Everything You Need to Know to Begin Reading Tarot Cards

For centuries, Tarot cards have been consulted for divination by those seeking answers from the unseen realms. The Tarot has been credited with illuminating solutions to major dilemmas, and even helping people avoid future misfortunes. The Tarot experience can indeed be empowering, bringing clarity to confusing situations and showing us that we have the ability to shape our future based on the choices we make in the present. Far more than mere "fortune telling," the Tarot is a tool for meditation and reflection, for seeing new angles that give way to broader perspectives about how we approach our lives.

In this 2nd edition of Tarot for Beginners, best-selling author Lisa Chamberlain opens the door for newcomers to the Tarot in her trademark clear and straightforward manner. She dispels old myths and misconceptions about the Tarot, providing an objective look at its origins and its divinatory potential for 21st-century readers. Tailored especially for those who want to read the cards for themselves, this guide offers strategies for getting familiar with each card, a step-by-step breakdown of the process of a reading, options for tailoring the approach to suit your unique style, and advice for getting the most out of reading the cards for yourself.

Most guides to the Tarot are centered on a specific deck, such as the Waite-Smith, the Tarot of Marseille, or other decks ranging from the well-known to the rather obscure. While these books can be useful and informative, their card interpretations are largely restricted to the particular deck they focus on. Tarot for Beginners takes a different approach, offering basic card meanings that can be applied to any deck, and used in tandem with any descriptions that accompany the deck you've chosen to work with. So no matter which Tarot deck you use, the information in this guide is relevant, providing a solid starting point for a skill you can carry with you for a lifetime.

Foundations in the Art of Divination

Tarot can be thought of as a kind of language through which we can hear and understand divine messages. This communication comes through the individual cards and through the symbolic system of the deck as a whole. Tarot for Beginners sets you up to learn this language with a thorough grounding in the key concepts surrounding the Tarot, including:

The origins and evolution of the Tarot as a divinatory art A c