Medieval Origin

While no physical evidence remains, scholars feel that the earliest variations of playing cards came from Islamic lands before 1000A.D. Cards didn’t enter Europe, where more is known of them through records, until the fourteenth century. These, however, were not Tarot cards. The first evidence of what would grow to become Tarot cards is found in Milan in 1440. These were called ‘triumph’ cards at the time, and were not used in any occult way, or as any kind of divination tool. The original game was probably closer to bridge than anything else.

The Occult Influence

It wasn’t until the eighteenth century in England and France that Tarot cards became a tool of the occult and used to reveal details about people’s lives. At this point using divination tools was first popularized in France through Marie-Anne Le Normand, who would provide readings for Empress Josephine, wife of Napolean. She did not use Tarot cards herself, but her work spread the idea of using mysticism and the occult.

The Tarot de Marseille

A huge step on the road to the modern conception of Tarot cards was taken by Eliphas Levi who created the Tarot de Marseille. This deck was used for divination and has all of the elements of modern Tarot decks. Levi was able to relate the Tarot cards to the Qabalah and elements of alchemy, which increased their perceived legitimacy.

Tarot Cards in the New World

The introduction of the Rider-Waite Tarot card deck in the twentieth century brought Tarot cards into the main stream of popular culture. Waite obscured the Christian references in older Tarot decks and introduced the concept of painting elaborate illustrations on each card. This helped establish the symbolism of each card pictorally. Decades later Aleister Crowley would introduce his Thoth Tarot card deck which would introduce elements of other symoblic traditions to Tarot cards, as well as change some of the names of the cards.

Modern Tarot Cards

In the modern world it is easy to find Tarot cards of every variety practically everywhere. They are commonly referenced in pop culture, and decks based around comic book heroes or other popular icons are becoming more prevalent. The traditions began by the Rider-Waite deck and the Thoth deck are still the most popular incarnations of Tarot cards, but decks based upon other symbolic traditions such as Greek gods and godesses or power animals are increasingly seen. Tarot cards are now an established tradition in divination and the occult.

The Fool’s Journey

The fool begins life on a journey to find meaning and happiness. He begins with a simple innocence and faith.

The fool’s first encounter is with the Magician, who represents the power of positive creativity and the conscious world.

He next meets the High Priestess, who represents untapped potential and the mystic subconscious.

After learning about the nature of the self through these encounters, the fool next goes out into nature, as represented by the Empress. The empress also denotes warmth and nuture, which is exactly what anyone needs when embarking on a new quest.

The next encounter is with the Emperor where he learns about the structure and authority of the natural laws which guide the physical world. The fool learns that reality will not always bend itself to his will, and that he must follow rules and laws.

The fool next meets the Hierophant, who symbolizes education and integration into a belief system. Here the fool learns to be part of a larger existence.

Next the fool encounters the Lovers and through them the need and yearn for other people. The fool learns that the self is not everything and that others are necessary for a happy life.

Now an adult, the fool enters the world with confidence and pride. He is sure of himself and his self-disciple. This is represented by the Chariot card.

Life presents the fool with new challenges, which cause him to draw upon inner Strength and force him to realize the benefits of patience, tolerance, and the power of inner passions.

Eventually the fool becomes obsessed with finding the meaning of life, the answer to the simple question ‘why?’ and searches himself for answers, becoming like a Hermit at times.

After much soul-searching, the fool realizes the interconnectivity of the world as represented by the Wheel of Fortune. He accepts the roles of fate and destiny and the power of a universe without chance.

The fool now knows the causal chain of events that brought him to this point and seeks to rectify past mistakes. This is represented by the card Justice.

Eventually the fool will encounter some hardship that seems too difficult to bear. He will feel that his world is turned upside down, and that he has sacrificed more than he could possibly endure. It is at this point that he discovers the serenity inside himself. The Hanged Man represent this, a man who is upside down but seemingly serene.

At this point the fool casts off old habits and aspects of his life that no longer work for him. Through this he gains understanding that Death is not only an end but also the doorway to new beginnings.

After experiencing the emotional extremes of the past, the fool now embraces Temperance and delights in his health and well-being. He has integrated all the aspects of self into one complete package.

The fool’s pursuit of ever greater wonders eventually brings him face to face with his internal Devil. He confronts his internal hopelessness and ignorance and comes to understand the chains of the material that bind him to the world.

In order to free himself of these chains, the fool embraces sudden change as represented by the Tower. What seemed to be a fortress for the self was really his prison, and while casting this off may have been painful, the resulting revalations were worthwhile and meaningful.

After this tumultuous experience, the fool embraces serenity and is filled with the desire to share his love with the rest of the world. This inner peace is represented by the Star.

Yet in his state of bliss, the fool is susceptible to the illusions and misguidance of the Moon. The fool’s emotions are still not yet clear, and he finds himself bewildered and lost as deep-seated fears and anxieties rise from within.

Through contemplation the fool is able to shed the light of the Sun on all of these doubts and cast them aside. He feels a great vitality and is finally able to realize his greatness.

The fool now sees himself as he truly is. He has been reborn, absolved of his previous mistakes. The fool is now able to make a true Judgement about his life and his purpose.

Having now integrated all of the various aspects of his self, the fool is now able to reenter the World a complete and experienced person. The fool is now able to accomplish his goals in life.

A Journey Ended

The Fool’s journey is long and filled with strife but ultimately leads to inner peace and enlightenment. This symbolic quest represents what each of us must face if we are to achieve the same in our lives.

