Contrary to the public’s widely held belief, fostered by Hollwood stereotypes, Tarot Cards are not one of the tools of the Traditional Witches. Nor are they standard fare for the iconic Gypsy fortune tellers, who are usually psychics and/or palm readers and who, when they do practice card readings, (cartomancy), generally work with regular playing cards. Instead, the Tarot is a form of divination that was adopted for use and refined into its modern form by much more modern neo-pagan religious movements arising out of the 19th Century.

The popularity of the Tarot, as a modern implement for occult study, primarly came out of the Theosophy Movement , led most notably by the controversial Helena Blavatsky. This movment for the revival of the ancient mystical practices was the predecessor of what has now come to be known by the somewhat incongrous name of the New Age Movement.  

Other mystical occult groups of the period, such as the Rosicrucian Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and certain splinter groups coming out of Freemasonry, also picked up on the Tarot as a tool, originally for the purpose of spiritual insight, but later devolving into a tool for divination. The Wicca Movement, which evolved more from the ideas of these groups than  from the underlying principles of traditional witchcraft, also picked up the tarot and has added it to their tool chest.



The Tree of Life

 Each day is a branch of the Tree of Life laden heavily with fruit.
If we lie down lazily beneath it, we may starve;
but if we shake the branches, some of the fruit will fall for us.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Though the first Tarot decks appeared in the middle of the 15th century, it was not until the middle of the 19th century that occultists observed that the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana, or trump suit of the Tarot, correspond with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and thereby with the twenty-two paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. These mystical symbols, used in the Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism, set forth the path to God. These Victorian occultist then began trying to link the Tarot to ancient Eastern mysticism. Which may or may not be a factual lineage.

We have now seen that there is no particle of evidence
for the Egyptian origin of Tarot cards.

Arthur E. Waite

Although there is no consensus of opinion as the exact origin of the Tarot, it is fairly clear that the modern incarnation, with which the general public is familiar, evolved out of an attempt by some of these Victorian Age theosophical thinkers to validate and popularize their movement, (and by association their interpretation of the Tarot), with the ancient mystical practices of the Egyptian and/or Kabalistic religious orders , though this theory of the Tarot's origin has been fundamentally discredited by subsequent historical research.

  For me, Tarot is a Bardic Art, and what people are looking for is their story.
It is essential to have good storytelling skills to be a good reader."

~ Susa Morgan Black ~

The ‘Language’ of the Tarot

 Tarot 101: (learnreligions.com)

The reading of the Tarot is an art form and like any other art form, the artist must have some technical skill along with their innate gifts in order to become a good tarot reader. Whether a drama, comedy, tragedy or romance, your life is a story. A good Tarot card reader can help you comprehend the chapter you are writing at this moment and perhaps a preview of chapters to come, so you can make wiser choices going forward. Tarot card readings can help us to understand who we are, where we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going and in doing so, help us connect to the world around us.

There is a language to the Tarot’s structure where ach card represents a situation, archetype, or energy. Readings are about forming stories in connection with the subject’s life or question. Every Tarot card contains its own unique story and that story will help you to understand the overall story within the reading and ultimately, what's going on in your story. The same card can mean different things to different people, depending on their own relationship to the topic that the card is exploring.

A Tarot deck consists of 78 cards. The first 22 cards are the Major Arcana. These cards have symbolic meanings focused on the material world, the intuitive mind, and the realm of change. The remaining 56 cards are the Minor Arcana, and are divided into four groups or suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.

The Major Arcana consists of 21 numbered cards, and card 0, "The Fool".

The Major Arcana represents a metaphor for the journey of life often referred to as ‘The Fool’s Journey’. The Fool is innocent and spontaneous; setting off on a hero's journey.

The cards of the Major Arcana depict various archetypes and universal themes that are encountered along the way. Some consider this journey a linear path, while others believe that any stage of the journey could happen at any time. In readings, Major Arcana cards deal with the most significant aspects of the journey. They are a "major revelation". When a Major Arcana card comes up, it's message is to be heeded.

 

 The Minor Arcana are the 56 suit cards of the 78-card tarot deck.

