Tarot Card Meanings Revealed

The meaning of the cards revealed…

Tarot Deck Varieties

Posted in the Tarot Decks and Spreads category

The specific tarot reading you get and the symbolism and guidance it provides will depend greatly on the cards that you choose to use. There are many varieties of tarot card decks in use today, and knowing which provide what will help you in determining their meaning and power.

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.

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