Fascinated by Tarot? How to Make the Tarot Personalized to Your Life

The tarot is indeed a fascinating study that can be used in a variety of magical ways. Tarot spreads can be thrown for divination purposes to address just about any situation or question you have. You can also pick a card each day as a daily ritual to learn tarot card meanings, "wear" the card for the day to take on the characteristics it represents or as a way of getting messages from the Universe by studying the tarot card meanings you select daily. Tarot can also be used in creating Tarot spells to bring about changes and co-creations in your life.

Personalized Divination
Using the Tarot for divination gives you a direct method of obtaining information not available to the physical five senses by psychic or magical means. Magical divination is mainly used to direct our fates. By throwing tarot spreads for various situations in your life and interpreting tarot card meanings, you can discover the influences, energies and probability lines active in your life that pertain to the specific situation the tarot spreads are about. Having this information allows you to see what influences are affecting your situation and know where you can make changes to affect the outcomes in your future lines if you so desire. This is why the Tarot is such a valuable tool. Since the future is not pre-destined, you can change the future any time before it happens and using tarot spreads gives you the information you need to decide if and what you want to change.

Personalized Signifier
Many people using the Tarot today do not use signifiers. In our classes, we teach throwing Tarot spreads using a signifier. We feel this makes the reading more precise as well as more personalized to a particular person. The signifier card is a card selected to represent a person or a specific issue, question or situation. Signifiers are keyed to the person the tarot spread reading is for or to the situation or issue. This serves to make it even more personalized in addition to picking a signifier card for people based on chronological age and sun sign. Below are some guidelines for picking a signifier for a person, but you can't always pick a signifier based on the chronological age of the person. Also take into consideration how they act or behave. If you are doing a tarot reading for a child for instance who is particularly mature for his or her age, then you might want to use the knight instead of the page. We use the Waite Rider deck in our classes, but for those who use a Crowley deck, instead of using the page card, you can break it down further into sex by using the prince or princess. That deck also uses the knight as the adult male because according to Crowley there are no adult males as males never reach maturity.

Sun Sign Signifier Selection Guidelines:
Air (Wands):
Gemini
Libra
Aquarius

Fire (Swords):
Aries
Leo
Saggitarius

Water (Cups):
Cancer
Scorpio
Pisces

Earth (Discs):
Taurus
Virgo
Capricorn

Age Signifier Selection Guidelines:
Page – Conception to teenager
Knight – Teenager
Queen – Adult female
King – Adult male

So for example, if you are a Taurus who is an adult female, you're signifier might be the Queen of Discs and if you are a teenager whose sun sign is Leo then the Knight of Swords might be a good signifier for you.

Personalizing Your Tarot Deck
Another thing that makes the Tarot personalized to you and your life is taking the time to key each of the cards and the other magical tools you use to key the cards and in doing tarot spreads. Keying your own Tarot deck attunes it to your own personal energies. To key the cards in your deck you need a keyed Plate and to key the plate you need a keyed Chalice. That's a lot of keying admittedly, but taking the extra time to do these magical steps will make your Tarot experiences much more personal and create a connection between you and the cards. Using a keyed plate to key the cards sets up a magical shield for each one to protect tarot spreads from any outside interference including any doubt or negative factors you might have about a particular reading.

If you find you are fascinated with the Tarot and its many uses, you can learn more about it in our Tarot homestudy course or as a part of our Basic Magic class. Divination can empower you to take control of the direction your life is taking and give you the information you need to make decisions about where you want your life path to lead and what you want to attract to your life. And after all isn't that one of the many great reasons we choose to have magic in our lives?

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Tarot Card Meanings: Not What You Think

You can throw away the book that comes with the Tarot deck; the Tarot is a small mini-version of the Universe so knowing the real tarot card meanings is important. For example, the Death card does not mean physical death. You also many times have to look at the entire line in a reading to get the tarot card meanings instead of just looking at each individual card. For example if you have a line with Moon to Temperance to Star in a reading it is giving you a description of a path of spiritual growth. Knowing the lower level of a particular card or the next higher level can also give you information even if you just see the individual card in a reading. Here are a few examples of tarot card meanings you can get by exploring the cards instead of just reading the "book" description and how looking at the flow lines and understanding the meanings of the higher or lower octave of a card can give you extra information in a reading.

