Book: Teresa Michelsen The Complete Guide to Tarot. Teresa Michelsen The Complete Guide to Tarot

"The Complete Guide to Tarot"

(chapter from a book)

HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN THE MAJOR ARCANA

Targets and goals:

1. 
   Familiarize yourself with the main points of the history of Tarot.
2. 
   Develop a system of spiritual, mythological and astrological associations applicable to decks created before the 20th century.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TAROT

Every tarot reader should have at least a little understanding of the history of the Tarot. Over several centuries, it has acquired so many romantic and mythological details that most of what you could read or hear about the Tarot does not correspond to reality. In addition, it is very important to understand why certain images appeared on the cards, and what the creators of specific decks put into them. If you are using pre-20th century decks or modern decks based on renaissance imagery, this information is far more essential to interpreting your cards than anything you can find in mainstream tarot textbooks, as the latter deal primarily with group decks. Ryder-Waite-Smith. Here we present to your attention a summary of information from the sources given in the references to this chapter. 1 We note right away that it is written more from a historical than from a metaphysical point of view.

In all likelihood, the first tarot cards appeared in the early 15th century, and almost certainly in northern Italy. Most likely, they were created by some scientist or artist commissioned by one of the major aristocratic houses, such as the Visconti Sforza in Milan or d'Estes in Ferrara. References to tarot cards, or carte da trionfi or tarocchi, as they were then called, are found in the springs of many cities in northern Italy, such as Milan, Ferrara, and Florence. Tarot was the result of adding trump cards or the Major Arcana to a regular deck of playing cards. Playing cards brought from Islamic countries about half a century ago were already well known in Europe. The suit symbols were almost the same as on modern European tarot decks.

Moderation.

Tarot Visconti ( Visconti Tarot ).

Tarok was a regular card game similar to bridge, but with a fixed set of fifteen cards. Some variations of this game still exist in various European countries, especially in France, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland (the rules for one of the most common modern variations are given in Appendix 6). Tarot decks are somewhat different from our usual tarot decks; they may contain images of domestic or historical scenes, animals, crowned persons, hunting, ships, landscapes, and everything that one can imagine, and these objects are not required to have any esoteric content.

Twenty-first Major Arcana.

French Tarot ( Tarocco Francese ).

As far as we know now, the Tarot was by no means created for fortune telling, although what exactly the creator of the very first deck was up to, we, of course, do not know, as well as who he actually was. However, the Renaissance in Italy was rife with religious, philosophical, and metaphysical concepts, which in one way or another were reflected in the symbolism of the Major Arcana (at that time, only richly decorated symbols of suits were depicted on the Minor Arcana cards of most decks - the only but very notable exception was the deck Sola Busca Whatever its original purpose may have been, this symbolism later provided the basis for the use of the Tarot for divinatory and other metaphysical purposes.

Like regular playing cards, the Tarot soon became associated with divination and divination. In late 18th century sources we find the first complete treatment of the meanings of the Tarot and playing cards in divination. At the same time, the first Tarot deck appeared on the scene, created with the deliberate use of esoteric and metaphysical symbolism. It was published by the French occultist Etteila. Since then, and throughout the 19th century, the Tarot has been surrounded by a great many romantic speculations and insinuations. It was believed that it originated either from Ancient Egypt, or from the gypsies; neither one nor the other version stand up to scrutiny. In the middle of the 19th century, the French magician Eliphas Levi drew parallels between Tarot and Hebrew, Kabbalah and the four elements. Subsequently, many individuals and organizations known for their connections with magic and Freemasonry contributed to the systematization of the Tarot and the creation of a system of correspondences between cards and astrology, alchemy and other aspects of the Western mystical tradition. Among them are Papus in France and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley in England.

Tarot card 5. Happiness.

Esoteric Tarot of antiquity ( Esoteric Ancient Tarots ).