The Celtic Cross

This is by far the most common spread using in a Tarot card reading, in which ten cards are used. Five are arranged to look like a cross and four and positioned beside the cross vertically. The final card is layed across the central cards of the cross horizontally. The order of the cards reveal what aspect of the subject’s question they reveal.

The first card places is typically the significator.

The second reveals insight into the conditions which surround and contextualize the question. This overlaps the first card. Sometimes this can be seen to represent an obstacle that must be overcome or something which has not been considered.

The third card is placed above the first card and reveals the hopes and dreams of the subject. This can show what the subject truly wants to occur as a result of their actions.

The fourth card is placed below the first card and represents the past. This specifically reveals what the subject has already gone through and can be related to the entire spread. The past sets the context for the present and future, so this position is extremely important.

The fifth card is placed beside the first card to the left and also has to do with the past. This has less to do with what the subject experienced and is more general.

The sixth card is placed to the right of the first card and reveals insight into the future. This specifically deals with the outcomes or influence of potential actions being considered.

The remaining four cards are placed vertically in a row to the right of the cross. These are positioned from bottom to top.

The seventh card shows insight into the attitude of the subject towards the question being considered. This attitude may be subconscious, and may reveal insight into the true intent of the subject.

The eight card represents how those close to the subject will influence the question being considered. This typically refers only to family and close friends.

The ninth card reveals insight into the subject’s hopes and fears about the question. Many of these may be imagined or subconscious, but all are important to the subject and the question being considered.

The final card is called the Culmination card and reveals insight into the end result of the question. This wraps up the result of the previous nine cards and their significance.

The Orientation of the Cards

When each card is drawn during a reading it can either be upright or reversed. An upright card has the picture in its proper orientation relative to the reader. A reversed card is opposite - it will appear upside down to the reader.

Why It Matters

Some Tarot card readers place great significance in the orientation of each card when making their interpretation. They follow the principle that nothing in the world is chance, and therefore every little detail in a reading holds some meaning which can be divined. The occult is there to help us interpret our lives and aid in life choices or uncertainties - it would seem foolish to disregard anything during so powerful a ritual.

Interpretations of Reversed Cards

There are many different ways to interpret a reversed card, and each reveals new information about the subject. The first is to think of a reversed card as symbolizing the opposite of the upright card. For example, Strength is associated commonly with courage and conviction. A reversed Strength could mean that the subject was wobbling on important decisions in his or her life.

Another way to interpret reversed Tarot cards is to think of them as a more intense symbol of the upright card. Here the fact that the card is reversed is believed to draw greater attention to that card’s significance during the reading, as though Fate used her heavy hand to make the matter even more clear.

A third way to look at reversed cards is to view them as representing undeveloped traits in the subject. These cards call attention to underlying strengths or weaknesses that the subject has within that have yet to be developed.

The Shuffler

Some claim that reversed Tarot cards bear no extra meaning in the reading because of shuffling. When the subject or reader shuffles the cards, he or she is choosing with Destiny’s guidance the cards that will be revealed. Since the cards’ orientation is generally determined before the shuffling, they may not be representative of the subject at all.

Finding the Meaning

The specific meaning of reversed vs. upright tarot cards will depend upon the reading being performed. Since nothing in this world is without purpose or meaning, use every detail at your disposal to interpret the meaning of the cards.

The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the most commonly used in the English-speaking world today. If you chose at random to get a reading, it would likely be with these cards? So who made them and why are they so popular? The architect behind these cards was Arthur Edward Waite, an academic and mystic. He chose to place the strongest symbols represented by each card in the illustrations themselves in order for them to convey even more meaning. Pamela Colman Smith painted the beautiful illustrations on each card. The cards were initially published in 1909 by the Rider company (thus the reason for the term Rider-Waite) and have been in print ever since. The Rider-Waite tarot cards have been very influential in the world of divination, and many more modern decks are merely copied from this iconic masterpiece.

The Thoth Tarot Deck

The Thoth deck was conceived by Aleister Crowley, although it wasn’t published until after he had died. The illustrations of this deck are also rich in symbolism, but they draw upon a wider breadth of mysticism for their symbols. The Thoth cards use symbols of the occult from Egyptian and Chinese sources in addition to the traditional Latin sources. They also differ from the Rider-Waite in that Crowley renamed many of the cards. The court cards of the minor arcana as well as the Magician, the High Priestess, Strength, Justice,  Wheel of Fortune, Temperance, Judgement, and the World were given new titles. Crowley published an entire tome, the Book of Thoth, to explain the various meanings.

Hermetic Tarot Deck

The Hermetic tradition uses the Tarot cards as educational devices for learning alchemical philosophy and wisdom. This deck uses the archetypes of the arcana to reveal insight into the psyche and the imagination or subconscious.

Oracle Tarot Decks

These Tarot decks are used for inspiration and divination by using more modern or popular symbols of occult power, such as angels, power animals, gods and goddesses, etc. These decks do not follow the historical structure of Tarot.

Pop Culture Tarot Decks

These are Tarot decks which have copied the structure of the Rider-Waite deck but have replaced the symbolism rich illustrations with those from pop culture comic books. While they may be popular in certain crowds, they will never have the power and meaning of the Rider-Waite and Thoth decks for lack of occult symbols laiden in each card.

Know Your Cards

Knowing the power of the deck you are using for your reading will significantly help your ability to understand the meanings behind the cards.