Death
Traditionally in magical and mystical circles, death represents a major, usually sudden, unexpected ending and beginning. This is along the lines of when one door closes, another one opens. It's not just an ending, but an ending which becomes a new beginning. Although it usually applies to something unexpected, it can also apply to something expected. It can be making a real positive shift or a real negative one, depending on how it shows up in the reading layout, but either way, it is a major happening in the spiritual realm, to the being as a spirit. It may or may not affect the physical level, but definitely works on the principle that all endings are beginnings and all beginnings come from endings. The Death card represents transformation and changes of cycles.

Physical death would show up in a Tarot reading possibly as the Ace of Discs reversed second carded by Tower or Sun reversed second carded by Death. The upright Death card could be interpreted as how you deal with change, whether you see change as positive or negative, how comfortable you are with change or your ability to complete cycles. Understanding principles of "As above, so below" would also come under the Death card as would the law of signatures, things that represent things, seeing the equivalency of things. It also could be referring to knowing when to let go, walk away, not repeating the same things over and over again, understanding the cycles and what they are showing you, in other words – "getting the lesson".

Moon
The Moon card represents the beginning of the spiritual journey. It shows a spiritual being, crawling out of the sea of emotion and embarking on the middle way spiritually. At this level, you can either begin spiritual progress or fall back into emotionalism. It is not a straight and narrow path but rather one that zig zags. The Moon card speaks of transformation of the emotions from lower levels of passion and greed and neediness to a higher level of compassion and understanding. At this level beings are more open and able to give from the heart, without expectations and manipulation. The Moon card showing up in a reading could indicate that a being has crawled out of turbulent or chaotic emotion, the living in drama, and embarking on the "middle road" in regards to the Tree of Life. The road ahead will have many perils as the being must face his issues and confront his fears, let go of self-absorption and crave something higher. It is the beginning of the journey for example when someone knows there is something higher but not sure what it is. It is the beginning of being open to intuition, the heart, all the water characteristics and letting go of expectations and manipulation.

Temperance
Temperance deals with the idea of balance being maintained. In the card, he is walking the tight-wire and you notice that his balance is internal. He has his emotions in balance and they are being held in place by a combination of intellect, will and feeling. He has to be constantly focused to keep that balance and make small motions to adjust, just as the guy walking the tight-wire in a circus. A certain level of self-observation and vigilance is implied and not from a place of apprehension, but a desire for something higher and the wish to be impeccable. He has to really pay attention and concentrate on what he is doing. This is the next step above the Moon card, mid-way up the spiritual pathway. Maintaining balance requires a lot of use of the will and constant alertness, it is not a natural state yet. The Temperance card represents a level at which constant choices are being made on a spiritual path. It's a spiritual choice card similar to the Two of Discs and Three of Swords on the mundane level.

One of the laws of Tarot says that a small change in the present produces a larger change in the future. When we are at the level of Temperance and walking the tightrope, we are making small adjustments, which produce larger changes in the future. Acts of power are ruled by Temperance as are attention or holding of intention. You have to let go of something lower to gain dominion over something higher. Willingness is important here.

The Star
The Star card is another issue of balance and is a step above Temperance. This card however refers to a person who has attained a point of spirituality where the balance is automatic. He does not have to pay the same kind of attention now as when walking the tight-wire as he is at a higher place inside. As a spiritual being, he is now in balance and this is reflected out into his external world. The Star is a balance card where conscious attention has now been acquired through past efforts and the balance is maintained as a part of the process of inner work. The effort and attention that were needed in Temperance are not needed here. The spiritual path has become a central part of the person's being, there is more of a sense of relaxation in efforts made. This card implies a huge level of spiritual attainment, the balance is much easier and instead of it being an internal issue, it is a radiative issue in that he is definitely affecting the outer world a lot. This card shows the beginning of true flow of manifestation. It is the point where we can start to project what we have to guide others.

