Pages

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Everything You Need to Know About Tarot: A Guide to Understanding Tarot Card Reading

 

Introduction: What is Tarot?


Tarot is a system of divination, self-reflection, and guidance that originated in Europe, possibly as early as the 14th century. It consists of a deck of 78 cards, which are divided into two main groups: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.


The Major Arcana comprises 22 cards, each representing significant life events or spiritual concepts. Some well-known Major Arcana cards include The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, and The Emperor. These cards are often considered more important or impactful during a tarot reading.

The Minor Arcana, on the other hand, consists of 56 cards divided into four suits: Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles (or Coins). Each suit has ten numbered cards (from Ace to Ten) and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, and King). The Minor Arcana cards represent day-to-day events, emotions, and experiences.

Tarot readings involve shuffling the deck, laying out the cards in specific patterns called spreads, and interpreting the meaning of the cards in relation to the querent's question or situation. The meanings of the cards can be influenced by their position in the spread, their relationship to other cards, and the intuition of the reader.

Tarot is often used for personal growth, self-exploration, decision-making, and understanding complex situations or emotions. While some people believe in its divinatory power, others view tarot as a tool for introspection and reflection, rather than predicting the future.



Exploring the History & Origin of Tarot


The origin of tarot is a subject of much debate and speculation among historians and scholars. The tarot is a deck of cards that is used for divination, fortune-telling, and other spiritual practices. The exact origin of the tarot is uncertain, but it is believed to have originated in Italy during the Renaissance period, sometime in the 15th century.

The tarot was originally used as a playing card game, similar to the game of bridge or poker. The earliest known tarot decks were hand-painted, and they typically contained 78 cards. These cards were divided into two categories: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana consisted of 22 cards, each depicting a different archetypal figure, such as the Fool, the Magician, and the High Priestess. The Minor Arcana consisted of 56 cards, divided into four suits: swords, cups, coins, and wands.

Over time, the tarot began to be used for divination and other spiritual practices. Some people believe that the tarot was originally used by gypsies, while others believe that it was developed by medieval scholars as a way to encode esoteric knowledge. The tarot became popular among occultists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it remains a popular tool for divination and spiritual exploration to this day.

Despite its popularity, the origin of the tarot remains shrouded in mystery. Some scholars believe ancient Egyptian and Jewish mysticism influenced the tarot, while others believe it was influenced by medieval Christian iconography. There is also some evidence to suggest that Indian or Chinese divination systems have influenced the tarot.

Regardless of its origins, the tarot has become an important tool for spiritual exploration and personal growth. Its archetypal imagery and symbolism have inspired countless artists, writers, and thinkers over the centuries, and it continues to captivate and intrigue people to this day.

What Are Some Different Types of Tarot Decks?


There are many types of tarot decks, each with its own unique set of symbols, imagery, and meanings. Some of the most popular types of tarot decks include:

Rider-Waite-Smith: This is one of the most well-known and widely used tarot decks. It was first published in 1909 and features intricate illustrations by artist Pamela Colman Smith. The deck includes 78 cards, with 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards.


Marseille: This tarot deck is named after the French city of Marseille, where it originated in the 18th century. It is known for its bold, simple designs and is often used for divination.


Thoth: This deck was created by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris in the 1940s. It features intricate, highly symbolic imagery and is often used for spiritual and magical purposes.


Osho Zen: This deck was created in the 1990s by artist Ma Deva Padma and is based on the teachings of the Indian mystic Osho. It features colorful, contemporary artwork and is designed to help users connect with their inner selves and find inner peace.


Tarot of the Cat People: This deck was created by Karen Kuykendall and features illustrations of feline-human hybrids. It is designed to be used for personal growth and self-discovery.


Tarot Illuminati: This deck was created by Kim Huggens and Erik C. Dunne and features detailed, highly stylized illustrations. It is designed to be used for divination and spiritual exploration.

These are just a few examples of the many different types of tarot decks that are available. Each deck has its own unique style and symbolism, and choosing the right deck depends on your personal preferences and needs.

keywords: unique types of tarots, traditional deck of cards, Rider-Waite deck, Marseille deck)

Learning How to Read & Interpret Tarot Readings


Learning how to read and interpret tarot readings can be a fascinating and rewarding journey. Here are some steps to get started:

Get a tarot deck: Choose a deck that resonates with you and that you feel comfortable using. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is a good choice for beginners because it is widely available and the imagery is relatively straightforward.


Study the meanings of the cards: Take some time to familiarize yourself with the meanings of the cards. The Minor Arcana cards are associated with everyday events and experiences, while the Major Arcana cards represent major life events and themes.


Learn how to do a tarot reading: There are many different tarot spreads that can be used for different purposes, such as the three-card spread, the Celtic Cross spread, and the Horseshoe spread. Choose a spread that resonates with you and practice using it.