In 1909 a new deck was created by Arthur Edward Waite (author) and Pamela Colman Smith (artist) and published by Ryder and Company in London (now known as Ryder-Waite-Smith). It was the first modern deck in which all the Minor Arcana were provided with pictures. The symbolism of the deck was supposed to reflect the Western mystical tradition, and therefore was significantly influenced by the teachings of the Order of the Golden Dawn, to which both A. E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith belonged. For many decades this deck, along with the Tarot of Thoth by Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris, was one of the few to gain currency in the United States, where it was considered the "standard" tarot deck. In Europe, it is used much less. In addition, there are now a great many new decks that reflect every conceivable spiritual, religious and metaphysical tradition.

RELIGIOUS AND MYTHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

Modern tarologists may be surprised to learn that the original imagery of the Tarot was extremely saturated with Christian religious symbolism. Historians disagree whether this symbolism is essentially orthodox, or whether it contains some heretical elements. Nevertheless, almost everyone agrees that it is quite typical of all the works of art of the Renaissance, replete with religious, philosophical and mythological connotations.

It is very difficult to identify a coherent concept (if, of course, there was one) that the authors of the early tarot decks wanted to display. On the other hand, the Major Arcana used to have no numbers, and almost all the old decks now kept in museums are missing a few (if not most) cards. We know that the oldest decks differed significantly from each other, not only in the order of the cards, but often even in the number of Major Arcana and court cards. The fact that we do not know the exact number and order of the Major Arcana makes it much more difficult to understand the range of ideas reflected in them. Nonetheless? for several centuries, tarologists have developed several very interesting theories. 2 One concept is that trionfi, or trumps, depicted a triumphal procession of those that were so popular at that time, and which Petrarch sang in his poem I Trionfi. It was an allegorical depiction of life in which some groups defeat others, and then they themselves are defeated. For example, the first group could depict ordinary mortals and include trump cards from 0 to 5. Above this group, in the middle of the Major Arcana, virtues and the forces of fate, as well as Death and the Devil, took precedence. In turn, the latter were defeated by celestial bodies and the Angel (another name for the Judgment card), that is, trump cards from 17 to 21.

Another theory says that the Major Arcana represent the universe at all levels of perfection - from the lowest to the highest. They start with the Beggar or the Fool at the very bottom, followed by the Jester or Magician, followed by worldly kings and queens and the Pope. The following cards represent various ideas that had weight and significance in the culture of the time, and which were considered either virtues to be pursued or powerful forces beyond the control of man. Virtues that survived in many of the early decks included Strength, Justice, and Temperance. In the middle of the deck were the forces in whose hands the fate of mortals was - Time (the Hermit, who was then called Kronos), Fate (Wheel of Fortune) and Death.

Hermit.

Tarot Visconti ( Visconti Tarots ).

Above all of them stood the Devil and the Tower (which, perhaps, symbolized the destruction and chaos created on earth by the Devil). Above the Devil were celestial bodies (Star, Moon and Sun), Angel and World. In Christian symbolism, the last two cards could represent the terrible Judgment and God ruling eternal life. The central figure of the World map was often associated with Jesus, but most likely represented animus mundi, or the soul of the world.

Only a few ideas have survived to this day explaining the sequence of the Major Arcana based on the Renaissance worldview. For modern tarologists, of particular importance, of course, is the fact that Tarot cards do not and never have any anti-religious connotations and have never been considered the work of the devil, as some narrow-minded people still believe. It is believed that this phenomenon was somewhat beyond the control of organized religion, but nevertheless, Tarot cards carry the richest spiritual, religious and philosophical symbolism, which reflects the culture and era in which they were born.

Exercise 1: Spiritual concepts.

Tarot readers are often asked what place Tarot cards occupy in their system of worldview. The fact is that they can serve as an expression of the spiritual path of a person and his fundamental religious and philosophical ideas. Think about what you believe now and the beliefs you grew up with. Try to imagine which Tarot cards, and especially the Major Arcana, could express the main points of your worldview, both in the past and in the present. How could this help you in interpreting the tarot spreads for yourself and for others?

CONFORMITY

The old system of mythical and astrological correspondences was based on the art of the Renaissance and was very attentive to the gods, goddesses, supernatural creatures and other symbols associated with the planets and signs of the zodiac. At that time, only seven planets were known, so not all charts had astrological correspondences. The signs did not always go in order, and not all cards had clear astrological correspondences, since this did not really matter for the original location of the Major Arcana.

