Category:Tarot Trump Cards
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
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Tarot card readings are by far the most popular method of telling fortunes with card. The tarot deck resembles a playing card deck because it originated as a trick-taking card game that was invented in the mid-15th century in Italy. It is known as trinonfi or tarocchi in Italy, tarock in Austria and Germany, and tarot in France. There are 78 cards in the deck, arranged in four suits, plus extra non-suited trumps or trick-taking cards. There are 40 numbered pip cards, 16 court cards, and 22 trump cards. During the re-imagining of the tarot as an essentially spiritual tool, the trump cards were renamed the major arcana (the great mysteries) and the pip cards and court cards were lumped together as the minor arcana (small mysteries).
In any game of cards that features trick-taking or trumping, the most potent suit is called the trump. Tarocchi decks differ from other card decks because of they contain a special set of permanent trump cards, called the trumps, trionfi, or major arcana cards. In fact, tarocchi and tarot packs were often originally designated "Cards With Trumps" to distinguish them as different from other types of card decks.
In tarot decks, the trumps are a special portion of the deck, usually consisting of 22 cards which do not have a suit of their own, but instead constitute a series of "triumphs" or symbolic punctuations or exaltations. As the so-called "major arcana" or greater mystery cards, they are generally given Roman numerals rather than Arabic numerals, to distinguish them from the pip cards or "minor arcana."
Most psychic tarot card readers interpret the trumps as important themes that are currently active in the querent's situation or that may emerge in the near future. It should be noted that despite their early name of "triumphs," not all of the trump cards are positive and triumphant in nature. Some, like the Tower, have notorious reputations as harbingers of doom, and can indicate past, present, or future disaster or a dramatic re-structuring of the querent's life. Other cards, like The Lovers (which depicts Adam and Eve and is related to love, sex, and relationships), Justice (related to Court Cases), or Strength (related to personal power) bear obvious visual symbolism that makes their interpretation easy to understand.
Tarot Trumps as The Major Arcana
To some occult tarot card readers, the trumps are interpreted as a sequence having greater significance than mere rank, and they are typically related in some way to the card known as the Fool, who is said to engage a spiritual journey through the symbolic 'keys' or encounters and events depicted there from card number I through card number XXI (the Fool constituting the first, last, or '0' card amongst them). These readers develop the idea of the Fool's Journey carefully, implying that the querent takes on the role of Fool and that each trump card indicates what challenges he or she may face in the current phase of work. They believe that these cards taken together depict an upward journey ultimately leading to a greater source of wisdom and understanding for The Fool.
Other tarot card readers, equally occult in their orientation, treat each trump as a singular card in its own right, without regard to the Fool or a symbolic journey. These cartomancers view all of the tarot cards -- pips, court cards, and trumps alike -- as indicators of the querent's past, present, and future. These tarot card readers may give greater weight to the trumps than to the pips, as befits the importance of the trumps in the game of tarot, but they do not seek to relate the trumps to a pre-laid sequence or life-journey.
The Twenty-Two Trumps of the Tarot
For more information, see Divination with Tarot Cards
The Fool
The Fool XXX (Read More ...)
The Magician
The Magician XXX (Read More ...)
The High Priestess
The High Priestess XXX (Read More ...)
The Empress
The Empress XXX (Read More ...)
The Emperor
The Emperor XXX (Read More ...)
The Hierophant
The Hierophant XXX (Read More ...)
The Lovers Tarot Card
The Lovers XXX (Read More ...)
The Chariot
The Chariot XXX (Read More ...)
Strength
Strength XXX (Read More ...)
The Hermit
The Hermit XXX (Read More ...)
Wheel Of Fortune
Wheel Of Fortune XXX (Read More ...)
Justicxe
Justice XXX (Read More ...)
The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man XXX (Read More ...)
Death
Death XXX (Read More ...)
Temperance
Temperance XXX (Read More ...)
The Devil
The Devil XXX (Read More ...)
The Tower
The Tower XXX (Read More ...)
The Star
The Star XXX (Read More ...)
The Moon
The Moon XXX (Read More ...)
The Sun
The Sun XXX (Read More ...)
Judgement
Judgement XXX (Read More ...)
The World
The World XXX (Read More ...)
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: catherine yronwode
- Contributors: nagasiva yronwode, Papa Newt, Reverend James, Lukianos, Prof. Alfred F. Seward
- Images: catherine yronwode, Prof. Alfred F. Seward, Nelson Hahne, Greywolf Townsend, Smirno, Unknown Artists; sourced and photo-edited by catherine yronwode, nagasiva yronwode, Papa Newt
See Also
Divination
AIRR Readers & Rootworkers Who Perform This Work for Clients
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