Want to REALLY Learn the Tarot? Wear the Cards Around

The word Tarot is a disguised word. Originally it was spelled "Rota" meaning wheel. This came about because the Tarot card deck represents all phenomenal experience, the wheel of life. The Tarot is used as a living form tied into the existing Universe which makes it like a simulacrum of the Universe.

The Modern Tarot
The underlying symbology and concepts in the Tarot go back thousands of years. The modern Tarot was revised by the Order of the Golden Dawn for the purpose of working more intimately with the Tree of Life and for spell work. The modern Tarot was created by people who were members of the Order of the Golden Dawn. They designed the Waite-Rider, Morgan-Greer and Thoth decks. The tarot cards that we use at the Esoteric School are the Waite-Rider deck. This deck was created by Arthur Edward Waite with the artwork by Pamela Smith. All three of these decks however were created by magicians for magic. They can be used for:

• Straight divination
• Spellwork
• Working the Tree of Life (for doing a great work)

Other decks may serve one of these functions, but only these 3 decks were designed to do all three.

Minor and Major Arcana
The Tarot is made up of Minor Arcana cards in 4 suits and Major Arcana cards which are not in suits. The 4 suits of the Minor Arcana are Wands, Swords, Cups and Plates (or Discs). These match the 4 elemental tools. These cards are also numbered in each suit from Ace to 10 plus the court cards of Page, Knight, Queen and King. Major Arcana cards represent principles, concepts or ideals while Minor Arcana cards represent the many ways those principles manifest in the mundane world.

Wearing the Cards
Whatever you have learned about the Tarot from books and other sources may not be useful when working with the Tarot because the meanings are in the cards themselves. Don't try to memorize meanings of the cards. The Tarot originally was an oral tradition so the writing down of the meanings in some ways defies the tradition. Looking at written down meanings can be useful as a place to start, but you also need to strive to see the meaning of the cards as they pertain to specific readings. One way to practice this is to "wear" the cards. In other words take a card, possibly one per day, and really explore it and get in tune with it. Here's an exercise to get started:

1. Pick a card out of the deck. Spend a few minutes really looking at the card. 
2. Notice the symbols the card contains, the pictures in it and the number of each. Compare what you know about the 4 elements and what symbols show up in the card associated with a particular element. For example, if you see cups in the card, you know to associate that with the element of water and that water is the element dealing with emotions and feelings. 
3. Really focus all your intention on the card. Listen for the card to "speak" to you. You may see or feel it "come to life", see movement in it, hear words in your mind associated with it or notice changes in the brightness of the colors.
4. Absorb the energies of the card and carry this energy around with you for a day. 
5. At the end of the day note your observations as to how it affected your thoughts, feelings, behaviors and interactions.

This simple exercise will give you a more personal experience of the cards and their meanings and help you establish a relationship with them. You will find that creating an understanding of the cards in this way will allow you to see far more and deeper meanings when you do a reading instead of being stuck with a memorized definition and trying to make it fit into the reading. With a little practice and experience in doing readings you will find the Tarot magically come alive for you and through you.

Ready to learn more about the magical uses of the Tarot? Check out our Tarot Homestudy Course.

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Tarot Meanings: Why Keying Your Deck is Important

In studying tarot meanings it is helpful to know that the Tarot is in a sense a simulacrum of the Universe. The word Tarot is a disguised word. It was originally spelled Rota which means "wheel". The Tarot deck represents all phenomenal experience, the wheel of life. By keying a tarot deck, it becomes a living form tied into the existing Universe. In keying a deck, you become connected to the cards, are able to access information from the Universe through them and make a connection with tarot meanings.

When you begin to study the Tarot, it is best to not try to memorize the meanings of the cards. Originally the Tarot was an oral tradition so writing down the tarot meanings in some ways defies the tradition. Written tarot meanings can be used as a guide to get started but you should also strive to see the tarot meanings as they pertain to specific readings.

Keying your deck helps you get a sense of each card and begin establishing a relationship with it. You have the opportunity to take each card one at a time and really look at it, make it come alive for you and see various meanings it can relate to.