In addition to the signs of the zodiac, many cards were associated with Greek or Roman gods and goddesses, or with other iconic figures of that era. To better understand the purpose and features of the cards, you can independently study some old Renaissance deck and check the information that is given in the footnotes to this chapter. 3 It is very interesting that some of the cards that we now consider purely allegorical, such as Death, the Devil and Judgment, were perceived by people of that time much more literally.

1. 
   Jester. Fool or court jester, Dionysus.
2. 
   Mage. Magician or magician, Hermes, Mercury.
3. 
   popess(High Priestess). Historians disagree whether this card has anything to do with the legendary pope John 4 or the historical Manfred Visconti 5 , and whether it thus represents heretical opposition to the established church, or whether it is simply a female counterpart of the Pope, occupying the same position in relation to him. like the Empress to the Emperor. Other associations include Juno, Prsephone, and the sign of Taurus.
4. 
   empress. Demeter, Hera, Mary mother of God, the sign of Cancer.
5. 
   Emperor. Zeus, Jupiter.
6. 
   Dad. Sagittarius.
7. 
   lovers. Venus, Aphrodite, Eros. This card was originally called Love or the Lover, and featured a man making a choice between two women, with Cupid instead of an Angel.
8. 
   Chariot. Mars, Aries.
9. 
   Justice. Athena, Libra, the virtue of justice.
10. 
    Hermit. Saturn, Kronos (Father-Time), possibly associated with the virtue of prudence. This correspondence is not as undeniable as in the case of cards correlated with the other three virtues - justice, strength and moderation.
11. 
    Wheel Fortune. Fortune, Three Parks, Gemini.
12. 
    Strength. Heracles, strength, virtue of strength.
13. 
    Hanged. Prometheus, Odin, Capricorn.
14. 
    Death. Hades.
15. 
    Moderation. Irida, Aquarius, the virtue of moderation.
16. 
    Devil. Satan, Pan, Scorpio.
17. 
    Tower. Tower of Babel.
18. 
    Star. Ganymede, Aphrodite, Virgo.
19. 
    Moon. The Moon, the three faces of the Triple Goddess - Artemis, Demeter and Hekate (maiden, mother, crone), as well as other goddesses associated with the Moon, such as Athena and Persephone.
20. 
    Sun. Sun, Apollo, Helios, Castor and Pollux.
21. 
    Court. Resurrection, Judgment Day, Archangel Michael, Pisces.
22. 
    World. Gaia, Paradise, four elements, animus mundi.

Exercise 2: Mythological associations.

Choose from the list above one of the associations that interests you the most, and try to understand why this mythological character in the Renaissance could be associated with this particular card. Write an essay on how this association may or may not work for you and why - what suits you, what does not, and how this information can be used in layouts. Do you think it can be used with a modern deck? Why?

Exercise 3: Virtues.

In addition to the four human virtues (strength, temperance, justice, and prudence), there were three more that were believed to come directly from God - faith, hope, and mercy. During the Renaissance, this was a very important concept, and the virtues were always featured in tarot cards or similar decks. Three of the first four virtues are quite obviously present in the Tarot system, while with prudence, researchers constantly have difficulties. On the other hand, the additional virtues of faith, hope, and charity can be easily found among the Major Arcana. Look through one of the old decks and see if you can clearly relate the seven virtues to the Major Arcana. Write a short explanation of your choice. After completing the exercise, try to reflect on whether these virtues were deliberately included in the tarot system, and if so, why?

Goal task 1.

Study one or more books from the bibliography given in the footnotes. After working through the material in the book and this chapter, write a list of the most frequently asked questions about the Tarot or a short essay in which you recount the main points of the history of the Tarot from memory. Rehearse what you would say if a client asked you such a question, or suddenly began to expound one of the widely held but misconceptions about the Tarot.

Goal task 2.

Take two Tarot decks - one modern and one created before the twentieth century, and lay out in front of you for comparison two sets of the Major Arcana. Explain how they differ in the meaning of the cards and their mythological, astrological and spiritual counterparts. Give at least two examples of how deck choice affects the interpretation of a particular spread.

