The Gift of Tarot

If you have the gift of Tarot reading or want to develop it, you are a lucky soul indeed. It is a wonderful and mystical intuitive process for helping people gain insight into their lives. Tarot is universally recognized for its eye-catching cards and the potential to reveal life opportunities or pitfalls.

Tarot reading is not a matter of sharing a hunch or bit of invention. It is based on old lore that has practically become a science. There is a prescribed way to look at the cards and enhance their associations with your intuition. Over time, regular readings will grow stronger and more powerful. You want them to be accurate and meaningful.

Along with reading coffee grounds or tealeaves or using a Ouija board, Tarot is fun and even profitable. Many make a living offering their special service. They are part of a long line of fortune tellers that goes back for centuries in Europe. “Triumph” cards in Italy were propagated after the invention of the printing press in the mid-1400s. The upper classes loved their readings and the mania spread rapidly. However, it wasn’t until the end of the 18^th century that a book on Tarot appeared by Jean-Baptiste Alliete. The love of the cards continues in the present day.

Tarot basics

With a little background and practice, anyone can learn to do Tarot cards if they are able to concentrate and focus. Each card has a meaning and one’s intuition works with this symbolic element to create a personal reading. In effect, you turn your brain off to block out all the distractions of your surroundings. The personal nature of the reading has made it popular and coveted. Many people rely on the deck to help them make major life decisions and to reveal either obstacles or opportunities.

You will need to learn about each a total of 78 cards, consisting of the Major and Minor Arcanas that relate to the bigger spiritual picture of one’s life. These are further divided into 22 Major Arcana cards, the most known of which are the Hierophant, High Priestess, Magician, Fool, Emperor, etc.

Moving on, there are 55 Minor Arcana cards that represent the choices and actions a person makes in everyday life as they fulfill their destiny on earth. You will come to know the four suits well. Each one is connected to a specific element of existence. For example, Cups, or water, covers human relationships and emotions, such as love. Wands represents fire and as such denotes action, enterprise, and passion. Swords is the suit of air, related to human intellect and ideas, including truth, conflict, and sorrow. Finally, Pentacles is the earth suit that evokes money matters, work, the practical side of life, values, and one’s physical nature.

And there is more. Each suit has 14 cards: the usual ace up to ten and the court cards consisting of the King, Queen, Knight, and Page. The latter indicate people with whom we are associated and whose energy we absorb. For example, if a Tarot reader draws the Queen of Wands, she will talk about a female acquaintance who is a positive influence and appears frequently in the present. You can see that the deck covers the entire gamut of a human life. As such it is open ended and complex in its implications.

Learn to ask questions

A good reading has to learn about the person under consideration. It may take some questions for a proper reading directed to current or past events of relevance. You want to know right out of the box who is the subject of the reading. It could be the client, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a relative, or co-worker.

Typical questions from the client include “Will I fall in live?” “Will I get the job?” or “What will happen in the future?” Questions can be general or specific about a person or situation. The reader will immediately know from them what is on the client’s mind. Perhaps he or she wants a clear-cut answer to something that cannot be stated with certainty. Some readers provide only alternatives or choices for consideration.

The more the reader learns, the better and more accurate the reading. The reader begins with basic questions and then shuffles the deck. The client pulls a card or several to create what is called a “spread.” The process begins. It can take as long as the client likes. It should be fun, enjoyable, revealing, and potentially exciting. A good reading can help an indecisive person take action, making the Tarot process active and participatory. However, you choose to apply your gift, it will surely make a difference in someone’s life.