Divination is a general term for any means of gaining information that is not available through conventional means. Cards are classed as a "structured" technique because card meanings are defined, and most layouts help frame the categories of inquiry. Therefore, there is less room for misinterpretation, misunderstanding or abuse. Answers tend to be more specific and may more readily suggest concrete actions and solutions. Tarot is good if your confidence in your psychic talent is low or if there is a personal involvement which may bias interpretation. However, all information can serve as a stimulus for psychic insight.

If you have an opportunity to examine various decks, remember to ask before you touch another person's tools. Many students of Tarot feel that the deck is "imprinted" to them, and the deck responds poorly to strangers. It's not very different from asking permission before you pet an unfamiliar dog. Both the owner and the dog need to agree it is okay.

People most often use divination when they seeking to learn about:

• Welfare of distant friends
  
• Information about a specific person or situation
  
• Cues for magical working
  
• Problem solving and advice
  

Begin by creating a relaxed and protected environment. Often this may include clearing your mind, then casting a circle. This need not be elaborate, but should be done slowly and carefully to create the right mental and spiritual environment. Take all the time you need. If the problem is important enough for a divination, it's important enough to think about the response your cards give you. Have your question firmly in mind as you shuffle the cards. Some layouts begin by selecting a card called a significator that represents the question or the person asking the question. This is placed it in the center of the reading. Others write the question on a piece of paper and retain all the cards in the deck for potential use in the layout. As you study your layout, be sure to write your impressions, even if you can't interpret them immediately. A tarot reading can initially be overwhelming. There may be a lot of complex information. It's very useful to interpret it in small sections, one card at a time, then pull back, review your notes, and look at the "big picture" presented by all the cards. Don't expect to be able to just remember all your insights while you read. Insights might last for as long as a second, but the complete reading will take you many times longer than that. Make it easy to be clear about what you are seeing.

Lay-Out Variations

Some styles of laying out the cards are more common than others, but there is no "right" way. The approach you select strongly depends on what you want to know.

The Celtic Cross is the most common and is frequently used to gain information about a specific situation. The Tree of Life is extremely intense and complex. It may employ the entire seventy-eight card deck. It is traditionally performed no more often than once in a year, and is used to gain insights into the deep meaning and cosmic direction of one's entire life. The Star is a more simple six-card layout that covers a situation or question more briefly than the Celtic Cross. The Horoscope layout with a card representing each of the twelve houses offers in-depth insight into categories not covered by other layouts, including, for example, Karma, Personality, Philosophy, and Profession. Space does not permit full discussion of these approaches. For more information on these and other layouts, check the references at the end of this article.

The Celtic Cross format uses ten cards set out in a six-card cross and four-card staff pattern. Sometimes the significator or question card is placed first, before the ten cards of the reading are set on top of it. The positions of the cards help define their places in the reading. The illustration shows the relative position of each card.

The names for the positions are:

• In the Cross:
  
  
  
  • Cover - The general direction and largest influence upon your interpretation.
    
  • Cross - The possible obstructions to the situation, regions of disharmony or disruption.
    
  • Foundation - The subconscious motives and issues in the reading.
    
  • Precede - Influences from the preceding six months or so
    
  • Crown - The ego involvement (of the querent) behind the problem.
    
  • To Come - Influences upon or results of the problem for the coming six months.
    
  
  
• In the Staff:
  
  
  
  • Attitude - The attitude the querent has toward the problem
    
  • Strength - A gift or a talent that the querent might use to resolve the problem
    
  • Hope/Fear - The querent's positive or negative "self-talk" on the matter at hand
    
  • Outcome - Sometimes a person from whom to request further guidance; more often the direction the problem will tend to continue to move unless or until there is a change.
    
  
  The goal to learning to read any layout is to go beyond reading each card in its position and understanding the relationship between the cards. This takes practice.

  Tarot divination may be used for meditation, personal problem solving, or to evaluate effects before and after a magical working. Less often it may be used for counseling others, though this should be used sparingly and cautiously.

  Ideally, your divinatory experience offers choices and alternative paths. Nothing from a divination is set in stone. Listen critically to the information. Use it intelligently. Resist becoming dependent on the information - a "reading" junkie. This merely erodes your self-confidence. Know that you always have free will.

  For further references regarding the use of Tarot cards as a divinatory tool:
  

  
  
  • Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Waite
    
  • The Magick of the Tarot by Denning and Phillips
    
  • Encyclopedia of the Tarot by Stewart Kaplan
    

  Go To:
  

• Part I
  
• Part III
  
• Index