Tarot Terms and Meanings
Ace:
The first card in each suit represents new beginnings, opportunities, and potential.
Arcana:
The two parts of a Tarot deck, are the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, which means "secrets" or "mysteries" in Latin.
Cups:
One of the four suits in the Minor Arcana represents emotions, relationships, and creativity.
Court cards:
The Tarot cards represent different people or archetypes: King, Queen, Knight, and Page (or sometimes Princess).
Deck:
A Tarot deck is a set of 78 cards that includes the Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, and the Fool card.
Divination:
The act of divining; predicting the future or interpreting messages from the Divine. Traditionally, divination is the act of telling the future. Modern tarotists use the term to mean communication with the Divine.
Divine:
Not a tarot term but is used in this book to mean God, the universe, Great Spirit, Higher Self, higher power, etc.
Fortune Telling:
Predicting the future.
Fool:
The first card of the Major Arcana in Tarot, represents new beginnings, innocence, and unlimited potential.
Golden Dawn:
A secret magical society that existed in England at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Arthur E. Waite (creator of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot) and Aleister Crowley (creator of the Thoth Tarot) were members.
Major Arcana:
The first 22 cards of the Tarot deck that represent major life events, archetypes, and spiritual lessons. These cards do not belong to one of the four suits of the Minor Arcana.
Minor Arcana:
The remaining 56 cards of a Tarot deck are divided into four suits: cups (emotions), wands (passion), swords (intellect), and pentacles (material reality).
Predictive:
As in a predictive reading—a reading in which the future is foretold.
Prescriptive:
As in a prescriptive reading—a reading in which the focus is on giving the querent advice.
Qabalah:
A Western esoteric and mystical tradition drawing on Jewish Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), astrology, alchemy, and other mystical studies.
Querent:
In a reading, the querent is the person asking the question. If someone is reading for herself, she is both the reader and the querent.
Reader:
In a reading, the reader is the person conducting the reading and interpreting the cards.
Reading:
Using the cards to discover information.
Reversed:
When a tarot card appears upside-down, this is said to be reversed. Reversed cards can indicate obstacles or challenges in the energy of the card, or can represent a need to address the shadow aspects of the energy.
Situation:
“The situation” or “this situation” refers to the situation that the reading is about, also known as the question.
Tarot reader:
A person who interprets the meaning of Tarot cards in a reading and provides guidance, insight, and advice based on the cards drawn.
Pentacles:
One of the four suits in the Minor Arcana, represents material possessions, money, and career.
Swords:
One of the four suits in the Minor Arcana, represents mental faculties, communication, and conflict.
Spread:
A predetermined layout of Tarot cards used for reading. Examples of spreads include the Celtic Cross, the Three-Card Spread, and the Zodiac Spread. Upright - A Tarot card that appears in its standard orientation.
Wands:
One of the four suits in the Minor Arcana represents inspiration, creativity, and passion.
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