Tarot Symbols

You often see them on television. Imagine the scene: an old woman with a Latin accent and dressed like a gypsy (and yes, with the very thick mascara). A fidgety Will Smith playing the part of a happy-go-lucky man. Then the fortuneteller, amidst the crystal ball and candles in the background, flashes out a card with the death symbol on it. Camera focuses on a tight shot of Will Smith’s horrified look.

This scene is so typical of Hollywood movies that people are very familiar with tarot cards, even though it might elicit a lot of skepticism.

But for those without the basic information on the tarot card, this article hopes to provide some insight.

A tarot card is one of a deck of cards, with images representing virtues, vices, death, fortune etc. They are pictorial representations of events and energies. The number of cards in a deck can vary, some decks are sets of 72 cards while others are sets of 78 cards, but each tarot card is different.

The tarot card has always been associated as being an instrument used by fortunetellers to predict the future. However, even a regular person can read a tarot card (whether for fun or for other purposes) owing to its increasing popularity.

How the tarot card came about is really not known. Some trace its origins back to eleventh century China, while some believe that they came from India. The most popular version may have been used by early priests in Egypt. Since then, tarot cards have evolved in both use and look.

The current version of the meanings of tarot cards was developed from the first commercial deck produced by 1910 by A.E. Waite.

Please note that unlike the Hollywood version, the tarot card is not used to predict the future per se, but to map out general patterns in an individual’s future, depending on the current course of action. However, there are tarot readers who claim to have clairvoyant abilities and thus are able to predict what is going to happen.

Some tarot card readers advise that, in the end, the future really depends on an individual’s decision. Your future is what you decide it to be.

Because of its origins and nature, there are people who are not only skeptic, but associate the tarot card with evil. Others say that the ability to read a person’s future is the work of the devil and that to predict the future is to channel bad energies.

Actually, the tarot card can be both good and bad, depending on how you view it. If you let the so-called “prediction” guide your actions, letting “fate” take its course, then it might lead to something bad.

The tarot card, and whatever it says, can be used as an opportunity to know one’s self better. It is an opportunity to ask yourself what the present conditions are and what the right actions should be.