The Tarot is comprised of 78 cards that are divided into two groups; the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. For the next couple of weeks or so we will be talking about the Major Arcana before embarking on a card by card journey. More then anything it is important to know that the Tarot is made up of many many layers of meanings and mysteries. As I attempt to unravel them in order to share them here, I am awed and overwhelmed by its complexity. I am acutely aware that this will be as much a learning experience for me as it will be for you and truly, no one ever stops learning about Tarot.
The Major Arcana, also called the Trump cards or the Keys, are comprised of 22 cards. The word Arcana is Latin for "secrets or mysteries". So the Tarot is a collection of secrets that are comprised of major secrets or mysteries, and minor, mundane secrets or mysteries and they are designed to explain our universe and our existence within it.
The Major Arcana are the cards with the most symbolic and divinatory importance in the deck. Each of these 22 cards represents an archetypal truth/lesson that each person must learn or integrate while moving through the evolution of their lives. Archetype is a term coined by Dr. Carl Jung to describe imagery, personalities, themes and experiences common to all humanity. (An example of this would be the Emperor card being the archetype of rulership etc.) We will cover this in more detail as we journey through the cards.
So, in the story played out for us in the cards, the Fool, the first card in the deck, is said to be on a journey through the path laid out for him by the cards. And each lesson or step in his human evolution is represented by each card he must pass through in order to move forward in his development. Each card or step on this path revealing another Key to the secrets held in the wisdom of the cards.
Each card has a name, a number and depending on the deck you have it can also contain astrological, or planetary symbols, a tree of life or Kabbalistic symbol, and sometimes a runic symbol. The cards come with their own imagery and symbolism and although they each represent specific themes and archetypes, they are ultimately filtered through the psyche of the reader and the context of the questions. This is why it is important to not only learn what the established meanings of each card are, but the nuances of their energy as well. This is something that comes with time.
The following is the list of the 22 Major Arcana in the order they appear:
0. The Fool
1. The Magus
2. The High Priestess
3. The Empress
4. The Emperor
5. The Hierophant
6. The Lovers
7. The Chariot
8. Strength
9. The Hermit
10. The Wheel of Fortune
11. Justice
12. The Hanged Man
13. Death
14. Temperance
15. The Devil
16. The Tower
17. The Star
18. The Moon
19. The sun
20. The Judgment
21. The World
As you read this list, please keep in mind that all decks have variances between them and you may find that these names vary slightly then the ones in your deck. Thats ok, it will lend new layers to your understanding of each card. Look over the list and compare, see what comes up.
This will serve as the first layer for this topic. There will be several more in the weeks to come, and really allow yourself to take your time and absorb the information mentally and viscerally as well. This takes practice, but as you read the above information, and as you look at your cards and do some of the home work listed below, check in with your body from time to time. How do you feel? Where do you feel tension? Is there a sense of lightness, anxiety, intrigue, a strange and wordless knowing? We need to learn to think and feel beyond the words of our brains. It refines our intuition and our ability to really Listen. And this ability serves us not just in working with the cards but more importantly in our day to day lives. And really... thats what the Tarot is for to begin with.
Home Work:
It would be good to have a journal to work with as you go through these posts together. More then anything what the cards are about is self inquiry, and I will have you doing a lot of self inquiry over the next year or so!
1. Lay out your Major Arcana cards the way I have them in the picture above. The Fool card on its own on top and then dividing the remaining 21 cards into three rows according to their number. This layout will be the basis of another post/lesson in the future so its good to begin familiarizing ourselves with this visual. You may want to space them out a bit more then i have done in the picture above. I had to squeeze them together to get a shot of them in the space I was working with. :)
2. Take as long as you can to really look at each card. Get to know them, the colors, numbers, words. There will be some you like immediately and some that you really don't. Make note of these in your journal.
3. Now shift a bit and look at them within the story of a journey. Look at the Fool, and then "walk" with him/her through the other cards. Make note of any story that pops into your mind. We tend to do this when trying to make sense of what we see. This is important. There is no right or wrong narrative here, its just important that you Listen to the narrative you are giving this journey. Write this down as well.
4. Finally, scan the cards again individually. Pay attention now to any symbols that your cards have. Just See them. Let your Subconscious just recognize that they are there. (please note, that not all cards contain these symbols and varying cards have some but not others. Again, there is no right or wrong, but we will be covering these layers of meaning as well in our exploration, so it may be helpful to find a deck that has this layer added in.)
Wow! Thats it for now! I thought that I would have been able to fit all I needed to about this grouping of cards in 2 posts, but it looks like it may actually take 3 or 4! I suspect that we are going to be diving pretty deep together friends... ;)
Please please share on your blogs and here in the comment section what your explorations yielded. I would love to see images from your deck and read about your experiences.
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