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Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

An examination of tarot cards with healing.

Tori Thibault , University of Central Florida

This thesis examines the use of Tarot cards as a means of healing among individuals in Western divination culture. This research examines how biopolitical discourses affect individual agency when engaging in healing as a form of self-care, it also addresses the ways in which subjects negotiate their own subjectivities in contexts of self-care. I analyze social media discourses about Tarot cards and healing to examine the motivations for using Tarot cards as an alternative route for healing. This research finds that practitioners use Tarot as a means of therapeutic healing similar to talk-therapy. Another finding suggests that, practitioners make use of Tarot in spiritual and secular worldviews. Research findings also provide that practitioners create and reinforce identity through the use of Tarot. Finally, research findings suggest that most participants were able to create a community through the use of Tarot that establishes their own definition of self-care. These findings illuminate the ways in which a divination practice supports self-care and must be reconsidered in contexts of emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. I argue for a reconsidering of what it means to be a Tarot practitioner in a Western biomedical context in which methods of care are not always accessible. A better understanding of how Tarot practitioners use Tarot cards as a method of self-care can contribute to a better understanding of alternative methods to healing in a Western biomedical context.

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Graduation Date

Reyes-Foster, Beatriz

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College of Sciences

Anthropology

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CFE0009132; DP0026465

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0026465

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February 2027

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Masters Thesis (Campus-only Access)

STARS Citation

Thibault, Tori, "An Examination of Tarot Cards with Healing" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023 . 1161. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/1161

Restricted to the UCF community until February 2027 ; it will then be open access.

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Tarot cards: an investigation of their benefit as a tool for self reflection

  • Published 2009

2 Citations

From shadows: revealing academic anxiety through graphic design, closer and closer worlds: using llms to surface personal stories in world-building conversation games, 36 references, testing the validity of tarot cards: can we distinguish between a real and a control reading.

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Tarot Cards: A Literature Review and Evaluation of Psychic versus Psychological Explanations

Paranormal beliefs and the barnum effect, foresight and insight: the art of the ancient tarot., heuristic inquiry, the social construction of validity, risk perception and new age beliefs, the erik erikson reader, aspects of the feminine, applying educational research: a practical guide, related papers.

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Tarot cards: an investigation of their benefit as a tool for self reflection

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Bowdoin Science Journal

It’s in the Cards: A Dive into Tarot Card Psychology, Interpretation and Therapeutic Applications

April 21, 2024 by Gabe O'Brien '26

With a long history dating back nearly 700 years, Tarot cards have maintained a presence in society as a tool that is considered to predict the future and understand one’s inner issues, desires, and motivations. There are many conflicting theories regarding the origin of Tarot cards, with the predominant notion pointing to 14th century northern Italy (Tarot Heritage). Researchers claim that the major arcana of Tarot is based on the Egyptian hieroglyphic book of Thoth (the Egyptian god of wisdom), which is also known as the book of Tarot ( Willis 1988 ). But why do people still use Tarot cards, and what do we get out of using them? The phenomenon surrounding the use and interpretation of Tarot cards can be broken down into two juxtaposing explanations: paranormal and nonparanormal. The paranormal explanation claims that Tarot cards reveal hidden motives, portray opportunities, and offer a reflection of a person’s inner processes, allowing the cards to provide clarity regarding a person’s questions or conflicts. Meanwhile, the nonparanormal explanation claims that the entire phenomenon of Tarot cards can be explained by examining two simple psychological effects: The Barnum effect and “cold reading” ( Ivtzan 2007). Additionally, several modern therapeutic approaches have employed the use of Tarot cards as a tool for self-reflection, with Tarot card readings offering clients a sense of order and control in their own lives (Hofer 2009). There are several different reasons for why people use Tarot cards, and the associated applications of the cards can help to improve a person’s mental health when the cards are utilized in a therapeutic context (Hofer 2009).

Many standard Tarot decks follow the same 78-card structure, which is divided into the minor arcana (56 cards), and the major arcana (22 cards). The cards in the major arcana represent the main themes of human life, such as love, death, spirituality, acceptance, etc. The cards in the minor arcana represent subtle mysteries of life, and are considered to be lesser compared to the major arcana (Ivtzan 2007). Additionally, there are several different techniques for choosing the cards in a reading, with the most popular option being for the reader to ask the client to shuffle the cards while focusing on a question, spread the deck, and choose the cards that they feel the most drawn to (Ivtzan 2007). The use of Tarot cards has continued to flourish, even in western societies, and the popularity of Tarot cards is not an indication of reliability or validity, but rather a look into how using the cards can influence our thought processes and mental state. 

thesis on tarot cards

Figure 1: The major arcana of Tarot (Medium).

The paranormal explanation surrounding the phenomenon of Tarot cards is the approach that is acclaimed by occultists who believe that the cards reveal information about the quality of a moment for an individual (Ivtzan 2007). They do not believe that the cards predict the future as if it is fixed, but rather reveal information and potential circumstances about changeable events. By creating more awareness about the meaning of a specific moment for a client, this can help to provide the client with important insights, as well as a drive to take control of their own life and make changes that will be beneficial to them in the long run. Comparatively, the nonparanormal explanation examines the use of Tarot cards through the lens of psychological effects, with the Barnum effect being the most emphasized. The Barnum effect is the tendency to believe that vague predictions or general personality descriptions, such as those offered by Tarot or astrology, have specific applications to one’s unique circumstances (American Psychological Association). A Tarot reader may make general, trivial statements that could apply to anyone, and a client, eager to seek guiding information about their life, will accept these statements as truth. The major arcana of Tarot deals with themes that concern every individual’s life, so it is not difficult to come up with general statements about these themes that any person could be susceptible to (Ivtzan 2007). The other psychological effect that the nonparanormal explanation examines is “cold reading,” which is a set of deceptive psychological techniques that give a client the impression that a reader has paranormal abilities. The Barnum effect falls under the umbrella of  “cold reading,” and the techniques behind “cold reading” involve the use of sharp observational skills and a good memory when examining a client. Cues such as a client’s clothing, physical characteristics, and manner of speech can reveal a lot of valuable information to a reader, that a reader can then use to inform the statements that they make to a client regarding the topic of their reading (Ivtzan 2007).

Although there are underlying psychological influences behind the use of Tarot cards, Tarot card readings can still have beneficial effects on a person’s mental health when used in a therapeutic context. A 2009 study investigated how regular users of Tarot cards employed the cards as a tool for self-reflection (rather than for divination). The study involved conducting interviews with several co-researchers who used Tarot cards regularly and in a self-reflective manner, and the interviews from the study were transcribed, with the common themes and qualities that existed between the interviews being extracted (Hofer 2009). Overall, the results of the study found that the co-researchers used Tarot cards as a way to gain insight into their current life situations. The cards were found to be used the most often during difficult times where they could offer a source of comfort. This source of comfort involved providing confirmation that everything was okay and that life had a sense of order. 

On top of this, Tarot cards were also used as a tool for positive reinforcement, where cards were drawn both intentionally and randomly to provide insights about what the co-researchers were seeking in their own lives. With a goal in mind, some of the co-researchers drew a card and then kept it with them until what they were working on or towards had been resolved. They claim that Tarot does not reveal new information to them, but that the use of Tarot cards can help to provide a new perspective on an issue that can influence a plan for a possible course of action (Hofer 2009). 

By examining how therapeutic techniques involving Tarot have been successful for co-researchers who have consistently employed these techniques in their own lives, this study outlines how Tarot has the potential to be used as an effective therapeutic tool. Despite the foundational psychological effects behind the mainstream use of Tarot, Tarot cards can still have beneficial impacts on a person’s mental health and inner psychological processes. Further research surrounding the beneficial impacts of Tarot in a therapeutic setting would involve examining a greater number of participants from a wider variety of backgrounds, so that this research could be generalized to a larger audience. Regardless of the reasoning behind why a person may use Tarot cards, there is no doubt that Tarot cards have maintained a strong presence in society, and these cards have the potential to do more than just “predict the future.”

Literature Cited 

  • APA Dictionary of Psychology. “APA Dictionary of Psychology.” Apa.org , 2014, dictionary.apa.org/barnum-effect.
  • “History.” Tarot Heritage , 24 July 2011, tarot-heritage.com/history-4/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.
  • Hofer, Gigi Michelle. “Tarot cards: an investigation of their benefit as a tool for self reflection.” University of Victoria PhD diss (2009).
  • Ivtzan, Itai. “Tarot cards: a literature review and evaluation of psychic versus psychological explanations.” Journal of Parapsychology 71 (2007).
  • Macsparrow, Mark. “Many Major Arcana Cards in a Reading Means Many Changes Ahead.” Medium , 12 May 2021, tarotreadings.medium.com/many-major-arcana-cards-in-a-reading-means-many-changes-ahead-516becf2faf5. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.
  • Willis, T. Magick and the tarot. Wellingborough, UK: Aquarian (1988).

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Hermes, Jung and the Educational Potential of Tarot

Profile image of Adam Malone

2016, Originally written as a response to the given question "What are the Conditions for a Tarot Reading to be considered Authentic"

As a Tarot card reader the question of authenticity is an important one. The scientific scepticism and theological prejudice that both tarot reading and divination in general endure, often exists as a ‘hangover from history’ - a negative position inherited by people today regardless of their religious beliefs or scientific credentials. For such people the authenticity of Tarot cards and tarot ‘reading’ may well be difficult to prove. Yet regardless of the historical consensus, Tarot reading does still retain a place in modern popular culture for those intrigued by the divinatory act and its potential revelations. The irony of the sceptical position may be seen in the history and evolution of ‘divinatory consciousness’, in the movement away from the ancient world’s obsession with uncovering the ‘will of the Gods’, to what divination actually reveals for us here today. Those willing to take a seat in front of a Tarot card reader will often wait nervously in anticipation for the latest update, not from Zeus but on what is perhaps the modern minds most beloved subject - themselves!

Related Papers

Emily E. Auger

thesis on tarot cards

Inna Semetsky

The early draft of this paper has been orally presented at the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP) Annual Conference 2004 “Critique Today”, sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Division of SCMP, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 8-10 December, 2004, session 17 “Phenomenology, Semiotics, Ethics”. Thanks are due to Melissa McMahon for her insightful comments and suggestions at the session. This paper is a sequel to my earlier Roberta Kevelson Memorial Award-winning essay entitled "The adventures of a postmodern Fool, or the semiotics of learning" (in C. W. Spinks (ed.). Trickster and Ambivalence: The Dance of Differentiation, Atwood Publishing, MA, 2001, pp. 57-70) which analysed the phenomenon of Tarot readings in terms of Deleuze's method of transcendental empiricism and traced the Fool’s adventures as an experiential learning process. The present paper will not only address the implications of this philosophical method, that Deleuze has called both wild and powerful, but will also track continental thinking back to its phenomenological origins and Husserl's concepts of noemata and noesis. I will suggest that a singular reading creates a semiotic bridge that connects these two seemingly disparate “realms”. The tentative conclusion of the paper is that the interpretation of Tarot images provides a practical means for determining the meaning and content of mental representations thus addressing (albeit not solving) one of the problems of primary significance (namely: the theory of content determination) in contemporary cognitive science.

Suzy Suzana

✤ Tarot, a science that deserves study

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✪ A brief criticism against the futility that many treat tarot.

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Thomas Taylor

After their invention in Italy the Tarot follow the same route as the composer Giovanni Battista Lulli, to Paris. This leads to a look at the musical culture of Versailles and the transition from Masque to Opera. Also in the 17 th century, Louis XIV establishes the Academy of Sciences and Casaubon deconstructs the mythological origins of the Hermetic Corpus as various kinds of Realism possess artists and scientists. There is a quick skim through the origins of Freemasonry with diversions into the legends of Solomon and the Templars.

Spirituality and Health International

This paper presents Tarot readings from the perspective of projective hypothesis. Rorschach Inkblot Method and Jungian Sandplay provide some compatible frameworks for analysing the phenomenon of Tarot and its practical application as a counselling tool that may fulfil some clinically relevant assessments tasks. The feeling of the relatedness of the reader provides the necessary support for the client and brings congruence into the therapeutic relationship; especially when in this interaction the client's unspoken, yet projected in the layout, view of herself becomes validated. The paper presents the actual reading for ‘Sam’ whose Tarot spread functions as a projection of a series of psychic events and experiences that create a dynamic process of self-expression. Further, the paper asserts that projection has another meaning, namely: when functioning as the archetype of the Shadow, the dark side of oneself, which can easily possess one's psyche. Importantly, the Shadow can often become projected onto others, and one may attribute to significant others those qualities that one is tempted to deny in oneself. The integration of the Shadow, by means of becoming aware of its effects via Tarot readings, leads to therapeutic change.

