Ok y’all, I’ve been pulling tarot cards for you from the beginning, but I realized that I never truly explained what tarot is. Some of you may be intimately familiar with this art with much more experience than I have, and some of you may know nothing about it. This post is for the later group.
Tarot in Action
I went back to my favorite coffee shop, the one from The Crone’s Throne, tonight to write this. As I set down my computer with a partial draft of this post someone at the table next to me asked if I wanted a tarot reading. One card for $5. As I was writing Tarot 101 I couldn’t resist. She combined tarot and astrology and pulled the Temperance card for me. The reading was about my PSLF student loan forgiveness. She said be patient. Then, because readers are typically generous and curious people, she pulled some more clarifying cards. The Ace of Wands—meaning action will be happening soon. In the light of Temperance, it hints that being patient will be what leads to the action and new beginning in the PSLF process. Then the Queen of Pentacles—total inward mastery of material things. So hopefully those loans will get paid off y’all.
What Tarot is Not
Before I go further in explaining the tarot and where those meanings came from, let’s get some stuff out of the way.
Q: Is tarot satanic?
A: No! Tarot is not related to any religious practice. It is not “evil,” or satanic, or anti-Christian. It started as a card game in Italy in the 1500s and spread to Europe. It was only in the 1700s that Freemasons and French occultists made unsubstantiated claims about the history and meaning. This is where the “evil” idea came from. Tarot fell out of favor and resurfaced in the 1900s in France, where it is still used in card games. But the false history put forward in the 1700s still circulates and has led to its use in fortune telling.
Q: Does tarot predict the future?
A: No! It may feel like this for several reasons that I will go into in a separate post. For those with familiarity with Greek Mythology, it predicts the future in the way that the Oracle at Delphi does. Those who believe in the predictive power may suffer the same fate as the ancient Greeks who put too much faith in the Oracle’s prophecies. IYKYK.
Q: Isn’t it just cold reading of the person?
A: No! There is a real structure for the 78 cards with generally recognized meanings. Each reader and deck has small tweaks to the meanings, but overall an Ace of Wands is an Ace of Wands—new inspiration, passions, creativity, boldness, etc.
Major and Minor Arcana
What do I mean by each card having a specific meaning? Well, there are 78 cards in a traditional tarot deck. 22 are in the Major Arcana and 56 are in the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana represents archetypes and big life themes, and the Minor Arcana represents more day-to-day themes. What do I mean by that? Well, The Fool is #0 in the Major Arcana. It represents the very beginning of a journey and taking a leap of faith into the unknown. Generally, the beginning of a major life change. Whereas the Minor Arcana Ace of Wands is also “the beginning” of something, but it is more about the inspiration and passion to start something new. So, the Fool is actually taking the leap into something new, while the Ace of Wands is the inspiration or courage behind the new start.
The Minor Arcana is made up of 4 suits ranging from Ace to King (can you see how it was the basis of modern playing cards?). The suits are Wands (fire, creativity, passion, action), Cups (water, emotions, intuition, love), Swords (air, thought, communication, clarity), and Pentacles (earth, material matters, stability, work). Each number symbolizes something different as well. Aces are new beginnings, fives are conflict, tens are completion. Then there are the court cards. These can represent actual people or the following ideas. Pages—curiosity, learning, emerging development. Knights—action, pursuit, movement. Queens—emotional maturity and internal mastery. Kings—authority, leadership, outward mastery. Combine the meaning of the number or court card with the suit, and you can see how the meanings automatically become more nuanced.
Permutations
So there are 78 cards with 78 distinct meanings. To make things even more fun, a lot of people read “reversals” which is a slightly different meaning if the card is upside down. So that is 156 different card meanings. If you take into account that many readings are at least 3 cards (Past Present Future is the most common) that is potentially 3,723,720 different combinations of cards. You will likely never get the same reading twice. That many combinations of major life themes and day-to-day themes makes for a rich tapestry of symbology to pull from. And for our Crone Moon Tarot 6 card pulls there are 13,076,423,680,320 different combinations.
But wait! It isn’t just combinations. It is permutations. Order matters. When I mentioned Past Present Future and Crone Moon Tarot, I’m talking about spreads. Spreads can be as simple as one card up to using all the cards in the deck (I’ve heard of it but have no desire to ever do it). I mentioned the Past, Present, Future spread above. Y’all have seen my 6 Card Crone Moon Spread (I made that one up), and another common one is the Celtic Cross 10 card spread.
Putting it All Together
Well, if each card has a meaning how do you put together multiple cards? Why—that is the art of tarot! You use the spread, the question, the card meanings, how they are in relation to each other in the spread, all to put together a coherent story. This is the part that I love. It stretches my very literal “left brain” self and forces me to speak in the language of symbols.
Tarot and Medicine
And you know what? The art of tarot is a lot like the art of medicine. Yes, each symptom, lab finding, etc has specific meanings, but being able to put it all together in a coherent story is how you help someone. The better you get at it the more you do this subconsciously. Tarot readers would call it intuitively. In medicine you get to the point where you notice a raised eyebrow and realize you have to dig deeper to get a different diagnosis, or you see the scraped toe of a shoe and realize the person who came in for a fall actually has foot drop (nerve is damaged and their toe drags on the ground). These small observations in medicine are what give it the nuance and the art. Same thing with the symbols in the tarot—just a different realm.
So, hopefully anyone reading this who is skeptical of tarot has a little more background on the system. And anyone wondering why a doctor reads tarot now understands a little more about the “diagnostic challenge” it presents and the fun way it twists a logical and scientific brain around. Oh—and I’m currently reading a book called the neuroscience of tarot written by a neuroscientist who explains the brain circuits involved in symbol and pattern recognition. Maybe if I ever finish it, I can share the Cliff Notes with you.
Challenge
If you have a deck I challenge you to ask yourself a question and pull a card for yourself right now.
If you don’t have a deck, I challenge you to type “Give me a random tarot card” into google and see what it gives you. When I did it, it gave me The Star (Upright). Kind of cool for a wrap-up here. The Star is the first light after a major life upheaval and gives clarity and hope.
What card did you draw and what does it mean to you?
Does any of this change how you think about tarot?
The content on Crone Powers is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. I am a doctor, but I AM NOT YOUR DOCTOR. Always consult your medical and mental health professionals before ADDING—NEVER SUBSTITUTING—spiritual modalities to your care. Remember, woo only works when you do the work.
The views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my employer or any institution with which I am affiliated.