Tarot Lesson 101
I did not post this to "argue" about tarot, simply to post about one of my favorite "hobbies."
To me, Tarot is an art. I find it spiritually enlightening and truly enjoy offering advice to people with the cards. And by the way, your future is never set in stone...
I eat, sleep and breathe tarot (or anything that is anywhere remotely close to my pagan beliefs.) Tarot is a deck of cards that probably began over 500 years ago in northern Italy - it is used as a tool for divination. Today, the Tarot the most popular tool for spiritual introspection in Western culture.
There are 78 total cards in a standard Tarot deck, separated by Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. Minor Arcana includes both court cards (King, Queen, etc...) and 10 numbered cards (number one being Ace.) There are 22 cards in the Major Arcana. Major Arcana represent major life lessons. There are 56 cards in the Minor Arcana. The minor Arcana includes 4 suits:
Wands (or Rods) - Fire - Success, life, career, spirituality and personal growth
Cups - Water - Love, emotions, relationships, matters of the heart
Swords - Air - Battles, anything forceful, arguments, going after something, etc.
Pentacles - Earth - Usually financial matters, or anything in a material sense.
I will take one card at a time, starting with Zero - until I cover all 78. the deck pictures I have selected are taken from New Paladini - the same creator as my favorite Aquarian style deck. I will also discuss tarot in further detail with each post I make. This may take a while, but I thought perhaps you all may enjoy picking up a new hobby... or at least learning about mine.
Do you have to be psychic or clairvoyant to do tarot? Honestly, yes, but it is my opinion we are ALL gifted with the power of intuition. anyhow folks, have fun... here we go with the first cards
Zero - The Fool -
Beginning
Look before you leap
State of being naive
Youth and innocence of a child
Embarking on a new journey
The Fool sets everything into motion, the divine breath that gives life and inspires the first step towards fulfillment and completion. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step... or so they say...
The Fool is pure and innocent, neither positive nor negative yet containing the possibility of both. Though everyone calls him a Fool, he does not pay them any attention, and he simply goes on his way. Certainly what they say can be justified, since his ignorance of the world can lead him to do things that more experienced people would never imagine. But in these things he can find knowledge and enlightenment. He does not care what others think or say about him, because he knows that what he is doing is right for him.
His approach to life is unconventional, extravagant, shocking, even frightening. But this approach is all that the Fool knows, and because the only approval he requires is his own, he will continue to live this way, despite what all others think of him. He has total faith in himself. Perhaps he is not such a fool after all.
With innocence comes perfect trust, fearlessness in others, and total self-reliance. It allows you to see the world with new eyes and learn new things every day of your life. It's a shame that only children, and the Fool, see this light.
Divinary Meanings:
The Fool almost always stands for new beginnings, new experiences and new choices; the first steps along a new path and the first words written onto a blank page. Neither positive nor negative, but with the potential to turn into either, depending on the choices you make and the path you follow. But this must not be your concern, because when a journey begins no one can know (or should know) what will happen on the way to the destination. Live in the present and trust in your own abilities - this is the way of the Fool.
Such journeys always imply a degree of risk, and hence the Fool is pictured walking toward the edge of a high cliff. With any new experience there is always the risk of failure and the certainty of change; it is the degree of change, and how that change will appear, that are undeterminable. But the Fool has no qualms about taking chances, so why should you? So jump head first into the abyss of the unknown, and know that even if you eventually fall to the ground, for a while you will soar.
