Well, since I am dizzy and have a fever and soar throat, and since once again my evening plans are canceled (plans which tonight involved reading Tarot and performing karaoke, plus exuberant drinking with friends), I thought I'd use this dreamy downtime to talk a little about the tarot. When I was a young girl just entering high school, I began reading. I was drawn to the imagery, and the storytelling aspect of tarot, as well as the witchy aspect of decks. (My family is very Hungarian, quite superstitious, not above the evil eye, charms, readings, or little, er, 'spells' for good fortune). Oddly enough my very first deck was one I still use to read people, The Cat People Deck, shown here.
I'm not lying when I say that, over the years, I've probably owned a hundred decks. I am constantly on the lookout for a new favorite deck, and love the variety of cards, the vast array of artwork, and the individual artist's spin on different decks. There are some decks I read from that bring about interpretations not classically associated with other, more standard decks, so it's always neat for me to get cards that I'm drawn to, and go from there.
Once I feel them--literally feel them, shuffling in hand-over-hand style (never shuffle a tarot deck like playing cards, never!)--I generally know whether I'll be a good fit for reading that particular deck. When the feeling just isn't there, I tend to give decks away, to other friends who read. There is an old myth that tarot should never be bought and always be a gift, but I don't ascribe to that and personally have never had any bad luck come about because I bought a deck for myself. Don't believe the hype on this, people. You want a deck, hey, go for it! That said, my very first deck was a gift, so maybe there is something to that whole 'when you get started, have the deck be a gift thing'. Hm. Will have to consider this more.
Having several decks can be useful, because the same goes for the people you read: some jive on an energetic level with a certain deck, and some don't. A friend I often read doesn't like the cat people pictured above, but adores the Scapini deck, and the readings we do with that deck always seem to make sense to her. There is a school of thought that ascribes to 'masculine' vs. 'feminine' decks. Both the Cat People and the Scapini deck are masculine decks, which can work nicely with masculine astrological signs and/or energies. I'm a Leo (masculine sign) so that makes sense, though I have a Pisces moon, which can explain why The Enchanted Deck, the only feminine deck I own, is also useful for me, on certain occasions. I find this deck works well for very sensitive individuals, with very 'feminine' vibrations. This is a beautiful deck, in general, with images taken from tapestries.
My all-time favorite deck is probably the Medieval Scapini, which oddly enough was rendered by an artist with no understanding of tarot at all. So this deck is by far the most unusual of interpretations, though, surprisingly, given that the artist had no idea of what tarot depictions generally were, he got more correct than incorrect and the places he deviates are just interesting. Here are pictures of the Scapini deck, see below:
I also tend toward the Crowley deck, again another very visual deck. This deck is always spot-on for me, and easy to read. But when I use this deck too often, I find I have troubled dreams. So I again save this one for rarer occasions.
The standard, and oldest, layout for reading has got to be the Celtic Cross, though it's important to realize there are all sorts of reading layouts, from single-card, three-card, circles, to elaborate spreads that cover the entire year and use a large portion of the 78-card deck. 78 is standard, in terms of number, but quite a few decks vary, with more or less cards. A typical Celtic cross spread can also vary in the ordering of the cards. For example, Card One is generally the signifier (the person being read), the card next to them (card 2) is the environment they are existing in, the nature of the question, the immediate influence on them. Card three, which crosses, is the obstacle, but from there, cards 4, 5, and 6 can vary. I generally place card 4 below cards 1-3, to show the underlying influence--the thing that makes the issue turn. Then 5 for the past (placed to the left of cards 1-3). Card 6 is placed above, for goal or destiny, and Card 7 is placed to the right, for future event. It's important to see things are interrelated when you do a reading. For example, if a card is strong enough to pull as a 'past' incident, it means it is inevitably exerting a presence/pressure on the current environment, the signifier, and the future event. If you think of the basic formation of this as a wheel (where things cycle) you start to see how everything in this formation is related to everything else. Make sense? There are variations to the basic 1-6 positions. Sometimes there is no 2 environment card, and 2 is the obstacle. Sometimes 3 is the goal, placed above 1 and 2, etc. Many of these variations are found in tarot literature. If you do the spread slightly differently, don't sweat the small stuff. It only matters that you are energetically 'tapped in.'
Cards 7-10 line the side. Seven generally gives further clarification on the signifier and their role and attitude and how it affects things. Card 8 represents immediate influences in environment, things happening or coming down on the person being read. Card 9 represents hopes and fears that need to be realized and/or addressed before the final card, 10, the outcome can manifest.
"Rules" of tarot:
Nothing is set in stone. If the signifier changes something radically, the outcome can and will change.
I often will cross cards in this formation with other cards, in order to get more clarification.
Court cards (Kings, Queens, Knights, Pages) can often refer to actual people in the signifier's life. Cups generally refer to water signs, Wands to fire signs, Swords to Air signs, and Coins to earth signs. Court cards can also just mean people with attributes associated with those signs. Pages, however, can be people, but can often mean that news is coming to the person being read. Knights, too, can be people or bring news/messages.
