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What is this mysterious thing, Tarot?
Some authors claim that Tarot cards originated in Egypt, perhaps devised by the deity Thoth. There isn’t any evidence to support this notion.
The earliest known Tarot cards were created in Italy in the Fifteenth Century. They were used as playing cards. At some point, they started to be used for divination.
The exact history of all this is a fascinating topic, but is not important for our purposes. Different decks have been used throughout the years for divination.
The important event for our purposes was the creation of the Tarot deck that was often referred to as the “Rider-Waite” deck. Since all of the images of the deck were created by Pamela Colman Smith, it is only proper to give her equal credit. I usually just refer to it as the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which I’ll normally shorten to RWS.
What made the RWS deck important was that Waite and Smith used a great deal of symbolism from various spiritual disciplines such as Egyptian mythology, Christian mysticism, Kabbalah, and others.
Another vital innovation was that all the pip cards were given images. Previous decks usually just had numbers on the pip cards along with the suit, and no other image.
The original RWS deck was published in 1909. There have been others since then, some of which are almost indistinguishable from the original deck. However, they often have subtle differences that may affect the symbolism. For this reason, I use the 1909 version of the RWS deck exclusively.
The Tarot deck is actually composed of two smaller decks; the two sections are referred to as the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana has 22 cards, numbered from 0 to 21. The Minor Arcana has 56 cards. The cards range from 1 or Ace to King. This is similar to the ordinary deck of playing cards, except that in Tarot there is one additional card in each suit, the Page. So fourteen cards in four suits, for a total of 56.
For readings these two sections are generally used together, as one larger deck.
There are four suits in the Minor Arcana – Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. These suits correspond to Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds respectively.
Each suit has a particular quality or energy; each has its element, its astrological signs, and many other features.
Wands have the element of fire; Cups are water; Swords are air; and Pentacles are earth. These qualities are important in readings.
The numbers from 1 to 10 also have certain qualities; and they are also vital in readings.
Ones or Aces stand for beginnings. Twos represent choice, balance, and sometimes doubt; threes are, as Rachel Pollack says, “the flowering energy of the suit.” It is a rather poetic way of expressing it. Fours are stable, but can also be stagnant. Fives represent challenges, pain, troubles. Sixes show unequal relationships; sometimes generosity. Sevens have to do with activity, taking action. Eights involve motion or movement; nines are intensity or extremes; tens show excess.
Tens are similar to ones. Numerologically, 10 and 1 are considered similar; 10 can be seen as 1 + 0, which equals 1. This technique is applied to all numbers, which yields interesting correspondences.
The court cards are treated a little differently. For one thing, they all represent people – Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings. Often in a reading they might represent an actual person in the Querent’s life. Although these personalities are given specific genders, any of these cards can represent a person of any gender. It is the energy that is important.