What are Tarot Cards ?

Gone are the days when people would call you a devil worshiper for having a rider waite deck in your purse. Since Covid Tarot has catapulted into the mainstream. With Online Tarot readers growing their audiences exponentially. With that said, a dose of healthy skepticism is still important. Let’s get all the facts together as we get reacquainted with our very old friend.

Brief History of Tarot

There’s evidence that playing cards were developed in China in the 9th century with a wood-block printing method with ancient texts citing a “Leaf Game” being played by the Tang Dynasty. By the 11th century playing cards made their way from Asia to Egypt. Then, from Egypt spread to Europe. The earliest mentions of Tarot Cards happen in northern Italy around 1440 to 1450. Although tarot cards weren’t used for divination purposes until around the 1780s. Tarot, card games, and dice games were criticized by church leaders as early as the 1440s. In 1783 Etiella was the first person to assign meanings to each card for the purpose of divinaion. Etialla is sometimes referred to as the 1st Tarot Card Reader. The oldest card deck that most closely resembles a modern tarot deck is the Visconti-Sforza Deck. These cards were hand-painted for the Italian Aristocracy in 15th-century Milan and Venice.

How is a Tarot Deck Organized

A tarot card deck consists of 72 cards, 22 cards are trump cards called the major arcana; The major arcana cards are usually the following in this order:

The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Justice, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, and The World.

Twelve of the Major Arcana represent each astrology sign.

52 cards make up the minor arcana. The minor arcana is split into 4 suits; wands, cups, swords, and pentacles. Each suit has 4 court cards; King, queen, knight, and page. The numbered suit cards are Ace and 2-10.

Potential Risks of Tarot

False Prophets: There are plenty of Tarot Card Readers who have questionable business practices. I go into detail on those things in this post.
Impersonators: People turn to spirituality and the occult when they are going through rough times. Other bad actors take advantage of that vulnerability and impersonate popular tarot card readers to scam their audiences.
Procrastination: I’ve made this mistake and relied on my tarot cards to make really silly decisions. Instead of just having a bias toward action or trusting my gut. One spread is fine for a big decision, Two is okay but more than that find a professional who can fix it or get help from a trusted friend and make your move.
Resembles Gambling: Tarot cards are completely random. Reshuffling the cards because you want to see the lovers pop out for your twin flame reading. It isn’t that different from being on a tilt during Texas Holdem. Especially if you’re paying for a spread. Remember that the difference between medicine and poison is the dose.

Potential Advantages Of Using Tarot Cards

Build Emotional Awareness: Carl Jung believed that the symbols in tarot stimulated the subconscious and supported a process called individuation. Individuation boils down to the stories we tell about ourselves, and our sense of self. I agree with this because of my personal experience. My workbook includes a guide to identifying emotions with Tarot Cards.
A Meditative Outlet: For people who are like me and prefer to be logical about things. My EQ isn’t always my superpower. Tarot offers me a space to confront my emotions and not feel any shame or “ick” about it. I can look at the cards and process how I’m feeling to make steps to move on.
Problem Solving: Tarot can make life easy. Showing your blindspots in your logic. Simply by getting the wheels turning on a problem mentally and emotionally with Tarot. Tarot is a great catalyst for getting to those Eureka moments faster.
Fortune Telling: Tarot is that girl, let her cook lol.