The easiest deck to begin with is the Waite-Rider Tarot deck. Your Tarot deck is like any other magical tool in that keying it personalizes it to you. Keying your deck connects it to your own energies and also to the Universe itself.

Keying the Tarot Deck
First put your deck in natural order which is:

• 2-10, Page, Knight, Queen, King, Ace of Wands
• 2-10, Page, Knight, Queen, King, Ace of Swords
• 2-10, Page, Knight, Queen, King, Ace of Cups
• 2-10, Page, Knight, Queen, King, Ace of Discs
• 1-21 of the Major Arcana with the Fool being the last card

The first card above should be facing down on the top of the deck and other cards listed in order go below it.

To key the Tarot cards:
1. Sit in South facing North.

2. Place your keyed Plate (Earth tool) and Tarot deck put in natural order in front of you.

3. Set up matching candles of Sun Yellow, White or Sky Blue on either side of the Plate.

4. Light the candle on the right (Wisdom candle) with a wooden match.

5. Keep the match lit and sweep it down in an arc over the Plate to light the candle on the left (Protection candle).

6. Again keeping the match lit, sweep it up in an arc over the plate to the flame of the right candle again. This creates a connection between the two candles.

7. Take the first card from the deck (2 of Wands), place it face up and upright to you on the Plate.

8. Look at the card. Notice the overall color of the card, the flatness of it and its dimensions. Don't focus on any particular detail. Keep your gaze soft and look into the scene.

9. Then begin to ask questions about the card like "What time of day is it?" or "Is that a town in the background?" You are not trying to get answers to these questions, just creating curiosity.

10. Keep asking questions until you see the card "window". It will feel like you are looking into the scene through a window The card will look like it is becoming clearer, more alive, 3 dimensional, more colorful or brighter. You get a sense of real understanding or relationship with the card. This can help you when you begin doing readings as you develop a connection with all the tarot meanings of the card.

11. Once the card windows, take it off the Plate and lay it face down next to the Plate.

Continue this process with each card in the deck. You do not have to do them all at one time if you become tired. You can mark your place and return later. If you have a card that will not window, you may have issues about that card. Put it aside and try again later.

Can you see now why keying your deck is so important in understanding tarot meanings? A book or other written meanings can give you a jump start to understanding each of the cards, but keying your deck helps you become intimately involved and connected to the cards and tarot meanings. Once you have keyed your deck you are ready to begin doing divination and tarot readings. Learn more about the Tarot, tarot meanings and how to do Tarot readings in our Tarot Homestudy Course.

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Tarot Meanings: The Magician versus the High Priestess

Whatever way you use Tarot cards, you have to have some knowledge and experience of the tarot meanings for each card. People often ask us what the difference is in the tarot meanings of the Magician card and the High Priestess card. This is a good question as both can represent a magical person. But there subtle differences and knowing the tarot meanings of each card can help you select which one is appropriate to use as a signifier in a reading or how to interpret it in a spread or just as a card individually selected from the stack. You can find full details of the tarot meanings of all the cards in our Tarot homestudy course, but here are a few differences in The Magician card and the High Priestess card to consider and get you started.

The Magician
This card is all about high level magic of the "hard magic" variety as opposed to "soft magic" which is more of the psychic or intuitive type. It would be used in the case of a person who has mastered the four elements and is able to control them by intellect and will. This is a person who practices magic and magical spells and knows the procedures well enough that he is able to produce results over and over again. If The Magician or Magi card turns up in a spread or reading, it could indicate that a spell has been done or needs to be done. That spell could even be one that has followed a person from a past lifetime. If the card shows up in a reading in a Reverse position in the past or present line, then it usually does mean there has been spell work done against them or that some inappropriate use of magic has come into play. The Magi card also carries tarot meanings for anything dealing with intentional miracle working or deliberate creation, working with magical tools, magical groups, teaching or studying magic and synchronicity.

