The 78 card tarot deck originated in Western Europe in the 15th century, and possibly has Egyptian roots.


The Major Arcana

The Major Arcana are 22 cards representing the Hero’s Journey, numbered 0 (The Fool) to 21 (The World). Each signifies a transpersonal archetypal energy that make up the big themes of life and the evolution of human consciousness.

When you see a Major Arcana card in a Tarot reading, you are being called to reflect on the life lessons and themes that are currently being experienced at this time. A Major Arcana card will often set the scene for the entire Tarot reading, with the other cards relating back to that core Major Arcana meaning.

Mapping the Major Arcana, Beth Maiden at Little Red Tarot

Minor Arcana

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana are 54 cards that signify issues, events, and people that make up daily life.


The suit of Cups represents water and emotion.

The suit of Wands is associated with fire and action.

Swords are the suit of air and the intellect.

The suit of Disks is earth and the material realm.

court cards

The court cards represent you or a person in your life, an aspect of the personality, or an event. Traditionally the court cards are Page, Knight, Queen and King.

Understanding Court Cards from Little Red Tarot

Pip cards

From Vicki Noble, Motherpeace

Aces are always gifts, something coming into being. When they reverse, they represent a gift wasted, untapped, or difficult to access.

Twos are receptive, the opposite energy of the active number one. Two always indicates a quiet inner experience of some kind. When they reverse, they usually indicate a difficulty in gaining balance or equilibrium. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not.

Threes are about flow and activity - they have a natural, fluid movement of their own. When they reverse, they indicate a lack of flow or a change of direction; they can then mean the energy is blocked.

Fours are quiet and self-contained, protected, structured. They always indicate some kind of boundary or enclosure, corresponding to the square.

Fives usually represent conflict and struggle of some sort. They indicate change, the stability of the four breaking down, shifting the balance.

Sixes are peak numbers, the high point on the scale of experience. They usually point to good feelings and outward expression, so when reversed, sixes indicate severe restrictions on energy that would otherwise be actively expressed.

Sevens are inward and reflective, hidden, subtle. Reversed, they may indicate some difficulty or thwarting of an inward process.

Eights always indicate a change of some kind; a new energy is present; things are moving in a new direction. Reversed, they usually show a variation or twist of some kind on the original energy.

Nines represent the last of the single digits and as such, a culmination of energies.They usually involved an element of wisdom. Reversed, they may indicate a way in which wisdom is hard to access or tiredness from accumulated struggle.

Tens represent the final blending of all the numbers in the suit, a transition, a return to the beginning (number 1) plus a dose of infinity (zero) added to it. Upright or reversed, they quite often represent group energies, community projects, or family activities.

a few of my fave tarot decks

Wild Unknown



Serpentfire, She Wolfe

Numinous Tarot


Robert Moss defines bibliomancy as a ‘fancy name for opening a book at random to get guidance on a theme, or simply the quality and content of the day.’


pendulum Dowsing

Pendulums can be purchased at metaphysical supply store, or you can make a homemade one. Tie a ring, stone or gem with a length of thread or leather. Use your pendulum with a dowsing chart, or establish the motions with your pendulum that demonstrate 'yes’ and ‘no.’