What is tarot and how is a tarot deck built?

Tarot is a deck of 78 cards. Every card has a picture, a name and a meaning. You ask a question, draw a card and read its meaning against your question.

This lesson shows you how the deck is put together. By the end, you pick up any card and know which group it belongs to and what it does in a reading.

Where does tarot come from?

Tarot cards first appear in northern Italy in the fifteenth century. The earliest decks are made for a card game played by noble families. Late in the eighteenth century, people in France start reading the cards to tell fortunes.

The best known illustrated deck today is the Rider Waite Smith deck, printed in England in 1909. It is the first deck in which all 78 cards carry a full picture. The Moon Shine AI deck follows the same order of cards.

In the late nineteenth century, the Golden Dawn, an order founded in London, pairs the cards with astrology. Each card receives a planet, a zodiac sign or one ten-degree slice of a sign. The astrological match you see on each card page comes from this pairing.

The Major Arcana: 22 cards

The first group in the deck is the Major Arcana. It holds 22 cards, numbered from 0 to 21. The first card is The Fool and the last is The World.

Major Arcana cards describe the big situations in your life. Starting something new, bringing a stage of your life to an end or making an important decision all belong to these cards. When a reading turns up several Major Arcana cards, the matter you asked about is a big one for you.

Every Major Arcana card has its own name: The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Lovers, The Hermit, Death, The Tower, The Star and the rest. Do not let these names mislead you. The Death card does not mean physical death; it describes one stage of your life coming to a close.

The Minor Arcana: 56 cards in four suits

The second group is the Minor Arcana, with 56 cards. They split into four suits of 14 cards each.

Wands belong to the element of fire. Wands cards talk about work, new ventures and the urge to get something done.

Cups belong to the element of water. Cups cards talk about feelings, love and friendship. The Three of Cups comes from this suit.

Swords belong to the element of air. Swords cards talk about thoughts, conversations and hard decisions.

Coins belong to the element of earth. Coins cards talk about money, the body and practical, hands-on matters. Some decks call this suit Pentacles.

Each suit has ten number cards, from Ace to Ten. As the number rises, the story of the suit moves forward. The Ace of Wands starts something, and the Ten of Wands shows it carried all the way through.

The last four cards of each suit are the court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King. In a reading, a court card points to a person or to one of your own behaviors.

Upright and reversed cards

When you draw a card, the picture lands either the right way up or upside down. A card that lands the right way up is upright. A card that lands upside down is reversed.

A reversed card does not erase the card's meaning. It describes the same subject from another side. The Fool upright means starting something with curiosity. The Fool reversed means putting that same thing off. The subject stays the same; what changes is how you act on it.

Some readers leave reversals out. The Moon Shine AI deck uses them, and about one card in three comes up reversed.

Draw your first card, step by step

Step one is writing your question. A clear question gets a clear answer from the card. If your question is about work, do not ask whether things will get better this month. Ask what you need to pay attention to at work this month.

Step two is shuffling. Keep the question in mind while you shuffle the cards. Stop when you feel ready.

Step three is drawing. For a one-card reading, turn over the top card. For a three-card reading, lay three cards side by side. In Moon Shine AI the three-card spread is Premium: you write a question or pick a topic first, and the cards fill the positions Now, What challenges you and Your next step.

Step four is reading. Look at the picture first, then think about the card's meaning alongside your question. The card names one thing you do about that matter.

A real example: Today's card

One morning you open Today's card in Moon Shine AI and ask what to pay attention to today. The Three of Cups comes up. The card shows three people raising their cups and laughing together. Upright, it describes a day you spend meeting up with friends and laughing.

Here is how the reading comes together. Today you send a message to a friend you have not seen in a long time. In the evening you meet for a cup of tea. That is the task the card gives you, and Selene reads it together with that day's sky.

If the same card came up reversed, the reading would change. You would notice that you are ready to back out of the invitation at the last minute. This time the card tells you not to turn it down.

Common mistakes

The first mistake is treating a card as a final verdict. Tarot shows you a situation and the step you take in it. It does not tell you what another person will decide.

The second mistake is getting stuck on a card's name. Death, The Tower or The Devil comes up, and you feel a jolt of fear. Open the card's page and you see the meaning is far from the name. None of these three cards means physical death, disaster or illness.

The third mistake is asking the same question again and again. You dislike the first card, so you draw another. This is why Today's card in Moon Shine AI is free and drawn once a day. If you open it again the same day, you see the same card.

Practice

Tonight, write one question and draw a single card. Note its name and whether it came up upright or reversed. Open the card's page in the glossary and read the advice section.

The next evening, go back to your note. Write down whether a moment in your day looked like the scene the card describes. Do this for one week and the meanings of the cards stay with you.