Trust your intuition: As you do a reading, pay attention to your intuition and any feelings or insights that come up. Tarot readings are not meant to be taken as absolute truths, but rather as a tool to help you gain insight and clarity.


Keep a tarot journal: Write down your readings and any insights or interpretations that come up. This can help you track your progress and see patterns over time.


Practice regularly: The more you practice reading tarot, the more comfortable and confident you will become. Try doing readings for yourself and for friends, and see what insights and wisdom you can gain.

Remember that tarot readings are a tool for self-exploration and personal growth, and that the interpretation of the cards is highly personal and subjective. Have fun and enjoy the journey!

The Science Behind Tarot & What It Means for You


It is important to note that tarot is not a science and there is no empirical evidence to support its effectiveness in predicting the future or providing insights into one's life. However, many people find value in tarot readings as a tool for personal growth and self-discovery.

From a psychological perspective, tarot readings can be seen as a form of introspection and self-reflection. The imagery and symbolism of the cards can help individuals tap into their subconscious mind and gain insights into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This can be especially useful for identifying patterns and behaviors that may be holding them back or causing them distress.

In addition, tarot readings can be a source of comfort and support during times of stress or uncertainty. The process of having someone listen to your concerns and provide guidance and advice can be empowering and affirming.

It is also worth noting that tarot readings are highly subjective and can vary depending on the interpretation of the reader and the individual being read. As such, it is important to approach tarot readings with an open mind and a willingness to explore and learn about oneself.

In conclusion, while tarot is not a science and cannot predict the future, it can be a useful tool for self-exploration and personal growth. By using tarot readings to gain insight into one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, individuals can gain a greater sense of self-awareness and empowerment.

Conclusion - Unlock Your Potential through the Tarot



Tarot can be a valuable tool for unlocking your potential and discovering new opportunities for growth and self-discovery. Here are some ways that tarot can help you unlock your potential:

Gain insight into your strengths and weaknesses: Tarot readings can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and understand how these traits are impacting your life. By gaining this insight, you can focus on building on your strengths and working on areas of weakness.


Identify opportunities for growth and change: Tarot readings can help you identify areas of your life that may need improvement or change. By understanding these areas, you can develop a plan of action to make positive changes in your life.


Overcome limiting beliefs: Tarot can help you identify limiting beliefs that may be holding you back from achieving your goals. By recognizing and challenging these beliefs, you can break free from self-imposed limitations and achieve your full potential.


Discover your true passions and purpose: Tarot readings can help you tap into your subconscious mind and uncover hidden desires and passions. By discovering your true purpose and passions, you can make more meaningful choices that align with your values and bring you greater fulfillment.


Develop intuition and self-trust: As you work with tarot, you will develop your intuition and learn to trust yourself more deeply. This can help you make better decisions and take more confident action towards achieving your goals.

Overall, tarot can be a powerful tool for unlocking your potential and discovering new opportunities for growth and self-discovery. By approaching tarot with an open mind and a willingness to explore, you can gain greater insight into yourself and your life, and unlock your full potential.

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Returning to Read the Tarot Live Streams with Free Messages from Spirit

 It's about 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, and I am planning to go live on YouTube and Facebook today. I'm thrilled because yesterday was my grand return after nearly a three-month hiatus! It felt great to be live and to once again reconnect with many familiar faces. 

When I first conducted live tarot streams on YouTube, I never expected that I would also give psychic-
mediumship readings. Let me explain what happened. When I started my YouTube channel on February 20, 2021, I uploaded a video about "street lamp communication." I have had a strange relationship with electronics and lights going back to my teen years, such as lights flickering when I would pass them. Back then I was unaware this was spirit communication but now that I operate as a psychic medium, the phenomenon doesn't surprise me.

I uploaded a video of a street lamp seemingly responding to my questioning it like a pendulum (yes, I know how that sounds) and then one month later, on May 3, 2021, started my first live tarot reading. (Am I really approaching two years with my YouTube channel?) 

Though Read the Tarot began with a form of spirit communication, I designed the channel to be about tarot readings. In my first streams, I did full tarot readings for free and it surprised me I was receiving psychic impressions about the user names that would appear on the screen.

My process is something like this: While I'm shuffling the deck and praying to Spirit for guidance in the tarot reading (I specifically pray that I will have clear answers, clear knowledge, clear thinking, and give messages that are uplifting and healing for the querent) other information will randomly pop in my mind. It's hard to explain but it is as if while I am praying, meditating, asking a question, or thinking, there is something else in the background that just "pops' in.

During my early live streams, I decided to just "go with it" and mention some of the random information that was "popping in" and just see if there was anything to it... and lo-and-behold, there was. 