1 Further information on the history of Tarot can be found in the following print and online sources: R. Decker, T. Depaulis, M. Dummett, A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot(New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996); S. R. Kaplan, The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Volumes I, II, III (Stamford, CT: U.S. Games, Inc., 1978-1990); T. T. Little, The Hermitage: A Tarot History Site, www.tarothermit.com ; J. W. Revak, Villa Revak: A Tarot Website, www.villarevak.org ; The TarotL Tarot History Information Sheet, www.tarothermit.com/infosheet.htm.

2 For possible causes and origins of the graphics of early Tarot decks, see: Gertrude Moakley, The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti-Sforza Family: An Iconfraphic and Historical Study(Ney York: The New York Public Library, 1966); Robert V O'Neill, Tarot Symbolism(Lima, OH: Fairway Press, 1986); T. T. Little, The Hermitage: A Tarot History Site – Tarot as a Cosmograph, www.tarothermit.com/cosmograph.htm.

3 For the mythological symbolism of early tarot decks, see: Brian Williams, A Renaissance Tarot, deck and book set (Stamford, CT: U. S. Games, Inc., 1987); Juliet Sharman Burke, Mastering the Tarot: An Advanced Personal Teaching Guide(New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2000).

4 The story of a woman who allegedly assumed the papal throne incognito first appeared in the chronicles of the 13th century. The events date back to the 9th or 12th centuries. It was refuted already in the 17th century. - Note. transl.

5 At the end of the thirteenth century, in northern Italy, there was a heretical sect of the Googlelmites who believed that after the eras of God the Father and God the Son, a new era in the history of mankind was coming - the era of the Holy Spirit, the embodiment of which was a woman. They wanted to establish a church in which the pope and the cardinals would be female. Manfreda di Provano, Matteo Visconti's cousin, was elected pope and then burned by the authorities in 1300. - Note. transl.

LESSON 1
Lessons for beginners

Once you have a general understanding of the meanings of the Tarot cards, it makes sense to get to know them better and develop your own perception based on intuition and your unique life experience. To do this, it will be useful, firstly, to compile and remember a list of keywords and associations for each card and, secondly, to firmly strengthen them in your subconscious so that they do not have to frantically remember every time you read the layout.
Some of the meanings given in the books may not work for you personally, so you will have to replace them with your own ideas. Each person is unique in his own way. Our mind acts as a translator. Information comes to us while reading the alignment, and the cards we work with are the tools. Information comes in the form of symbols, and therefore both consciousness and subconsciousness are included in the process of its interpretation. This is why our personal associations are of great value in card reading.
So, one of the most important rules when working with Tarot is to trust your own associations. Don't let anyone teach you that cards are to be interpreted in a certain way and not in any other way.
It is very important to know what associations you spontaneously have when you see the pictures on the cards, that is, what “filters” you subconsciously use when interpreting.
Most experienced tarot readers agree that the first thing to do when getting to know a new deck is to put all the books away and just look at the pictures on the cards.

Free associations
For these exercises, try to clear your mind of everything you already know about the Tarot, put away all books and records. There are no correct answers; you will have plenty of time to find out what others think about the cards.
Only hold cards upright because the meaning of a reversed card usually follows directly from the meaning of a straight card.
Shuffle the deck carefully, then begin to draw cards one at a time, holding it straight in front of you. Without thinking too much, write down your first impressions. What emotions do you get when you look at this card? What ideas come to your mind?
Look closely at each card. Pay attention to all the details. Imagine that you are inside the map. Take a look around.
If possible, try to correlate this card with any event or period in your life and make an appropriate entry in your diary.
Now add all the words or images that you associate with the Tarot lesson itself. Write down everything that comes to your mind. It's great if you associate the same words with several cards.
At this stage, there is no need to worry about which keyword or idea best fits the spirit of this or that card.

After completing this exercise, go back to the manual that came with your deck, or another reference that describes the standard meanings of the cards. Compare what you wrote about the map with what the handbook says. Initially, interpretations may not match. Think about whether it is possible to expand the scope of both interpretations in order to somehow bring them to a common denominator? Try combining both lists and see what happens. If that doesn't work, don't fret. Everything will come with time.
But remember that it is direct impressions that are most important, because they reflect the impulses that arise in our minds, and most importantly, the subconscious mind when we see the images and symbols on the cards. This is that deeply personal, intuitive part of the experience that cannot be gleaned from any books and sources other than your own diary.

