Learn to Read Tarot- Ophidana's mini series

INTRO

So over the years, Cocoa, my cat, and I have seen multiple of my friends start on the journey of tarot, and then give up somewhere along the road, because truth be told, developing a relationship with the cards take time, persistence and an intuitive understanding of many things. But once you do learn to read the tarot, you have an invaluable source of magic and knowledge in your life, so it’s worth investing in.

That’s why Cocoa, being the little nerd she is, insisted we put out a little practical mini series with some of our best card reading tips—and her hardcore suggested readings, of course — to encourage and aid those in their pursuit of learning this sacred art.

So if you have ever considered buying a tarot deck or learning how to use it better, we sincerely hope you join us on this journey.

PS: We also want to credit my absolute incredible boyfriend, Daniel Garcia, as the script supervisor, and my generous bombshell of a friend Keren Nieto that has acted as an exceptional executive producer.

And so let’s get to it,

Lesson 1: What is Tarot? A little History

As this series is meant to teach you everything you need to read tarot from scratch we must start by introducing tarot properly.

The tarot cards we use nowadays for cartomancy are derived from a trump medieval card game that became popular in Europe during the Renaissance. And despite later claims about its mystical and occultist origins, back then they were probably just used for playing or as ornate displays of wealth among rich families, who would commission famous artists for their own decks.

Then tarot was sort of reinvetend in the 20 century by a group of occultists, particularly in the now widely popular Rider-Waite Tarot, that since became the new standard due to its rich symbolism. This is probably the tarot aesthetic you have seen everywhere, because it gained renewed interest in our modern times for its psychological applications since Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious became a very frontal idea the New Age movement.

This will be the deck we will be referencing throught this series. It consists of 78 cards dived into two groups. The major arcana or a 22 trumps suit.

And the minor arcana which is divided into the traditional 4 suits: The wands, the pentacles, the swords, and the cups, with 14 cards each.

Cocoa’s Suggested Readings

Finally, If you want to know more about the history of tarot, here are cocoa’s suggested readings:

These articles are synthetic but cute,

•https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/tarot-2

•https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/tarot-cards-history-fortune-telling

And these trilogy of books can be extremely helpful,

• ‘ The Jungian Tarot and its Archetypal Imagery’ by Robert Wang, tomes I to III

Lesson 2: Find your deck

So before we continue with your hardcore tarot lessons, you are gonna need two things. A deck and a tarot diary. So let’s start with the deck, because you really need a physical set of cards to play around, to shuffle, to speak to.

Of course, some people feel that the only acceptable starter deck start is the Rider Waite, but I think you should throw that advice out the window. Because your first deck should be the one that speaks to you personally.

And either way, in case you have a tight budget or want the rider as an additional reference you can always print is as it’s now copyright free.

So here are three things your should consider:

1. Make sure you buy a tarot deck, cause there are many cartomancy decks that don’t have the tarot structure usually known as oracles. And while they are great complements I don’t recommend them for beginners as their lax structure can give way for a lot more of confusion on your first readings.

2. ⁠Get a deck that speaks to you aesthetically

Your first deck should excite you. Each card should be an experience. And Aesthetics speak to us in some many subconscious levels that we should listen. Do not be afraid to chose a deck that reflects who you are.

3. And last but most important, understand the ideology behind it. Many artists create their version of tarot from an ideological viewpoint , so do a little research because the symbolism they chose will be tied to their concept and that could prove important to you later on. Be careful of shallow understandings. Ask yourself, where do I truly stand towards these beliefs? Are they understanding tarot from a broad perspective?

Cocoa’s suggested buys

We couldn’t end the lesson without mentioning cocoas favorite decks, which are sure to give you a lot of symbolism pireness going forward:

•The New Mythic Tarot by J. Dharma and Liz Greene

•Tarot of Oppositions by P. Zizzi y M. d’Aloisio

•Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani

🐈‍⬛📚📖🔍🩵💙

Until your next lesson, stay critical