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thesis on tarot cards

(2021) Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.

While Tarot cards are widely known as a fortune-telling tool, the practice of reading Tarot can also be understood as a spiritual practice. Tarot cards have undergone significant reinterpretations since their origins as a secular parlour game in the fifteenth century. Largely due to the influence of occult and alchemical thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, today Tarot has emerged as a mystical tool for divination, enlightenment, and spiritual self-help. This study seeks to understand the religious dimensions of Tarot for Tarot readers. Drawing upon the five dimensions of religiosity model developed by Rodney Stark and Charles Glock, this thesis reveals the inherent religiosity of Tarot reading for practitioners. However, this thesis also reveals the need for a more nuanced model of religion than that offered by Stark and Glock. The thesis argues that while the Stark and Glock model of religiosity can help reveal some of the spiritual dimensions of Tarot practice, its institutional bias fails to account for other important spiritual dimensions of Tarot religiosity.

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Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
URI:
Item ID: 15008
Additional Information: Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-140).
Keywords: Tarot, lived religion, New Age, dimensions of religiosity, vernacular religion
Department(s):
Date: January 2021
Date Type: Submission
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):
Library of Congress Subject Heading: Stark, Rodney--Criticism and interpretation; Glock, Charles Y.--Criticism and interpretation; Tarot cards--Religious aspects; Occultism.

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University Dissertations on Tarot

This section provides a listing of known tarot-focussed theses submitted for Honours, MAs, or PhDs. If a dissertation has been omitted, please do let me know .

   
  2010 PhD, Saybrook University, San Francisco : The interactions of intuition and creativity, referred to as intuitive-creativity, are widely reported as significant to innovations across professional and research domains. Intuitive-creativity is essential to decision making in ambiguous, complex, unprecedented circumstances and to actualizing potentiality. Yet, mainstream academic psychology has not provided a model for intuitive-creativity. A pivotal purpose of my doctoral research was developing a practical model of intuitive-creativity for decision making. Research questions included: Can research participants intentionally invoke intuition, creativity, and interactions between these processes via reading Tarot cards for the purpose of realizing new perceptions, ideas, and understandings about a subject of inquiry?

I designed a qualitative human science methodology with data collection procedures that included three purposefully selected participants reading Celtic Cross layouts of Tarot cards in a person-centered climate. Their experiences reading Tarot cards were: no experience, beginning practices, and 25 years of personal use. I served as a person-centered facilitator-researcher during the data collection phase. Participants framed opened-ended questions about personally significant, complex issues that they had been unable to fully grasp and work out via prior learned knowledge and usual problem solving strategies. They reported experiencing intuitive understandings and creative interpretations of intuitions that they had not realized before their readings and that they perceived as enhancing decision making about the issues that were the subjects of their readings. Research results and findings showed positive interactions of processes of intuition and creativity. Reading a Celtic Cross layout of Tarot cards displays important components of models for intuitive-creative decision making and for developing intuitive-creative intelligence.

A qualitative human science methodology integrating compatible components from experiential, hermeneutic, phenomenological, and thematic analytical strategies was used. Data collection procedures included three purposefully selected participants reading Celtic Cross layouts of Tarot cards in a person-centered climate. Participants framed opened-ended questions about personally significant, complex issues that they had been unable to fully grasp and work out via prior learned knowledge and usual problem solving strategies. They reported experiencing intuitive understandings and creative interpretations of intuitions that they perceived as enhancing decision making about the issues that were the subjects of their readings.

Qualitative thematic analyses using an inductive strategy were utilized to distinguish, describe, and interpret capacities and processes attending the participants' experiences of intuitive understanding and creative interpreting of intuitions. The essence of intuitive-creativity was revealed via an implicit level of nuanced transacting themes that the participants used to educe, clarify, deepen, expand, and/or evolve intuitive understanding and creative interpreting of intuitions. The transacting themes that emerged are actualizing intentionality, aware self-monitoring, empathic communicating, integrative introspecting, intuitive projecting, metaphorical probing, mindful imagining, open-ended questioning, predictive receiving, reflective converging, resonant verifying, responsive synchronicitizing, transdimensional percolating, and transformative reorienting. Throughout their readings, all participants experienced these themes and their interactions and they were each inspired and encouraged by their own actualizing intentionalities.

Results and findings showed positive interactions of processes of intuitive understanding and creative interpreting. They displayed components of a model of intuitive-creativity with applications to decision making and actualizing potentiality. They suggest the potential of such models for developing and strengthening the processes and capacities involved when intentionally educing and using intuitive-creativity in complex, changing circumstances.

 
   
   
  : Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell explored methods of encountering one's Other, or the anima / animus, while journeying towards enlightenment, a theme that recurs as part of the larger mono-myth expressed in dreams, world mythology, and the symbols and images of the subconscious. Jung particularly considered Tarot and its symbols as a device that can lead its users toward the anima / animus, the countersexual force within oneself. This paper gives a nod to the thoughts of Jung and Campbell while sharing a poet's exploration of the effect of Tarot on personal identity and transformation during the process and experience of writing poems inspired by Tarot as an MFA thesis at Colorado State University. Special attention is given to poems written in response to the (1990) King of Pentacles, Knight of Pentacles, The Empress, The Hanged Man and how the knight archetype moves among the poems.

 
   
   
 
(former provisional title: ) : This thesis will constitute a cultural history of tarot, tracing the changing patterns of use and the symbolism displayed on tarot cards from the deck’s first appearance in Early Modern Italy until the present day. It begins with a description of the structure and the origins of tarot and the ordinary playing card deck from which it evolved. Some popular theories of tarot’s origin are briefly examined, including the hypothesis that grants tarot an Egyptian provenance. An investigation of the documentary sources detailing tarot’s first appearances follows, pinpointing its beginnings to Milan in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. An accurate time and place of origin, and a knowledge of the prevailing attitudes and beliefs current in Early Modern Italy, help to determine the significance of the symbolism at that time.

The imagery of the three Visconti-Sforza decks which constitute the oldest extant tarot cards is examined. The trump sequence and the symbolism displayed on the trump cards come under particular scrutiny. The symbolism displayed elsewhere in Italian Renaissance art is considered in order to determine the significance if any, of that symbolism. Many scholars have ascribed an esoteric significance to tarot imagery but such conclusions are unjustified and in fact, the symbolism on the cards was common in Renaissance art and can be readily explained without referencing esoteric currents operating in Early Modern Europe. I will show that during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, people were primarily concerned with natural divination as a means of knowing the mind of God; hence the popularity of astrology, chiromancy and oneiromancy.

Tarot was not considered a suitable tool for divination. It was not until the end of the eighteenth century in France that tarot was used as an esoteric and fortune-telling device. The factors surrounding the change of function of the deck and how this change influenced tarot symbolism will be outlined. Antoine Court de Gébelin, Etteilla, Éliphas Lévi and Papus were significant authors in the development of occult tarot. Their theories of tarot origin and interpretation of its symbolism will be considered. Significant influences included the French fascination with all things Egyptian and the rejection of traditional Christianity. Éliphas Lévi was the first to ascribe correspondences to tarot, linking the deck with other occult systems particularly those of astrology and kabbalah.

Tarot was no longer known as a game and the modifications of the deck by esotericists made it unsuitable for such a purpose. The next significant development of esoteric tarot occurred in England under the influence of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which counted among its members William Butler Yeats, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Edward Waite. Waite’s deck became the most popular deck ever in the history of tarot. Noteworthy contributions added by the English authors included revised lists of correspondences which remain in use today and the association of the deck with the Grail legends erroneously ascribed a Celtic provenance. Under the influence of the Golden Dawn, the positions of trump VIII and trump XI were exchanged in order to better facilitate the trump correspondences with the kabbalah. Also, Waite was responsible for illustrating the minor arcana cards in order to facilitate divination; the first time this had ever been attempted. The final part of this thesis will look at the uses and depictions of tarot in the New Age. The New Age is syncretistic and eclectic; its thought derived from several different streams of religion and culture. Again, tarot reflects this syncretism in its symbolism with decks utilising imagery of a diverse range of cultures and esoteric streams.

In the true nature of the New Age, tarot also combines several different ideas so that astrological tarot packs or feng shui tarot packs are common. Tarot divination has shifted in nature from simple fortune-telling and use in ritual magic to divination facilitating self-development through healing and transformation.

 
   
   
 
( ) : In the course of my dissertation work, I have sought knowledge about what New Age is, contains, and conveys by looking at practice and rhetoric, how the participants act and reason regarding their commitment, as well as how the contents of the field is discussed. I have put an emphasis on the small details: the objects, the rituals, and the narrating. Using the tarot cards as a starting point, the purpose is to analyse and disclose practices and structures within New Age with the help of theories about cultural reserves, text, and discourse.

The dissertation starts from one sole New Age practice: tarot. Tarot cards are used and interpreted according to a particular ritual and manual. The cards can be bought in New Age shops and in ordinary bookshops. They are used privately, in groups, and professionally. In the right situation the cards form the basis of discussions, give rise to reflections, and are also seen as a link to an occult reality. The reading of the tarot cards inspires to reflect upon everyday issues as health, money, and relations. The tarot readers interpret symbols and pictures as well as mediate imaginary worlds. Tarot is one example of practice within New Age. Tarot is said to be an ancient practice dating back to Old Egypt and the Middle or Far East. There exist a great many sources and references aiming at legitimising the authenticity of the cards. Today, the practice of reading cards can be found in New Age.

A hundred years ago the reading was performed by poor or outcast women. Rider Waite Tarot and Thoth Tarot are examples of how tarot cards have been designed differently. The tarot card Death illustrates a central theme within New Age: changes in man and society. A meeting between a professional tarot reader and her/his client will end up in a dialogue regarding life, death, love, money, and work. The conversation primarily turns on the present and the past. The reader talks about earlier lives that are said to have influenced the client’s present situation. The Tarot reading demands a special setting, e.g. incense, rituals, or evocative music. The set-up of the tarot reading differs depending on who is participating, their actions, and the actual narrating.

The tarot readers vary their linguistic behaviour to achieve certain purposes. What is central to the practisers is the individual experience. It is based on the latter that beliefs are put together. They refer to energies, holism, conscious outsiderness, reincarnation, and extraterrestial beings/deities/forces. These themes are in one way or another common to most people who act within the New Age field. Despite its disparate composition, New Age contains some dogmatic themes.

Within society there is an order of discourse that is governed by and influence the way we act, talk, and think. Discussions about and within New Age is thusly governed and influenced by this order of discourse. New Age receives, or at least has received, a good deal of attention in media, which may be due to the marginal but challenging role of the field. This has, among other things, lead to practisers feeling obliged to clarify and legitimise their actions. New Age illustrates the conflict in our time between the rational and the irrational, between science and faith.

 
   
   
 
( ) : Le tarot de Marseille est un jeu psycho-spirituel créé au XVe siècle. Il appartient à la résurgence platonicienne et hermétiste, contemporaine de Marsile Ficin et de Nicolas de Cusa. Son inspiration implique un rappel de doctrines qui avaient été assimilées aux siècles précédents, à savoir le péripatétisme arabe et le judaïsme. Cette époque charnière, bas Moyen âge / Renaissance, connaît la querelle Avicenne / Averroès dans laquelle Dominicains et Franciscains spirituels joueront un rôle majeur. Elle vit le développement de l’alchimie, qui, dans une perspective de prophétisme joachimite, proposait une doctrine du salut et la résolution du problème de la pauvreté.

Cela donna naissance à un type nouveau d’intellectuel, l’intellectuel mystique. Le jeu offre, sur un mode symbolique, sur fond de psychologie avicennienne, une démarche de conversion de l’âme, qui, grâce à l’imagination active, se dévêt de ses « écorces », atteint progressivement au salut et à l’illumination.

L’époque ficinienne, découronnée de son ontologie, est une époque riche en productions et manifestations « imaginales » ; le jeu, qui lui est contemporain, est un rappel de la fonction « imaginale » de l’âme. Il peut, de par sa nature symbolique, faire redécouvrir ce que l’intellectuel des XIIIe / XIVe siècles, connaissait.