There is one fun way to get in touch with your intuitive ideas about cards. Try to come up with a story. You can lay out the cards in front of you in order and come up with a story that would reflect the numerological cycle. But at this stage of the work, a random selection of cards will be much more useful, as it will allow you to touch your subconscious.

If you have children, invite them to join in the game - children are usually great at such stories (just don't make mistakes and try to correct their "interpretations" - this is an exercise in imagination, not an exam)

Shuffle the deck, choose three cards (or as many as you like) and place them in front of you in any order you like. Tell a story about the people, events, or objects depicted on the cards, as if you were looking at a picture book.

In addition to a closer acquaintance with the cards and the accumulation of associative images, this exercise is also aimed at developing the ability to conduct a free story, and this is a very important part of the art of tarot divination. By this I mean not at all the ability to invent something non-existent, but the ability to synthesize different plots into a single whole and see in them a common logical basis. The cards in the spread interact with each other, but in order to learn how to take the meanings of individual cards and form an interpretation of the layout from them as a whole, you will need some time. A significant help in this for you will be the ability to work with a group of cards and see in them a certain part of the general plot or situation.

Development of a scale of values
Each card in a tarot deck can have many different meanings. It depends on the question asked, and on the position in the layout, and on the cards that surround, and on other ways that allow you to change the meaning of the cards, such as, for example, an inverted position or the system of interactions that the fortuneteller uses.
At a minimum, the cards in the layout can be read at three levels - spiritual, psychological and everyday. In addition, sometimes the cards are read in a more positive way, and sometimes in a more negative way, even if they all fell out in a direct position. For these reasons, it's a good idea to create your own scale of ideas, keywords, and phrases for each card, as there will be many instances in your practice where any particular definition won't fit your situation.
One of the main points in working with Tarot cards is that each of them is dual in nature - just like we, people, by the way. No card is essentially positive or negative - each of them reflects the cycle of life and the diverse lessons that we should learn from it. Nevertheless, some books on Tarot (especially those very “little white books” - manuals) tend to consider some cards to be extremely positive, while others are extremely unfavorable.
Yes, some cards lean in one direction or another, but despite this, they can act in a positive, negative or neutral role, depending on the situation. Therefore, knowing the card's own qualities, both good and bad, will be very useful to us later, when we come to the interpretation of reversed cards and elementary virtues. In addition, it is necessary for reading cards that are in the layout in different positions.

For the third exercise, shuffle the deck and draw cards one at a time. You can refer to the key words and phrases that you wrote down in your diary when you did the first exercise. Imagine a spread of three cards, the values ​​of the positions in which are as follows:

1.Situation.
2. Problems to be overcome. Negative influence.
3. Resources and energies that will help you with this. Positive influence.

Now take a card and put it in turn in each of the positions. How will this change its meaning? The first position is purely descriptive, and therefore the interpretation should be relatively neutral. In the other two positions, you will have to look at the card in a more positive or negative light. Pay attention to cards that are difficult to fit into a positive or negative position. Record new ideas and experiences in your diary.

LESSON 4

In the next three lessons, we will begin to study the structures underlying the numerical cards from Ace to Ten. It is often believed that the Minor Arcana are more related to the area of ​​\u200b\u200beveryday life, while the Major Arcana are more related to the realm of the spiritual. We will pay special attention to associations with the main natural elements. Together, these two aspects define at least one of the possible meanings of the card, as well as deepen your understanding of the relationships between different cards. For example, if the suit of Cups corresponds to the sphere of emotions and relationships, and the Threes symbolize abundance and expansion (lat.l expansio expansion, spread), then one of the meanings of the Three of Cups will be the expansion of social relationships.

To work with these lessons, select cards of each suit from Ace to Ten. Lay them out in front of you in four rows, following the sequence of cards within the suit, so that you can see them all at once.

