There are 78 cards in the tarot deck, 22 Major Arcana, 16 Symbols of royalty and 40 Minor Arcana.
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They can be recognized by roman numerals, which I will share later.
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Major Arcana:
First, we’ll name off the 22 cards, their roman numerals (O through XXI.. zero through twentyone) and the basic meaning of the card.
The Fool, O. The principle of courage; state of no fear; ecstasy and peak experience.
The Magician, I. Principle of communication and timing.
The High Priestess, II. The principle of intuition, self trust and self-resourcefulness.
The Empress, III. The principle of love with wisdom: The Earth Mother.
The Emperor, IV. Principle of personal power and leadership.
The Hierophant, V. Principle of learning and teaching.
The Lovers, VI. Principle of art and craft of relationship. The Journey of the twins.
The Chariot, VII. Principles of change, movement, combination of stillness-activity.
Justice, also known as Adjustment, VIII. The Principle of balance: Justice/Realignment.
The Hermit, IX. The principle of completion, introspection and space.
Wheel of Fortune, X. The principle of opportunity, breakthrough and prosperity.
Strength, also known as Lust, XI. The principle of strength, passion and luster.
The Hanged Man, XII. The principle of surrender, breaking old patterns.
Death, also known as Rebirth, XIII. The principle of letting go and moving forward. Release/Detachment.
Art, also known as Temperance, XIV. The principle of integration; Synthesis; Synergy.
Devil, also known as “pan”, XV. The principle of Mirth/Humor at what ‘Bedevils’ us.
The Tower, XVI. The principle of restoration, renovation. Destruction of old forms.
The Star, XVII. The Principle of self-sufficiency and talent recognized by others.
The Moon, XVIII. The principle of choice, Authenticity vs. Dutifulness.
The Sun, XIX. The principle of collaboration, teamwork/partnership co-operation.
The Aeon, also known as Judgment, XX. The principle of good judgment, discernment.
Finally we come to the last card,
The Universe, also known as The World, XXI. The principle of totality, Individuation/wholeness.
Next, we go into the brief meanings of the Royalty Symbols, starting with,
The Swords of mental mastery.
Knight- Mastery of passionate thinking and intentionality
Queen- Mastery of objective thinking and clarity.
Prince- Mastery of creative and intuitive thinking.
Princess- Mastery of practical thinking.
Next The Cups and emotional mastery.
Knight- Mastery of emotional loyalty and commitment.
Queen- Mastery of emotional integrity.
Prince- Mastery of emotional desire.
Princess- Mastery of objectivity.
Now, The Wands and spiritual mastery.
Knight- Mastery of vision and vitality.
Queen- Mastery of self-knowledge.
Prince- Mastery of inspired creativity.
Princess- Mastery of spontaneous expression and liberation.
Finally, The Disks/Pentacles and physical mastery.
Knight- Mastery of abundance and prosperity.
Queen- Mastery of diet and nutrition.
Prince- Mastery of exercise and builder of new worlds.
Princess- Master of creativity and birth of new forms.
Welcome now to the Minor Arcana, this will probably be the largest section, as there is 40 cards
dedicated to the symbolic representations of life’s opportunity and challenges.
So without further delay, let’s start with
The Swords
Ace of swords represents mental clarity, inventiveness and originality.
2 of swords- Peace
3 of swords- Sorrow
4 of swords- Truce
5 of swords- Defeat
6 of swords- Science
7 of swords- Futility
8 of swords- Interference
9 of swords- Cruelty
10 of swords- Ruin
Next The Cups
Ace of cups is the open heart, the clear heart, the trusting heart, the spiritual heart.
2 of cups- Love
3 of cups- Abundance
4 of cups- Luxury
5 of cups- Disappointment
6 of cups- Pleasure
7 of cups- Debauch
8 of cups- Indolence
9 of cups- Happiness
10 of cups- Satiety
Moving to The Wands:
Ace of wands is a symbol of spiritual self-realization, awakening, and is associated with the principle of truth and authenticity.
2 of wands- Domination
3 of wands- Virtue
4 of wands- Completion
5 of wands- Strife
6 of wands- Victory
7 of wands- Valor
8 of wands- Swiftness
9 of wands- Strength
10 of wands- Oppression
Lastly The Disks/Pentacles:
Ace of disks is success that is experienced both internally and externally.
2 of disks- Change
3 of disks- Works
4 of disks- Power
5 of disks- Worry
6 of disks- Success
7 of disks- Failure
8 of disks- Prudence
9 of disks- Gain
10 of disks- Wealth
Now comes the fun part! Giving each section their own playing card! I’m going to use mine as an example.
Sometimes the cards in a tarot deck are separated out for the more ‘to the point’ answers.
