⚝~ ☽ a beginner's guide to tarot ☾~⚝

Instructions

~⚝ a beginner's guide to tarot ⚝~ all information is in this description. the project has a picture of the celtic cross spread. ☽ part one: what is tarot? ☾ ~⚝ tarot is a method of divination. it uses a deck of tarot cards, which are not the same as a regular deck of cards. tarot readings are usually done to gain insight into the past, present, and future. they can be done by one person, either for themself or another person. the card meanings are usually not literal, and shouldn't automatically be assumed as such. ⚝~ ☽ part two: the tarot deck ☾ ~⚝ a tarot deck has 78 cards, compared to the 56 cards in a regular deck. tarot cards are divided into two categories: the major arcana, and the minor arcana. the major arcana consists of 22 cards that generally relate to big events and overarching themes. these are more well known cards; many are recognizable, such as card number 13, the Death card. the minor arcana consists of 56 cards that generally relate to smaller events and day-to-day situations. there are four groups: cups, wands, swords, and pentacles. each group has cards numbered 1-10 and a king, queen, page, and knight card. ⚝~ ☽ part three: basics of tarot reading ☾ ~⚝ shuffle your cards; this can be done by the person reading or the person being read. let the person being read choose the cards, and don't make any suggestions or try to influence the card they choose. tarot is a personal experience, and for it to work, both people have to channel their energy. personally, i recommend lighting a candle or two prior to the reading (even an LED candle works, if you can't light a real one) and maybe meditating together a little if you have time. anything works, as long as both people are channeling their energies. the cards that the person being read chooses will be laid out in a spread; spreads can have any number of cards. for the spreads we chose, that means either three or ten. ⚝~ ☽ part four: two common spreads ☾ ~⚝ there are tons of different tarot spreads to explore; for this project, we focused on two well-known, common spreads: the three-card spread, and the celtic cross spread. the three-card spread is exactly that: a spread of three cards, which usually represent the past, present, and future. (however, they can also represent three other similarly linked concepts; like mind, body, and spirit, or problem, origin, and solution.) ask the person being read to pick three cards, and let them order them however they choose. these three cards represent the person's past, present, and future. talk the other person through the meanings of the cards. they can reveal the future and decipher parts of the past and present. the second spread, the celtic cross spread, is a bit more complicated. it provides more detail for specific time frames, and is arguably the most famous tarot spread. any focal point can be chosen for this spread; a specific aspect of a person's life, or just generally. make sure that energies are really being channeled if you choose a specific topic. let the person being read choose ten cards. they represent: 1. the present 2. the challenge 3. the past 4. the future 5. above (goal, best outcome, aspiration) 6. below (underlying feelings/what drives the person) 7. advice 8. external influences 9. hopes/fears 10. outcome seeing an image of this spread is very helpful; i've put one inside the project. ⚝~ and that's it! thank you for reading, and i hope you learned something new about tarot. i hope to do more research and give information on the meanings of specific cards later; however, it's going to take a lot longer than this project did. i'll link it in the description when it's done!