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Reading tarot cards can serve several purposes. For many, it is an amusement, or a source
of answers or insight. For a few of us, it has become a way of life. You are invited to take a first step here along the
life's journey that is the Pasteboard Path. THE
TAROT DECK AS ART The first recognizable tarot
decks were hand-produced in Europe, and can be considered to be miniature pieces of art. Only a rich minority of families
would have been able to commission an artist to produce such a collection, and few of those original cards have survived to
the present day. Its seems likely that early decks were used for games of amusement or gambling, and, in fact, our standard
deck of 52 playing cards today is but a simplified set of the cards of the minor arcana (minus the knight cards of the four suits of the tarot court). The "Romani" or "gypsies" are credited with first using the cards for divinatory purposes. The 22 major arcana being archetypal figures of motherliness, power, judgment, etc, and the diversity of
persons portrayed in the court cards, along with commonly known numerological and symbolic meanings for the minor arcana or
pip cards, as they are also called, made the deck a natural tool for fortune telling. It is said that every aspect of
human life can be found somewhere in the 78 card deck of 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. Contrary to popular depiction of tarot as "the devil's cards,"
what the Christian church was concerned with early on was not the cards or characters on them, or even the divinatory use
of the cards -- many divinatory practices were practiced popularly by clergy and common folk alike throughout most of the
first two millennium -- but the use of cards for gambling. It was the practice of gambling and not the production,
possession or other-useage of the cards that caused them to be maligned.
Today, the array of deck styles and themes is both staggering and intriguing. To get an idea
of the variety of decks now available, check out the Aeclectic Tarot website. Many serious tarot afficionados end up,
at some point, designing their own personal deck(s), and you can see some of those decks in progress on the Aeclectic website.
Aeclectic Tarot: Tarot Cards, Readings,
eBooks & Info
CHOICE OF DECKS Most tarot readers end up with a collection of decks, and I own, to date, six different tarot decks and one oracle deck.
An oracle deck usually has fewer cards than a tarot deck, does not have a "minor arcana" divided into suits, and
is intended for divinatory practice. My oracle deck is The Well Worn Path
by Raven Grimassi and Stephanie Taylor. I have found that each of my decks has a personality
of its own. Some decks are bold and decisive -- straight to the point. Some are more concerned with the psyche
and the spirit than with the day to day physical reality of the person. Some decks are chatty, some are subtle...
These are things the reader learns by reading with each deck over an extended period of time. Conversations with other
tarot readers confirm that we each tend to have a deck of the moment -- a particular deck that at one particular time in our
lives speaks to us more powerfully than another. For me, right now, that deck is the DaVinci
Enigma Tarot by Caitlin Matthews. When reading for another person, if possible,
I allow the person I am reading for to choose the deck that appeals to them. If they have no preference, or if I am
reading for them over the phone or on the internet, I let my intuition guide my choice of decks. If you are familiar
with any of the decks I own, and would like to request that I do a reading for you, you are welcome to specify a specific
deck for your reading. My deck-types break down as follows: RWS-Type Deck Rider-Waite-Smith Golden Tarot Crystal Tarot Dragon Tarot Thoth-Type Deck Thoth Loosely RWS-Based Deck DaVinci Enigma
SPECIAL OFFER -- ONE OR THREE-CARD READINGS
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Card and spread readings. "How much information can you get from one card?" This is a question I hear frequently. I'm
a firm believer that less is more -- more cards in a reading doesn't always make for a better reading. Often more
cards can lead to more confusion or, more often, unnecessary repetition. One reason for the muddling effect of multiplying
cards in a reading is that a single card, in itself, can have multiple meanings. A recently published tarot book by a popular author guides the reader through several methods of
interpreting a single card in any deck. For any deck based on the most popular symbolism of the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS)
or Crowley Thoth (Thoth) decks, there are certain commonly accepted or "standard" interpretations for each card.
Almost every tarot deck comes with a "Little White Book" (LWB) of meanings for the cards. Some readers follow
these meanings almost exclusively. Another
somewhat standardized way of discerning the meaning of a card is by considering the conventions of popular numerology, or astrology, or of the sephiroth and paths of the mystic qabbalah. The design of a deck sometimes subtly and sometimes obviously incorporates the symbolism associated with
these esoteric sciences, and using any or all of the areas of knowledge can draw out more of the card's meaning using established and relatively
stable interpretations. However, the
power of the tarot, in my opinion, and the source of its longevity, is the symbolic dimension of the images that touches the
human psyche in myriad and personal ways. This is the realm of intuition -- of letting our higher or cosmic consciousness
draw our attention to a particular aspect of the card, or to an association our subconscious makes between an aspect of the
card and some other item in our inventory of memory and experience. The feeling tone of the card, the emotional and physical
reactions it provokes in us, the process of bringing the card's scene to life in our imagination, of letting the characters
talk to us, of letting a single item in the card, a color, or grouping dominate our attention -- each of these and all of
these can be a doorway to truth. What enables
a reader to read the cards for meaning for another person is the other person's investment of energy in the questions
presented. If you ask about something that matters to you, you will have invested the question itself with your energy,
with the energy and personal truth for you of both the question and its answer. A reader's job is to be open to
that energy and let it effect his or her interpretation of the cards. When I first started reading, and was amazed at the accuracy of the readings, I kept asking myself,
"How does this work?" I can't give a scientific answer to that. I can only say that I have come
to believe that physical-mental-spiritual aspects of reality are all intricately inter-related, and that we underestimate,
for the most part, the ability of the last two to effect the first one. What we think, feel and believe does effect
our physical reality. Somehow our mind, spirit and emotion work together with the physical cards to bring us insight
and answers. I can't give a step by step of how it works. I can only say, "It works!"
What You Can Expect in a Reading In any reading, you can expect: - The
name(s) and general description of the card(s) and the general meaning of their position in the spread.
- A description
of the general "standard" interpretation(s) of the card(s)
- An interpretation of the card(s) in the spread
according to both the standard meaning(s) and any insights I have according to what in particular draws my attention on the
card(s)
- A general summary or "answer" to whatever your question was.
I will be happy to clarify
any reading you do not understand satisfactorily, but a new question will require a new reading. Things to keep in mind
about divinatory readings: - The future is not fixed; one of the reasons to have a reading done is so that you can
make changes to avoid unwanted outcomes; you always have a choice, and choices can change outcomes.
- A more accurate
reading generally results from questions that that the querent asks about himself or herself. Asking questions about
another person is less fruitful, especially since the only attitudes and behaviors you can change are your own.
- Our
circumstances and behavior patterns take time to unfold; so also sometimes does the content of the reading take time to unfold
or manifest in your life -- give the reading time to manifest. I request that you not have a reading done for the same
question sooner than two months after an initial reading. (I almost gave up divinatory reading after a seemingly impossible
reading that I was sure would never prove true. Nine months later, the reading manifested in my life in an unmistakable
way!)
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