The Magician. The World. The Chariot. Strength.

With the perfect blend of ancient symbols, historic events, religious story-telling and the centuries-old representations, tarot card spread seems to be foggy by design.

The little and passive images on the cards have the power to highlight the most intricate desires and dilemmas, even though the dissenters may point out that the card reading practices don’t have any relevance in the modern world.

The practice of tarot card reading is often called as tarot predictions by laymen and if you are just beginning your journey of tarot, it is essential to understand that tarot spreads do not make future predictions, they just facilitate it.

The Origin of Tarot Cards

The ancient cards were designed in early 1440, but not with a mystical mindset, rather they were designed for the purpose of game playing, most similar to the current day’s bridge. The expensive, artist-designed cards were ordered by the wealthy Italian families and were known as the cards of triumph.

The cards were a combination of suits of swords, cups, coins and polo sticks, which later converted to wands. The court cards consisted of King along with two male underlings but later incorporated queens, trumps and fool in the system to form a complete deck with a total of 78 cards. Minor Arcana cards in the modern tarot spread are made up of the suit cards and the trump cards form the Major Arcana of the tarot.

How to Select a Tarot Deck

How to Select a Tarot Deck
For a beginner, the most daunting task is selecting the right tarot deck. Among hundreds of different tarot decks available in the market based on artwork, books, legends, and also movies; it is difficult to decide which one would be the best for you.

Among the many myths about tarot card spreads, the most popular one is that your first tarot deck should always be gifted by someone, now that’s a rather unexplainable one.
Go out and gift yourself the wisdom and divinity of the great tarot cards and buy your first tarot deck, the one that feels just right for you.

How to choose the right deck for you?? Well, it can be a bit overwhelming to look at so many varieties of cards and wonder which one is right for you. While you may end up feeling that it’s better than someone can just pull out a deck and give it to you, rather than going through so many options yourself and end up feeling confused.
It is advisable to look at the different decks yourself and handle the boxes of different decks until you find the most suitable deck. Believing in your intuition is the major aspect of tarot reading, and that works perfectly while you are up at the store, trying to buy your first deck of tarot spread.

Different decks will give out different vibes and energies to you, if you feel a positive connection or relevance to a particular tarot deck or if any deck reminds you of certain incidents and life events then that might be the right deck for you. On the other hand, if a deck makes you feel uneasy or disturbed then it’s better you don’t consider that particular deck for yourself.

Getting Acquainted with the Tarot Spread

If you are a beginner, then it is possible that you might find it difficult to understand the different meanings and symbolism hidden in the cards. It’s common to experience confusion when looking at your first tarot spread. However, to be able to start reading, it is essential to understand the meanings associated with each card and most importantly, how the meanings may change when the cards are combined with other cards. The key to starting tarot card reading is to analyse the tarot card spread and spend a good amount of time trying to know your tarot deck.

It is said for tarot cards, that a tarot deck represents the entire universe and each tarot card represents a person, place or an event. A set of 78-cards consists of 56 Minor Arcana cards and 22 Major Arcana cards and the symbols depicted in the Major Arcana cards point towards greater secrets while that in the Minor Arcana cards point towards the smaller influences in life.

The Major Arcana cards represent the towering influences in your lives that underline the journey of your life and every card carries a stand-alone powerful message. The Major Arcana cards generally appear in the readings at the time of major transformations.

Minor Arcana cards are divided into 4 suits- Suit of Cups, Suit of Swords, Suit of Pentacles and Suit of Wands, with 14 cards in each suit. Every suit contains 10 numbered cards along with 4 trump cards- The Page, Knight, Queen and King.

Start Your First Reading

Starting Your First Tarot Reading
The Major Arcana and Minor Arcana cards establish an encyclopedic photographic language and it’s essential to remember that guidance and answers that people seek, actually exists within the tarot deck, where every card describes a circumstance, a person or the expected outcome.

Given the fact that there is no secret key to understanding the meaning and applicability of the tarot on your lives, hence finding the answers to your questions depends entirely on the ability of the reader to discern the meaning that lies within the storylike interpretation.

Shuffling the deck every time you look for an answer from the tarot cards is like a meditation and its always important to shuffle the deck after every reading, this symbolizes clearing the energy of the cards. Tarot card readers treat their decks like precious gems and always spread the deck on a special piece of clothing at a special place created specifically for a tarot card reading.

So while beginning to read whenever you feel ready for your reading, just shuffle the cards while visualizing the question in your mind and just when you feel ready, cut the deck into three halves and spread them on the cloth upside down, and then pull the cards from your tarot decks to find the answers to the questions that cloud your mind.

Famous authors and tarot card readers have published amazing books that guide beginners to start a tarot card reading, and just that, many websites and tarot apps like Tarot Life help beginners by explaining the meaning of tarot cards and how they affect different parts of your lives and also provide free tarot readings for the new users.

So, go out! Select your deck! And start your first tarot reading!!