High Priestess
The tarot meanings carried by this card can refer to a female magician or her use of magic. But it is also a women's power card and deals with intuition and religion. This card refers to subjects more on an emotional level than an intellectual level and deals more with issues of "soft magic" whereas the Magi is more appropriate for "hard magic". Other tarot meanings carried by the High Priestess card include religious social values or scripting as in the case of a religious "do-gooder" or people who pray for others without being asked for help or permission. It can be used as a signifier for a person adept in magic, especially a female, like The Magician card, depending on the person, the type of magic they practice and the skill level they are at. This is a card that would be more appropriate to use for a person coming from a religious base (whatever religion that may be) rather than from ritual magic training. It can also indicate, like the Magi, that spellwork has been done or needs to be done and can be used as a substitute for the Magi card if it is already being used in the reading in another position.

Summary
Now that you have an idea of what each card's tarot meanings are, you can see that the Magician card is a bit "higher" in the magical hierarchy. It would be used to indicate a very skilled and more formally trained magical practitioner whereas the High Priestess card is used more for someone operating in the intuitive, religious or psychic realms of magic. Both cards showing up in a reading can indicate that there is spellwork involved, either good or bad, but when the Magician card shows up reversed in the past or present line of a reading, it almost always indicates spellwork done on you or something inappropriate that magic has been used for. To decide which card to use in any given situation or to decipher tarot meanings from either of these cards that show up in a reading, this will give you an idea of the types of situations or people to look for that they could be representing.

If you are drawn to studying the Tarot, tarot meanings, and learning how to do different types of readings, check out our Tarot homestudy course. It allows you to move at your own pace in your own time while you take your journey into this fascinating study.

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Tarot: Should You Use the Lovers or 2 Cups When Reading on Relationships?

One of the uses for Tarot cards is to throw a reading for Tarot divination purposes. Divination is a means of obtaining information by psychic or magical means not readily available to the body's five senses. The major purpose of divination is to discover the influences, energies and probability lines that are active in our lives. Having this information allows us to exert control in our lives. When looking at the future through divination means such as Tarot card readings, there are 2 factors you need to understand:

• The future is not set or pre-destined. It may be changed at any time before it happens.
• Divinations concerning the future are only probabilities based on assuming that current influences continue unchanged. Any change in the present will change the future.

So when doing a Tarot card reading, if you find an unwanted future event, you can research to find out what events lead to it and change those events. That will cause the unwanted event to either not happen or happen differently than what you found in your reading.

Signifiers
When doing a Tarot card reading, a signifier is used. This is a card or cards that represent the someone or something the reading is being done on and/or the question we want answered. Different traditions use signifiers in different ways and some people doing Tarot readings today do not use signifiers at all. We find that using a signifier and keying it to the person and specific issues and questions give a more exact reading. When doing a Tarot reading the signifier is very important to getting the exact information you want. Results will vary according to which signifier you use. Therefore it is important to make sure you use the right signifier for the information you are seeking.

Lovers versus Two of Cups
Consider the meanings of the cards Lovers and Two of Cups. When doing a reading on relationships, many people think the Lovers card in the Major Arcana would be the natural choice and many Tarot books say this is the card to use. This is not accurate however if you are doing a reading on intimate personal relationships. The Lovers card is more for looking at higher spiritual relationships, karmic relationships, destined relationships or soul mates. This card indicates primarily a spiritual relationship that we planned when coming into this lifetime or strong spiritual ties and connections we have from other lifetimes. It could also be used as a signifier for relationship and balance to the overall higher aspect of community. It is a higher octave than the Two of Cups.

The Two of Cups is a better choice for intimate personal relationships. As a signifier it looks at emotional involvement of partnerships and is the love card. It also signifies reuniting, coming together and one on one intimate emotional sharing. This is the card to use in a Tarot reading as a signifier when looking for information on intimate emotional or passionate couple relationships of the mundane or worldly existence.

As you can see you would get different results according to which of these 2 signifiers you chose to use in your Tarot reading. As with all magical procedures, just think it through and pick a signifier that will give you the results to what you are seeking.

What are your favorite signifiers to use for certain subjects when doing a Tarot reading? We'd love for you to share yours in our magical communities either on Facebook or our blog. Share your favorite signifier and what situation you use it for and we'll send you a discount code to use on purchasing our Tarot Homestudy course.

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