All About Tarot Cards

Tarot Cards

Tarot cards can seem as intriguing as Ouija boards and palm readings and while the history of tarot cards might seem to take away some of the allure, the imagery, meaning, and centuries’ old skill of divination through card reading is anything less than magical.

With their roots tied to 14th century playing cards and Italian entertainment, tarot cards have evolved over the past half millennium and are still very alive and well today. So much so that themed tarot card decks are available in just about every genre you can imagine. No matter what your interest is, there is likely a deck of tarot cards to suit it. So what is it that is so appealing after more than 500 years that still has us asking the cards for advice?

Tarot Card Readings 

Having your cards read by a practiced cartomancer, or card reader, can be very revealing indeed. But is it really fortune telling?

The first time I had my cards read it was in a small shop off the main street in Oakland, California. A women foretold of a journey that I would be taking in the near future. She wasn’t wrong, but in hindsight I may have provided her with that information myself, rather than the cards speaking to her. Years later, living in Costa Rica, I had a neighbor who would perform card readings when the mood struck her. I remember her explaining to me that the cards didn’t predict the future or hold all the answers to our unknown questions, but what they did do, was reveal to us that which we on some level already knew but needed to hear from an outside source. 

I had my own deck of tarot cards that was given to be years prior but I had no idea how to use them. I’d simply flip through from time to time, but that was about it. After living next door to my divination neighbor I become more comfortable with the idea of doing my own readings. 

Basic Tarot Card Reading

A basic set up that she taught me was to shuffle the cards while concentrating on something that was concerning me, troubling me, exciting me, or perplexing me. Basically whatever was weighing heavily on my mind. After shuffling with the intention clear in my mind’s eye, I flipped over three cards: one representing the past, one the current situation, and one where the situation was headed. The cards, especially the more I work more with my own deck, always seem to be spot on with their finger on the pulse. As my neighbor said, they don’t tell me how it’s all going to work out but rather tap into the emotional relationship that I have with the situation and what’s really weighing on my mind. 

Advanced Tarot Card Reading

While my neighbor and other more experienced card readers have more involved and advanced layouts that they like to use, I myself have not reached that level of mastery, but the book that came with my deck of tarot cards does have several advanced reading layouts that I can practice with. And while tuning into my own intuition is part of the magic, going to an experienced card reader for an advanced tarot reading is something that I would highly recommend, even if you have your own deck at home. 

The real magic with tarot cards, just like mediation, is tuning into yourself, sitting with situations and finding out how you really feel about them. If you think of tarot cards more as a mirror and less as a crystal ball, you’ll find that the answers are all there in front of you, just as they are all there inside of you as well.