he modern Tarot deck is comprised of 22 Major Arcana (“Trump”) cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards in four suits, much like the standard playing cards we use for regular card games today. This 78-card deck—the one that will be used for this reading—is the widely-accepted standard, but there are also many different variations in decks with different numbers of cards or different symbols.

Tarot reading uses the cards to communicate with the person (Seeker) being read. The cards of the deck represent different stages in the Traveler's (the Fool's) journey through life. The combination of the meaning of the position in the pattern for the throw and the meaning of the card in that position result in the message for the Seeker.

he Major Arcana cards represent different stages in the journey through the current chapter of the Seeker's life. They can be thought of as significant personal situations or conditions for the Seeker, or even as rites of passage they must endure as they transit this chapter.

he four Minor Arcana suits also have general meanings in addition to the meanings of the individual cards. These are linked to the ancient mystical traditions of Earth, Water, Fire and Air. The suits are:

	Cups —Water—is associated with relationships and emotions, the development of feelings as the Seeker travels through life.
	Wands —Fire—development of creative imagination and the challenges one meets as they travel.
	Swords —Air—realm of the mind, looking at intellect and thoughts.
	Pentacles —Earth—the material world and its reality, the resources the Seeker will have/need on the journey. These resources can include the money, time, or even the energy the Seeker will spend as they travel.

ach of the suits has 14 cards, the ten “numbered” cards and four “court” cards. The numbered cards depict ordinary events and experiences in life the Seeker may encounter as they travel. The court cards indicate personal character and the various degrees of attainment or stages of development the Seeker may need/achieve.

he origin of Tarot cards is lost in the mists of distant history. Many believe they are of origin in Ancient Egypt when hieroglyphs were first invented. The spread of their use is attributed to the Greeks taking it from the Egyptians, and then the Gypsies carrying it throughout Europe. The cards evolved in meaning and number, with most of the Major Arcana cards keeping links to Greek mythology. The Minor Arcana cards depict a wide variety of personalities ranging from mythology up through Medieval times.

t is generally believed that the precursor to the modern Tarot deck emerged around the 13th Century and has undergone refinements until the present day. It has been used for entertainment or divination by the Occult and by the Church alike. At various time in history, the use of the cards was totally prohibited by the Church, later allowed for nobility but prohibited for working classes and peasants, and then grudgingly allowed for use by all.

t is still believed by a large segment of society that the use of the Tarot cards involves some link to Occult practices or Devil worship. You may rest assured that in this reading, I DO NOT call on any forces of darkness. We will be working with spirit entities that are very important to us, and have considerable power in our lives—but they are ONLY forces of good. You would not be incorrect to view them as angelic beings, even if some of them are not full-fledged Angels in their own right.

s the Reader, I ask my personal Guardian (Angel) to contact the Guardian of the person for whom I am doing the reading (the “Seeker”). The Guardian for the Seeker passes the messages and information they feel is most important for the Seeker to know—things they would tell the Seeker themselves if they could communicate directly. The Guardians then work together to arrange the fall of the cards that I deal to convey these messages.

only do “general” readings. It is not necessary to do something specifically labeled as a relationship, career, health, or lost car key reading. The Seeker's Guardian will pass the messages to tell the Seeker what they NEED to hear, not what they think they WANT to hear. The Seeker's Guardian is the one who provides the messages to be passed, and my Guardian is the one who arranges the cards to pass those messages. If relationships, for example, are genuinely important to the current life chapter of the Seeker, then that information will be in there—they needn't ask for it up front. To do so would only serve to limit the scope and detract from the value of the reading. Besides, experience has shown me that the Guardians ignore such restricted queries and do what they want anyway.

his reading (“throw”) will be done using the traditional “Celtic Cross” pattern as shown above. As each card is thrown, the placement of it will be shown on a diagram with each of the card position pages you will be given as a record of your reading, if you choose to receive one.

pre-selected “Significator” card under the first card thrown, as some readers prefer to do in their variation, will not be used in this throw. The first card thrown becomes the Significator, and is one of the ten cards used for the reading.

he deck and its reference book used for position descriptions and card interpretations is THE MYTHIC TAROT, A New Approach to the Tarot Cards, by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene. I selected this deck and book because of their clarity and simplicity. I highly recommend them for novice or veteran reader alike.