The Fool: Now what?
The Magician: You should really do the Thing
The High Priestess: You should think about what happens when you do the Thing
The Empress: Here are the means for you to do the Thing
The Emperor: Here are the rules you need to follow to do the Thing
The Hierophant: You probably shouldn’t do the Thing
The Lovers: I’m going to decide for myself if I should do the Thing or not
The Chariot: I’m gOING TO DO THE THING
Strength: Whoa there friend have some self-control while you try to do the thing
The Hermit: Observe how other people do the Thing and learn from this
Wheel of Fortune: HAAAHAAHA THIS SETBACK IS KEEPING YOU FROM DOING THE THING HA HAAAA
Justice: Maybe I deserved that for trying to do the Thing
The Hanged Man: Trying to do the Thing has fucked my life over what the shit
Death: Trying to do the Thing has changed me beyond all comprehension. I DON’T LIKE CHANGE
Temperance: I’m trying to get back how I used to be before I tried to do the Thing
The Devil: I DON’T WANNA DO THE THING I WANNA STAY HOME AND DRINK AND EAT TEN CHEESEBURGER WAAAH
The Tower: Everything I knew before I tried to do the Thing was a lie. I am completely changed
The Star: Maybe there’s hope for me to actually do the Thing
The Moon: I’M NOT SURE IF I’M MAKING PROGRESS WITH DOING THE THING YET????
The Sun: Wow I may actually be able to do the Thing
Judgment: Looks back fondly on the Journey that I took in order to do the Thing
The World: I did the Thing
The Fool: Now what?
The main basis (in my experience) of useful, clear divination is trust. And just like people, you can’t just pick up a deck of cards and expect to fully trust the deck, or for it to trust you. When I picked up a deck of cards for the VERY first time, I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve come a long way since then, and though I may still be a bit of a novice, I hope I can help some one.
Draw Cards of the Day! Especially if you have a brand new deck, or one you haven’t worked with in a very long time. Not only does it open the door for interaction in a very simple, open-ended way, but by doing so you can get a better grip on what the cards mean and your own interpretations of them.
Get comfortable! Clear a space where you can feel safe and unhindered. This could include a separate room, or your kitchen table. Wherever you plan on card reading, I suggest a flat, completely soild surface covered by a cloth unique to your card readings (though it’s completely up to you if you’d like to work without it!) Sit however you’d like- on the floor, on a footstool. Sit up straight, sit cross-legged. Make the room dark or as light as you’d like, etc. The more you relax with and around your cards, the better they can receive your energy, and the more in tune you’ll be! And if standing on your head with one shoe on and Enya playing works for you, then so be it!
DO NOT REDRAW The BIGGEST mistake I’ve ever made, was not believing my cards were telling me the truth. I would redraw to see if I got the same cards again, or if the answer I received seemed unlikely I would disregard it altogether. Believe. In. Your. Cards! If something seems unlikely, trust in in- but with a grain of salt. Never ever EVER redo your draw- you will just to be disappointed when you don’t draw the same card(s)! This creates a barrier and disconnection- just like with a person. If you accuse all your friends of being liars, or need to check and recheck their answers constantly- you won’t have many left! Of course, if you feel the cards’ message was muddy or unclear redrawing for clarification is a-okay. But don’t redraw just to test them!
It’s time for Sunday Spreads! Feel like you or a friend are in a toxic relationship? Try the You Deplete Me Spread! Remember, this can apply to all kinds of relationships, not just romantic ones.
Hello!!! First off you should check out my resource tag, it’s got some decent stuff in it.
Second, introduce yourself to the tarot community! We’re all super nice and love helping newbies join our cult family 🙂 I’m paging tarot-sybarite, innerselfnotes, and arcanemysteries who all have excellent resources for newbies.
*CRASHES THROUGH WALL* Did someone say they needed to beginner info to learn tarot?!
A while back I went online to gather the best—IMHO—free resources I could about tarot for use by them as wants to learn. Below are the fruits of my labor.
Book T, by MacGregor Mathers Intro the the Golden Dawn system of tarot interpretation. Very dense reading, not keyed to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and not for beginners
Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus. References the Tarot de Marseilles and the Oswald-Wirth Tarot.
Color-Your-Own Rider-Waite-Smith Deck via tarotinstitute.com. Coloring your own deck is a simple and effective way to fix the image in your mind and internalize its many meanings.
The Tarot de Marseilles is one of the oldest known tarot decks, and is the basis for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Click here to download a full-color Marseille Tarot Deck
Once you’ve decided which deck(s) you want to print, save the printable tarot cards to your computer. Avoid printing directly from the browser as you might end up with some weird and unwanted results (trust me on this).
Print out the tarot cards on your chosen paper. Make sure that you print them in the standard tarot deck size. If you’re not sure that the size is right, do a test print of one card so you don’t destroy the entire paper. If you printed the images on regular paper and want a good backing, then you need to use spray adhesive to glue the paper to the actual cards.
Carefully trim the edges of the cards – some people like rounded edges, so make sure you have enough place for the borders.
