Some Perspectives on the Reading of Tarot

(Hope that this looks right after all the effort – third time’s the charm?)
Cross-connections: minor arcana
A lot of attention is given to the greater arcana. This seems to be because these cards deal with powerful and archetypical forces. It is important to not overlook the minor arcana, as these cards deal with events that are much more common in everyday life.

One interesting approach to gaining insight to these cards is to compare cards of different suits and the same number. For example, look at the second card of each suit. The two of pentacles is often read to mean economic balance, and the ability to “work money”. The two of cups is commonly interpreted to symbolize marriage. The two of swords usually represents justice and the weighing of options. And the two of rods often refers to spiritual vision. By comparing these four cards, an interesting pattern emerges. Each card deals with duality. Balance is indicated as well, whether it is the balancing of accounts, the heart, two sides of a dilemma, or the spirit within the universe. In fact, introspection makes it possible to assign meaning to a card if the other three cards in the set are known.

Another pattern emerges. The suit of pentacles deals with the physical world. As the cards move further from the physical the meanings grow more abstract.

Cross-connections: the major arcana
Every major arcana card has a mate. The concept or arena of existence the card deals with is half of the picture, and the other half completes. For example, 1, the magician, is the card of science and the exploration of such. It’s the realm of things we can know, write down in books, and experiment on. Its partner is card 2, the high priestess, and this card is about the world of the occult and outside of tangible experience – the things that work just because they do, not because there are any defined rules or theories about how they work. Keeping this dichotomy in mind makes for richer readings when they both show up in a spread. How do they interact? Are they in the same orientation or is one of them reversed? Are they on opposite sides of a card in a way that they might act as an influence on that pivot card? And how do they relate to other major arcana cards in the spread?

Here’s the list:
Fool, the world
Magician, high priestess
Empress, emperor
Hierophant, the lovers
Chariot, strength
Hermit, star
Wheel of fortune, justice
Hanged man, judgement
Death, temperance
Devil, tower
Moon, sun
Reversals
Reversals are often the most befuddling aspect of reading the cards. Much thought has been put into this, and there are several different philosophies. There is no way to present all of them, however some direction is needed for the reader.

A reversed card is one hundred and eighty degrees out of phase from the upright card. Creatures and symbols are turned on their heads, and meanings become less clear. This is a good way of looking at reversed cards. But this is not easy to grasp in concept. As a result, many easier methods are often used to arrive at the meaning of the card.

One method is to read the card as if it has become diffuse. The focus of the card is softened, so that it overlaps the realms of the adjoining cards. This makes the inverted card into more of an influence than a true factor in the reading. This requires intuition and a deep understanding of the cards.

Another approach is to read the card as if it is a particular challenge. This means that the inverted card is something that the querent will have a larger difficulty with, and the card is inverted to draw attention to it. This also requires intuition, and works well as a sub-category of other reversal reading techniques.

The least satisfactory interpretation is also the single most common. The card is read as a total reversal of the normal meaning of the card. This is far too simplistic a view of the card reversed, and should be used only as a last resort.

Reversals can also symbolize issues of disharmony between the cards. This is common with paired cards of different aspect, and in cards of the same number in different suits. This is even more powerful if the cards are in balance points of a reading. This requires a very big picture view of the reading.

Another big picture angle is to look at how the different suits are aspected as a whole. In this method, reversed cards indicate disharmony in the realm of the suit. This is useful in conjunction with other reversal methods.

As you can see, there are many interpretations of reversed cards that are compatible with each other. This seems to be the best approach. This allows the cards maximum flexibility in portraying information to the querent and reader to get effective interpretations of events.

There is one other way used for reversed cards. Some decks do not use reversals at all. The thoth deck, developed by alistair crowley, eschews reversals completely.

Priming a wayward deck
Sometimes a deck will start to get off topic and keep referencing questions asked previously. The best way to solve this is to prime the deck. The deck is returned to the original layout, starting with the fool, moving through the greater arcana, and then through the pentacles, cups, swords, and finally rods, starting with the ace, counting up to ten, the page, knight, queen, and king. Card orientation is also returned to upright for all cards.

Perspective vs. Strategies
The tarot is not an all encompassing tool. One area where it falls short is in the area of strategies for resolving dilemmas. The symbolism of the cards are geared more towards relaying information, not how to address that information. Roger von oech’s creative whack pack is helpful in conjunction with the tarot. I keep both decks together in the same box, and i simply deal a whack pack card when the querent wants a strategy to deal with the information presented by the tarot.

The tarot is a very powerful tool with incredible depth and scope. Just when i get comfortable with it, i find new insights and perspectives in it. It is truly a study of a lifetime.