[ - may need some corrections]: The tarot of Marseilles is a psycho-spiritual game created in XVth century. It forms part of the Platonic and hermetic resurgence, contemporary to Ficino and Nicolas of Cusa. Its inspiration calls to mind doctrines that had been assimilated during the previous centuries, specifically peripatetic arabism and Judaism. This transition period, the low Middle Ages/Renaissance, saw the quarrels between Avicenne/Averroès in which spiritual Dominicans and Franciscans played a major part. It saw the development of the alchemy, which, from the perspective of joachimite prophecy, proposed doctrines of salvation and a resolution of the problem of poverty.

This gave rise to a new type of intellectual, the mystical intellectual. The game offers, from a symbolic mode, grounded on avicennian psychology, a journey towards the conversion of the soul, which, dues to active imagination, sheds its "bark", and reaches gradually with salvation and illumination.

The Ficinoan epoch, de-crowned of its ontology, is rich in its imaginative representation; the game, which is his contemporary, calls to mind the "image" function of the Soul. It can, by its nature symbolic nature, allow us to rediscover what the intellectual of XIIIth/XIVth centuries knew.

 
   
   
  1997 MA, Lesley College Graduate School : This thesis explores the use of Tarot, an ancient and mysterious system of divination which uses symbols depicted on cards, in an expressive arts therapy practice.

The thesis proposes a phenomenological use of Tarot (working with the perceptions and phenomenon presented by the client) over the traditional use of reader/therapist- imposed interpretation.

The value of Tarot in an expressive therapy practice will be demonstrated through examples of individual and group sessions using Tarot in a therapeutic way, and from personal journal entries and art work.

 
   
   
  : This dissertation analyzes the development and play of tarot cards ( ) in fifteenth-century Northern Italy, beginning with their origins in playing card decks imported from the Islamic East, then moving to the popularity of tarot decks at the courts of Milan and Ferrara, and concluding with the decline in taste for hand-painted tarot packs after 1500.

Through close examination of images of pastimes, legal and religious treatment of different types of recreation, and game treatises I argue that tarot was ideologically redefined as an aristocratic, moral, and private recreation in opposition to the playing-card deck's associations with the lower classes, gambling, and the public spaces of the city.

Final chapters on memory and gender detail tarot's reconceptualization within court culture first as an intellectual and then as a feminine pursuit that shaped "one's character" in moral, social, and sexual terms.

 
   
   
  : This paper is based on research conducted between 1992 and 1994 under the auspices of the Behavioral Board Science Examiners in California, USA, and for the purpose of satisfying requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling. In the current global climate permeated by diverse beliefs, disparate values and cultural conflicts (natural disasters notwithstanding), an integrative approach to therapy is paramount for maintaining public mental health. The purpose of this paper is not only to contribute to the desensitization of some preconceived ideas regarding Tarot but also so that the author may share the practical knowledge she have initially obtained for herself and which can be used as a means towards achieving people's well-being and emotional security, as well as making sense of different and conflicting experiences. The research subjects' verbal reports, as their immediate self-reflection on each individual reading, constitute the focal point of this paper.

 
   
   
  : assistance in locating an abstract appreciated

 
   

Tarot cards don't predict the future. But reading them might help you figure yours out.

Image: Tarot cards

In high school, my best friend and I would spend hours ensconced in her bedroom reading each other’s tarot cards. She had an intuitive talent for the deck of increasingly battered cards, but I did my best to return the favor using the slim booklet that came with it. Her bedroom walls were decorated with quotes and art prints and postcards — the things creative, book-loving teens collected like magpies — and the room glowed like warm, pink amniotic fluid against the night. We shuffled like Vegas card sharks, cutting the cards and spreading them before us so we could choose without knowing what was on them beforehand.

The slap of the well-worn cards on the bedspread felt satisfying as we laid them out one by one in a 10-card layout called the Celtic Cross , in which each card represents different aspects of the person whose cards are being read and their life. Although different readers use different layouts or techniques, every tarot is a narrative of which you are the hero (and the card in the middle), and the surrounding cards represent issues or people affecting you and the story of your life.

thesis on tarot cards

Opinion People love to hate astrology — but there's a good reason why millennials love it

Any given tarot deck consists of the 78 cards, sorted into what’s called the minor arcana and the major arcana. The minor arcana looks sort of like a deck of playing cards — it has four suits, as well as kings, queens and jacks — though there are 56 cards in tarot and just 52 in a standard deck, while the major arcana are the 22 cards we normally associate with the tarot in pop culture — Death, the Devil, etc.

Even beyond that, each card is packed with information — some systems rely on numerology (i.e. where the card falls in the deck), astrology, and the Kabbalah to give deeper or slightly different levels of meaning — and each deck is even slightly different. The Rider-Waite deck , though, is the one with which many tarot newbies begin, not only because it’s the most common and easiest to find but because illustrator Pamela Colman Smith ’s images are so colorful and clear and packed with symbols to indicate what the card itself means.

thesis on tarot cards

Opinion By virtue of being a woman, you are already a witch

There’s no one deck or way to read, though, which is why I leave it to the experts. No matter how many books on tarot and decks of cards I amass like dust bunnies, I don’t fluently speak the language of tarot and its more obscure meanings; it’s the equivalent of trying to read Proust in the original French when you stopped taking the language in third grade. I can pull one or two, three cards at most for a past/present/future spread, but, beyond that, I’m not ever really sure what I’m looking at.

At its most basic, tarot tells stories about the cycles of our lives. Shuffling the deck, picking out cards and laying them out in order reveals what different trials and tribulations we might face during any given journey. However, the cards in the major arcana don't necessarily represent us in a given reading; they might represent someone else in our lives, or symbolize more general issues. Tarot is a complex language, and every reading is different; similarly, every reader and the methodology they use to interpret the way the cards interact is different.

The people I have seen over the years to do my readings have all come from different backgrounds, have different styles of reading cards and use their own unique flourishes to work with clients, such as incorporating astrology and/or mediumship, or from a trauma-informed therapeutic background. (They all have told me more or less the same thing, though: Leave the manic pixie dream boys alone, and finish your damn book.) For the most part, they don’t do “fortune-telling” per se; it’s more about the deeper psychological symbols of the tarot and how we can apply them to everyday life.

A lot of the time, though, tarot simply brings up more open-ended questions instead of offering answers.

In 2017, for instance, I interviewed the famous Chilean-French surrealist director Alejandro Jodorowsky about his movie “Endless Poetry.” In addition to his work as a beloved cult filmmaker, Jodo is also an extraordinary tarot reader and expert ; he spent years reconstructing the Tarot de Marseille with Philippe Camoin, whose family had been printing the deck for centuries.

Years before, I’d attended a glamorously bizarre Halloween screening of his cult classic, “The Holy Mountain,” at the Museum of Modern Art, where my friends and I rubbernecked at Yoko Ono, Courtney Love, Martha Stewart and Willem Dafoe. During the audience question period, a nervous member asked Jodorowsky to give her a reading. In turn, he asked her to pick a few numbers between one and 22. She didn’t understand what the point was, but I realized that whatever numbers she chose would correlate to cards in the major arcana, and he would be able to give her a verbal reading on the fly. He did, and it left her stunned.

I was thus determined asked him to pick a card for me after my interview — something I could concentrate on or learn from. He’d reportedly been doing free tarot readings at a French café for years; as recently as 2017, a Facebook user posted that he still appeared on Wednesdays, as did a TripAdvisor reviewer.

thesis on tarot cards

Opinion We want to hear what you THINK. Please submit a letter to the editor.

He pulled a deck from his breast pocket — apparently, he carries the major arcana from the Marseille deck with him everywhere — and picked out The Lovers card. Everyone usually gets excited when The Lovers shows up in a reading, since we all assume that it means good things for our love life; but it doesn’t necessarily indicate romantic love at all. It can mean partnership, balance or even a choice. Every deck has its own nuances, and every reader has their own interpretations.

In most decks, the Lovers shows two people (usually a man and a woman) in a garden with an angel hovering in the sky above them, maybe in the Garden of Eden. The Marseille shows three people, and a grumpy-looking cherub aiming an arrow at them from above. Jodo pointed to the sun at the top of the card, from which said cherub was emerging.

“The sun,” he said, in his elegant, heavily accented English. “The sun loves everyone.” I’m still not entirely sure what he meant, but I’m positive if I ever figure it out, it will solve everything.

Jenni Miller is a freelance writer who covers movies, TV, sex, love, death, video games and assorted weirdness for a variety of publications online and in print.

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Two Sixteenth Century Essays on the Meaning of Tarot Cards

Cover of Con gli occhi and con l'intelletto

Around the year 1565, two men on opposite sides of northern Italy wrote down their thoughts about the moral lessons in the tarocchi deck. In the 1980s, both essays were discovered by playing card researcher Franco Pratesi, and were recently published in Italian and English as Con gli occhi et con l’intelletto: Explaining the Tarot in Sixteenth Century Italy. Generous footnotes and introductory material by Ross Sinclair Caldwell, Thierry Depaulis and Marco Ponzi put the essays in their historical context. This extremely important book shows us how a typical, well-educated Christian of the time would have seen the cards, without the distractions of occultism and Egyptomania that came a few centuries later.

Let’s look at each essay separately.

Francesco Piscina wrote Discorso in his early twenties while a law student in Piedmont. The material was presented as a public recitation then published by a local press. Only two copies exist, in a library in Piedmont and in a private collection. Piscina tells us his ideas came to him suddenly while watching a lady play the game of tarot — much like De Gebelin two hundred years later saying he was suddenly struck with the idea that the tarot trumps are Egyptian hieroglyphics while watching ladies play the game in a Parisian drawing room.

Piscina wanted to discover the moral lessons conveyed by the inventor of the game of tarocchi. To know this, the proper order of the cards is paramount, because the story in the trump sequence depends on knowing which cards are trumped by other cards. Piscina uses the trump order that was common in Lombardy and Piedmont and evolved into the Tarot de Marseille, with several exceptions that show the deck was still in flux in the sixteenth century.

World and Bagatto cards from soprafino deck

[Note: Better historians than I have just informed me that there were cards with the four evangelists in the 16th century – see the comment below. Now I’m more curious than ever to know what decks these two essayists had in front of them.]

Piscina admits the essay was written on a whim, and it reads as if he were speaking off the cuff, giving us a range of interpretations along with his own. This is a bonanza for historians, as we can get a sense of how the cards were interpreted by others, rather than being stuck with just one person’s idiosyncratic ideas.

Piscina devotes only two long paragraphs to the suit cards. He divides the suits into two categories, a common practice that survives in our red and black suits. He interprets the suits as two types of war and two advantages of peace.

At the end of his essay he does some wordplay on Taroccho , showing us the word means a fool or an idiot. It makes sense that the game may have been named after the most powerful and active card in the game.

The second essay is called the Anonymous Discorso . Presumably, it was never published, but five handwritten manuscripts are distributed among various libraries. From textual analysis, it seems the author was from central Italy and he used the Ferrarese card order, with a few variations.

The author’s aim was to fill a gap in the literature of moral interpretation of games by giving cards their due. Nearly half the essay is devoted to the suit cards, where the anonymous author follows a long tradition of finding moral allegories in the four suits.

He starts by telling us that games were originally idle pleasures, but they evolved into vices that fuel our greed when we play for material gain. The designer of the game wanted to teach us that all is vanity; that worldly possessions and pleasures evaporate, and we would be better off contemplating God.

The four suits depict lust for money, glory and gluttonous pleasures, with greed for riches underlying it all. He divides the trump suit into two sections with the Devil as the pivot. Trumps below the Devil show the usual human situation, inflamed with passions and heading for hell. Cards higher than the Devil show us the way out of entanglement in worldly vanity by contemplating God and rising to heaven.

These two essays are unfiltered voices from tarot’s distant past. They bring to light what certain thoughtful people of the sixteenth century read into the cards. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Franco Pratesi for discovering these rare manuscripts, and to Ross Sinclair Caldwell, Thierry Depaulis and Marco Ponzi for their dedication to tarot history, making it possible for all of us to read these essays.

