I'm happy to work with cards, crystals, candles, herbs, runes, and aromatherapy. (Not all at once, usually!) And there are some tarot decks that can be regarded as more "advanced", but as you start exploring the topic you'll probably find one that resonates with you. (I still have my original Rider Waite pack and use it regularly.)

Not the Tarot, that should say Chariot. Flippin' autocorrect. Gah.

@lightand Do what? They're pretty pictures on bits of cardboard, that's all.

You know they are not, so no more to say.

@lightand No, I really don't. I'd be interested to know what you think they are.