Pick a Card

               I love tarot cards. Seriously – I love them. I have three different decks right now, and will most certainly have more as I continue. So, I thought I would do a little post about the history, spreads, and a cursory view of the major and minor arcana. My resources will be linked below, so you can check them out for yourself. 😊

               Tarot originated from Italy sometime in the 1440s or 1450s – it began as a game (similar to how spirit boards began as a game, though I don’t think tarot has nearly the same connotation that tarot does. Early Tarot decks consisted of a standard deck of cards with a fifth suit of specialty cards added to it. We now call these cards the major arcana and the four suits are the minor arcana.

               I would love to do an entire piece on the different cards, and each card’s meanings, but that would be an incredibly long post…Also, I’m still learning to pull tarot for myself, so I don’t feel ready to tell other people what the cards mean. Suffice it to say that most decks do come with guidebooks to let you know what each card means. Many of these books will have ideas for spreads as well. Labyrinthos even has a free app, if you’re curious about tarot, but you’re not ready to purchase; in their app, you can digitally pull cards, learn meanings, etc, for free. Check it out here: Labyrinthos Learning

               What works for me in my readings – I like lighting a candle; it makes the space feel very intimate and cozy. I also enjoy (if I have them) sage matches, my favorites are the rain scent from Witchcrafterie and, then I ground myself and cast a circle of protection. Then, I shuffle as I feel I need to, and concentrate on what I need to know and/or learn during that reading. Then, I draw the cards I feel are right. Sometimes I follow a specific spread pattern, sometimes I just draw three cards. For me, it’s about making time to pay attention to what my intuition is telling me.

               Some people like having separate alter cloths for each deck they have, or individual alters – from everything I’m learning, it seems like a choose-your-own-adventure to some degree, which I like. There are tarot decks of every variety, from the traditional to the movie and tv themed.

A Word on Oracle Decks

               Oracle decks are an entirely different set of cards that symbolize different attributes and aren’t uniform oracle deck to oracle deck. On my oracle deck, for example (this one is a really pretty mermaid theme), there are cards like, “Friends” or “Memories” which have meanings according to the guidebook. Other oracle decks might have words that are more in keeping with their themes – a dragon oracle deck, for example, might have a card like “Fire” or “Smoke” with their corresponding meanings.

Enjoy your cards!

-NL