Hey there! 👋🏼
I figured that today would be the perfect time to explain what tarot is and a bit of the history behind it.
- Tarot is defined as any set of cards used in tarot games and in fortune telling. A standard deck of tarot cards has 78 cards and consists of two groups. The typical deck that tarot readers will start with is the Rider-Waite Smith deck. There is a story behind the traditional deck though that often goes untold. What happened was that in 1909, William Rider and Arthur Waite did not want to give credit to the illustrator of their deck named Pamela Smith, especially with her being a biracial, queer woman. It wasn’t until 1911, which was two years later that Rider and Waite re-released a copy of the Rider-Waite Smith deck to include Pamela. That just goes to show how prevalent discrimination was during that time. Way to go Pamela Smith for being an intersectional feminist!
- With that being said, let me discuss what the two groups that make up a tarot deck include:
• The Major Arcana, which has 22 cards, follows the Fool’s story in what is said to be “The Fool’s Journey”. The journey that the Fool takes symbolizes the steps we as humans take throughout our lives on the path to growth, evolution, and spiritual enlightenment.
• The Minor Arcana, the second group of tarot cards, comprises 56 cards and is divided into four suits of 14 cards. These suits consist of Wands (Clubs), Cups (Hearts), Swords (Spades), and Pentacles (Diamonds). Each set also has 4 court cards and 10 numbered cards. The numbered cards go from Ace – 10 for each suit in which numerology (the meaning of numbers) plays a part in their significance.
*What is something you learned about or from tarot recently? Please feel free to share in the comments!
Love,
-Detroit Hippie Chick🔮✨❤️
