With its striking imagery and deep symbolism, the tarot has captivated magic seekers for centuries, serving as a tool for divination and a pathway to self-discovery.

At its core, tarot is about connection – connecting with ourselves and the greater forces at play in our lives. Each card reflects a universal archetype, representing different aspects of the human experience.

The tarot holds deep history and roots; just like the deck itself, a mysticism surrounds its exact origins. Patterns and designs are thought to have come from the earlier Mamluk Egyptian playing cards as well as private hand-painted deck of playing cards throughout Northern Italy.

HOW TAROT BEGAN

The first documented tarot decks were found throughout Italy in Milan, Ferrara, Florence and Bologna and they had additional cards with varying illustrations which became known as the trionfi cards, translating to the cards of triumph. These would later form part of what we now know as the Major Arcana.

The cards were originally simply playing cards, but with time people began to read and use them as tools of divination. The Tarot has many illustrative interpretations, the original being the Visconti-sforza deck which was hand painted in the 15th Century, and later with the rise of the paper press the Tarot of Marseilles came to be widely popular, it is also claimed to be the deck that moved the occult movement.

The classic Rider-Waite Tarot is the best known Tarot deck.

In 1909 the Smith Rider-Waite Deck came into distribution and has been crowned as one of the most published Tarot decks. The deck was illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith and her artistic interpretation is what reimagined the tarot for modern times. Today, decks continue to be reimagined by illustrators and are deeply personal depictions of the archetypes.

THE MAJOR AND MINOR ARCANA

A Tarot deck is made up of 78 cards of which there are 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana.

The Major Arcana are these illustrative interpretations that were added in the 14th century in Italy and although there have been some reimaginings and reordering of them throughout time for the most part the archetypes have remained consistent. The Major Arcana is a journey from The Fool to The World each holding their own unique energetic vibration.

The energetic vibrations are the attitude, the vigour, the quality or the lesson which is to be learned, processed, transmitted and absorbed. It is a cyclical journey, that moves with you as you change course in your life. The Major Arcana as such are cards that represent moments of deep growth, expansion, loss, grief and joy. It is the human experience wrapped up into 22 cards.

Some people deem cards to be “good” or “bad” but they simply have different energetic vibrations, some might be harder lessons to process or perhaps there might be a deeper acceptance to what is being offered by a certain archetype.

In the end each card is deeply personal, these archetypes act as mirrors to what we cannot see, or are not willing to accept in ourselves and they help us understand our shadow, our unconscious more deeply. They guide us in expanding, in healing, in growing towards a new way.

The Major Arcana are moments on our journey that help bolster you, support you in your growth, acknowledge your journey and embrace your uniqueness.

If you are beginning to read tarot for yourself, work with the deck daily.

You might even work only with the Major Arcana for some time to understand the energetics of each day,  take note of what you are walking through and begin to understand what these cards mean to you.

Another wonderful tool is to be with the illustration, and notice what the card is communicating to you through its visuals.

The magic of the Majors and the Tarot itself is that the imagery talks to you in its own unique way, as we carry our own bias on what certain symbols mean to us. This is where the magic and mysticism of the Tarot cannot be defined or explained. It must be felt.