I strongly recommend reading the review of an earlier edition of this book by the late Michael J. Hurst. He puts these essays in their context of the long history of finding allegory in the four playing card suits, as well as in dice, chess and other games. He also provides a translation of the first discourse we know of, from 1377, on the moral meaning of playing cards.

https://pre-gebelin.blogspot.com/2010/06/renaissance-tarot-two-xvi-italian.html

Get the book at Lulu

Il Bagattello and Il Mondo cards from Tarocco Soprafino di F. Gumppenberg, Milano 1835. Il Meneghello, Milano, 1992.

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Hello Sherryl, Yes, there is an older card with the four evangelists coming from Italy.. Look at my website on page http://tarotwheel.net/history/tarot%20development/the%20tarot%20of%20marseille/ancestors%20of%20the%20tdm.html This example of the World card is dated by several authors being of the 16 or 17th Century. Iolon

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Thanks, Iolon, for your correction. Ross Caldwell on the Tarot History page just gave me several examples. I really need to get up to speed on the 16th century.

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Home > All theses > 454

Theses - ALL

Creating visual metaphors by taking tarot out of context.

Dani Pendergast , Syracuse University

Date of Award

December 2020

Degree Type

Degree name.

Master of Arts (MA)

Robert C. Dacey

Illustration, Tarot

Subject Categories

Arts and Humanities

This thesis paper aims to describe how using tarot aspects outside of the tarot context can spark visual metaphors in illustration. Tarot, while famously known for as a tool of determining one's fate, is also a source of the many intricacies of the human experience. The 22 Major Arcana cards' meanings were analyzed, and key phrases from those cards were used as prompts to illustrate. The intention was that the key phrases from the tarot cards could help initiate creative thought and ideas for developing illustrations. The thesis starts with an introduction to common struggles that illustrators have with coming up with original ideas and how tarot may be a way to help with those struggles. The thesis then transitions into a brief history of tarot and its art to give context to the discussion. The next section dives into the creative process for illustrators, describing how intrinsic and extrinsic motivations create original content. The thesis paper's main body shifts to personal examples of how using tarot cards' key phrases can generate original ideas that are a product of intrinsic motivations. Phrases like "…a sprouting seed and the need to let go" or "confronting one's inner demons" are general enough that each person could think of an own personal experience that ties into those phrases, resulting in original ideas and illustrations. The final section of this thesis gives examples of how this process could be applied to editorial illustration and describes a successful application of this process in an editorial class. It concludes by stating that the project successfully sparked original content and promised to apply it to personal work and editorial work.

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Pendergast, Dani, "Creating Visual Metaphors By Taking Tarot Out of Context" (2020). Theses - ALL . 454. https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/454

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thesis on tarot cards

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Carl Jung and Tarot

March 31, 2008 in Tarot & Psychology , Tarot History & Research | Tags: archetypes , Carl Jung , cloud of cognition , Devil , synchronicity , tarot , von Franz | by Mary K. Greer

carljung1.jpg

On 16 September 1930, Jung wrote to a Mrs. Eckstein:

“Yes, I know of the Tarot. It is, as far as I know, the pack of cards originally used by the Spanish gypsies, the oldest cards historically known. They are still used for divinatory purposes.”

[Jung was not always right: Current historical research does not support an original use of the cards by gypsies, nor were tarot cards the oldest known. The ordinary playing card deck (with many variations) preceded tarot by approximately 50 to 75 years. Tarot appeared first in Northern Italy roughly around 1440.]

On 1 March 1933, Carl Jung spoke about the Tarot during a seminar he was conducting on active imagination, demonstrating that he was a little more familiar with these images than we would have thought from just the preceding letter. This is a transcript of his actual spoken words:

“Another strange field of occult experience in which the hermaphrodite appears is the Tarot. That is a set of playing cards, such as were originally used by the gypsies. There are Spanish specimens, if I remember rightly, as old as the fifteenth century. These cards are really the origin of our pack of cards, in which the red and the black symbolize the opposites, and the division of four—clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts—also belongs to the individuation symbolism. They are psychological images, symbols with which one plays, as the unconscious seems to play with its contents. They combine in certain ways, and the different combinations correspond to the playful development of events in the history of mankind. The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the knight, the ace, etc.,—only the figures are somewhat different—and besides, there are twenty-one cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment. It is in that way analogous to the I Ching , the Chinese divination method that allows at least a reading of the present condition. You see, man always felt the need of finding an access through the unconscious to the meaning of an actual condition, because there is a sort of correspondence or a likeness between the prevailing condition and the condition of the collective unconscious. “Now in the Tarot there is a hermaphroditic figure called the diable [the Devil card]. That would be in alchemy the gold. In other words, such an attempt as the union of opposites appears to the Christian mentality as devilish, something evil which is not allowed, something belonging to black magic.” [from Visions: Notes of the Seminar given in 1930-1934 by C. G. Jung , edited by Claire Douglas. Vol. 2. (Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, Bollingen Series XCIX, 1997), p. 923.]

In The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious (CW, Vol. 9:1, para 81), Jung wrote:

“If one wants to form a picture of the symbolic process, the series of pictures found in alchemy are good examples. . . . It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation, a view that has been confirmed for me in a very enlightening lecture by professor [Rudolph] Bernoulli. The symbolic process is an experience in images and of images. Its development usually shows an enantiodromian * structure like the text of the I Ching, and so presents a rhythm of negative and positive, loss and gain, dark and light.” [*a Greek term used by Jung to mean ‘things turning over into their own opposite.’]

Dierdre Bair recounts in Jung: A Biography (Little, Brown, 2003, p. 549) that in 1950 Jung assigned to each of the four members of his Psychology Club an ‘intuitive, synchronistic method’ to explore. Hanni Binder was to research the Tarot and teach him how to read the cards. They determined that Grimaud’s Ancien Tarot de Marseille “was the only deck that possessed the properties and fulfilled the requirements of metaphor that he gleaned from within the alchemical texts .” Hanni Binder’s work amounted to very little as can be seen from her report preserved at the Jung Institute in New York. The group disbanded around 1954.

What was behind Jung’s attempt to gather all this material? Marie-Louise von Franz recounts in Psyche and Matter (1988) that toward the end of his life:

“Jung suggested investigating cases where it could be supposed that the archetypal layer of the unconscious is constellated *— following a serious accident, for instance, or in the midst of a conflict or divorce situation— by having people engage in a divinatory procedure: throwing the I Ching, laying the Tarot cards, consulting the Mexican divination calendar, having a transit horoscope or a geomantic reading done. If Jung’s hypothesis is accurate, the results of all these procedures should converge. . . . [*a Jungian term meaning ‘the coming together of elements in the unconscious so that they form a consciously recognizable pattern of relationships.’ Christine Houde adds, “The constellated material is activa ted in the psyche of the individual where it attempts to erupt into the field of experience.” ] “[This investigation would consist of] studying an incident (accident) by the convergence . . . of a multitude of methods, with the help of which we could try to find out what the Self “thought” of this particular accident. . . . The generally rather vague formulations of divinatory techniques resemble these “clouds of cognition” that, according to Jung, constitute “absolute knowledge.”

Von Franz further explains that Jung’s “clouds of cognition” represents an awareness on the part of our conscious intelligence of a far vaster field of information, an “absolute knowledge,” within the collective unconscious. These images, on the part of a “more or less conscious ego,” lack precise focus and detail. Thus, the realization of meaning has to be “a living experience that touches the heart just as much as the mind.” She continues:

“Archetypal dream images and the images of the great myths and religions still have about them a little of the “cloudy” nature of absolute knowledge in that they always seem to contain more than we can assimilate consciously, even by means of elaborate interpretations. They always retain an ineffable and mysterious quality that seems to reveal to us more than we can really know.”*

On 9 February 1960, about a year before he died, Jung wrote Mr. A. D. Cornell about the disappointing end to his grand experiment:

“Under certain conditions it is possible to experiment with archetypes, as my ‘astrological experiment’ has shown. As a matter of fact we had begun such experiments at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, using the historically known intuitive, i.e., synchronistic methods (astrology, geomancy, Tarot cards, and the I Ching ). But we had too few co-workers and too little means, so we could not go on and had to stop.”

The experiment proposed by Jung is discussed in the Journal of Parapsychology (March 1998): in an article titled: “The Rhine-Jung letters: distinguishing parapsychological from synchronistic events – J.B. Rhine; Carl Jung” by Victor Mansfield, Sally Rhine-Feather, James Hall. The authors conclude:

“Such an experiment fits our description of not being forced, controlling, or manipulating, but it presents its own difficulties. How, for example, can we convincingly show that the divinatory procedures in fact converge, that appropriate subjects were chosen when an archetype was actually constellated, that the data was taken without biasing the interpretation, and that other extraneous factors are not distorting the outcome? These problems are not insurmountable, but to do more than “preach to the converted,” this experiment or any other must be done with sufficient rigor that the larger scientific community would be satisfied with all aspects of the data taking, analysis of the data, and so forth.”

rosengarten.jpg

In 1984, Art Rosengarten  (here shown with Tarot author, Eden Gray), as research for his doctoral dissertation, conducted an experiment very similar to the one described by Jung, in which he compared the tarot, TAT and dream interpretation. You can read about this experiment in his book, Tarot and Psychology: Spectrums of Possibility . I think Jung would have been pleased.

So what are we to make of all this?

Though not a direct focus of his energies, Carl Jung, nevertheless, recognized tarot as depicting archetypes of transformation like those he had found in myths, dreams and alchemy, and as having divinatory characteristics similar to the I-Ching and astrology. Most of all, Jung believed a person could use “an intuitive method” to understand—through tarot’s reflecting the collective unconscious into a “cloud of cognition”—the meaning in a present, prevailing condition.

See Jung’s own comments on the Major Arcana here .

ADDED: Here’s another statement by Jung on “clouds of cognition,” from the chapter, “On Life after Death,” in Memories Dream, Reflections , p 308. He states that in the “space-timelessness” surrounding an archetype there exists a diffuse cloud of cognition that contains “primorial images with many aspects” or “a “diffuse omniscience” but no discrete contents (that is, subjectless). For cognition to happen these potentialities [my word] have to be brought into space-time coordinates. Reading this entire chapter is absolutely essential to getting at what Jung saw as the source material for divinations.

“As I see it the three-dimensional world in time and space is like a system of co-ordinates, what is here separated into ordinates and abscissae may appear “there,” in space-timelessness, as a primordial image with many aspects, perhaps as a diffuse cloud of cognition surrounding an archetype. Yet a system of co-ordinates is necessary if any distinction of discrete contents is to be possible. Any such operation seems to us unthinkable in a state of diffuse omniscience, or, as the case may be, of subjectless consciousness, with no spatio-temporal demarcations. Cognition, like generation, presupposes an opposition, a here and there, an above and below, a before and after.”

For a different take, here is a bit of an interview with Jung on alchemy and predicting the future: “We can predict the future when we know how the present moment has evolved out of the past.”

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  • The Magician
  • The High Priestess
  • The Empress
  • The Emperor
  • The Hierophant
  • The Chariot
  • The Wheel of Fortune
  • The Hanged Man
  • Your Weekly Tarot Card Reading
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EXPLORE TAROT.COM  >  TAROT  >  LEARN TAROT  >  TAROT CARDS

The Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Learn about the cards that have the biggest influence in a tarot reading..

By Tarot.com Staff

The Major Arcana cards are the most recognizable and impactful cards in a Tarot deck . These 22 cards represent situations we all face in the grand scheme of life, with each carrying specific messages of perspective and guidance to help you in times of need. While the Minor Arcana cards focus on the everyday actions and decisions you must face, these Major Arcana cards reveal messages about the bigger picture of your life and its long-term direction.

Though each of the Major Arcana cards stands alone with its own deep meanings and influences, these 22 Tarot cards also tell a united story. The first card, The Fool, is the main character of this story, and his experiences as he learns, grows, and makes his way through life are represented by the 21 cards that follow. This storyline is a great description of the accomplishments, setbacks, and lessons we all learn as we go through the trials and tribulations of our lifetime, growing into whole, complete beings by the end of our journey.

Learn more about the Major Arcana card meanings:

The Fool | The Magician | The High Priestess | The Empress | The Emperor | The Hierophant | The Lovers | The Chariot | Strength | The Hermit | Wheel of Fortune | Justice | The Hanged Man | Death | Temperance | The Devil | The Tower | The Star | The Moon | The Sun | Judgement | The World

The Fool

#0 - The Fool

The Fool is young and vulnerable. He has not yet experienced the ups and downs of life, leaving him unaware of the magnitude of life's challenges, as well as the potential he holds. When The Fool comes up in a Tarot reading, you are encouraged to take on his open, willing energy and embrace all that lies ahead of you without worry.

