Tarot for Life and the Upside Down Fool

I've been coming to the Tarot in a number of ways, and have been pleasantly surprised at how many people who are in my life are familiar with or have used the cards with an open mind.  Friends, friends of friends, friends of relatives, neon signs in windows, my interest in cross-cultural symbols, metaphors, and archetypes: these things and more have gently allowed me to come to the point in my life where I am now actively pursuing an education in Tarot.  Just look at the previous post on this very same blog.

Yesterday, I purchased a book called "Tarot for Life," by a man named Paul Quinn, whose website can be found at http://www.thespiritedlife.com.  On page 4 of the introduction, the author suggests that the reader perform a simple Tarot reading, randomly pulling one card from a shuffled deck of just the Major Arcana.  I followed the instructions and asked the provided question, basically trying to figure out what I might expect to learn more about through use of the book (aside from the obvious "reading Tarot cards" angle).

What I neglected to do on the first go, though, was to focus only on the "dignified" or upright aspect of the card, for--as I've learned--if a card is upside down or "reversed," it can have a rather significant impact on its meaning and interpretation.  Appropriately enough, and with a last-second feeling that I was going to do so, I turned over an upside down card: The Fool, or number 0 of the Major Arcana.  A good friend with some knowledge of the relevant details tells me this is fitting.

The Universal Waite Deck's "The Fool" as I pulled it

Being somewhat nonplussed, I decided to conduct the exercise again, but with the caveat that this would be for other aspects I might expect to learn about, and specifically intended that only the upright position would be considered.  The second pull produced Major Arcana card 1, The Magician.  I have been told this makes sense, too, but beyond an initial impression I am unclear on possible significances this card may have.

The Second Card I Pulled

Taken together, I have yet to assign any major meanings to the sequence, the numbers, the cards, or their names.  As explained above, I have only yesterday purchased a guide to the Tarot and only received my deck early Sunday morning.  

I look forward to meditating on the meaning these two cards may have in store for me in the days and weeks to come.

Three of Spades

The Three of Spades in a
French Deck of Playing Cards

In the course of doing some reading online, I found it important to learn the similarities and connections between a standard deck of playing cards and some of the aspects of a deck of Tarot cards.  Specifically, which suits correspond to which.

The deck we are mostly all familiar with consists of 52 cards total, 13 from each "suit": Spades ♠, Hearts ♥, Clubs ♣, Diamonds ♦.  The typical Tarot deck also consists of four suits, but with 14 cards in each suit.  The Tarot suits are as follows: Swords, Cups, Wands (or Staves), and Pentacles (or Discs, Rings, or Coins).


As it turns out, while there are indeed more differences than similarities between Tarot and standard playing cards, the suits in both decks have corollaries with each other. Spades correspond to Swords, Hearts to Cups, Wands to Clubs, and Pentacles to Diamonds.  [A Pentacle--often represented by a gold coin or disc with a five-pointed star (or pentagram) on it--is a word of disputed origin, but is generally used in the sense of "amulet" or something with a symbol on it used for magical practices.  Mathematically, a pentacle is simply a five-pointed star made up of ten equal lines without the interior lines present in a pentagram.  A white pentacle can be seen 50 times on the American flag.  But I didn't start this entry to talk about pentacles and stars, so I'll leave further discussion for a future entry.]


About 7 years ago, someone very dear to me was given a large novelty playing card, the Three of Spades, by a young child who said at the time, "This is your luck."  This particular person has since then held onto the card in a very special place, until yesterday, when I discovered that the 3 of Spades is the same as the 3 of Swords in Tarot.

The Three of Swords in Tarot

From Wikipedia

Three of Swords: The Wound. This card represents the aspect of the mind which is overly critical, especially of itself. The perverse impulse to dissect a problem beyond the point of usefulness. The three swords are often depicted piercing a bleeding heart. The swords symbolise the intellect, and the heart, the emotions which always suffer under this treatment.... This card depicts a pure piercing sorrow of the mind. The sorrow must be felt and experienced for closure and relief to come. Generally speaking, it is a negative card and often refers to loss.

We agreed that the card had perhaps played its part and been useful in this person's life, but was no longer of any productive worth, if in fact it ever was.  The card was given to her at a particularly rough juncture in her life, and the meaning was not fully understood, and indeed was probably misinterpreted.  We now know its significance, if not the full effect it may or may not have had, and so she decided to dispose of the card.

I'm left wondering what a suitable and more positive replacement would be.  Perhaps the King of Hearts? Not for the "Suicide King" epithet, but more for the 1966 film and the 1992 Roy Orbison album.

Down The Rabbit Hole

Eat Me

大白兔奶糖

White Rabbit