Tarot

How-to Tarot Spreads

Learning the Tarot

Reversed
After you have learned the basic meanings of the tarot, you may want to take your knowledge one step further by learning the reverse meanings of the cards. Some witches choose not to use reverse meanings while others believe it adds a little more to a reading. If you choose to read the cards when they appear upside down, you can use the listed reverse meanings stated beside each card:

The Major Arcana:
The Fool - naiveté, thoughtlessness (reversed: negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, vanity)
The Magician - ability to succeed in all endeavors (reversed: physician, mental disease, Magus, disgrace)
The High priestess - wisdom, hidden knowledge (reversed: passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge)
The Empress - fertility, motherhood, attainment (reversed: light, truth, public rejoicings)
The Emperor - dominant male figure, fatherhood, stability (reversed: benevolence, compassion, immaturity, obstruction)
The Hierophant - good advice, inspiration (reversed: society, good understanding, over-kindness, weakness)
The Lovers - love, beauty, attraction (reversed: failure, foolish designs)
The Chariot - triumph over difficulty, victory, speed to an end (reversed: riot, quarrel, dispute, defeat)
Strength - courage, inner strength, fortitude, physical strength (reversed: despotism, abuse of power, weakness)
The Hermit - solitude, insensitive, withdrawal, failure to face facts (reversed: concealment, disguise, fear, unreasoned caution)
Wheel Of Fortune - fortune, destiny, "this too shall pass" (reversed: increase, abundance, superfluity)
Justice -justice, honor, proper balance (reversed: law in all departments, bigotry, bias, excessive severity)
The Hanged Man - indecision, stalemate, transition (reversed: selfishness, the crowd, body politic)
Death - drastic change, death, finality, loss, destruction (reversed: inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism)
Temperance - patience, consolidation, good influence (reversed: things connected with churches, religions, sects, priesthood; disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests)
The Devil - lust, self bondage, bad advice, dependency on another (reversed: evil fatality, weakness, pettiness, blindness)
The Tower - catastrophe, ruin. destruction followed by rebuilding (reversed: the same in a lesser degree; oppression, imprisonment, tyranny)
The Star - bright hopes, new beginnings, destiny, insight, hope (reversed: arrogance, haughtiness, impotence)
The Moon - lies, deception, deceit, bad influence (reversed: instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error)
The Sun - new birth, success, happiness (reversed: the same in a lesser sense)
Judgement - atonement, decision, karma, result of actions (reversed: weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity, deliberation, decision, sentence)
The World - completion, perfection, success, fulfillment (reversed: inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence)

The Minor Arcana:

Pentacles (coins, shields)
King - success, aptitude, intelligence and experienced leader (reversed: vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril)
Queen - well being, security, freedom of action and prosperity (reversed: evil, suspicion, suspense, fear, mistrust)
Knight - reliable and patient (reversed: inertia, idleness, repose, stagnation, discouragement, carelessness)
Page - scholarship, concentration, reflection and study (reversed: prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury, unfavorable news)
10 - prosperity, security, safety and family matters (reversed: chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard)
9 - safety, vigilance, foresight and discernment (reversed: roguery, deception, voided project, bad faith)
8 - craftsmanship (reversed: voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury)
7 - adeptness and ingenuity (reversed: anxiety about money)
6 - kindness, gifts and generosity (reversed: desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion)
5 -failure, destitution, spiritual or material impoverishment (reversed: disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy)
4 - legacy, selfishness, miser (reversed: suspense, delay, opposition)
3 - skill, gift, inheritance, and perfection (reversed: mediocrity in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness and weakness)
2 - obstacles, set back and difficulties (reversed: enforced gaity, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, letters of exchange, composition in writing)
1 - perfection, contentment, joy, wealth and ecstasy (reversed: the evil side of wealth, bad intelligence)

Wands (staffs)
King - honesty, devotion, and friendliness. (reversed: good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant)
Queen - loving, kindness, and good mother. (reversed: good, economical, obliging, serviceable)
Knight - departure, journey, flight, and advancement. (reversed: rupture, division, interruption, discord)
Page - loyalty, entrusted friend, and messenger of growth, lover. (reversed: anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Indecision, and instability)
10 - excessive pressure, decisions. (reversed: contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues and their analogies)
9 - confrontation, strength and difficulties. (reversed: obstacles, adversity, calamity)
8 - haste, speed, suddenness, and separation. (reversed: arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stinging of conscience, quarrels)
7 - success, gain, advantage, and obstacles overcome. (reversed: perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety)
6- conquest, triumph, good news, progress, and advancement. (reversed: apprehension, fear, treachery, disloyalty)
5 - strenuous competition, struggle, and labor. (reversed: litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction)
4 - romance, refuge, peace and contentment. (reversed: same)
3 - practical knowledge and strength. (reversed: the end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment)
2 - domination, ruler and control. (reversed: surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear)
1 - birth, creation, fortune and destiny. (reversed: fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish; also-not unclouded joy)

