What are Tarot Cards?

Tarot, which uses special cards to gain insight into your past, present and future, has roots that go back around two thousand years. A conventional Tarot Card deck is made up on 78 cards, and structured into two "sets": the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.

Best known among the two Tarot Cards is the Major Arcana, which consists of twenty-two cards without suits. The Minor Arcana is made up of fixty-six Tarot Cards divided into four suits: Swords, Cups, Coins (also called Discs or Pentacles), and Batons (also called Wands or Staves).

The exact origins of Tarot Cards and their symbolism remain shrouded in mystery, although it is believed that they originated from India and were brought by Gypsies to Europe.

How do they work?

In a typical Tarot reading, the Tarot cards- either the Major Arcana alone or the full deck- are laid out in a spread (of which there are a variety). Divination is made depending on each Tarot card's position in the spread and what it symbolizes.

The popular Celtic Cross spread (explained more fully in our Learn to Read Tarot Cards section) for example, "reads" the Querent's Recent Events, Hopes and Fears, and Final Outcome, among other things.