Table of Contents

Dedication     iii
Preface     v
Introduction: making a brilliant start     1
Yes, you have found the right book     1
The time is right and you are ready     1
Spiritual curiosity     2
Why choose the tarot - or did the tarot choose you?     3
In life you get what you settle for     3
Being open-minded to new ideas     4
Be open to the impossible, the improbable and the new     5
Wordplay     5
The tarot's misty past and recorded history     9
Just where did the tarot come from?     9
A tangled web of enhanced truth?     10
A recorded history     11
Modern day influences     17
Other routes of card development     18
Playing cards     19
The last of this enigmatic puzzle to consider     20
Wordplay     23
Basic building blocks     25
Your personal record book     25
Superstitions to consider and how to nurture your deck     26
Selecting a deck to learn and grow with     29
Understanding the basic structure of a deck     30
Your deck should contain the following cards     32
The four suits     33
The Lower Arcana     37
Wordplay     38
Discover how your deck is numbered     31
How are your cards numbered?     31
These cards generally are numbered thus     32
Earth     34
Air     34
Fire     35
Water     36
The Lower Arcana     37
Reading cards intuitively     41
Fortune telling versus life guidance     41
Understanding the language of the cards     43
Symbology     45
Reversed or ill-dignified cards - the sliding scale     48
Pictures, colors and symbols     49
Reading cards intuitively from the artwork     51
Wordplay     54
The Fool     52
Two of Swords     53
The Fool     52
Two of Swords     53
The Lower Arcana (the pip cards) numbers one to ten     57
Common understanding and interpretation of the Lower Arcana cards     57
Who or what does a card refer to?     58
See the story in the card     59
See the story in the suit cycle     78
Numerology and the tarot: the energy of numbers      78
Master Numbers     81
Predominance and omissions in a spread     82
Elemental, zodiac and other simple correlations     84
Elemental symbols     84
Wordplay     88
Earth     60
Air     65
Fire     69
Water     73
Pentacles = Earth     84
Swords = Air     85
Wands / Clubs = Fire     85
Cups = Water     86
Circles of change     87
Reversed and upright pentacles     88
The tarot ring     89
Table of correspondences     86
The Higher or Major Arcana     91
The Higher or Major Arcana     91
A reminder     93
Astrological associations: planetary or zodiac     93
The Higher Arcana: basic meanings and planetary associations     94
Wordplay     125
Moon phases     97
The tarot - planetary correlation     124
The Court Cards or People Cards of the tarot     127
Titles and stations in life     127
Spotting the living Court Cards in people     129
Who and what do they represent?      130
Tarot suit association     130
Coloring     131
Selecting a significator     131
Suit related elemental and directional energies etc.     132
Age group     132
Zodiac sign     133
Gender     134
Key words to remind you how the suits differ     135
Using a suit style to suit our needs / playing a role     144
Wordplay     147
Ying / Yang symbol     148
Expressions chart     131
Season, timing and direction chart     132
Tarot suits and their associated elemental energy with star sign     133
Table of correspondences     147
Simple layouts and spreads     149
Making a start: a one card, daily reading     152
Playing with more cards: "once upon a time" story telling     154
Just what do we mean by a spread of cards?     155
Three and four card spreads     158
Past, present and future     159
For and against spread     160
The build up of energy spread     160
A nine card spread - seeking positive change     162
Designing a spread for your own needs     163
Wordplay     164
Fitting the pieces together     150
Interlinking and merging     151
Turning the card     153
Story telling     154
Three card spreads - past, present and future     159
Four card spreads - past, present, future and overall advice     159
Three card spreads - for and against     160
The build up of energy spread - three cards     161
The build up of energy spread - six cards     161
A nine card spread - seeking positive change     162
Three card spreads - for quick daily insight     158
An eleven card spread     165
Card control     165
Passing your deck to a client     166
Placing your spread without accidentally reversing your cards     169
An eleven card spread     171
The querant card or significator     172
Learning the layout     174
The Celtic Cross: cards 1 - 7 of the spread     175
The pillar of potential: cards 8 - 11     177
Other spreads     183
Reader's reminders     184
Wordplay     187
Passing a deck     168
Placing your spread     170
Eleven card spread - Celtic Cross format      171
Eleven card spread and the querant card     173
Eleven card layout     174
The Cross: cards 1 - 7 of the spread     176
The pillar of potential: cards 8 - 11     178
The eleven card spread: areas of life     182
The Consideration spread     183
The hopes, wishes and dreams spread     184
A personal discovery     189
Sleeping beauty awakens     189
The journey of personal discovery     194
Exploring the cards and your inner self     196
Getting to know your inner High Priestess - a meditation or contemplation     199
Learning to inwardly listen     201
Becoming still     202
Listening for silence     203
Wordplay     205
The Caduceus     191
Getting to know your inner High Priestess     199
The Caduceus     205
Preparing to read for others     207
Readying your space     207
Clearing your mind     208
The influence of the reader on the client     209
The unconscious dependence of the client upon the reader     210
Confidentiality and sensible advice     211
Choice and free will      213
Challenging suits and cards - a reader's responsibility to the client     214
Wordplay     216
A - Z Wordplay Glossary     217
The Caduceus     218
Pentacles     225
Tarot ring     228
Ying / Yang symbol     229