Before you begin, you must consecrate your deck by passing each card through incense smoke. Take the time to observe your cards and listen to what emerges from them.
There are almost as many draws as there are people who practice tarot.
Everyone creates their own ritual, improving their practice.
Be kind to your deck, as if you were asking a friend, don't consult the tarot in a hurry, take your time, choose a ritual.
Perhaps you will place a stone like amethyst to aid your intuition, perhaps you will light a candle, perhaps you will listen to a particular piece of music.
THE PRINTS
Beat the game by thinking of your question, a simple question that could be answered with Yes or No, no "questions within the question"!
To begin, you can simply use the Major Arcana; the four-card spread is a very good introduction and will surprise you with the relevance of its answers.
FOUR-CARD DRAW.
Shuffle and cut the deck (with your left hand), spread all of the Major Arcana in front of you, face down.
Draw a first card and place it on the left, then a second that you place on the right (leaving a space of one card between the two), finally a third in the center and above the first two cards, the last in the center and below the first two cards.
Add the Roman numerals at the top of the four cards, reduce the number if it is greater than 22, and place the corresponding card in the center. (If the sum matches one of the cards already present, that card is strengthened.)
CARD 1: corresponds to what goes in the direction of the subject, to what is positive.
CARD 2: which faces it evokes obstacles and difficulties.
CARD 3: it dominates the whole and evokes the context or the advice to follow (as if cards 1 and 2 were discussing with each other).
CARD 4: This is the answer to the question, what will happen if the advice given on card 3 is followed.
CARD 5: constitutes the synthesis or the lesson to be learned.
We advise you when you introduce the minor arcana to start with the three-card draw.
THE THREE-CARD DRAW:
Shuffle and cut the deck (with your left hand) spread the cards, draw three cards and place them from left to right without turning them over. Turn over the first, it corresponds to the past, then the second which corresponds to the present, then the third to the future.
More methods will be added soon.
A COMPLETE DIVINATORY TAROT DECK INCLUDES 22 MAJOR ARCANA AND 56 MINOR ARCANA.
THE MAJOR ARCANA
They differentiate the tarot from any other card game. They are associated with numbers, the cards follow one another in a form of chronology of existence, starting with a beginning, gaining speed, facing obstacles, to arrive at an end. Each has a specific iconography, representing a character, a virtue or even a star. They are numbered from I to XXI, only the Mast (also called the Fool) does not have a number.
TAROT is a series of cycles that never end, because life is a perpetual movement. We are and will be led to revisit certain stages because life always confronts us with what we did not want to hear or understand.
The Magician
He points out to us the possibility of new beginnings, asking us to act with confidence, whatever we do, whatever our choices and projects. He is the original impulse that invites us to develop our capacities, to make them grow and to leave nothing in the shadows since he masters all the elements, his hat recalling the infinity sign. An infinity of possibilities that stretches before us.
The Popess
The Popess knows hidden things and therefore knows how to see beyond appearances. She encourages us to access what is hidden from us, to have the courage to descend within ourselves to let our buried treasures emerge. The Popess is a long-term concept; she evokes a long time, even gestation. We must accept this time, of which we do not know at the outset what it will reveal or where it will lead us. This is all that the Popess asks of us. To descend regularly within ourselves, to listen to what speaks and reflects our deepest truth. To decide to look beyond appearances to overcome illusion.
The Empress
If the Popess is intuition and time, the Empress is about speed, conception, and the manifestation of ideas. She asks us to combine thought with heart and act accordingly. To bring consistency to what we think, say, and do. False pretenses are not like her, and that is why she may, a priori, appear cold, have no use for conventions and prefer to follow her heart and instinct. She invites us to act consciously.
The Emperor
The Emperor achieves. He is linked to power, but the power that helps us grow, not the one that diminishes... To achieve is to experience one's power. This card tells us to take action, because acting allows us to reap rewards. But act with justice, and not just for oneself. The Emperor speaks to us about the importance of our actions. Are we living what we are passionate about, or are we wasting our lives trying to earn it? Let us be in tune with our deepest aspirations.
The Pope
The Pope connects like a bridge between earth and heaven, between the universal and the personal. What he experiences on earth is his need for meaning, which connects him to his spiritual quest. This card asks us to understand that everything happens for a reason, for the better. That life is exciting because each step reveals a new understanding of the laws that govern the universe and how we can integrate them…
The Lover
The lover asks us to choose by listening to our inner light!