Cards can also change, in terms of importance. For example, when a woman has a strong bond with a male card, it can pull as a King. But if she is losing interest, he can be 'downgraded' to a Knight, for example. You have to use your gut on this, look at surrounding cards, and cross with a new card when more clarification is necessary.
In general, coins refer to financial/material issues. Cups to love/emotional issues. Wands to new starts and enterprises/activities. Swords to more intellectual issues.
Trump Cards (The Major Arcana) The Fool, The Magician, The Empress, etc. are cards of high significance. When a person pulls an abundance of trump cards, there are generally life-changing, long-term things going on. Trumps teach us our life lessons, on a karmic level.
The Minor Arcana, all the rest (court cards, pip cards Aces-Ten) generally deal more with day-to-day issues, events, and so forth.
Inverted (upside-down cards): There are ALSO several schools of thought on this. Some don't differentiate between upright or inverted cards and don't change the reading based on the position of the card itself, one way or the other. Some readers believe that an inverted card means the opposite of the original meaning. So, for example, the six of wands, which generally brings good news and victory would mean a loss or defeat. Still some within this branch of reading will further say that some cards can't really be reversed. The Sun, for example, is so tremendously positive that the meaning can't be negative, whether upright or inverted, but if inverted some of those positive energies might be diluted a bit. Still others see an inverted card not so much as the opposite of the 'upright' meaning, but as a delay in that action/state manifesting in the signifier's life. Personally, I utilize all these ideas, and it really just depends on my gut feeling, and the surrounding cards.
Surrounding cards can temper, amplify, modify cards. Remember when you are reading, you're reading the entire spread and how things interrelate, as well as individual cards.
Sometimes when I'm reading a card, I get two very different interpretations, or feelings about things going on. I always tell the person being read ALL my feelings associated with a card, as more often than not, multiple things are going on, and multiple things might apply. So there is not necessarily ONE correct thing to say about any given card. Be fluid here. It helps!
When reading trumps, I tend to frame my interpretation not only as what's going on, in terms of a big event, but also, on a karmic level, what's in need of learning as a life lesson. These cards help to teach and elevate the energy of a person. And as Martha would say, that's a good thing.
Do I read interpretations based on the little book that accompanies a deck, or a tarot book? This one is hard. I'm sure when I was learning tarot I read the books. But not so strenuously that it made me uptight. Mostly, I go by the images, and what they bring to me, as well as associations between the cards in the spread itself. And, as I said, there are some decks where I vary my interpretations as much as the cards do. I think the more you trust yourself, the better your readings get. Otherwise you are just going through the motions.
Can 'time' be told with the tarot? Or a time line? Personally, I always say a tarot reading usually lasts about as long as the person does or doesn't get read. Like me, for example, I pull cards everyday, and that's just about what things generally cover. If you don't get read often, your 'future' card may be longer out than my 'future' card, if you catch my drift here.
However, I've calculated certain things to the day for clients, back when I was reading lots of people, all the time. So a rule (and I might mess this up, as I always confuse wands and swords!): Counting from position 10 or 11 (the last position in the cross) go backwards. If a person has a question of 'when will this all come about,' coins are years (so an Ace of Coins would mean within the year, or closer to one year from now). Two=two years. A CUP means DAYS but only if the card before it is a coin. Otherwise, best I always learned, the cups are sort of a wash. Wands refer to...er. Here is where I mess up. I *think* weeks. So an eight of wands would mean within 8 weeks. Swords refer to months. So you're looking at the suit, and numbered, pip cards.
Do I read myself? I do. I won't lie. Should I? Eh. I always think there's a little too much attachment to outcomes and ego when a reader reads herself. Plus you want to reshuffle again and again. So I would advise against this, but...I don't follow my own good advice. Always best to have a neutral person read/suggest/pray/etc. for you. Energy travels more freely then, and hits the mark better. ;)
Damn. There was something else I wanted to write, and it just went out of my mind, like that.
Oh, now I remember: Ordering. So the Fool starts the karmic cycle that ends with The World, the completion of the trumps and life's lessons, only to recycle again (which is why the Fool is both childish/foolish, but wise in his own way). The pip cards operate in the same fashion. So, for example, an Ace of Cups is really the start of love/emotion and often can come from the self, or divine source. The Two of Cups branches outward, to emotion between you and another. The Ten of Cups is the ultimate fulfillment of cups in that suit, and brings a unity and happiness of family, community, etc. So tens (some say nines--I'm not going there, in this post) are generally the 'fullest' state, where Aces are starts. The Ten of Swords for example, is pretty much RUIN/END OF THINGS. So it's not always a great place to be, either! But it helps to study numerology, too, when reading tarot, as Twos generally refer to certain states, Ones to certain states, Tens, and so forth. Fives, as another example, bring struggle/discord in all the suits. So you can also look at a person's reading in terms of pip cards: Are they mostly at the start of things? Are there a lot of certain numbered cards?
In the same vein, if a person pulls an abundance of cups, there are a lot of more emotional things going on, than idea-related, etc. So again looking at the entire spread, and what is getting emphasis (if anything) helps.
So, so cool, Sandy! LOVE that you put this out there.
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