The Minor Arcana are believed to represent mundane features of life. This does not mean Minor Arcana cards are not important. While a Major Arcana card may speak to a central theme or pivotal point in your journey, a Minor Arcana card is likely to speak to you about what you are witnessing 0n the perphery of your experience. 

The Minor Arcana comprise four suits with 14 cards each: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, which are comparable to Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds in a standard deck of playng cards. Each of the four suits focuses on a theme. Wands represent matters like philosophy, religion and scholastic activity, while Cups reflect matters of emotion and relationships. Sword cards generally indicate conflict or moral issues, while Pentacles focus on the material aspects of life, such as security and finance.

The suits each contain ten chronologically numbered cards from Ace (one) to Ten and four court cards, those being the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. The number cards are associated with specific numerological meanings, while the court cards represent the people whom one meets on the journey.

Even if you don’t know exactly what a card is intended to mean, with most illustrated decks you may be able to discern the meaning within the card by combining the nature of the suit, the number or court position, and what is appears to be happening in the imagery.



Tarot Card Spreads

 

A Tarot Card Spread is a method by which a tarot card reader physically lays out or places the cards on the table and then interprets the card meanings for the querent. Card readers determine the spread and the deck to use based upon their personal preferences.

Not only are there many different types of Tarot card decks available, there are also many different spreads used by card readers, often with individualistic variations favored by the reader. For example, the very popular Celtic Cross Spread often does not follow any one standardized card layout. The basic cross and column diagram may be the same, but the order in which the cards are spread in the cross may vary from reader to reader. 

When first learning to read Tarot Cards, a 3 Card Tarot Spread is the best place to begin. It’s the simplest of readings and allows you to do a basic reading in just three steps. In this spread, the first card represents the past, the second one represents the present, and the third one represents the future. As you become more comfortable working with the cards and your skill sets grow you can gradually move on to more intricate Tarot spreads.

 Remember that the Tarot is a great and sacred arcana;
its abuse is an obscenity in the inner and a folly in the outer.
It is intended for quite other purposes than to determine
when the tall dark man will meet the fair rich widow.”

~ Jack Parsons ~



The great problem that has arisen from this popularizing of the tarot is that it has fostered and image in most people's minds, of a gypsy woman at a small candlelit table, foretelling the future with a tarot card reading. It all seem strange and mysterious, and with most tarot decks being manufactured by playing card companies, it seems to many to be just an amusing game to be played for amusement. 

The Tarot is not a game!

According to the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, "the Tarot aids in coming in contact with one's Higher Self by drawing on powerful sources of information that come from within”. This means that although it is common for people to think that the Tarot deals only with fortune-telling and revelations of their past, present and future, the true Tarot represents a connection between the spiritual realm and the material world and unveils the path of initiation into the Sacred Realm that is hidden within us all.

Mary K. Greer, a leading authority on the Tarot writes how psychiatrist Carl Jung … “recognized tarot as depicting archetypes of transformation like those he had found in myths, dreams and alchemy, and as having divinatory characteristics similar to the I-Ching and astrology. Most of all, Jung believed a person could use “an intuitive method” to understand—through tarot’s reflecting the collective unconscious into a “cloud of cognition”—the meaning in a present, prevailing condition.”

Jung’s view was founded in his theory of the archetype, as a primal pattern of thought. He studied dreams, myths, and legends, and concluded that we’re all born with an innate ability to understand archetypes. In fact, he said, we are all pre-programmed to look for archetypes in our everyday lives, because they serve as a framework for our understanding of the world. Jung’s descriptions of commonly recognized archetypes include the hero, the maiden, and the wise old man, which are symbols that appear over and over in the Tarot deck. Theoretically at least, by study and reflection on the symbols in the Tarot it will cause one to look inward to study and reflect on those archetypes we find within our own unconscious and in Jung’s “world view” of the collective unconscious.

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Helpful Sites for Beginners

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

By Arthur Edward Waite

https://sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm

Introduction to the Tarot: A 6 Step Study Guide

By Patti Wigington

https://www.learnreligions.com/step-by-step-intro-to-tarot-4026803