Swords
King - courage, force, power, superiority, aggression, and cruelty. (reversed: cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention)
Queen - quick witted, sharp tongued, loneliness, and privation. (reversed: malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, deceit)
Knight - bravery, skill, strength, and gallantry. (reversed: imprudence, incapacity, extravagance)
Page - messenger, perception, vigilance, agility, and adeptness. (reversed: more evil side of these qualities: what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness)
10 - pain, affliction, tears, sadness, and trouble. (reversed: advantage, profit, success, favor, but none of these are permanent; power and authority)
9 - misery, concern, quarrel, and disappointment. (reversed: imprisonment, suspicion, doubt reasonable fear, shame)
8 - crises, calamity, conflict, bad news, and criticism. (reversed: disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality)
7 - attempt, new plans, hope, confidence, and wish. (reversed: good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling)
6 - trip or journey, voyage, attempt through difficulty. (reversed: declaration, confession, publicity)
5 - conquest, destruction, degradation, loss, dishonor. (reversed: the same; burial and obsequies)
4 - respite, rest, replenishment, retreat, and exile. (reversed: wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament)
3 - absence, sorrow, strife, removal, and dispersion. (reversed: mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion)
2 - stalemate, balance, offsetting factors, and harmony. (reversed: imposture, falsehood, duplicity, dis-loyalty)
1 - great determination, triumph, power, success, and prosperity. (reversed: the same, but the results are disastrous: another account says conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity)

Cups
King - professional and responsible (reversed: dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal)
Queen - warm hearted, fair and devoted (reversed: distinguished woman not to be trusted, perverse woman, dishonor, depravity)
Knight - invitation, arrival and challenge (reversed: trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud)
Page - messenger of love, loyal, studious and will render service (reversed: taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice)
10 - love, peace, pleasure and happiness (reversed: repose of the false heart, indignation, violence)
9 - success and material attainment (reversed: truth, loyalty, liberty)
8 - decline, shyness and modesty (reversed: great joy, happiness, feasting)
7 - fantasy and day dreams (reversed: desire, will, determination, project)
6 - memories and childhood past (reversed: the future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently)
5 - partial loss, imperfection, and friendship without meaning (reversed: news, alliances, affinity, ancestry, return, false projects)
4 - disappointment and disdain (reversed: novelty, presage, new instruction, new relation)
3 - healing and resolution of a problem (reversed: expedition, dispatch, achievement, end)
2 - love, marriage, friendship and passion (reversed: false love, folly, misunderstanding)
1 - abundance, joy, family, home, fulfillment and contentment (reversed: house of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution)
 

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The Ancient Celtic or Cross Spread:

. Lay the significator card –the card that you choose to represent the querent – face up in the center of your spreadcloth. This is covered by the first card that you pick, which is laid face downward. This is known as “what covers her”. Following the picture, lay the second card – “what crosses her”. The third card is “what crowns her”, the fourth is “what is beneath her”, the fifth card, “what is behind her”, the sixth card “what is before her”. The seventh, eight, ninth and tenth are “herself, her house, her hopes and fears, and the final outcome. All of the cards are placed upside down excluding the significator card. You then turn the cards over one at a time as you give their interpretations.

Shuffle the cards three or nine times as you concentrate on the question at hand.

Card 1: Influences at work – shows the atmosphere that exists around the problem at hand.
Card 2: Obstacles – show the forces and influences that are working against the querent.
Card 3: Ideals – what the querent is aiming or wishing for.
Card 4: Basic Self – this shows the true person or unconscious self.
Card 5: The Past – shows what has happened in the past.
Card 6: Immediate Future – Card 7: Self – how the querent will do generally in life, especially in the immediate future.
Card 8: House – close friends and relatives.
Card 9: Hopes and fears – shows the hopes and the fears of the querent.
Card 10: The Final Outcome – shows the final outcome, particularly of card #3.

Tarot cards can also be used to answer yes and no questions. Most of the cards have either negative or positive meanings. Ask a question and shuffle the cards three times. Choose a card and turn it over. A negative card is a “no” answer and a positive card is a “yes” answer.

Another, simpler tarot spread is the three card spread. This spread can be done with or without a beginning question. Shuffle the cards three or nine times as you think of your question. Cut the cards into three decks and lay them in front of you. Turn over the top card in the first pile. This represents the past. The top card in the second pile is issues at hand and the top card in the third pile represents the outcome or future.  

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