Learn More About The Fool

The Magician

#1 - The Magician

The Magician card is a reminder that you are unique and have many gifts. These skills set you apart from the crowd and can help you begin new projects or overcome adversity. When The Magician comes up in your Tarot reading, it's a reminder that you already hold everything you need to move forward and accomplish what you've set out to do.

Learn More About The Magician

The High Priestess

#2 - The High Priestess

The most intuitive, connected card in the whole Tarot deck, The High Priestess is a card of awareness. This card urges you to listen to your inner voice and follow your instincts. Your mind knows far more than you think. When this card arises in your Tarot reading, stop looking for answers in the outside world. Turn within for the guidance you seek.

Learn More About The High Priestess

The Empress

#3 - The Empress

The Empress is the most feminine card in the Tarot, and greatly encourages compassion, beauty, and love. She is deeply connected to Mother Nature, and her influence is powerful when you absorb the energy of the natural world around you.

Learn More About The Empress

The Emperor

#4 - The Emperor

The Emperor is a card of leadership and power. He is an authoritative force who has been through many experiences to achieve this status. He represents structure and solidity, and reminds you that you, too, hold immense amounts of power over your own life, and what happens to it.

Learn More About The Emperor

The Hierophant

#5 - The Hierophant

The Hierophant is like a messenger from the heavens. He is experienced in spirituality and guidance, and his job is to bring these lessons down to us here in the real world. When The Hierophant comes up in your Tarot reading, you're encouraged to follow the rules, and to find a spiritual perspective on your current situation.

Learn More About The Hierophant

The Lovers

#6 - The Lovers

The Lovers card represents the close relationships in your life. If it comes up in your Tarot reading, your love life is in need of extra attention. However, this is just as much a card about your values and decisions. You may find The Lovers come up when you are at a crossroads. Consider all the possible consequences of your choices.

Learn More About The Lovers

The Chariot

#7 - The Chariot

The Chariot card is connected to your natural drive and determination, and can indicate an upcoming victory. This card reminds you that your greatest successes won't come through limited thinking -- when you combine the knowledge of your mind with that of your heart and spirit, you are an unstoppable force.

Learn More About The Chariot

Strength

#8 - Strength

The Strength card represents courage, the fortitude of your heart, and your ability to withstand anything life hands you. If this card arises in your Tarot reading, you are reminded that you're strong enough to handle whatever you are facing and will come out of it with even more power than you had before.

Learn More About Strength

The Hermit

#9 - The Hermit

The Hermit yearns to be alone. He knows that the only way to process what is happening in life is to withdraw from the noise of the world and create a quiet space of solitude. When The Hermit comes up in your reading, the answers you need will come from within. Be very still, and listen...

Learn More About The Hermit

Wheel of Fortune

#10 - Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune is constantly revolving -- sometimes you will be at the top, and sometimes you will be at the bottom. This Tarot card reminds you that nothing is permanent, and, good or bad, you must cherish the lessons that this moment is bringing you.

Learn More About The Wheel of Fortune

Justice

#11 - Justice

Justice is your firm-but-fair reminder that there is a consequence for every action. Whatever life is handing you at this moment comes from decisions you and others have made in the past, reflecting natural cause-and-effect. When this card comes up in your Tarot reading, make sure you are acting fairly in all your interactions with others.

Learn More About Justice

Does the Major Arcana have a message for you? Find out now with a FREE tarot reading! Find out now with a tarot reading!

The Hanged Man

#12 - The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man tells you that sometimes small sacrifices are required to benefit the bigger picture. When The Hanged Man arises in your reading, you likely want to make a move but don't know where to begin. Lightening your grip on what's no longer working for you, or detaching from the outcome of your situation, can help you release yourself.

Learn More About The Hanged Man

Death

#13 - Death

One of the most misunderstood Tarot cards, Death is not a card about physical death. The Death card speaks of cycles and is a reminder that all things must pass. Hanging on to situations from the past will hinder you from allowing new, better things to enter your life. In every ending lies a chance for a new beginning.

Learn More About Death

Temperance

#14 - Temperance

The Temperance card is a master of moderation. She encourages peace and patience, and reminds you to go with the flow of your life instead of trying to force its pace or direction. When Temperance turns up in your Tarot reading, it is a message to take things as they come, and remain flexible enough to change with the changes.

Learn More About Temperance

The Devil

#15 - The Devil

The Devil card carries themes of restraint and powerlessness. When it comes up in your Tarot reading, you are likely feeling stuck. The Devil has convinced you that you have no options, but this couldn't be further from the truth. You hold the keys to your own freedom, but it's up to you to open the lock.

Learn More About The Devil

The Tower

#16 - The Tower

The Tower represents destruction. It often comes up when everything in your life feels like its crumbling, and you have no way of stopping it. The message of this card is to just let it fall. The weakest parts of your life must be torn down in order to build something strong and sturdy in their place.

Learn More About The Tower

The Star

#17 - The Star

The Star is the embodiment of hope and healing. She is a calming influence that brings messages of renewal, optimism, and inspiration. When The Star comes up in your Tarot reading, she reminds you that the universe is working in your favor, and encourages you to have faith in where you are being taken.

Learn More About The Star

The Moon

#18 - The Moon

The Moon card represents hidden thoughts, feelings, doubts and fears. When The Moon arises in your Tarot reading, you may be allowing your fears to override your faith in the future. Don't be deceived -- you can't believe everything that you see, hear, or think. If you can draw your feelings to the surface and address them, you can rid yourself of worry.

Learn More About The Moon

The Sun

#19 - The Sun

The Sun is a powerfully uplifting card, representing happiness, joy, vitality, and optimism. When The Sun comes up in your Tarot reading, it is an positive sign that things are working well for you and that you're moving in the right direction. Lift your head and realize all the good situations and people that are surrounding you now and always.

Learn More About The Sun

Judgement

#20 - Judgement

Judgement is a card where your past and your future come together. You are being called on to review your decisions and your actions until now, to ensure they are in-line with where you ultimately want to go. The Judgement card reminds you that your future is not set in stone, and that it's never too late to make a change for the better.

Learn More About Judgement

The World

#21 - The World

As the last card of the Major Arcana, The World represents completion and fulfillment. When it arises in your Tarot Reading, you are exactly where you're meant to be. You have a greater understanding of who you are after all you've been through, and you're ready for the next phase of your journey.

Learn More About The World

More Insight

The latest articles, live more authentically with a free personality report, astrology 101: the big 10 planets, your 1st house of personality and self, illuminate your romantic path with a love quest potentials tarot reading.

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Planet Tracker

  • Sun in Leo 7.22.24 - 8.22.24
  • Moon in Capricorn 8.15.24 - 8.17.24
  • Mercury in Leo 8.14.24 - 9.8.24
  • Venus in Virgo 8.4.24 - 8.29.24
  • Mars in Gemini 7.20.24 - 9.4.24
  • Jupiter in Gemini 5.25.24 - 6.9.25
  • Saturn in Pisces 3.7.23 - 5.24.25
  • Uranus in Taurus 3.6.19 - 7.7.25
  • Neptune in Pisces 2.3.12 - 3.30.25
  • Pluto in Aquarius 1.21.24 - 9.1.24

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Tarot Card Meanings List

A guide to all 78 tarot cards, major arcana, the fool's journey.

The Major Arcana is a 22 card set within the tarot that is considered to be the core and the foundation for the deck. All of the deck is filled with archetypal significance, but this is most pronounced within the Major Arcana. These cards follow a storyline that tells of the spiritual travels taken from the innocent wonder of The Fool to the oneness and fulfillment of The World. In other words, these cards tell the story of humanity's spiritual evolution into enlightenment and individuation.

And so, as we follow the journey of the Fool, we can start seeing common parallels between our own stages in life and those in the cards, each card teaching a specific lesson and a concept to meditate over. Because they form the basis of the tarot, some readings can sometimes be conducted with only the Major Arcana as well.

The Fool Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Fool Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: innocence, new beginnings, free spirit Reversed: recklessness, taken advantage of, inconsideration Full Tarot Meaning

The Magician Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Magician Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: willpower, desire, creation, manifestation Reversed: trickery, illusions, out of touch Full Tarot Meaning

The High Priestess Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The High Priestess Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: intuitive, unconscious, inner voice Reversed: lack of center, lost inner voice, repressed feelings Full Tarot Meaning

The Empress Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Empress Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: motherhood, fertility, nature Reversed: dependence, smothering, emptiness, nosiness Full Tarot Meaning

The Emperor Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Emperor Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: authority, structure, control, fatherhood Reversed: tyranny, rigidity, coldness Full Tarot Meaning

The Hierophant Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Hierophant Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: tradition, conformity, morality, ethics Reversed: rebellion, subversiveness, new approaches Full Tarot Meaning

The Lovers Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Lovers Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: partnerships, duality, union Reversed: loss of balance, one-sidedness, disharmony Full Tarot Meaning

The Chariot Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Chariot Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: direction, control, willpower Reversed: lack of control, lack of direction, aggression Full Tarot Meaning

Strength Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Strength Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: inner strength, bravery, compassion, focus Reversed: self doubt, weakness, insecurity Full Tarot Meaning

The Hermit Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Hermit Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: contemplation, search for truth, inner guidance Reversed: loneliness, isolation, lost your way Full Tarot Meaning

The Wheel of Fortune Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Wheel of Fortune Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: change, cycles, inevitable fate Reversed: no control, clinging to control, bad luck Full Tarot Meaning

Justice Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Justice Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: cause and effect, clarity, truth Reversed: dishonesty, unaccountability, unfairness Full Tarot Meaning

The Hanged Man Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Hanged Man Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: sacrifice, release, martyrdom Reversed: stalling, needless sacrifice, fear of sacrifice Full Tarot Meaning

Death Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Death Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: end of cycle, beginnings, change, metamorphosis Reversed: fear of change, holding on, stagnation, decay Full Tarot Meaning

Temperance Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Temperance Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: middle path, patience, finding meaning Reversed: extremes, excess, lack of balance Full Tarot Meaning

The Devil Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Devil Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: addiction, materialism, playfulness Reversed: freedom, release, restoring control Full Tarot Meaning

The Tower Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Tower Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: sudden upheaval, broken pride, disaster Reversed: disaster avoided, delayed disaster, fear of suffering Full Tarot Meaning

The Star Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Star Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: hope, faith, rejuvenation Reversed: faithlessness, discouragement, insecurity Full Tarot Meaning

The Moon Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Moon Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: unconscious, illusions, intuition Reversed: confusion, fear, misinterpretation Full Tarot Meaning

The Sun Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The Sun Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: joy, success, celebration, positivity Reversed: negativity, depression, sadness Full Tarot Meaning

Judgement Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

Judgement Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: reflection, reckoning, awakening Reversed: lack of self awareness, doubt, self loathing Full Tarot Meaning

The World Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

The World Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: fulfillment, harmony, completion Reversed: incompletion, no closure Full Tarot Meaning

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Our tarot school of monsters and mischief awaits dive into the world of self knowledge and magic., suit of wands, energy, drive, willpower, creativity, power.

Associated with the element of fire, the suit of wands represents passion, inspiration and willpower. The wands imbue their users with primal energy, for it is through them that the cycle of creation can begin. Because of their ability to bring energy into any situation, they are also associated with action, ambition and making plans. At their worst, they can refer to situations that are filled with recklessness and lack of direction. As you follow the journey within the wands, you'll come across these themes again and again.

