{"id":2688,"date":"2009-11-01T01:10:36","date_gmt":"2009-11-01T06:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=2745"},"modified":"2009-10-27T10:26:11","modified_gmt":"2009-10-27T15:26:11","slug":"new-to-the-craft-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2009\/11\/01\/new-to-the-craft-13\/","title":{"rendered":"New to the Craft"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tarot Primer <\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most popular methods of divination today is the use of tarot cards.\u00a0 Commonly linked with witches and gypsies in the popular imagination, tarot has a fascinating history that some groups say can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt.\u00a0 Though their exact origin is debated most tarot decks can be shown to incorporate a wealth of symbolism in their artwork that gives depth and variety to their possible interpretations in a reading.\u00a0 The standard Rider\/Waite deck was developed by members of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century, and it intentionally makes heavy use of Qabalistic and astrological themes.\u00a0 Other newer decks range in subject from pagan deities to angels to basic archetypes.<\/p>\n

While modern tarot decks vary greatly in artwork and content, most tend to keep the same basic structure of 22 trump cards, called the Major Arcana, and 56 suited cards, called the Minor Arcana.\u00a0 The Major Arcana are a pictorial representation of the deck\u2019s theme, usually a variation on the soul\u2019s journey to enlightenment.\u00a0 Below are a couple of examples of the most common first trump, referred to as The Fool:<\/p>\n

\"new1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"new2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"new3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Rider\/Waite and other decks derived from the Golden Dawn symbol system each trump card is associated with a particular path on the Qabalistic Tree of Life and an astrological sign, planet, or element that gives it an added layer of meaning.\u00a0 The Minor Arcana cards also relate to the elements via the four suits of wands (fire), cups (water), swords (air), and pentacles (earth).\u00a0 These cards number from 1 to 10 with the addition of the king, queen, knight, and page cards.\u00a0 Some versions amend the knight to a prince or the page to a princess.\u00a0 Each of the minor cards then has their own significance as related to the Tree of Life!\u00a0 Knowing the added symbolism of each card isn\u2019t necessary to enjoying and using the tarot, but it can be a great aid to the reader in attempting to interpret spreads that might otherwise seem confusing.<\/p>\n

To conduct a reading with the tarot the reader shuffles the deck and lays out the cards in what is termed a \u201cspread\u201d.\u00a0 The most commonly known is referred to as the Celtic Cross, which has the reader turn over a total of 10 cards in a specific order and relation to the others.\u00a0 Each card is meant to reveal a particular aspect of the question at hand.\u00a0 For instance the first card, the significator, reveals the general influences surrounding the matter, while the tenth card reveals the predicted outcome.\u00a0 As each card is turned the reader interprets its meaning within the reading, tapping the subconscious but also using knowledge of what each cards symbolizes to understand the picture being presented.\u00a0 Tarot readings, as with other forms of divination, offer a glimpse into the current state of influences affecting the matter concerned.\u00a0 A reading doesn\u2019t need to be taken as a future set in stone, but rather more information to be considered before proceeding on a particular path.\u00a0 Each card can act as a mirror, reflecting back and revealing meanings specific to the person concerned.\u00a0 In this way tarot helps us to explore both our future paths and our subconscious for greater understanding of our lives.<\/p>\n

Until next month, blessed be! )O(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Tarot Primer One of the most popular methods of divination today is the use of tarot cards.\u00a0 Commonly linked with witches and gypsies in the popular imagination, tarot has a fascinating history that some groups say can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt.\u00a0 Though their exact origin is debated most tarot decks can be shown to incorporate a wealth of symbolism in their artwork that gives depth and variety to their possible interpretations in a reading.\u00a0 The standard Rider\/Waite deck was developed by members of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century, and it intentionally makes heavy use of Qabalistic and astrological themes.\u00a0 Other newer decks range in subject from pagan deities to angels to basic archetypes. While modern tarot decks vary greatly in artwork and content, most tend to keep the same basic structure of 22 trump cards, called the Major Arcana, and 56 suited cards, called the Minor Arcana.\u00a0 The Major Arcana are a pictorial representation of the deck\u2019s theme, usually a variation on the soul\u2019s journey to enlightenment.\u00a0 Below are a couple of examples of the most common first trump, referred to as The Fool: In the Rider\/Waite and other decks derived from the Golden Dawn symbol system each trump card is associated with a particular path on the Qabalistic Tree of Life and an astrological sign, planet, or element that gives it an added layer of meaning.\u00a0 The Minor Arcana cards also relate to the elements via the four suits of wands (fire), cups (water), swords (air), and pentacles (earth).\u00a0 These cards number from 1 to 10 with the addition of the king, queen, knight, and page cards.\u00a0 Some versions amend the knight to a prince or the page to a princess.\u00a0 Each of the minor cards then has their own significance as related to the Tree of Life!\u00a0 Knowing the added symbolism of each card isn\u2019t necessary to enjoying and using the tarot, but it can be a great aid to the reader in attempting to interpret spreads that might otherwise seem confusing. To conduct a reading with the tarot the reader shuffles the deck and lays out the cards in what is termed a \u201cspread\u201d.\u00a0 The most commonly known is referred to as the Celtic Cross, which has the reader turn over a total of 10 cards in a specific order and relation to the others.\u00a0 Each card is meant to reveal a particular aspect of the question at hand.\u00a0 For instance the first card, the significator, reveals the general influences surrounding the matter, while the tenth card reveals the predicted outcome.\u00a0 As each card is turned the reader interprets its meaning within the reading, tapping the subconscious but also using knowledge of what each cards symbolizes to understand the picture being presented.\u00a0 Tarot readings, as with other forms of divination, offer a glimpse into the current state of influences affecting the matter concerned.\u00a0 A reading doesn\u2019t need to be taken as a future set in stone, but rather more information to be considered before proceeding on a particular path.\u00a0 Each card can act as a mirror, reflecting back and revealing meanings specific to the person concerned.\u00a0 In this way tarot helps us to explore both our future paths and our subconscious for greater understanding of our lives. Until next month, blessed be! )O(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}