So the next time you work with Tarot cards, really examine the cards and listen to what they have to say. Just taking the literal meaning from a book can often lead to misinterpretations and lead to disappointing readings. You can learn more about tarot card meanings and doing readings using Tarot cards in our Online Tarot Course.

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What Will Your New Year Bring?

Do you know what the new year will bring for you? Not sure? Itching to know? Then a Tarot reading might be just the thing. The Tarot, as practiced at the Esoteric School, connects the entire Universe to the Tarot deck, in essence shrinking the pertinent factors of the Universe's effect on your life to a manageable size--a reading. Don't know how to throw a Tarot reading? Then give yourself the gift of our Tarot Course this holiday. It's simple, fun, effective, and, best of all, will give you a heads up on what to expect in the coming year.

How Tarot Works
The Tarot is a method of divination that gives you a direct way of obtaining information by psychic or magical means that are not available to the physical five senses. Magical divination can be used to direct our fates. By throwing tarot spreads for various situations in your life and interpreting tarot card meanings, you can discover the influences, energies and probability lines active in your life that pertain to the specific situation. With this information you can see what influences are affecting your situation and know where to make changes to affect the outcomes in your future lines if you want to. This is why the Tarot is such a valuable tool. Since the future is not pre-destined, you can change the future any time before it happens and using tarot spreads gives you the information you need to decide if and what you want to change.

Making the Tarot Personalized
One of the ways we make Tarot readings more precise and more personalized to a particular person is to use a signifier card that represents and is keyed to a specific person or a specific issue, question or situation. Some of the information we use to select a signifier for a person are the Sun sign and the age of the person. There are exceptions to this method of selection, but it is a place to start. Here are the signs that correspond to the suit of card and age that relates to cards.

Sun Sign Signifier Selection Guidelines:
Air (Wands):
Gemini
Libra
Aquarius

Fire (Swords):
Aries
Leo
Saggitarius

Water (Cups):
Cancer
Scorpio
Pisces

Earth (Discs):
Taurus
Virgo
Capricorn

Age Signifier Selection Guidelines:
Page – Conception to teenager
Knight – Teenager
Queen – Adult female
King – Adult male

Situational Signifiers
Signifier cards can also be selected for situations and conditions. Some examples of signifiers for situations include:

Ace of Discs – money, the economy, body health
Ace of Swords – spirit vitality
Ace of Wands – mental health
Sun – general health (spiritual, mental, emotional and physical)
Justice – legal matters, lawsuits, legislation
Devil – large or long term material contracts, birth vision, spiritual contracts
8 Discs – job, work, business
10 Cups – marriage – emotional, family
4 Wands – marriage – mental
2 Cups – lovers, relationships, intimate emotional or passionate couple relationships
8 Wands – travel by air
3 Discs – career plans
3 Cups – friendships, emotional sharing among friends

As you can tell there is a lot involved in learning the Tarot, but it is a fascinating and fun magical study that can really pay off in giving you a way to take control of your future and your life. What a great gift to give yourself! Make it your New Year's resolution to learn the Tarot this year. It's easy to work into your own time and at your own pace with our online course.

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Tarot Card Meanings: Is the Devil Really the Devil?

If you have never explored the Tarot, you may have an advantage over those who have read books and other sources to get tarot card meanings. Memorizing tarot card meanings in a way defies the tradition since the Tarot was originally an oral tradition. It's OK to look at written meanings as a guide to get you started understanding tarot card meanings, but it is best to get meaning from looking at the symbols within each card itself and work towards seeing the meaning of the cards as they pertain to each individual reading. There are also many different Tarot decks available. In our Tarot Homestudy Course and Basic Magic courses, we have students get the Waite-Rider deck and this is our preferred deck for too many reasons to go into in this article. We also have students key their decks as that personalizes the deck to their own energies.