Look at the cards in one of the rows. On a piece of paper or on a computer, make a column for each suit and write in those columns all the words and images that you think are relevant to each suit. What aspects of everyday life do you think suits can represent? Choose two or three keywords that best describe the suit. These keys will later be useful to you, along with numerological associations, to determine the new meanings of the cards.

Each of the suits is traditionally associated with one of the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Determine which of the elements is associated with which suit, and write down the results of your observations in your diary in the appropriate column. Which suits do you think are predominantly active, and which are passive? Many authors also attribute to suits associations with the four seasons. What season corresponds to each suit and why? Write down your findings.

The ability to correlate suits with the seasons is needed mainly for predictions with accurate timing, although these associations can be used in a more abstract way. They can symbolize periods of growth and new beginnings (spring), fullness and abundance (summer), receiving results and preparing for the Transition (autumn) and peace and energy conservation (winter), respectively.

The role of suits and associations in layouts

The associations associated with a particular suit play a very important role in the layouts. First of all, look at the dropped cards. Maybe most of them belong to the same suit? Or two? This can tell you something about the client's mindset or their progress toward problem solving. In a fully balanced situation, all four elements are present (if, of course, the alignment is large enough), but most often one or two suits really dominate the layout.

Now look, maybe some suits are missing in the layout? Perhaps this indicates areas that the client should pay special attention to, or about energies that would not hurt to add to the situation.

Finally, find out if the drawn suits match the question asked. For example, it is traditionally believed that Cups are associated with relationships, while Wands and Pentacles are associated with work and career. If a client asks a question about a career, and he has solid Cups, this may indicate that for him the most important thing in a career is emotional and spiritual satisfaction. On the other hand, this may indicate that he is too emotional about his career, and that a little more rational planning (Swords), action (Wands) and practicality (Pentacles) will not hinder him at all.

Make a three-card spread on the topic: “I have been very depressed lately and cannot understand why. Can you help me figure out what's going on?"

The cards are laid out according to the scheme below. Use suit associations to find out where the root of this problem is and how it can be solved.

Card 1: Why is the client depressed?

Card 2: What can he change in this situation?

Card 3: Where can he find help?

Another approach is to determine how many active (Swords and Wands) and passive (Cups and Pentacles) cards have been dealt. If your client intends to make major changes in his life, and he has only passive cards, this indicates that he is holding on to the past, thinking and planning instead of taking active actions. Perhaps he is afraid of losing his sense of stability (Pentacles). A passive layout can also talk about an internal approach to solving a problem, and an active one about an external one.

The Complete Guide to Tarot by Teresa Michelsen

Study of interactions between the elements

Suit associations with Water, Fire, Air, and Earth are often used in the construction and interpretation of Tarot spreads. With the help of associations with the main elements of nature, we consider the relationship between the cards; in addition, they can be used instead of reversed cards (this is called the method of using the merits of the elements). Compatible elements reinforce each other, while opposite elements weaken each other.
In ancient Greek philosophy, and later in alchemy, each of the four elements had a combination of two of the four properties - it could be hot or cold, dry or wet:

The earth is cold and dry.
The water is cold and damp.
The air is hot and humid.
Fire is hot and dry.

Compatible elements have one common primary quality - they are both cold (passive, feminine) or both hot (active, masculine). Such elements in nature are easily combined and mixed. Elements that have a common secondary quality (both dry or both wet) are neutral with respect to each other and mix with some difficulty (remember dying coals or air bubbles in water). Elements that do not share characteristics are incompatible and weaken each other - they cannot be mixed, so they never occur together in nature. Based on this concept, we provide below an elemental compatibility table (also known as the Elemental Value System).

Compatible: Fire and air; Water and Earth
Neutral: Fire and Earth; Water and Air
Incompatible: Fire and Water; Earth and Air

Associations with the elements can be used, for example, in a layout that is done specifically for this aspect of the situation. There is a popular triple spread called Mind-Body-Spirit, as well as other similar spreads, such as Mental-Physical-Emotional or Health-Wealth-Happiness. These are very widely used spreads with which you can explore different levels of the situation. The natural correspondences between positions and suits here will be as follows: mind - Swords; body, health, finances - Pentacles; emotions, relationships - Cups; will, career - Wands (at the same time, both Cups and Wands can represent the Spirit, and sometimes it is considered as the fifth element, which is symbolized by trump cards, or Major Arcana). Each of the suits in the corresponding position will be considered strengthened by associations, and other suits - neutral or weakened. If the card is in a natural position in accordance with the suit, then its energies have a greater move in the situation under consideration. If the opposite suit is in one position or another, then its energies are blocked, and the client may feel despair and powerlessness.