Some information querents confirmed as "hits" have been their living family members' names, names of streets where they or family members lived, names of loved ones including pets who are in spirit, descriptions of houses they have lived, items that hold strong, sentimental meaning to them (usually a connection to a loved one in spirit) and more. I never know what will pop up during a reading or how it will connect. 

Again, I never intended for Read the Tarot to be a channel that focused on psychic-mediumship but a channel for tarot readings. It's been nearly two years and much of my journey has been navigating YouTube and establishing the best path for my channel.

Read the Tarot isn't like many tarot channels out there. I do not prepare pick a card readings (though I may) and my readings are not general or meant specifically for the public (though I may do some of those in the future). My live streams are where I want to connect with strangers who find me whom I can give a direct message to.

My method for live readings has also evolved. I do not give full Celtic Cross readings for free during a live stream as it simply takes up too much time and too much of my energy. What I do is give a free message from Spirit instead. 

I found that even when I gave free tarot readings, live online, some people asked questions that were not the important ones in their lives. 

For example, someone may have asked if he or she (or insert your pronoun here) would end up marrying their crush, meanwhile Spirit would let me know there was a bondage in their life that needed to be healed and to address that instead. Well, now I had committed myself to a free tarot reading about a crush and then needed to try to "throw in" Spirit's real message to the person. So, I decided that the free tarot readings would stop. 

It would surprise you how many people simply want a different answer to the same question and will bounce from one free tarot reading stream to the next looking for it. This was not what my channel, Read the Tarot, was meant to be. My readings are not another stop in someone's quest for a different answer. My channel is to give those who come a free message from Spirit that will hopefully shed light on a darkened part of their journey so that they may see clearly to the next turn in the road. 

I've taken several months off due to my family life and establishing my channels' paths. I say channels because Read the Tarot is a network of many growing channels. I am not just a tarot reader, I am also a psychic-medium and through Read the Tarot and my training with a fabulous Lily-Dale medium, I am growing and expanding the nature of my services. The Read the Tarot network includes Hearing Spirit, Fractal Flowers, ASMR Tarot, Pets Medium, True Crime Tarot, Fairy Reader, Your Angel Reader, Your Spirit Messages, Celebrity Tarot Readings (this one is currently on hold), Moon and Astrology readings, Power Spirit Animal readings, Meditations, and one-on-one psychic mediumship and even group psychic mediumship settings. 

As I continue to grow the Read the Tarot network, there will be more changes underway and sometimes I may feel that I need to devote a bit more time to study and growth. I've learned so much since I uploaded my first video on February 20, 2021, and since I gave my first tarot reading in 2018 and discovered our family's rare genetic disorder. I documented a bit of this in a January 2019 Twitter thread you may see here: Read the Tarot Twitter: My Tarot Story to Share.

Now, I've kept Read the Tarot primarily on tarot readings and move my psychic mediumship readings to either the phone or video readings. My live streams on Hearing Spirit will focus more on psychic mediumship but my goal is not to hold live psychic mediumship readings on YouTube anymore. Though it is clear that spirit is coming through and there are "hits", I feel that psychic mediumship is sacred and I want to devote more time to each sitting than is allowed on a live stream. 

I often have double, triple, and quadruple links giving live psychic-mediumship readings. What this means is I will connect to multiple spirit people during a live stream and if someone has made a donation for the online reading, it isn't fair to them. Therefore, if spirit comes through and makes connection and you would like to further the mediumship reading, I will set an appointment with you for either a phone or video session and we will take it off YouTube and Facebook.

Here is the live stream from December 5, 2022.



Monday, December 5, 2022

My Tarot Story: How I Began to Read the Tarot and the Hero's Journey

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Charisse Van Horn and I am a professional psychic medium, oracle, and tarot reader. I want to introduce myself and share a bit about my story and how I began to read the tarot. I am a natural medium, meaning that my psychic gifts exhibited themselves naturally and though I am undergoing life-long training with Lily-Dale mediumship to advance my healing ministry as a psychic medium, I created this site for my oracle and tarot readings. 


There is a myth-based framework known as the "Hero's Journey" that is a recurring theme focusing on the life of a hero. This narrative or plot may be seen in the myths from antiquity to our modern-day heroes and heroines of the stage, screen, and books. The Hero's Journey centers on the main character who goes through three stages in their growth. These stages can be summed up by saying the hero starts with an ordinary beginning, undergoes a period of awakening to his, her, or (insert pronoun here) personal power and is equipped for their current journey, and then returns victorious, having completed the adventure or task. There is much more to the Hero's Journey and if you would like to learn more, you may find a wonderful diagram and guide at the Grand Valley State University Library: The Hero's Journey.

Celtic Cross Reading by Read the Tarot
The Hero's Journey is not just the subject of myths, legends, novels, and movies — it is the human story! The Hero's Journey is your story and it is my story. It is also the story of the Major Arcana in any tarot deck.