Knight of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Knight of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: action, adventure, fearlessness Reversed: anger, impulsiveness, recklessness Full Tarot Meaning

King of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

King of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: big picture, leader, overcoming challenges Reversed: impulsive, overbearing, unachievable expectations Full Tarot Meaning

Queen of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Queen of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: courage, determination, joy Reversed: selfishness, jealousy, insecurities Full Tarot Meaning

Page of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Page of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: exploration, excitement, freedom Reversed: lack of direction, procrastination, creating conflict Full Tarot Meaning

Two of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Two of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: planning, making decisions, leaving home Reversed: fear of change, playing safe, bad planning Full Tarot Meaning

Three of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Three of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: looking ahead, expansion, rapid growth Reversed: obstacles, delays, frustration Full Tarot Meaning

Five of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Five of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: competition, rivalry, conflict Reversed: avoiding conflict, respecting differences Full Tarot Meaning

Six of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Six of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: victory, success, public reward Reversed: excess pride, lack of recognition, punishment Full Tarot Meaning

Eight of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Eight of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: rapid action, movement, quick decisions Reversed: panic, waiting, slowdown Full Tarot Meaning

Nine of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Nine of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: resilience, grit, last stand Reversed: exhaustion, fatigue, questioning motivations Full Tarot Meaning

Ten of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ten of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: accomplishment, responsibility, burden Reversed: inability to delegate, overstressed, burnt out Full Tarot Meaning

Ace of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ace of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: creation, willpower, inspiration, desire Reversed: lack of energy, lack of passion, boredom Full Tarot Meaning

Four of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Four of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: community, home, celebration Reversed: lack of support, transience, home conflicts Full Tarot Meaning

Seven of Wands Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Seven of Wands Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: perseverance, defensive, maintaining control Reversed: give up, destroyed confidence, overwhelmed Full Tarot Meaning

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Suit of Cups

Emotion, feelings, intuition, relationships.

The suit of cups rules over all that is associated with emotions, the unconscious, creativity, and intuition. They frequently talk about relationships, whether romantic or otherwise, and one's imagination and inner world. They are associated with the element of water, which becomes a frequent visual theme within this suit. At their worst, the cups suit is fret with uncontrolled feelings, fantasy, and a disconnect with one's inner voice.

Ace of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ace of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: new feelings, spirituality, intuition Reversed: emotional loss, blocked creativity, emptiness Full Tarot Meaning

Two of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Two of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: unity, partnership, connection Reversed: imbalance, broken communication, tension Full Tarot Meaning

Three of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Three of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: friendship, community, happiness Reversed: overindulgence, gossip, isolation Full Tarot Meaning

Four of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Four of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: apathy, contemplation, disconnectedness Reversed: sudden awareness, choosing happiness, acceptance Full Tarot Meaning

Five of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Five of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: loss, grief, self-pity Reversed: acceptance, moving on, finding peace Full Tarot Meaning

Six of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Six of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: familiarity, happy memories, healing Reversed: moving forward, leaving home, independence Full Tarot Meaning

Seven of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Seven of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: searching for purpose, choices, daydreaming Reversed: lack of purpose, diversion, confusion Full Tarot Meaning

Eight of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Eight of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: walking away, disillusionment, leaving behind Reversed: avoidance, fear of change, fear of loss Full Tarot Meaning

Nine of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Nine of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: satisfaction, emotional stability, luxury Reversed: lack of inner joy, smugness, dissatisfaction Full Tarot Meaning

Ten of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ten of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: inner happiness, fulfillment, dreams coming true Reversed: shattered dreams, broken family, domestic disharmony Full Tarot Meaning

Page of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Page of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: happy surprise, dreamer, sensitivity Reversed: emotional immaturity, insecurity, disappointment Full Tarot Meaning

Knight of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Knight of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: following the heart, idealist, romantic Reversed: moodiness, disappointment Full Tarot Meaning

Queen of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Queen of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: compassion, calm, comfort Reversed: martyrdom, insecurity, dependence Full Tarot Meaning

King of Cups Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

King of Cups Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: compassion, control, balance Reversed: coldness, moodiness, bad advice Full Tarot Meaning

Suit of Swords

Logic, ideas, intellect, communication.

The swords is the suit of intelligence, logic, truth, ambition, conflict and communication. It is associated with the element of air. In readings, these cards focus on the faculty and power of intellect, which like the swords themselves, are double-edged. This can be used for both good or evil, to help and to harm, and our greatest conflicts usually come from this delicate balance. At their worst, the swords can be abusive, harsh, and lack empathy.

King of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

King of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: head over heart, discipline, truth Reversed: manipulative, cruel, weakness Full Tarot Meaning

Knight of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Knight of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: action, impulsiveness, defending beliefs Reversed: no direction, disregard for consequences, unpredictability Full Tarot Meaning

Queen of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Queen of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: complexity, perceptiveness, clear mindedness Reversed: cold hearted, cruel, bitterness Full Tarot Meaning

Page of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Page of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: curiosity, restlessness, mental energy Reversed: deception, manipulation, all talk Full Tarot Meaning

Ten of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ten of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: failure, collapse, defeat Reversed: can't get worse, only upwards, inevitable end Full Tarot Meaning

Nine of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Nine of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: anxiety, hopelessness, trauma Reversed: hope, reaching out, despair Full Tarot Meaning

Eight of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Eight of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: imprisonment, entrapment, self-victimization Reversed: self acceptance, new perspective, freedom Full Tarot Meaning

Seven of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Seven of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: deception, trickery, tactics and strategy Reversed: coming clean, rethinking approach, deception Full Tarot Meaning

Six of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Six of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: transition, leaving behind, moving on Reversed: emotional baggage, unresolved issues, resisting transition Full Tarot Meaning

Five of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Five of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: unbridled ambition, win at all costs, sneakiness Reversed: lingering resentment, desire to reconcile, forgiveness Full Tarot Meaning

Three of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Three of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: heartbreak, suffering, grief Reversed: recovery, forgiveness, moving on Full Tarot Meaning

Four of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Four of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: rest, restoration, contemplation Reversed: restlessness, burnout, stress Full Tarot Meaning

Two of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Two of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: difficult choices, indecision, stalemate Reversed: lesser of two evils, no right choice, confusion Full Tarot Meaning

Ace of Swords Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ace of Swords Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: breakthrough, clarity, sharp mind Reversed: confusion, brutality, chaos Full Tarot Meaning

Suit of Pentacles

Nature, body, material world, stability.

The pentacles is the suit of all things worldly and material. Though we will immediately think of the pentacles as relating to financial matters, we also can understand them as being associated with security, stability, nature, health, and prosperity. The pentacles are of earth element. When we see pentacles show up in a reading, they are usually concerned with your long term future, career, generosity, your household, business investments and your feelings of sensuality. The negative side of the pentacles show up as greed, jealousy, miserliness, and unbridled ambition at the cost of all else.

King of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

King of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: abundance, prosperity, security Reversed: greed, indulgence, sensuality Full Tarot Meaning

Queen of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Queen of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: practicality, creature comforts, financial security Reversed: self-centeredness, jealousy, smothering Full Tarot Meaning

Knight of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Knight of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: efficiency, hard work, responsibility Reversed: laziness, obsessiveness, work without reward Full Tarot Meaning

Page of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Page of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: ambition, desire, diligence Reversed: lack of commitment, greediness, laziness Full Tarot Meaning

Ten of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ten of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: legacy, culmination, inheritance Reversed: fleeting success, lack of stability, lack of resources Full Tarot Meaning

Nine of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Nine of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: fruits of labor, rewards, luxury Reversed: reckless spending, living beyond means, false success Full Tarot Meaning

Eight of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Eight of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: apprenticeship, passion, high standards Reversed: lack of passion, uninspired, no motivation Full Tarot Meaning

Seven of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Seven of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: hard work, perseverance, diligence Reversed: work without results, distractions, lack of rewards Full Tarot Meaning

Six of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Six of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: charity, generosity, sharing Reversed: strings attached, stinginess, power and domination Full Tarot Meaning

Five of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Five of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: need, poverty, insecurity Reversed: recovery, charity, improvement Full Tarot Meaning

Four of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Four of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: conservation, frugality, security Reversed: greediness, stinginess, possessiveness Full Tarot Meaning

Three of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Three of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: teamwork, collaboration, building Reversed: lack of teamwork, disorganized, group conflict Full Tarot Meaning

Two of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Two of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: balancing decisions, priorities, adapting to change Reversed: loss of balance, disorganized, overwhelmed Full Tarot Meaning

Ace of Pentacles Meaning - Tarot Card Meanings

Ace of Pentacles Meaning

✦  ✦  ✦ Upright: opportunity, prosperity, new venture Reversed: lost opportunity, missed chance, bad investment Full Tarot Meaning

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Here Are the Meanings of the Moon Tarot Card, According to a Tarot Reader

The Moon tarot card is the eighteenth Major Arcana card. Find out what it means, according to an expert

In cartomancy , also known as fortune-telling through cards, the Moon tarot card is the eighteenth card in the Major Arcana. These 22 cards in a deck of 78 represent life lessons and karmic paths. The Major Arcana starts with the Fool’s journey and ends with the divine knowledge of the World. 

The Moon card can be alarming to some as it makes us aware that the dreams we’ve wanted may be out of reach or that we must be more pragmatic to succeed. The Moon reminds us not to take what we see or read with a grain of salt, but to search for truth and to be cognizant of our surroundings. Not everything is real and not everyone is honest.

Pulling the Moon card in a reading can mean different things. It’s vital to decipher its meaning in a way that resonates with you. Also, remember that tarot foretells the energy at the moment you’re seeking answers so the outcome can change if the card influences you to take action.

Think of a clear question while shuffling the cards to get the best results. 

What does the Moon tarot card mean?

The Moon tarot card represents mystery, intuition, and imagination. On one hand, these are all excellent attributes that can lead to an enchanting and exciting life, however, they can create ambiguity and confusion.

If you are unsure about something you might pull the Moon card because it signifies uncertainty around situations and can indicate that you lack the knowledge needed to make proper decisions. This card suggests that you will have to do a lot of investigative work around the matter to be sure of the intentions of others and to understand your motivations surrounding matters you’re asking the tarot about.

Rather than finding a surface-level explanation, you’ll have to dig deep within yourself to comprehend why you are subconsciously drawn to environments that don’t ignite your passions and bring you joy and instead, create confusion. 

What does the upright Moon tarot card represent?

Pulling an upright Moon tarot signifies that there may be secrets brewing underneath the surface that you don't want to acknowledge or want to be revealed. It would help if you did not let these issues, whatever they may be, get the better of you and instead, take this as a sign to face your problems head-on. Try not to let the past haunt you and focus on how to remedy complicated matters and create healthier dynamics in the present.

Be aware that the Moon card can also indicate lies hidden from our sight, so it can serve as a warning. If something seems off, trust your intuition. Don’t let people gaslight you into not acknowledging your gut feelings, because chances are you are correct.

This card could also represent miscommunications and misrepresenting situations.

What does the reversed moon tarot card represent?

The reversed Moon card in tarot means it’s time for a wake-up call. Acknowledge that you've been living in a fantasy and are finally seeing people, matters and life for how it truly is. It also means it's time to acknowledge that you've been living in self-deception and that other people have been hiding truths from you.

Now that you’re aware, however, understand that these matters must be dealt with immediately. Whether or not you choose to confront others is up to you, but that doesn’t mean these people or endeavors should continue to be part of your life.

If you find yourself feeling anxious, that means it's time to disconnect and focus on how you can start the healing process. Moving away from the negativity is important since these relationships aren’t sustainable. It is vital to let go of the past because you are being held back and not living up to your full potential. 

What does the moon tarot card represent in astrology?

Astrologically, the Moon card represents the zodiac sign Pisces and the element water. Since Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces, it translates to the elusive, artistic, visionary, dreamy, unconscious, ever-changing, creative, spiritual and instinctual meaning of the Moon. It also depicts hidden enemies, magic, occultism, and enlightenment.

However, Neptune is also referred to as “the divine discontent.” This means that things or people are never as they seem. This tarot card reminds us to look closer and within to find the truth.

Again, the Moon tarot card is number 18 in the Major Arcana or Trump cards. Numerologically, eighteen is defined as a prime number to use in manifestation work — as long as one is clear about the intention, which can be challenging due to the lack of clarity.

Combining 1 and 8 (the two numbers of eighteen) brings us to the number nine, which defines a new horizon or path nearing. 

What does it mean when you pull the Moon tarot card?

Generally, the Moon focuses on intuition. What you do with the knowledge you’re receiving from the tarot is up to you. Also, it shows things buried beneath the surface that are illuminated by the Moon’s glow.

Here what the Moon tarot can mean for specific areas in your life:

Career: You are considering making a career change because you’re no longer in alignment with your original professional aspirations. Embrace the growth and process because it’s part of your job evolution. 

Finances: Don’t be too trusting when it comes to your money. Make sure that investments are legit and that you aren’t being scammed. Proceed cautiously and don’t fall victim to swindlers trying to steal money.

Love: Hidden emotions are coming to light. This alludes to issues arising. Matters can be resolved and relationships can be amended if both parties are willing to be honest and do the work necessary to repair the connection. 