Make a triple alignment on the principle of "Mental - Emotional - Material" to the question: "I'm thinking about becoming an architect. What will this change mean for me?” Write down your observations about the correspondence of the dropped cards to their positions in the layout.

LESSON 7

Although all cards of the same suit are naturally associated with the corresponding element, within each particular card there is also an interaction of elements. Take, for example, the Two of Swords. In most decks, the swords depicted on it and the sky open to all winds speak of the presence of the element of Air, and the blindfolded woman speaks of immersion or contemplation. However, the element of Water is almost always present in the chart, and the moon often shines over the woman, which is also associated with Water.
Depending on the deck, the water can be rough or calm. This is also true of other cards such as the Six of Swords or the Two of Pentacles. On each of these cards, the water reflects the emotional state of the person depicted on it and reminds that, along with what the associations of the suit and the elements suggest, in the situation described by this card, emotional reactions can be of particular importance.

Look through the entire deck and select cards that feature more than one element. Describe in your journal how this might affect your interpretation of the card and what it might add to its traditional meaning.

Colors
Many artists use certain colors to emphasize the elemental qualities of a particular card. Traditionally, the following colors are associated with the elements: yellow - with Air, red - with Fire, blue - with Water and green - with Earth.
However, not everyone follows this system. The artist can choose, for example, blue for Air, yellow for Fire, green for Water, and brown for Earth. If your deck uses colors consistently to illustrate elemental influences, you should be able to quickly determine which colors correspond to which elements. Sometimes elemental colors are present on the margins of the card so that the suit can be identified, and sometimes in the main picture of the card.
In addition to the main elemental associations of the map, colors add additional semantic nuances to the image. For example, on the Magician card of the White's Universal Tarot deck, there is a yellow glow associated with the element of Air. In addition, over a white tunic - a symbol of purity - the magician wears a red robe, which emphasizes his active, passionate, courageous nature. As you can see from this example, each color can have many other meanings besides elemental associations, so it's worth going over your entire deck to see how colors are used and what they might symbolize.
Some authors, such as Robin Wood, have detailed explanations of what Colors they use and why in the brochures that come with the deck.

Lay the cards of each suit in order from Ace to Ten in order in front of you. Study the cards carefully and decide if any of the colors in your deck have clear elemental associations. Pay attention to whether there are associative links between color and suit in the cards of the deck, compare different rows. Are there any other graphic elements or symbols that are specific to the suit as a whole?

Combining numerology with suit associations will add consistency and consistency to your understanding of the cards. Structured and systematized associations are easier to learn and remember than forty seemingly unrelated keywords.
This system will also be very useful if you use a deck in which the number cards do not have pictures, since you will not have any other visual associations.
Look at each column of cards, starting with Aces. What qualities unite all Aces? Write down as many key words as you can to interpret Aces, then do the same for each card from 2 to 10, focusing only on those traits that are common to all four cards of the same value. Then determine how these keywords will change as each card within the denomination is examined.

Now take the cards of the Major Arcana, which are numbered from one to ten, and put them at the very top of the columns with the corresponding number. What do you think can unite the Major Arcana with the minor cards of the same number? Record your impressions in a diary. If you want to continue this exercise, take the remaining Major Arcana and arrange them in their respective columns like this: add both digits of the Arcana number so that they give a one-digit number. Take, for example, the fourteenth Arcana, Temperance. One plus four is five. Place this card at the top of the column containing the Fives and the fifth Arcana, the Hierophant. These cards are considered the highest reflections of the first ten Arcana and are associated with them. Thus Justice is associated with the High Priestess, the Moon with the Hermit, and so on.
From a technical point of view in numerology, "ten" is not a major number and should be reduced to one, and as part of this exercise, you can put both the Wheel of Fortune and the Sun in the tenth position - just for comparison with the Minor Arcana. How will this change your impressions of the connections between Tens and Aces in each suit?