Basics When Looking at Tarot Card Meanings
There are two types of cards in the Tarot deck: Major Arcana and Minor Arcana cards. The Minor Arcana cards are in suits: Wands, Swords, Cups and Discs and are numbered Ace through 10, and the court cards Page, Knight, Queen and King. The Major Arcana cards are all the other cards and have a relationship to the suits, but are not tied to a specific suit. Major Arcana cards represent principles, concepts or ideals. Minor Arcana cards represent the variety of ways those principles can manifest in the everyday or mundane world. The principles represented in the Major Arcana are from past ideas that our culture has not been taught. When interpreting tarot card meanings it is wise to take this into account and avoid applying present day meanings to these past time symbols. Tarot card meanings also vary according to whether the card shows up in a reading in its upright position or is what is called reversed (meaning it is upside down) and according to its position in the reading and what other cards it appears with. This is why just memorizing definitions of cards will not give you the best readings. Having a general idea of what the card represents and being able to relate those meanings to a specific reading will give you a much better interpretation or "picture" of the reading as a whole.

Let's take an example of how to think about a particular Major Arcana card (as we do in our Tarot Homestudy Course) and see examples of the principles behind the card that you can use as a guideline. Notice also how we point out symbols on the card itself and how you might apply them to the meaning when interpreting a particular reading. The Devil card is one many people are familiar with and one that is widely misused in media productions.

The Devil
The Devil card does not represent the Christian Satan or evil. It is concerned more with principles of materialism and how we handle our contracts in the material world. In the Upanisheds, ancient writings from India, we learn there are two major errors. One is to become materialistic and the other is becoming overly concerned with spiritual things thus ignoring the material. Since we as spiritual beings have chosen to be here in physical bodies we have to strive to find a balance between the spiritual and the material. How the Devil card appears in a reading and what other cards it appears with can give us information on how we are doing in this regard. It can relate to how the spiritual being is doing in handling the contracts it makes through having a physical body and in the material world. This card is a good one for long-term contracts such as a house mortgage. If the card is upright, then you are handling these types of things well. If it is reversed, then these types of issues are being mishandled either by you getting too spiritual or too materialistic. In some way the two sides are out of balance.

When looking at the card, notice the pentagram is upside down. In the upright position this signifies going from upper levels to lower. If the card was reversed or upside down the significance would change to imply something going from lower to higher. Also notice the two beings on either side of the Devil. The chains around them are loose implying that they are bound only by their own choice. It can also imply that materialism doesn't have to drag you down, that you have a choice. You can see too that he is perched on a stand and having to maintain balance. Noticing these things in the card can also give you clues as to the meaning.

As we said earlier, much of the interpretation of the card depends on the other cards in the reading and where the card falls in the reading. Here are some other guidelines to consider when looking at The Devil card in a reading:

• How we spiritually work in the material world
• How we create an effect in the material world as a spiritual being
• How we are able to manifest in the material world
• How we deal with materialism
• How balanced are we between the spiritual and the material 
• Could be concerned with higher level contracts, those that cover a long span in our lives and hold to the Rules of the Road (Universal Laws governing magical practice)
• Contract dealing with birth vision or spiritual contracts made before coming into body

The Devil card deals with the higher and the lower. If you were looking at something to do with a contract just on the material plane then Emperor would be the card to designate this. With the Devil card you are looking at how it affects you on the material and the spiritual planes.

As you can see from this example, just memorizing a single definition would limit your interpretation of a reading severely. Looking at the reading as a whole and considering the arrangement of the cards, looking at symbols in the cards and having a basic understanding of tarot card meanings allows you to put together a much more individualized reading specific to what signifiers you are using and to the person you are doing the reading on. To learn more about how to do Tarot card readings and about tarot card meanings, check out our Tarot course in the Esoteric School store.

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