What is a Tarot Reading?

The tarot (/ˈtæroʊ/; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. In the late 18th century, it began to be used for divination in the form of tarotology/cartomancy.

Like common playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by region: French suits in Northern Europe, Latin suits in Southern Europe, and German suits in Central Europe). Each suit has 14 cards, ten cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave). In addition, the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. The Trump cards and the Fool are sometimes called "the major arcana" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana. The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.

Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, most likely from Mamluk Egypt, with suits of Batons or Polo sticks (commonly known as Wands by those practicing occult or divinatory tarot), Coins (commonly known as disks, or pentacles in occult or divinatory tarot), Swords, and Cups. These suits were very similar to modern tarot divination decks and are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks.

The break down of a deck made for readings and not poker:

The 78-card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:

• The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump cards, consists of 22 cards without suits: The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World, and The Fool. Cards from The Magician to The World are numbered in Roman numerals from I to XXI, while The Fool is the only unnumbered card, sometimes placed at the beginning of the deck as 0, or at the end as XXII.
• The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits of 14 cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are the King, Queen, Knight and Page/Jack, in each of the four tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits are swords, batons/wands, coins and cups; in modern tarot decks, however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves, while the coins suit is often called pentacles or disks.

Each reader tends to have a deck given or find their way to them. Mine was left behind on my bookshelf by someone. I might of even found them trash picking... Some have a lighter feel like Tarot of Ceremonial Magick Deck by Lon Milo DuQuette. This is the one I use; it has an ice cream sunday representing the love card. Others are bit darker like the Thoth deck. Some use oracle cards which are completely different than Tarot, but act the same way as a means of Morse code that the other side and the reader understands. Mostly the difference in cards is like the difference in the choice of language you speak. The translations will be the same.

The reader will have you shuffle the deck to get your energy on the cards while you are thinking of a question. You may tell the reader your question or keep it in your head. Sometimes if you are at a crossroad and there is not a clear answer, your reader might ask you what the question is or a hint. The answer is not always cut or dry; many factors may come into play. If you are confused about the question, so will the reader be. Some readers will only answer one question in the allotted time; usually 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Others will answer multiple questions. When a reader is trying to amaze he will just pull things out of thin air about you like a rabbit from a hat. If you need advice, come to your reader with a solid question in mind. Do not drift to another thought till you get your answer, because you might get the answer to your daydreaming and not your question. Stick to your question till you get your answer and understand it. If you keep asking questions before you get your first answer or start thinking about if you paid your meter, you will not get a good reading. If you are just not connecting to your reader, remember you have the first 5 minutes to tell them and get your refund or else forever hold your peace. Neither of you need to waste your time. There might be another reader in the shop who will be able to reader you; as long as you are not playing stump the psychic. This can backfire on you and the psychic will just pull out your skeletons from your closet that you rather keep buried.

If you are distracted easily, your reader can give you a general past, present, future reading using various patterns to lay the cards out for you during the reading. One popular shape is the cross.  These are more general readings, for general questions. I much prefer those people who know what they want to ask and then I can help them plan actions to take with their lives. For we are not all psychologists, some are, but we are only here to advise you no more than your barber, hairstylist, or bartender.

For more questions about Tarot Readings, visit Angelica of the Angels at 192 Essex Street in Salem MA. We offer various classes and are available for informal questions within our shop. Also if you like to book a tarot reading you can do so by visiting www.salemloveangels.com.

With the Love of the Angels,
~Chris
www.salemloveangels.com