Friendship: A frenemy could be a secret hater because they’re jealous. Be open with your feelings to transcend and evolve the friendship. You don’t have to give up on them but you do have to be honest with each other.

Family: Pulling the Moon card allows you to resolve drama and trauma in your family. Discuss your innermost sentiments with your brood and listen to their perspective. Find a middle ground to remedy the problem.

Health: You may be experiencing a lot of stress in your life, leading to extreme anxiety. Take a step back and relax. Focus on caring for yourself and finding a calm center to decompress.

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What Each Zodiac Sign Needs To Know About The Week Of August 19 - 25, 2024, Per A Tarot Card Reader

Strength, power, and pure brilliant joy.

  • Valeria Black

Written on Aug 15, 2024

Each Zodiac Sign Should Know Week Of August 19 - 25, Tarot Card Reader

This energy of this week's tarot card horoscope tells each zodiac sign that it's time to brush off the blues and say bye-bye to bitterness because August 19 - 25, 2024, is truly sweet and resplendent! But, before we look at the one-card tarot reading for every zodiac sign, here is a general tarot reading for everyone. We have the Three of Swords, Three of Pentacles, and Nine of Swords on the table. 

Weekly Tarot Card Horoscope From August 19 - 25, 2024

At first glance, they speak of warring ways, ugly feelings, and the need to take anxiety into full account. Yet, they also give us the solution to the problem plaguing us — full honesty. The truth will set you free. Once you stop brushing things under the rug or ignoring red flags, no one can pull the wool over your eyes or make a fool out of you anymore. This applies to family, friends, and everything else, too.

So don't ignore what makes you anxious. The anxiety is not the problem, but whatever is creating your anxiety is. Anxiety can be your friend, helping you to sense what's suspicious and under the surface. This week, you must be more observant. Once you embrace awareness, you will discover your true inner strength. Now, let's take a look at each zodiac sign's one-card tarot horoscope for the week.

RELATED: 2 Zodiac Signs Attracting Financial Success Throughout The Rest Of 2024

Weekly tarot card horoscope for each zodiac sign from August 19 - 25, 2024.

Aries: ace of wands.

aries ace wands weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Aries this week: Other Aries

Aries, you got the Ace of Wands as your tarot card. As a fire sign suit, this card aligns with your natural spirit. So expect only the best this week, including unexpected help from unexpected quarters as you venture forward on your chosen path. 

Now's not the time to be slow and cautious. Be quick, spirited, and confident! You will also find joy when you try a new hobby or allow another person to introduce you to a new form of creative expression, be it pottery, finger painting, producing vegetable dyes, or something creative.

RELATED: The Zodiac Signs With The Darkest Minds, Ranked

Taurus: Three of Pentacles

taurus three pentacles weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Taurus this week: Other Taurus

According to the Three of Pentacles, working well with others will bring you unexpected blessings. Don't choose just anyone to collaborate with. Mediocre partners will result in mediocre results, while red-flag partners will sink your ship. Just remember: you have your areas of strength, and so do the ones you team up with. 

Make sure to take the lead when it's your field of expertise instead of deferring to groupthink. Wearing a Clear Quartz or Amethyst pendant for greater clarity and inner peace is a great addition to your wardrobe this week.

RELATED: The Rudest Zodiac Signs In Astrology, Ranked From Most To Least

Gemini: Five of Pentacles

gemini five pentacles weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Gemini this week:  Cancer

Gemini, some weeks can be more challenging than others. As this week is close to the end of the month (not completely, though), some of you may face some financial constraints because of overspending earlier this summer. 

This card is cautionary against doing so now on luxuries that are best deferred to a later date, including expensive vacations. Keep a budget book to build better financial habits and to be more organized . Watch a few YouTube or TikTok videos on this first to get some creative inspiration!

RELATED: The Most Sensitive Zodiac Signs, Ranked In Order

Cancer: Three of Swords

cancer three swords weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Cancer this week: Leo

Cancer, the tarot card for you this week is the dreaded Three of Swords. It cautions you not to ignore red flags for the sake of false harmony or maintaining the status quo. Only you will suffer because of it while the rest go their merry way. So protect your heart from heartbreak and trust your intuition! 

Now's the time to close an old chapter if all it brings to your doorstep is more sorrow, pain, and the crumbling of dreams. Meditate on this and look for answers within. Saging your home and doing a ritual bath can clear away some of the stagnant energy and open you up to fresh ventures and clarity.

RELATED: Zodiac Signs That Crave Inner Peace, Ranked From Most To Least Spiritual

Leo: Nine of Wands

leo nine wands weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Leo this week: Virgo

Leo, you have done a lot to make yourself worthy of respect. But the road ahead is longer still, especially if you are an athlete, a business owner, or a budding actor/entertainer. The Nine of Wands urges you to stay patient even as you shoulder all your burdens and responsibilities with strength. 

Nothing can stop you if you can remain grounded and focused now. You are also encouraged to find ways to work out any anxiety or impatience from your system, as it's natural to experience that from time to time. Hitting the gym, dancing, or boxing are some good ways to accomplish this.

RELATED: The Most Affectionate Zodiac Signs Ranked From Touchy Feely To Standoffish

Virgo: Ten of Pentacles

virgo ten pentacles weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Virgo this week: Taurus

Virgo, the time has come for you to utilize what you have saved to invest in your future. Whether this is making a downpayment on a house, setting up a small business, or something else, you have the cosmic forces rooting for your success! 

Remember to honor your loved ones and keep them in mind while making this decision. Plus, lean into love and support wherever you can. You are not alone on this quest!

RELATED: The Laziest Zodiac Signs (& The Most Hardworking Ones), According To Astrology

Libra: The Lovers

libra lovers weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Libra this week: Capricorn

Libra, the tarot card for you this week is a major arcana card – The Lovers. Usually, it speaks of love and finding the one, but this time, it's cautioning you against romantic delusions. What may seem bright and sparkling on the surface may not be so underneath. So don't jump into any relationship or undertaking just based on initial vibes. 

You may find yourself saddled with unsavory individuals that way. Instead, look at the options before you and remind yourself that you have an important choice to make.

RELATED: Zodiac Signs That Are The Worst & Most Evil, Ranked

Scorpio: Temperance

scorpio temperance weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Scorpio this week: Cancer

Scorpio, sometimes it's important to be a little eccentric to discover the truths of life and its magic. This week, you are urged to do just that, per your tarot card — Temperance. It's a major arcana that speaks of many things, but at this time, it's urging you to blend energies or ideas that may appear disparate on the surface even as you remain open-minded. 

You will find something unique and astonishing if you can do this. If you feel called to, maintain an observation journal to catch more ephemeral ideas of this kind!

RELATED: Zodiac Signs That Make Great Wives, Ranked From Best To Worst

Sagittarius: Ace of Pentacles

sagittarius ace pentacles weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Sagittarius this week: Cancer

Sagittarius, this week you can start something new. You can establish a new order, like making new friends or social connections that enable you to keep growing and thriving in life. The Ace of Pentacles is often called a seed. So, while it speaks of potential and dreams for the future, know that dreams only become a reality when the seeds of it are watered and nurtured well. 

You are also encouraged to be more mindful of the people you surround yourself with. Heavy pessimism masquerading as realism can block your native creativity. Almost like those people who strike down a child's dream to be an astronaut or a famous movie star just because they cannot see how that can be achieved.

RELATED: The Most Attractive Zodiac Signs In Astrology, Ranked

Capricorn: Four of Pentacles

capricorn four pentacles weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Capricorn this week: Gemini

Capricorn, the time has come for you to ground yourself and make an important decision. Who will you allow on this journey with you? And who will you leave behind?

Friends may not always make the best business partners. But business partners and connections don't always become friends either. So be mindful. You will know who to go all-in with and who may be only interested in selfish pursuits. 

RELATED: Zodiac Signs Ranked From Nicest To Meanest, According To Astrology

Aquarius: Judgment

aquarius judgment weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Aquarius this week: Pisces

Aquarius, anytime anyone tells you that something cannot be done, ask yourself why they are so certain. The world we live in is too fantastical, even from the perspective of someone in the 17th century, for such comments to be true. Outdated ideas are what you need to watch out for this week, per your tarot card.  

Judgment is a major arcana, so this message should not be brushed off! The right mindset will raise you beyond what you believe you are capable while the wrong one will keep you small.

RELATED: Best Zodiac Couples, Ranked From Most To Least Compatible

Pisces: Eight of Wands

pisces eight wands weekly tarot august 19-25, 2024

The most compatible zodiac sign for Pisces this week: Leo

Pisces, the time has come for you to be more confident and self-assured. You have got what it takes, but self-sabotage will ruin your progress if you let it. The Eight of Wands reminds you that imposter syndrome is a lie. There's also no such thing as perfection. But what's true is the ability to learn, grow, have grit, patience, and so much more. 

If you stumble today, it does not mean you will continue to stumble forever. If you feel called to, meditate on this, and it will help you move forward with greater confidence and strength.

RELATED: The Most Popular Zodiac Signs In Astrology, Ranked

Valeria Black is a Tarot Card Reader, astrologer and YouTuber with expertise in charm-casting, runes, and all things magic. She writes about astrology, tarot and spirituality.

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Klaus' tarot scene secretly reveals the umbrella academy's ending 4 episodes early.

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The Umbrella Academy: Biggest Plot Holes & Questions After Season 4

The umbrella academy finally explains what happened to reginald's home planet, klaus' immortality & powers in the umbrella academy explained.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4.

  • The Umbrella Academy season 4's controversial ending is hinted at during Klaus' tarot reading four episodes earlier.
  • The finale sees the Hargreeves sacrificing themselves to reset the universe, which is in line with Klaus pulling the Ten of Swords.
  • Klaus' tarot reading proves that the Cleanse is inevitable, just as the Fives in the alternate timeline suggest.

The Umbrella Academy season 4 delivers a surprising and controversial ending for the Netflix show, and Klaus Hargreeves' tarot scene actually gives it away four episodes early . The Umbrella Academy season 4's ending sees the Cleanse finally happening, as the Marigold and Durango inside Ben and Jennifer cause them to merge into an unstoppable monster. The Hargreeves siblings sacrifice themselves to reset the universe one last time, eliminating all the breaks in the timeline their existence has created.

The Hargreeves cease to exist in the series finale, and many viewers feel this isn't the ending The Umbrella Academy deserved . This explains the show's broken Rotten Tomatoes streak , though it's hard to say if there's any other way season 4 could have gone. While it would have been nice to have more episodes leading up to the Cleanse, the concept of the Hargreeves breaking the universe isn't that far-fetched . And Klaus' tarot cards seem to deem their fates inevitable, as they perfectly predict the events of the finale.

Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves with burning red eyes with the Hargreeves and Lila standing in a circle behind him in The Umbrella Academy season 4

The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy might have concluded the series, but it wasn't without several absolutely glaring plot holes.

Klaus' Tarot Cards Perfectly Predict The Umbrella Academy's Ending

The lovers, the tower, & the ten of swords perfectly predict season 4.

Robert Sheehan as Klaus Hargreeves spreading sage in The Umbrella Academy season 4.

The Umbrella Academy season 4, episode 2 finds Klaus doing a tarot reading for himself while his siblings embark on a mission. As they explore the hostile town of New Grumpson, Klaus pulls three cards — and they predict exactly what's in store for him and his siblings . The first card Klaus pulls is The Lovers, followed by The Tower. The Lovers represent Ben and Jennifer, who kickstart the entire conflict of The Umbrella Academy season 4. Meanwhile, The Tower is a symbol of chaos and disruption, both of which Ben and Jennifer cause through the Cleanse.

Eagle-eyed viewers could have predicted the show's conclusion several episodes early.

Finally, the last card Klaus pulls is what he describes as " the card of death. " It's actually the Ten of Swords, which is more ominous than the Death card — and more indicative of the Hargreeves' fates. While the Death card is often associated with rebirth, the Ten of Swords heralds " a painful yet inevitable ending " (via Biddy Tarot ). This is precisely what the siblings face during The Umbrella Academy season 4's finale. Needless to say, eagle-eyed viewers could have predicted the show's conclusion several episodes early.

Klaus' Tarot Scene Proves The Cleanse Was Always Inevitable

The hargreeves were never going to stop it.

