Background of Tarot
What you need to get started with Tarot is a deck of Tarot cards. There are thousands of different decks; what differentiates them is the artist's way of drawing; different interests and values are reflected in games with unicorns, dragons, cats, angels, goddesses, and more. I don't recommend either of those decks, but as a side deck once you get the hang of the cards to stimulate your interest.
Tarot is a system based on everything we have in life, here in reality, on planet Earth.
But Tarot should be Tarot 78 symbolic images, either simple with only, for example, Cups on that suite (number after the card) or, like the classic Rider Waite that I have as a basis for this book when I describe a card. The image on the card is essential; it is the one that should tell your mind what kind of knowledge lies in that card. What events, meaning, lessons, and challenges does the energy want to convey? The more you know about that pattern, the more you can get out of the card because it's not a coincidence what cards come on the table, everything has a meaning.
You should like the pictures, at least be fascinated by them, want to explore them, see new things in them, and think about why the card looks the way it does. The artist wanted to convey a clear advantage if the person who created the deck knew the Tarot card's message basics, as for my deck, The Rune Witch Tarot, in Rider Waite or Thoth. Unfortunately, many new decks are created more to sell via interest than for the symbolism.
It is not essential which Tarot deck you use, but you should understand the images or find delight and curiosity in them. I still think Rider Waite is the best deck, apart from mine. Both to start with and to use, it has the whole, the older knowledge in images that we can understand even if they were created in the early 20th century.
I see the Tarot deck as a book containing possibilities. I hope that you see its possibilities, not create a mania where you think the cards will solve your life, but that they are only a guide; then, it is up to you to act.
I usually discuss this with a weather forecast and then in symbolism. If we are told that it can be cold and snowstorm in the middle of July, it is not wise to step out in swimwear just because the weather is usually lovely. It is better to be prepared; you can wear winter clothes, stay indoors, or travel somewhere else. It will still be cold with a blizzard, but you are prepared; you can make something else out of the situation.
You may not be able to change the weather, but you can change your attitude towards it and dress accordingly. Certain events we need to go through are the ones in the Major Arcana cards; they are different lessons in life and different experiences where we grow spiritually. To reach the spiritual experience, some of us must go through chaos, while some cards pass as the most obvious in our lives.
I believe it is important to be in the present; I usually put cards for each day. Like a kind of "weather forecast" over the day, where I see which moments I need to act if something unexpected comes up that can be both good and bad.
I don't think it's a coincidence that you start deciphering Tarot, there is a meaning besides that you are brilliant. Then you can choose to decipher the Tarot from different orientations; maybe you need it as a "magical thing" with significant events and a lot of drama because you are such a personality. Or maybe you think fortune telling is easy money. Or maybe you, like me, find it fascinating enough to want to know more and realize that the cards carry a gigantic knowledge you can never overview even in a lifetime.
My goal in all coaching about Tarot is to share my knowledge, to inspire you to understand that it is simple but that you can also increase the difficulty as you go along. At first, it may be enough to lay out the cards for a question or a period, get an overview, think a little more, and be moved by what the cards know. But if the interest is there, you will want to know more; you seek more knowledge, and the more you search in the cards, the more you develop.
The four suites in Minor Arcana are our reality, all the experiences in which we act differently.
Learning the four suites should be a no-brainer; many people confuse Swords and Wands; they simply don't see the difference. But there is a difference; they are different symbols, even though you can kill with both because they are weapon cards. Swords and Wands create commotion, question, and change with their power; they are active suites, then the symbols fit in well. Cups and Coins, on the other hand, Cups and Coins are rewarding, growing cards; they receive energy from what is transformed to develop it further. What is a Wand? A stick, a tree, a branch, something you can knock down with, but also build things up with, maybe a whole house? The sword strikes forward, takes over, threatens, and shows its power, and the power of thought, which is the attribute of the sword, is a strong force, the strongest of what we think is creative. If you are now without thinking about sex but are still aware that there is a male as well as a female (which then does not exclude a relationship for two of the same sex but instead shows the energy), those forces can be united. The Sword into the Earth (Coin), and the Rod into the Cup.
There is symbolism in everything; some of it is hidden, like in the Tarot deck, but if you think about it, you usually find meaning in each symbolism and symbolic action. Because you have probably also seen, read, or heard the tale of King Arthur. What is he doing to get the power? That's right, he pulls the Sword out of the stone.