Tarot for Beginners : A Practical Guide to Learn the Art of Tarot Reading and Tarot Spreads

By Emily Oddo

Have you always been fascinated by Tarot cards but just couldn't find your way through their meanings and how to properly use them?
Do you finally want to tap into your inner source of awareness, power, and wisdom?

If so, then Tarot for Beginnersis for you. You see, There's just something so mysterious and mesmerizing about these cards that we want to know all about them. Tarot cards are always a crowd-pleaser, and people will love them when you make accurate predictions and readings about them. Moreover, there's a certain spirituality associated with Tarot, and once you learn how to interpret the cards, you'll realize how focused and calm you've become. This book is meant as an introductory guidebook for those who have developed an interest in Tarot, just like you!

In Tarot for Beginners, you'll discover:

The history of Tarot

The Meaning of the Cards: Major Arcana

The Meaning of the Cards: Minor Arcana

How to use Tarot for yourself

How Tarot is related to Numerogy

And much more!

Imagine how great you'll feel once you've learned the meaning of tarot and how to properly use them!
So, what are you waiting for?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WhiteFlowerPublsihing
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201297244

Book preview

Introduction

Tarot cards grab the attention of anyone whose sights fall upon them.

Since the invention of movies and cinematography, we have been entertained and mesmerized by tarot readers and fortune-tellers using tarot cards while chanting, dancing, ringing bells, and calling to deities and spirits to predict the future. Great stories are built around the outcome of a single tarot card, creating scenes of immense intensity and suspense, leaving us sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation. Characters explode with distraught or happiness dragging our emotions with them when the reader slowly and with much dramatic irony reveals the selected card, particularly when the devil or tower cards are revealed. We hold our breath in great anticipation for what will happen next.

However, the Tarot is nothing like the movies, and most people don't know anything about Tarot. There's just something so mysterious and mesmerizing about these cards that we want to know all about them. This book is meant as an introductory guidebook for those who have developed an interest in Tarot.

This book covers various aspects of Tarot in an informative and easy-to-read manner. From fifteenth-century Italy to the streets of France, we trace back where Tarot originated and its uses. Tarot has a very rich and detailed history that takes a substantial amount of time to learn, so we have condensed the history's important bits into a single chapter for your benefit.

You will understand how the modern tarot deck came to be and the meaning of each symbol on the cards. The tarot deck is composed entirely of unique cards, each serving a specific purpose and telling a different story. Understanding what each of these cards represents can be challenging for any beginner, and, sometimes, it even confuses more experienced tarot card readers. Each card is covered in detail, so you will know what the card is telling you exactly. This is the first step anyone takes in becoming an expert tarot card reader, and this book facilitates by presenting a clear and concise meaning behind each card.

This book also covers in great detail the various types of tarot spreads. One of the most confusing aspects of tarot reading, this makes many beginners scratch their heads. However, we've explored it in an easy and fun-to-read manner. The chapter on tarot spreads will equip you to decide which spread to choose depending on the situation and the desired answer.

Combine all the information you gained about tarot spreads with the last chapter discussing how to use Tarot for yourself. This chapter allows you to read into your problems and solve them easier and faster. Without the ability to read your cards, you'll always be dependent on someone else who'll charge you more and might even do the wrong readings. However, with the skill of using Tarot at your disposal, you'll not be dependent on anyone else.

If Tarot has tickled your fancy and you are inquisitive, this book will be a stepping stone into the amazing world of Tarot. Tarot cards are always a crowd-pleaser, and people will love them when you make accurate predictions and readings about them. Moreover, there's a certain spirituality associated with Tarot, and once you learn how to interpret the cards, you'll realize how focused and calm you've become. Tarot heavily emphasizes destiny and accepting things as they come. So, who knows, maybe it was your destiny to find this book and learn Tarot?

The History of Tarot

"The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs."

– A.E. Waite

When you say the word tarot, the images that come to mind are usually associated with spirituality and fortune-telling. People think of everything from fairground fortune tellers to learning how to read their own cards, but there's a much deeper history to the art of Tarot than most people know.

