Language Of The Tarot

When reading Tarot, it is always important to consider each card in the context of the spread. Each card has differing meanings, based on the context of the whole.

For example, the Three of Swords represents heartache, sadness, loss, grief. However, let’s say it comes up along with the Chariot, which represents moving forward with success. Together, the context of these two cards might shift to something like moving beyond sadness. However, this meaning might shift even further, based on the rest of the cards in the spread.

Reading single cards only, would be like trying to convey a message with just one word. Instead one should think of a Tarot spread as representing a full sentence, while each card represents a word in that sentence.

Language is not, as we are led to suppose by the dictionary, the invention of academicians or philologists. Rather, it has been evolved through time…by peasants, by fishermen, by hunters, by riders ~ Jorge Luis Borge

For example, “I drove cross country with a friend.” Looking at a single card would be like looking up in the dictionary the definition of only one of the words in this sentence, such as “friend” or “cross,” and trying to gain the meaning and context of the whole sentence. You can get some information and a partial understanding from looking up each of the words, but you cannot gather the full significance and milieu of the sentence from the dictionary definition of each word.

For example, let’s pull the word “country” out of that sentence. If you looked it up the first definition you might get is “a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.” Looking at this definition of the word country and trying to ascertain the meaning of the rest of the sentence, is impossible. The other words in the sentence provide the much needed overall context. The same is true with a Tarot spread.

Knowing the broader explanation of a single card can be valuable, but only if you keep that meaning in context with the other cards. This is why most Tarot readers normally do not do single card readings, because it is nearly impossible to ascertain the broader message of the Tarot without a context.

I primarily only use three Tarot spreads, but there are hundreds and each offers a different quality of reading. I personally believe that the best way to learn Tarot, as well as other divination techniques, is to find a good teacher that will show you the ropes. Books are good, but the best tarotists that I have met, have all had someone sit down with them and teach them the subtleties of the Tarot.

Just like learning any language, it is much easier when there is emersion of that language. As with all languages, it evolves amongst people in diverse ways. However, when you learn a language from another person, it is often much more powerful. I believe this is what really awakens the intuitive aspects of the Tarot.

Language, never forget, is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines ~ Bill Bryson

The Tarot continues to evolve, and speaks a living, growing language. In recent times, the archetypes of the Tarot have evolved in diverse ways, especially with many of the modern insights that have come from New Thought and other emerging spiritual and metaphysical trends. When we view the world differently, the language that we use to describe the world shifts and becomes different.

The main shift that has been seen amongst many tarotists in the past century, is a movement away from focusing on fate to focusing on empowerment. There are still those that hold to the language of fate, but most people that really study the archetypes of the Tarot see the fate ideology as outdated. We have come to recognize just how powerful our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs really are in the momentum of our lives. I also believe this shift possibly represents a return to the original notion of the Tarot, since the outmoded ‘fortune-telling’ dynamic seems to have been a deviation from the Tarot’s original purpose.