Queen of Tarot

The ancient wisdom of the cards

Tarot Articles

Archetypes in the Tarot: Spirit

Tags: archetypes, tarot analysis, spirit

Spirit is the fifth element, coming after Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.  It resides within each of us, and at its highest level is that which we call God.  At its lowest level, it takes the form of a ghost or apparition.

It often takes the form of a winged creature such as an angel.

Spirit uplifts us, makes us more than we are, and provides relief when things are at their worst.

Archetypes in the Tarot: Trickster

Tags: archetypes, trickster, tarot analysis

The trickster is an important figure in folklore.  Taking such forms as the Joker or Coyote, he embodies cleverness and wit, but also deceit and irresponsibility.  He appears to provide comic relief as a jester or clown, but also to humble us, never allowing us to become too full of ourselves.  Like a zen koan he makes us think in new ways about ourselves and our motivations. His mischief is most harmful when we take ourselves too seriously, but is neutralized when we learn to laugh at ourselves with sincere pleasure.

Numerological Tarot Methods

Tags: numerology, techniques, interpretation, tarot card meanings, tarot analysis

Any numerological system is essentially arbitrary. I'm making one up, and I hope it'll be internally consistent. This is how I plan to assign divinatory meanings to the cards, in the hope of someday making my own deck. The general idea is that you combine the suit significance with the numerological significance in order to obtain a more specific meaning. If you are using a pictorial deck, you should also combine this with the impressions left by the card itself. If you look at the various schools of thought on divinatory meanings of cards, it is evident that many of those people used this same method. Please note that this is a work in progress, so your comments are triply appreciated!

Newly updated with additional numerological suggestions as of 5/22/13!

Cutting the Deck

Tags: solitaire, tarot card spreads, tarot card layouts, layouts, spreads

This is probably the oldest form of cartomancy, dating back to the 16th century at least. People would cut the deck to pull one card, essentially to test whether their luck was running high, before making a decision. Similar principles led to the development of solitaire games in the 17th century.

Madame Le Normand

Excerpt from E. S. Taylor's "The history of playing cards, with anecdotes of their use in conjuring, fortune-telling, and card-sharping":

The stormy period of the first Consulship of Napoleon and that of the Empire which followed it, was especially characterized by cartomantic practices in France. At this time, there lived in Paris a famous woman, whose renown as a prophetess will probably not soon pass away. This person was Mlle. Lenormand, whose influence with the empress Josephine, and even Napoleon himself, was said to be considerable.

Consider the Source

Tags: paranormal, basic concepts

In various places around this site, you will hear me throw around the words divination and cartomancy as if they were interchangeable. They aren't. In my opinion, before you trust any advice you receive from the cards, you should be very careful to decide where you think that information is coming from.

Consider the Querent

Tags: intuition, perception, basic concepts

It's a very interesting question whether one should cold-read one's querent when performing a reading. Some might say that it's a little like cheating, because the cards themselves ought to tell the whole story. To me, there is a very fine line between cold reading and second sight; perhaps it is simply a matter of degrees.

Personally, I disagree. I think that as fortune tellers, we should bring all of our minds to bear on what we are doing, and make use of all of the talents god gave us, including the ability to read people or any other form...