The Umbrella Academy season 4 Abigail and Reginald awaiting the Cleanse monster

Klaus' tarot reading proves that the Cleanse was inevitable in The Umbrella Academy season 4 , confirming that the Hargreeves couldn't have stopped it with a new plan or more effort. Number Five's trip to the diner full of Fives also reveals this, but seeing it laid out four episodes early really makes the characters' attempts feel futile. Viewers may not appreciate the Hargreeves' tragic ending, but it seems this was always the plan for them. The Umbrella Academy is clever to drop this early hint and emphasize that fact.

Source: Biddy Tarot

The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Poster Showing Five Walking

The Umbrella Academy

Not available

The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book of the same name created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The Hargreeves — collectively known as The Umbrella Academy — were born with superpowers, and their adoptive father utilized their abilities. However, as they grew older, the siblings grew apart as they dealt with their trauma. They are brought back together after their father dies and Five returns from the future with grave news: The world will end, and The Umbrella Academy has to stop it before it happens.

The Umbrella Academy (2019)

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Biblical Tarot Deck: A 78-Card Deck &amp; Guidebook. Unique, Based on The Wisdom of The Bible. Premium Quality. Flexible and Easy to Shuffle. High Detail Print. Full Size - 4.75x2.75 (Second Edition)

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Deck: A 78-Card Deck & Guidebook. Unique, Based on The Wisdom of The Bible. Premium Quality. Flexible and Easy to Shuffle. High Detail Print. Full Size - 4.75x2.75 (Second Edition)

  • Beautiful artwork, based on Biblical stories and characters.
  • High-quality print.
  • Flexible and easy to shuffle.
  • Reversible back design.
  • Luxury box with magnetic closure.

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Package Dimensions 5.28 x 3.35 x 1.85 inches
Item Weight 11.3 ounces
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By exploring these archetypal figures through the lens of biblical stories, the deck offers users a pathway to profound self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.

Biblical Tarot Deck

Biblical Tarot allows seekers to interact with and form a personal connection to the biblical narratives, seeing them not just as historical or mythical accounts but as stories with personal and spiritual significance.

Each card in a Biblical Tarot deck typically features imagery or symbols that represent a specific biblical story or character. This visual representation helps to bring these stories to life, making them more memorable and easier to understand, especially for visual learners.

Tarot cards can be arranged in various spreads that tell a story or highlight relationships between different biblical narratives. This can help learners see how different parts of the Bible connect with each other, providing a broader understanding of biblical teachings.

By associating each tarot card with a biblical figure or event, individuals can explore these characters' motivations, challenges, and outcomes. This deepens understanding of the characters’ roles and the moral and spiritual lessons they embody.

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Customers like the content, saying the cards are accurate and insightful. They also appreciate the beautiful artwork and detailed references. Customers have different opinions on the quality of the game.

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Customers are satisfied with the appearance of the tarot cards. They mention that the artwork is beautiful and detailed. They also appreciate the nice pictures and the sturdy cardstock. Overall, customers are impressed with the creator's choices.

"...The cardstock is sturdy and nice. Artwork is beautiful and detailed . I'm not a political person, so the lack of diversity doesn't bother me...." Read more

" These cards are great and pair well with Christ consciousness oracle cards. The cards stock was not that great for the price. They are thin...." Read more

"...The artwork is stunning . The references and meanings of the cards are both accurate and insightful. Im delighted to own this deck!" Read more

"...and stories would pair with each Tarot card, I am very impressed with the creator's choices here...." Read more

Customers find the content insightful, accurate, and spiritual. They say the cards are beautiful, on point, and the study guide is nice. They also mention that the references and meanings of the cards is accurate and insightful.

"These cards are great and pair well with Christ consciousness oracle cards . The cards stock was not that great for the price. They are thin...." Read more

"...The artwork is stunning. The references and meanings of the cards are both accurate and insightful. Im delighted to own this deck!" Read more

"...did a fantastic job here integrating a lot of material and making insightful choices . I'm really looking forward to using this deck...." Read more

"...these not only are thsy pretty, good quality but also keep you on the know with Bible " Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the quality of the tabletop game. Some mention that the cardstock is sturdy and nice, while others say that the paper quality is not great and the cards are thin.

"...I'm not religiously Christian, but am spiritually.The cardstock is sturdy and nice. Artwork is beautiful and detailed...." Read more

"...The cards stock was not that great for the price. They are thin . If you are familiar with the Bible these will be great to read with...." Read more

"I live these not only are thsy pretty, good quality but also keep you on the know with Bible" Read more

"Nice pictures but the paper quality not great . I bought four pairs of different Tarot cards at the same time so I could compare...." Read more

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  1. PDF Tarot Cards: An Investigation of their Benefit as a Tool for Self

    Tarot Cards: An Investigation of their Benefit as a Tool for Self Reflection by Gigi Hofer B.A., Concordia University, 2004 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

  2. "An Examination of Tarot Cards with Healing" by Tori Thibault

    This thesis examines the use of Tarot cards as a means of healing among individuals in Western divination culture. This research examines how biopolitical discourses affect individual agency when engaging in healing as a form of self-care, it also addresses the ways in which subjects negotiate their own subjectivities in contexts of self-care. I analyze social media discourses about Tarot ...

  3. (PDF) It's Laid Out in the Cards: How Meaning and Identity are

    It's Laid Out in the Cards: How Meaning and Identity are Constructed through Tarot Reading. May 2016. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2639.7046. Thesis for: Bachelors of the Arts in Cultural Anthropology ...

  4. PDF Symbolism within the Tarot and Comparative Visual Analysis:

    the cards will lead to a shallow conception of the Tarot, and will diminish the rewards that come through developing a deeper and more personal understanding of the cards.

  5. (PDF) The Limitations and Potentials of Tarot Readings in Times of

    Abstract In this opinion piece, I discuss the uses, misuses, and possibilities of tarot readings as a tool for comfort and clarity in the context of personal and global crises.

  6. Tarot cards: an investigation of their benefit as a tool for self

    The results indicated that the coresearchers use Tarot as a way to gain insight into current situations and possible action plans, and the cards were used most often in difficult times, at which point, they offered comfort. The purpose of this study was to investigate the way in which regular users of Tarot cards employ the cards and the focus was on the participants', or co-researchers', use ...

  7. Tarot cards: an investigation of their benefit as a tool for self

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the way in which regular users of Tarot cards employ the cards and the focus was on the participants', or co-researchers', use of Tarot for self-reflection rather than for divination. Although Tarot cards have been in existence for at least 700 years (Beal, 1975; Cavendish, 1975) and there are over 1000 different Tarot decks, and the related oracle ...

  8. It's in the Cards: A Dive into Tarot Card Psychology, Interpretation

    Many standard Tarot decks follow the same 78-card structure, which is divided into the minor arcana (56 cards), and the major arcana (22 cards). The cards in the major arcana represent the main themes of human life, such as love, death, spirituality, acceptance, etc. The cards in the minor arcana represent subtle mysteries of life, and are considered to be lesser compared to the major arcana ...

  9. Hermes, Jung and the Educational Potential of Tarot

    As a Tarot card reader the question of authenticity is an important one. The scientific scepticism and theological prejudice that both tarot reading and divination in general endure, often exists as a 'hangover from history' - a negative position

  10. The religion of Tarot

    The thesis argues that while the Stark and Glock model of religiosity can help reveal some of the spiritual dimensions of Tarot practice, its institutional bias fails to account for other important spiritual dimensions of Tarot religiosity.

  11. fourhares • jmd • tarot theses

    Abstract: This thesis will constitute a cultural history of tarot, tracing the changing patterns of use and the symbolism displayed on tarot cards from the deck's first appearance in Early Modern Italy until the present day.

  12. Creating Visual Metaphors By Taking Tarot Out of Context

    This thesis paper aims to describe how using tarot aspects outside of the tarot context. can spark visual metaphors in illustration. Tarot, while famously known for as a tool of. determining one's fate, is also a source of the many intricacies of the human. experience.

  13. PDF Tarot as a projective technique

    Each Tarot spread is an area with tangible boundaries: the geometric pattern of the layout is limited by such a simple thing as the size of a table the cards are put on. Similar to a bounded space of a sand tray, Tarot spread thus becomes a container, in both the physical and psychological sense.

  14. PDF A Fool's Journey: Poetry Through the Art of the Tarot

    present for my thesis are representations of, ref1cctions on, and general reactions to the seventy-eight cards found within the most widely accepted variation of the cards, onversely, a reaction or reflectio life that various cards represent. The Fool's journey, which traditional Tarot readers

  15. Tarot cards don't predict the future. But reading them might help you

    Tarot cards don't predict the future. But reading them might help you figure yours out. Tarot tells us stories about our lives and ways we could live them better. It's not really like the ...

  16. Two Sixteenth Century Essays on the Meaning of Tarot Cards

    Cards higher than the Devil show us the way out of entanglement in worldly vanity by contemplating God and rising to heaven. These two essays are unfiltered voices from tarot's distant past. They bring to light what certain thoughtful people of the sixteenth century read into the cards.

  17. Creating Visual Metaphors By Taking Tarot Out of Context

    This thesis paper aims to describe how using tarot aspects outside of the tarot context can spark visual metaphors in illustration. Tarot, while famously known for as a tool of determining one's fate, is also a source of the many intricacies of the human experience. The 22 Major Arcana cards' meanings were analyzed, and key phrases from those cards were used as prompts to illustrate. The ...

  18. Carl Jung and Tarot

    Although many tarot practitioners apply a Jungian psychological approach to their tarot work, there's been a question as to whether Jung himself knew anything about tarot. In fact he did, and he would have liked to explore it more deeply but for a lack of hours in the day. Here are some of his references to the cards, although his tarot knowledge, especially of its history, was sorely ...

  19. Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings

    The 22 Major Arcana cards are the most significant cards in a Tarot deck. Learn more about the energies of these iconic cards and how to interpret them.

  20. Tarot Cards Essay

    Generally, Tarot is a form of cartomancy. In a psychic reading with Tarot, the advisor will make use of divination cards to gain insight into one's past, present and future. The whole deck of Tarot cards is considered as a powerful tool that can reflect the reality through pictures. Everything depicted in the cards, including people, places ...

  21. Help needed for student thesis : r/tarot

    Posted by u/PSpade - 1 vote and 1 comment

  22. r/tarot on Reddit: I asked what I could do to help me write my thesis

    I asked what I could do to help me write my thesis, doesn't look very favourable : r/tarot.     Go to tarot. r/tarot. r/tarot. Save 3rd Party Apps! r/tarot, along with 1000's of other subreddits, chose to go private. The blackout was in response to the recent decision kill 3rd party apps. Find out more at r/Save3rdPartyApps!

  23. Tarot Card Meanings List

    A detailed list of all 78 tarot card meanings organized by suit, with short keywords. Find more details about each card in their own page.

  24. Weekly Tarot Card Reading Horoscope: Week of August 12, 2024

    Read your weekly tarot card reading horoscope by zodiac sign - aka your Cosmo Tarotscope - for the week of August 12, 2024.

  25. One-Card Tarot Horoscope For Each Zodiac Sign On August 11, 2024

    It's a beautiful day for love, passion and making a relationship a top priority. See how the Moon in Scorpio and Venus bring out our sensitive side via a one-card tarot horoscope on August 11, 2024.

  26. The Meanings of Moon Tarot Card, According to an Expert

    The Moon tarot card is the eighteenth Major Arcana or trump card. Astrologer Lisa Stardust breaks down what the mysterious card means and how you can interpret it for yourself.

  27. Weekly tarot card horoscope for each zodiac sign from August 19

    One card tarot reading for each zodiac sign is here for the week of August 19 - 25, 2024. Let's find out which tarot card has come out for your zodiac sign!

  28. Klaus' Tarot Scene Secretly Reveals The Umbrella Academy's Ending 4

    The Umbrella Academy season 4 gives away the series' ending four episodes early, as Klaus' tarot reading predicts what will happen to the Hargreeves.

  29. Tarot Card Predictions August 14, 2024: Tarot Card Reading for All

    Tarot Card Reading for Today: August 14, 2024. Know what's in store for your card. Our Tarot card reader Disha Bhatnagar reads the cards for you.

  30. Amazon.com: Biblical Tarot Deck: A 78-Card Deck & Guidebook. Unique

    Visualization of Biblical Stories . Each card in a Biblical Tarot deck typically features imagery or symbols that represent a specific biblical story or character.