From the archives of juliawritesforyou.com

Do you have a growing interest in Tarot? Did you have a reading once and now want to know more? Or is there just some part of you that wants to learn about the age-old practice of Tarot?

If you’re like me, you may have noticed more and more of your friends getting into Tarot. You may see it popping up on social media a bit more lately, too. Or maybe that’s just me. 

Within this past year, I felt called to get my first Tarot deck shortly after being introduced to Shonnetta’s Divine Tarot on YouTube. Prior to Shonnetta, I had a pretty stereotypical image of Tarot in my mind. 

You know the image I’m talking about: a beady-eyed fortune teller decked out in a headwrap and jewels who reads your future from the cards. 

While all stereotypes stem from somewhere, I’d like to break down that image you may also have in your head. Continue reading for a basic look at Tarot and what I have learned since getting my first deck not too long ago. 

(Disclaimer: By no means do I consider myself even close to an expert when it comes to Tarot. However, my intent is to share what I do know to further your interest in the practice of reading Tarot.)

What is Tarot?

The practice of Tarot involves the interpretation of cards drawn from a deck of Tarot (which I’ll get to in a little bit). 

There is no one way to approach Tarot. Different people and cultures have doddled with Tarot their own way for centuries. 

The exact history of Tarot is unknown and widely debated; however, what we do know is that Tarot serves as a tool for divination. (Fun fact: Tarot is also a game played for amusement.)

Divination, or “to be inspired by God,” is the practice of seeking insight into some aspect of your life or someone else’s. 

No prior insight is needed to form a relationship with a deck of Tarot cards and the practice itself. But that could depend on who you ask. 

The symbols of Tarot have a significant meaning and the more you understand the meaning, the more insight you can draw from a reading. 

In-depth knowledge on the history of Tarot is not necessarily vital, though it’s arguably valuable to be more conscious of what you are connecting to. 

There is something to be said about paying respect and honoring those who came before us. Our ancestors who practiced Tarot all those years ago connected to the same spirit we tune into today.

Our ancestors who practiced Tarot all those years ago connected to the same spirit we tune into today.

Like how “namaste” is said in unison at the end of a yoga practice to acknowledge the light within you and the light within everything around you, Tarot endures through an energy that we all participate in. 

Whenever you are doing something that has been done by others for hundreds, if not thousands of years, why not take a little bit of extra effort to respect and honor all who came before and all who will come after? 

We are called to practice Tarot now for the same reason it first began. We want to make sense of the world and our existence within it. Tarot is a practice of learning how to make sense of your story. It is a method to receive messages from your spirit team, your ancestors, and your own subconscious. Tarot is a device to dive deeper into oneself, to find the answers you already hold within. 

You can try to learn as much as you can about a card, but the truest answer burns within you. 

The Deck

Some speak of a myth that says your first Tarot deck should be gifted to you, but others have debunked this myth. When I felt called to start reading Tarot, I personally did not worry about this myth—I did not want to wait around for that. 

However, if you do find yourself with a used deck, it might not hurt to do a cleansing ritual and clear any residual energy from the person who used it prior. 

As I mentioned earlier, understanding the rich meaning of each card can prove helpful to drawing stronger insights from a Tarot reading. 

In a deck of Tarot, there are 78 cards composed of five sets: Major Arcana, Swords, Cups, Wands (or Staffs), and Pentacles. 

The Major Arcana is thought to be the foundation, the core, of the deck. From The Fool (card 0) to The World (card 22), the cards depict humanity’s spiritual journey. Each card represents a different phase in one’s development, and offers lessons to learn from those phases. 

To fill in more details, we turn to the Minor Arcana, or the Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles suits. Each suit in the Minor Arcana rules over specific principles of life and is associated with a specific element: 

Swords – The suit of logic, truth, conflict, and communication (Air)

Cups – The suit of intuition, emotion, and imagination (Water)

Wands – The suit of passion, determination, and inspiration (Fire)

Pentacles – The suit of nature, prosperity, health, and security (Earth)

Each elemental suit in the Minor Arcana has 14 cards that carry more specific details about your daily life. 

In a Tarot deck, each card has an upright meaning, as well as a reverse definition. A Tarot card can carry slightly different connotations depending on the direction that it’s drawn in a reading, or how it relates to the other cards drawn. 

There is much more to discuss, but to avoid too lengthy of an introductory blog on Tarot, I’m going to conclude here with the following prompt. 

What is your perception of Tarot?

Comment down below to let me know what you think.

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