Tarot

Tarot

Also known as: tarot cardstarot decktarot readingMajor ArcanaMinor Arcana

Tarot is a deck of 78 cards used for reflection and symbolic divination, made up of 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards, whose images and positions in a spread are read as a story about a question.

Tarot is a symbolic tradition of its own, separate from both Western and Vedic astrology. The cards first appeared in fifteenth-century Italy as a card game, and only later, from the late eighteenth century onwards, were they widely used for divination and esoteric study. Many modern decks follow the imagery of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck published in 1909, while others follow the older Marseille tradition or the Thoth deck.

A standard deck has 78 cards. The 22 Major Arcana, numbered from 0, the Fool, to 21, the World, describe large themes and turning points: beginnings, choices, crises, endings and integration. Taken in order they are often read as a journey of growth, sometimes called the Fool's journey. The 56 Minor Arcana describe everyday situations, moods and actions.

The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits of 14 cards each: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has ten numbered cards, from Ace to Ten, and four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King. In many traditions the suits are linked with the elements: Wands with fire and drive, Cups with water and feelings, Swords with air and thought, Pentacles with earth, work and material matters. Court cards are often read as people, roles or ways of behaving.

A reading starts with a question and a spread, a layout in which every position has its own meaning, for example past, present and next step. The reader then looks at each card in its position, and at how the cards relate to each other. Many readers also take orientation into account: an upright card shows its theme openly, while a reversed card may point to that theme being blocked, delayed, turned inward or excessive.

In AstroSensus each card in a draw is either upright or reversed, and the app offers several spreads, from a single daily card and the three-card spread to the Celtic Cross. The interpretation is written from the cards that were drawn, their positions and their orientation; the app does not invent cards that are not in the draw.

Tarot works best as a mirror rather than a prediction. The cards do not reveal fixed facts about the future, and a reading is not a substitute for medical, legal or financial advice. What it can offer is a new angle on a situation, a vocabulary for feelings that are hard to name and a prompt to ask a better question. Open questions such as "what can I learn here?" usually lead to more useful readings than yes-or-no questions about outcomes.