Before you can start reading the cards, it's essential to understand their history. Knowing where they come from and how they work will help you develop a better connection to the cards, making learning how to interpret them easier.

After all, while the ways you read and interpret the Tarot have developed and evolved over the years, the cards themselves have mainly remained the same. Many people find that older decks of the Tarot are easier to work with – and knowing their history is an important piece of the puzzle.

THE GAME OF TAROT

Tarot today is undeniably linked to spirituality. However, the original tarot cards weren't used in divination at all initially.

The word tarot, as we know it today, can be sourced from the Italian word taroch (meaning foolishness) or tarrochi.

Card games were popular in 15th century Italy, and one of the most popular was trifoni, a 70-card game inspired by the Italian Renaissance festivals. The cards used in these games featured gilded edges and, crucially, hand-painted decorations and illustrations that featured allegorical designs and personified concepts.

By the 16th century, one of these concepts was that of the fool. The inclusion of this card in the game led to the name slowly developing from trifoni to tarocho. When the game was exported to France, the name was changed to taraux, and it is this French name for the Italian game that would later develop to the word tarot.

As the history of the name tarot shows, the original trifoni cards were used for entertainment and games. The first documented tarot cards can be traced to 15th century Italy, and the oldest surviving tarot pack comes from about the same period.

The cards were especially popular among the aristocracy, and wealthy patrons would commission artists to create unique sets of cards. Each deck of tarofi cards featured four decks – Swords, Batons, Coins, and Cups. They also featured trump cards, or cards that outranked the rest of the deck.

As mentioned, the designs varied from deck to deck, though classical and mythological themes were particularly popular. Additionally, the imagery was often designed to reflect the lived experiences of the players. For example, sets often featured prominent Christian symbolism to reflect the highly Christian world they lived in.

Although the rules of the game have evolved, the earliest known mention of the rules dates back to the 15th century in a manuscript written by a secretary to the duke of Milan. This rulebook describes a game with 60 cards – 44 had featured images of birds and 16 with featured portraits of Roman gods. The 16 god cards are the trumps and rank above the bird cards.

In this game, players would use the deck of cards to play a series of rounds or tricks. They offered either a trump card or a card from the same suit. At the end of each round, points were tallied based on each card’s importance, and a winner was declared.

Over time, this game evolved to 78 cards, the same number of cards found in modern tarot decks. The suit cards in a tarot deck used for divination are known as the Minor Arcana, while the trump cards in the deck are known as the Major Arcana. The suits also evolved, changing the names over time to Swords, Cups, Pentacles from Coins, and Wands from Staves, and used in occult decks today.

The game remained popular over the centuries and was exported to several countries, including France, Switzerland, Germany, and Portugal. The invention and popularity of the printing press helped spread the game of Tarot's popularity, as players no longer had to commission artists for unique sets. Instead, they could buy them commercially produced.

By the 18th century, the game was perhaps the most popular card game in Europe, though it never caught on in Britain and Italy. The deck is most commonly used for occult rituals today. Tarot games saw a revival in 1970s France and are still played in the country, while a version of tarocho is still played in Italy.

However, the 18th century would see tarot cards take on a whole new meaning.

TAROT AND THE OCCULT

The first mention of using tarot cards for occult and divinatory uses can be traced to a manuscript from the 18th century and written by an anonymous source, the document details the divinatory meanings of each card in the popular tarocho deck, the Tarocco Bolognese.

However, it must be noted that Tarot and the occult have a much longer history. In the 15th century, preachers referred to the game of Tarot as being played with the devil's picture book and, over the centuries, references to the game as a social plague persisted.

In the 18th century, fortune tellers started using regular playing cards as part of the divination rituals and cartomancy (fortune-telling through a deck of cards). At this point, popular attention turned to the game of Tarot, and many occultists and clergymen attempted to trace the lineage of the game to ancient Egypt and the mysteries of the goddess Isis.

Among the figures most credited for developing the occult lineage of the Tarot is the clergyman Antoine Court de Gébelin. He wrote that, after seeing a group of women playing the game, he was struck with the notion that the Tarot was