Once the cards are printed, let them dry and then seal them with a varnish spray. After that, run them through a laminator. These days laminators are pretty affordable, and if you find yourself creating lots of tarot decks, you might want to invest in one. You can also take the files to office supply stores (such as Office Depot in the USA) for printing and laminating.
The following is NOT free, and some of the information on the Internet is dated, but the bulk of information contained within is outstanding: Christine Jette’s book Professional Tarot. Highly, highly recommended.
Organizations That Support/Promote Tarot
Tarosophy Tarot Association – “We teach methods of Tarot to divine your life, and make your way better through it – understanding more along the way.” This organization runs TaroCon US, TarotCon Australia, and TarotCon UK.
American Tarot Association – “The American Tarot Association is a professional and social organization for Tarot enthusiasts, students, scholars, and readers. We promote the study and appreciation of Tarot by supporting a variety of educational programs.”
Tarot Association of the British Isles – “TABI is a not-for-profit association run by unpaid volunteers with a passion for Tarot and the esoteric. We were formed in 2001 to provide support, information and resources for Tarot enthusiasts of all levels.”
Tarot Guild of Australia – “The TGA represents a community of Tarot enthusiasts, readers and teachers from across Australia and worldwide.”
Tarot Publishers
Tarot Media Company – “…our goal [is] promoting the work of Tarot authors, artists, and scholars to make their creations available to the Tarot public and to support them in their goal of right livelihood.”
US Games Systems – Publisher of classic and contemporary tarot decks, Rider-Waite, Crowley Thoth, divination and oracle decks
Lo Scarabeo – Born in 1987 in Torino, Italy, Lo Scarabeo is now a leading international company in the mind, body and spiritual health publishing, with a main focus in Tarot publishing. Lo Scarabeo is one of the most important Tarot publishers in the world.
The Game Crafter – “the world’s first web-to-print game publishing company and offers a print on demand game publishing service…The Game Crafter gives designers an easy-to-use system to make a board game, card game, or custom playing cards. TGC offers templates, instructions, videos, and proofing tools to help designers create a quality product”.
If you’re browsing decks on AeclecticTarot, you can usually click a link on the deck’s page and be taken to a web site to order. Those affiliate links usually help the site, too.
History of Women’s Tarot – Tarot as a keystone of the Women’s Spirituality movement branches off in a different direction from the mainstream in the mid-1970’s.
Make sure you do some reading about Pamela Colman Smith. Smith is the artist who designed the artwork for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (the world’s most popular tarot deck, and the one most people think of when they hear the word “tarot”) in 1909.
Smith’s creation of individual scenes on the cards of the minor arcana was a huge leap forward in tarot deck design, and contributed mightily to the enduring popularity of the RWS deck.
One thing to keep in mind about Pamela Colman Smith is that she made a deliberate decision to reduce or eliminate the Christian imagery found in the early tarot decks. For example….
The Hanged Man image comes from the medieval Italian practice of hanging traitors upside down (Fun Fact: at the end of WWII, Mussolini was hanged upside down to mark him as a traitor; and please be warned that link is GRAPHIC and TOTALLY NSFW). That practice was inspired by the death of Judas Iscariot in the Bible, where Iscariot is described as falling “headlong” (Acts 1:18). In the earliest tarocchi decks, the Hanged Man is depicted with bags of money, or with coins falling out of his pocket, a reference to the infamous thirty pieces of silver Iscariot was paid for betraying Jesus Christ.
The World card can be seen in many churches and ancient Christian manuscripts, usually showing Christ ascending into heaven surrounded by symbols of the Four Evangelists.
Smith’s High Priestess replaced La Papessa (the Papess, a female ‘Pope’ figure) in the deck. Lots of folks assumed that this image was inspired by the legend of Pope Joan, but evidence suggests that the image is a female allegorical figure for the Roman Catholic Church (which claims the title ‘The Bride of Christ’)
General Cartomancy
Origins of Playing Card Divination – Mary K. Greer’s Tarot Blog. An illustrated presentation of theories and research on the origin of playing cards.
I’m thinking of selling them for not more than $30 per deck! And if i do end up launching a fundraising campaign, i will be offering additional perks to the supporters. Somethings that i have in mind are posters, exclusive art book, different sort of card prints and etc. It would be great to get some suggestions from you guys too 😀
Currently, i don’t have sufficient online presence or support to be able to launch my campaign yet, but i’m still working on the cards!
I might start a newsletter if we get closer to be able to fundraise it, but for now, please follow me on my facebook page for more updates: http://facebook.com/swsun
I’m in!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been looking for these to go live for a while. It seems to be getting closer.
They need to be seen out there so the artist knows there is a wide interest.
Boost
Tarot friends? Whatcha think? The art is gorgeous!
I am 100% down to back this. And in fact, I will be super bummed if it never comes to fruition for some reason. I will definitely keep an eye out for the fundraising campaign.
I know there’s gotta be some friends on the dash who feel the same, yeah?
The Carving Witch 