We always have the easy choice, to move towards what fully suits us, even if it may be more difficult. Indecision prevents us from moving forward freely. He therefore asks us to commit ourselves fully to the chosen path, whatever it may be. Being responsible for what we experience and making choices is never easy because it means giving up other possibilities.
The Chariot
Having understood with the Lovers card the importance of committing to a path that is right for us, we must now move forward, go out into the world and live our lives. The Chariot questions us about our contribution to the world: to come out of ourselves, of our withdrawals, of our contradictions, to see everything that surrounds us, to go towards others, to confront them and understand. The Chariot brings us to the freedom we need to move forward...
Justice
Once the right choice has been made with the Lover, Justice stands before us, forcing us to pause for a moment to position ourselves correctly. Like the Popess who must look beyond appearances to see the truth, facing justice means facing one's conscience, looking at ourselves and seeing ourselves as we are, learning to desire only what is just. Let us stop presenting ourselves as victims and accept responsibility for our decisions, our thoughts, and our actions. We reap with justice what we sow.
The Hermit
The Hermit is time working for us, and therefore patience. Accepting that time leads us to wisdom and maturity. The Hermit asks us to draw from within ourselves the light that illuminates and guides the path we must follow in light of the past events of our lives, that is, to reintegrate all the dark events of our lives, to also walk this path alone.
The Wheel of Fortune
It represents the Wheel of Life, made of ups and downs, and asks us to be tolerant of weaknesses and not to disdain the inferior which can be reversed, to help it to rise because although sometimes precarious in life, no situation is certain to last. Those who are at the top of the wheel today may very well find themselves at the bottom tomorrow. We must therefore not become attached to things since nothing lasts and a reversal of the situation can occur at any moment.
The Force
Winning is never achieved through coercion or intimidation, but through love and compassion. This card speaks of the quiet strength possessed by those who overcome life's ups and downs (those of the Wheel of Fortune). True strength is born from the confidence we carry. This card asks us to use this energy in the service of Love. By also mastering what encumbers us, whether material or internal.
The Hanged Man
When we are unable to see what we need to let go of in order to lighten up, as the force urges us to do, existence confronts us with the Hanged Man. This card asks us to renounce our terrible ego and places us in a temporary period of stripping away. The Hanged Man thus indicates to us that we are in the transition from one cycle to another. Letting go, renouncing, and receiving are inseparable. Thus, the Hanged Man asks us to put ourselves in a situation of non-action in order to listen to what is seeking to manifest itself, while allowing ourselves to be carried with confidence by the current of life.
The Nameless Arcana
Death is our only certainty, our existence strewn with griefs to be made, whether real through the loss of people, of symbols. It is each time a question of dying symbolically in order to be reborn into something new. If we refuse to evolve, that is to say, to die in relation to a state, an achievement, a new situation, then we are in rejection of the movement of life. The fear of death is only the fear of losing what we know. The nameless arcana makes us pass the test of symbolic death, which brings us to the essential.
Temperance
Temperance is an angel, both protector and messenger of the divine. She accompanies us throughout our lives and guides us, showing us paths, if we consent to listen. Temperance helps us sublimate the ordinary aspects of life and demonstrate hope. She asks us to unite opposites, to move forward with confidence and the certainty that we are not alone.
The Devil
After the angel of Temperance, it is natural to encounter The Devil, in other words the power of the ego, the danger that threatens us when we do not rise high enough, the pride of looking down on others. The Devil invites us to become aware of our inadequacies, our excesses, and our limitations. Our ego must be at our service and not the other way around. The test of pride that we experience with the Devil can lead to the destruction of the House of God that we carry within ourselves.
The House of God
The House of God is the structure made up of our beliefs, our education, our influences, everything that life has given us to experience. This crumbling House of God represents the “spirit” within us. The spirit that, through the trials that life imposes on us, shows us that the essence of life is elsewhere than in the world of appearances. This card reveals the loss of hope while the light that rests within each of us remains veiled, because we are caught in the glitter of the world even though we carry within us a treasure that we seek outside.