The Major Arcana are the first 22 cards in the tarot deck and they are numbered from 0-22. Zero is represented by The Fool and the final card in the journey is number 21, The World.

The Fool represents you in the womb, as a baby forming and ready to begin your life's adventure. You
may remember this by thinking of the shape of an egg that contains new life within. the World is the completion of the Hero's Journey and is the celebration of finishing your adventure or task. Think of the World as the Olympic athlete who has won gold and is standing on the platform with the adoration of the world watching the victorious triumph. Now that the task is finished, it's time to start on a new journey, and thus, the Hero's Journey continues again and again.

The Major Arcana cards in between the Fool and the World depict each step of the hero's journey from start until completion.

When I read the tarot, I look at the Major Arcana cards first as they will always represent the querent's (the person who I am reading for, or the one with the questions) location on the Hero's journey in respect to the question being asked.

For example, if someone wanted a love reading about a crush, and I pulled many Major Arcana cards, then I would know that this is more than a simple, passing atraction but that there is something within the question that is pertinent to the querent's path on their Hero's Journey. This doesn't mean they are destined to be with their crush, but that there are life-worthy lessons to be learned, therefore I will dig deep and use my psychic gifts to see the deeper message Spirit has for the querent.

It isn't uncommon that Spirit reveals great insight from a question that may seem trivial at first. During my readings that began as "trivial" (I put that in quotations because when it comes to me reading the tarot, nothing is trivial) Spirit has revealed hidden addictions and behaviors that have resulted in people attending rehab and getting their lives back on track.

I do not take any glory or acclaim in my tarot readings. Just as my views on psychic-mediumship (that you may see on my fellow site Hearing Spirit) I am simply a conduit for Spirit to give healing messages through. This is my purpose and role in life and it is why I read the tarot. 

Not only has Spirit used the tarot to bring healing to others, but Spirit has used tarot to bring healing to my life and the life of my children.

I began reading the tarot in 2018 and in my first tarot readings were for my two youngest children. I did a reading for my youngest daughter and everything looked wonderful. When I did a reading for my youngest son, there were problems. To make an incredibly long story short (and I will blog about this in-depth at a later time), Tarot led me on a journey that resulted in a medical diagnosis of a rare-genetic syndrome that has affected my family yet was unknown for generations. Because of tarot, I discovered that we have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and our lives have been on a journey of medical treatment ever since.

It is my belief that the wisdom gained from tarot was not only life-changing and even life-saving, I believe I never would have pursued a medical diagnosis had it not been for what was spread before me when I read the tarot for the first and second time. 

You see, this diagnosis was so vast that it didn't just explain what happened to generations before me (my grandmother was in a wheelchair and my great aunt (her sister) suddenly lost sight in one of her eyes in her younger years), and it didn't just explain what was happening in my own life and the lives of my eight children, but we are now armed with knowledge that will have a direct impact on my grandchildren, their children, and our future generations.

Again, I never would have pursued these medical diagnoses or brought my son to experts at John Hopkins if the tarot readings I performed didn't continue to tell me "dig deeper" "Get an expert opinion" (represented by King of Swords) and that we were on a journey of healing (six of swords). 

Step by step, as I read the tarot, I knew what to expect; I knew what to look for; I knew what to do, and finally, I knew everything would be all right in the end (The Sun & The World). 

Since that day in 2018, I have performed thousands of tarot readings, many for myself, my family, friends, and clients like you. Many of my clients I now refer to as friends and people whom I truly care about, pray for, and want to see excel in life.

I believe that tarot is a tool Spirit uses to better the lives of humanity. I believe there is divine wisdom to be gleaned from the signs, symbols, and archetypes depicted in the tarot. Spirit uses both the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana to show us where we are on our Hero's Journey and to help us navigate the day-to-day situations that challenge and distract us. 

Every tarot reading I do begins with my prayer to Spirit that I am used as a vessel of healing to hear clearly what Spirit is saying to the client and that the message will be delivered accurately and for the client's highest good. 

I believe Spirit wants everyone to succeed and not fail. You are the head and not the tail. You are first and not last. You are here for a purpose and it is God's will that you win that Gold trophy at the end of your Hero's Journey. If you feel stuck, lost, dismayed, or have fallen off your path and want to get back on, then I suggest you read the tarot.

If you do not know how to read the tarot for yourself, then I will read the tarot for you. You may contact me for a personal reading at admin@readthetarot.org; or simply contact me through the form on the right side of this page.

You may follow my YouTube channel: Read the Tarot where I give free messages from Spirit and half-price tarot readings during my live streams. You may also book an appointment with me through Facebook: Read the Tarot Facebook

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope that I will see you around, whether on social media or during one of my live streams. 

God bless you and read the tarot,


Charisse