This month, we will return to the Major Arcana, and talk about The Devil.  Let’s take a moment to review some general information about the Major Arcana.   There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives.   An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, an object, or a concept which can be copied, patterned, or imitated.  In psychology, an archetype is a model of a…

Since we are in an “Eight” frame of mind after talking about the Eight of Cups last month, let’s talk about another Eight, the Eight of Wands. The Eight of Wands is an interesting card, especially if you tend to favor Tarot decks with images on the Minor Arcana Pip cards rather than symbols of the suit, because its traditional image is one of the few Minors without people on it. Let’s investigate the Eight of Wands. As stated above, the Eight of Wands is a Minor Arcana card, so we know right away that the message offered by this card will most likely be more immediate in nature, or…

This month, we will talk about the Eight of Cups. On the surface, this one looks pretty depressing, but it’s a Cups card so it can’t be all bad! Let’s begin our process of breaking down this card. The Eight of Cups is a Minor Arcana card, so we know right away that the message offered by this card will most likely be more immediate in nature, or will most likely be connected to more day-to-day issues. Notice right away that I am qualifying many of my statements with “most likely” or “usually”; as readers and interpreters and students of the Tarot we do need to remember that every message,…

This month, we are going back to the Minor Arcana suit of Swords, and we will explore the Two of Swords, one of those cards whose message can be either a help or a hindrance to a Seeker. The Two of Swords is a Minor Arcana card so it is most likely referring to a day-to-day issue, rather than a long-term or widely-sweeping one, but this does not take away from its potential to assist us, or to cause discomfort. The keywords for this card stretch all the way from avoidance and being stuck, to peace and serenity. How do you effectively respond to such a card? By understanding it.…

This month, we will return to the Major Arcana, and talk about The Emperor. Before we begin breaking down The Emperor, let’s define and remind ourselves of some terms. There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, an object, or a concept which can be copied, patterned, or imitated. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a…

I think it is time for us to talk about the Aces, those unique members of the Pip cards. Aces are different from the other Minors, as they are seen as being the seeds of their suit and element, rather than the manifestation of their suit and element. Aces are not material, and there is no evidence that they exist or affect us, because they don’t. Aces are tendencies that are the foundation of the manifestations of their suit; the Ace of Cups, our card for this month, is not Water, but a tendency to become Water! Let’s begin our process of breaking down this Ace. The Ace of Cups…

This month, we will talk about the Major Arcana card called The Star. Since we haven’t talked about a Major Arcana card in a while, before we begin breaking down The Star, let’s define and describe some terms. There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, issues that are archetypes which are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, a personality, a behavior, an object, or a concept…

Let’s cement what we learned last month when we talked about the Queen of Pentacles, by examining another Tarot “royal,” the Queen of Swords. First, a review of information we talked about last month. A Tarot deck has 78 cards. There are 22 Major Arcana cards, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. There are 56 Minor Arcana cards that are customarily grouped into four categories or suits that represent the four elements (sometimes called “Pips” or “Pip Cards”), with numbers…

We have yet to talk about Court Cards, and the time has come. This month, we will talk about the Queen of Pentacles, but first a bit of ground work regarding the Tarot “royalty.” A Tarot deck has 78 cards. There are 22 Major Arcana cards, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. There are 56 Minor Arcana cards that are customarily grouped into four categories or suits that represent the four elements (sometimes called “Pips” or “Pip Cards”), with numbers…

This month, we will talk about the Major Arcana card called Judgement. If you haven’t read last month’s essay on Justice, please do so now. At the beginning of that essay, you will find a brief description of the Major Arcana, as well as a review of some terms, such as archetype, stereotype and epitome. Each Major Arcana card contains many ingredients to aid in interpretation; besides the symbolism found in the traditional images associated with each card, a Major Arcana card corresponds to a number, an archetype, an element, an astrological sign or planet, a Hebrew letter, and a Path on the Tree of Life joining two Sephiroth. Because…