The Star
A source of light, the Star guides our path through the earthly night. It shines in the darkness like a beacon in our unconscious. The Star represents hope and confidence, a force beyond us... Our faith in ourselves may sometimes crumble, but hope is always reborn and draws us toward life. The Star is also linked to the beauty that must be contemplated and the love that must be revealed. It connects us to the cosmos. Let us gaze upon and nourish ourselves with beauty and gentleness that are a source of inspiration.
The Moon
The Moon relates to the past and strangely is found after the future represented by the Star. Let us remember that the future comes from the past and that we must use it precisely to "overcome" it, otherwise, we will repeat the same mistakes! The Moon always speaks to us of the origin of things, of what is hidden, of the influence of the mother (spiritual or real), of heredity. Let us be careful not to fall victim to appearances that make us deceive ourselves because the moon always has a hidden face, it is a night star.
The Sun
After the Moon, we come to the full light with the Sun card, which brings us joy and confident certainty about the future. By receiving its light, we can finally shine and grow together. The Sun illuminates the minds that rise above the fog of received opinions. The Sun represents life and a consistently happy ending.
The Judgment
Inspiration or good news always comes at a time, it rewards us when we finally step out of ourselves to participate in a more aspirational and higher life.
The World
Coming into the World, incarnating in matter, and reaching the world on our path is realizing who we are, participating in the realization and achieving our ultimate goal. With the World, we understand what we have lived for, the uniqueness of our path. The World represents access to fulfillment, the realization of a wish for the best.
The Fool
The Fool has no number because he is both the beginning and the end. The mystery of where we come from and where we return. He accompanies us every step of the way. This card asks us to renounce our superficiality to keep only the essentials and move forward serenely, carrying in our bundle the bare minimum because happiness is simple.
THE MINOR ARCANA
They will refine your draw and are divided into series representing the four elements:
The Cups: affective and emotional domain (associated with the element of Water).
The Wands: domain of energy, ardor, productivity, work, strength in adversity (associated with Fire).
The Swords: domain of thought, meditation and reflection (associated with Air).
Coins: material and security domain (associated with Earth).
Each suit includes 10 cards from Ace to X and 4 face cards, Jack, Knight, Queen and King.
Aces are a foundation, a springboard. They symbolize new beginnings and original energy in the area concerned.
The Two of Swords speaks to us about the balance of conflict resolution, except for the Two of Swords, which clearly tells us that we will soon cross swords or find ourselves facing an impasse.
The Three symbolizes creativity, action, and optimism—after all, the triangle is a perfect shape. Except, again, for the Three of Swords, which evokes disappointment.
The Fours are stable, secure, orderly... sometimes to the point of frustration, like this Four of Cups which prepares us for romantic boredom or this Four of Swords which evokes imminent exhaustion : )
The Five follows the almost rigid stability of the 4 and therefore invites us to change or its arrival, to potential difficulties that will challenge us.
The Six reminds us of fulfillment, success, recognition, direction finally found.
The Seven, often a lucky number, evokes wisdom, philosophy, spirituality, and the end of a cycle, whether good or bad.
The Eight, a powerful number synonymous with infinity and regeneration. Whatever the problem, we have the solution.
The Nine brings us to the end of a cycle, to our desire for progress. Very positive when it comes to the Nine of Cups (satisfaction) or Coins (love and joy of living), they indicate a challenge for those of Wands and Swords.
The Ten are the culmination, they are the end and the beginning, the fruit of an accomplishment nourished by experience.
The figures of the minor arcana represent people, situations or states of mind.
The Jacks can therefore represent a person as well as a situation. If it is a situation, it is new; if it is a person, it is young or new as well, or it evokes a new aspect of the subject's personality.
The Knights indicate progression, action, and movement. The Knight of Cups potentially brings love; the Knight of Wands announces travel and adventure; the Knight of Pentacles brings reward, the fruit of patiently nurtured ambition; and the Knight of Swords alerts to radical change.
Queens represent important women or a personality trait of the person seeking advice (even if it is a man). The Queen of Cups is the loving wife or wonderful friend; the Queen of Wands is loyal and independent; the Queen of Pentacles is a seeker of power and status; the Queen of Swords is determined and resolute, even if it means being sharp.
Kings represent important men, a personality trait that plays an influential role in the draw. The King of Cups is attentive and always kind but sometimes a little slow; the King of Wands is enthusiastic and courageous, helping us in our actions; the King of Pentacles promotes security and stability and heralds good financial news; and the authoritarian King of Swords helps us observe the situation with foresight.