We're going to start with the Major Arcana, then we’ll move to the Symbols of Royalty, last will be The Minor Arcana.
I’ll abbreviate the playing cards to save a little bit of reading time.
Spades, S.
Clubs, C.
Diamonds, D.
Hearts, H.
First letter off the card followed by suit, so it’ll look like this; K.H. (king of hearts).
For the Major Arcana I used the two jokers as well, the “big” joker and the “little” joker.
Major Arcana:
The Fool- The “big” joker.
The Magician- K.S.
The High Priestess- Q.S.
The Empress- Q.D.
The Emperor- K.D.
The Hierophant- K.C.
The Lovers- J.H.
The Chariot- A.C.
Justice/Adjustment- J.S.
The Hermit- J.D.
Wheel of Fortune- A.H.
Strength/Lust- Q.C.
The Hanged Man- K.H.
Death/Rebirth-J.C.
Art/Temperance-Q.H.
Devil/”Pan”-A.S.
The Tower-A.D.
The Star-10 D.
The Moon-10 C.
The Sun- 10 H.
The Aeon/Judgment- 10 S.
The Universe- The “small” joker
Symbols of Royalty:
The Swords- Hearts
The Cups- Clubs
The Wands- Spades
The Disks/Pentacles- Diamonds
I used the Jacks for Knights,
Queens for Queens,
Aces for Princesses,
And Kings for the Princes.
Minor Arcana:
The Swords- Hearts
The Cups- Clubs
The Wands- Spades
The Disks/Pentacles- Diamonds
For this section I kept the suits the same as the Symbols of Royalty and used Ace through 10.
Okay, I’ve got my cards down, now what? Well, now you do a reading,
I’ll give three examples, one each of Major Arcana, Symbols of Royalty and Minor Arcana.
Major Arcana reading:
When doing the card of the day I choose the Major Arcana and ask, “What is La Rose Noir’s card of the day?”
Then I pick a card, I prefer to shuffle then (the cards are of course face down), slowly transfer cards from one hand to the other,
until one just “feels” weird to me.
Now, doing this with my normal deck of playing cards, I picked the Ace of Diamonds.
Don’t worry about reversed cards for now, as this is an ‘unusual deck’.
Anyway, looking at my ‘tarot card key’, the Ace of Diamonds is: The Tower, Roman numeral XVI.
The basic meaning is ‘The Principle of restoration, renovation, destructing old forms’.
This could mean, Hey! Its time for a change or some healing! A Sample Affirmation would be:
I have the ability to naturally restore and heal myself at all times.
Royalty Symbol reading:
First, go through and set up your ‘deck’ for the royalty symbols, 16 cards total.
Keeping in mind the royalty is 16 types of self mastery. So, now shuffle your cards, and ask a question.
You might ask, “What do I need more control over?” I did and then drew the Jack of Hearts, which by looking at our ‘key’ we know it’s the Knight of Swords.
The brief meaning of the Knight of Swords is: ‘Master of Passionate thinking and intentionality.’
In general the Royal Swords have to do with mentality; maybe I drew this card as a reminder to keep focus on my passionate thinking?
Which happens to be this!
Lastly! The Minor Arcana, once more, set up your cards for this, ace through ten all suits.
Remember; these are the symbolic representations of life’s opportunities and challenges.
40 cards in total for the Minor Arcana, so maybe we’ll do three cards, and we’ll ask “What kind of challenges and opportunities come with my card of the day?”
Mine was The Tower so let’s see! Shuffle well, I myself when picking more then one card, like to lay all the cards down on a table (you may also fan them out) and pick three.
There are a few 3 card layouts; I will be referring to past, present and future.
The First card I drew was the 5 of Diamonds which is the 5 of Disks/Pentacles, meaning, worry.
Next was the 5 of Clubs which is the 5 of Cups, meaning, Disappointment.
The Last card drawn was the 7 of Spades which is the 7 of Wands, meaning, Valor.
Okay now stay with me as this might get tricky! Honestly the three cards do really add up for me and this is how!
My first card, worry, which is also the ‘past’ card. I will admit, I was a little worried about writing this, will they like it? Will they hate it? Etc…
My second card, disappointment, is the ‘present’ card. It is a challenge for me because, like everybody else, I don’t want anybody disappointed by me writing this.
Now the third card, Valor, which is the ‘future or outcome card’. This card means the courage to stand by what I value and not compromise or settle for less! And I will stand by this no matter what.
Thank you for reading “Turning a Normal Deck of Playing cards into Tarot Cards”.
If you have any Questions feel free to message me.
I have a book of tarot ( The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien) that gives in depth descriptions on each card and I am more then willing to share this information with anybody.
msn GrieviousAngel@hotmail.com
yahoo overslady
aim Lolo Wight
There is also the option to message me on here..
Good Luck on your readings!
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