We will consider the relationship between the Major and Minor Arcana later, when we study the Major Arcana, so do not be discouraged if not everything with them will be clear to you right now. As is always the case when studying the internal structures of the Tarot, not all cards will seem “in their place” to you. There may be several different reasons for this.
In the earliest decks, there were no pictures on the cards at all, they appeared much later and were far from always drawn in accordance with pure numerological models. The meanings that are traditionally attributed to certain cards may be rooted in an old tradition of card interpretation (no one knows where the first insights regarding the meaning of Tarot cards came from). In this regard, many relatively new decks can be much more consistent, since in their creation the authors focused on astrological, numerological and kabbalistic correspondences.

As you already learned from the previous chapter, each of the suits is associated with one of the elements and with certain areas of life. Look at the suit keyword lists you made earlier and try to combine them with the keywords you picked for numbers. For example, if the keyword for Swords is "thoughts" and for Sixes is "harmony", then the result for the Six of Swords would obviously be "harmony of thoughts" or "harmonious thoughts". Make such pairs for all ten cards of each suit and compare the resulting phrases with those intuitive interpretations that you made for yours, as well as with the meanings that are given for these cards in reference books. Are there cards among them whose keywords do not fit into the general suit/number model? Do you think there is a way to expand the scope of interpretations of such "inappropriate cards" so that they still work in the general system?
The Complete Guide to Tarot by Teresa Michelsen

In this article I will give the tasks that the author of the book offers us and examples of their execution on different decks. I’ll just note right away that everything is based on the intuitive perception of cards by the owner of the deck.

1. T. Michelsen suggests starting acquaintance with the deck by “fixing” each card in a special diary. All images, words, associations that arise when looking at one or another lasso should be recorded. This is, so to speak, the first reaction to the card, which is extremely important.

2. Writing stories. To get started, you can start with three cards. As an example, the thesis description of the triplet on the Tarot Eternal Night of the Vampires

Sensing danger, the girl tried to hide in the forest to ensure the safety of what was dear to her. She tried to protect the secret knowledge that she owns from someone else's encroachment. Key words: protection, amulet, care, mystery.

3. Training mini-layout. Pull out three cards according to positions - Situation - Problems to be overcome - Resources that will help with this. But just giving an interpretation for each position is not enough, you need to move the cards and, in accordance with these changes, change the nuances of the initial description of possible values. Tarot example 78 doors

Jester - 2 bowls - 5 bowls

A person starts a new life, old attachments, feelings that still hold a person, interfere with this. It will help to overcome this problem by a certain crisis situation, the way back, after which there will be no.

5 bowls - Jester - 2 bowls

A man in despair, looking for a way out of an impasse. Finding a way out is hindered by a lack of determination to take risks and step into the unknown. A person will be able to get out of this situation if he has someone to go to, take risks for the sake of feelings. etc.

Working with suits

1. Suits and associations. Divide the deck into four suits, arrange each in a line and write your associations for each.

Wands - enthusiasm, activity, action, labor, joy, passion, fire, summer

Swords - crisis, tension, composure, fatigue, completion, transition, air, winter.

Pentacles - fertility, skill, stability, warmth, moderation, earth, autumn.

Cups - feelings, emotions, contacts, relaxation, sincerity, imagination, water, spring.

2. A spread based on suit associations. Positions - Why the client is depressed - What can he change - Where can he seek help.

Based on the personal associations cited earlier, it can be assumed that the origins of a depressed state should be sought in the sensual sphere, you can change the situation by calling for help composure, and find help in work, honing your own skills.

3. Alignment using associations by elements. Positions - Mental - Emotional - Material

In the mental - water. This is not a rational, but an emotional decision. She does not expect concrete results, but rather perceives these classes as a way to unwind.

Emotional - fire. This idea captured her, she looks forward to the upcoming stage of activity and the possibility of self-expression. The material is air. She will not receive material benefits, rather, on the contrary, one should not get carried away and measure the price-quality ratio.