Barbara Moore's Blog, page 3

An Ongoing Adventure with Reversals

Shall we get right into it? How do you feel about reversals? Do you read them? If so, how? Do you have seventy-eight other interpretations that you use? Do you have a system that you apply to or a modification for the upright meanings? Do you not use them? Why? What do you do when one comes up upside down? Because no matter how careful you are, they somehow manage to get mixed up all the time.

It seems that people have fairly strong opinions about reversals. Years ago, when the American Taro...

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In Defense of the Hierophant

Negative Associations When thinking about cards that we identify with or cards that we are happy to see turn up ina reading, we rarely think "oh, The Hierophant! I love that card." In fact, many tarotists actively dislike The Hierophant. The Hierophant, Key V, started life as The Pope but experienced a name change thanks to the Golden Dawn. Unfortunately, the card's image didn't really change. In most decks, it still looks like a Pope. We tarotist read cards, generally cards with pictures on...

Play with Your Cards

Most people have heard that tarot decks were originally used to play a trick-taking card game called tarrochi. While the game is
still played, particularly in Europe, tarot cards are more often used for other purposes, primarily doing readings.Some readers and some people who have readings approach the experience with a
sense of play and drama, with a kind of "for entertainment only"style, the way one might read a newspaper horoscope or a fortune cookie fortune. Those of us who take...

Court Cards, Part IV: The Pages of Tarot

This article continues my series on the Court Cards. For some background information on this series, see "Court Cards, Part I: The Kings of Tarot."

For this series, we are looking at the Court Cards as representing other people involved in the situation that the querent is
asking about. Pages are known for being supportive and bringing freshness and enthusiasm to a situation but who seek to be directed by a
firmer or more experienced person.

When a Page appears in a reading, it means that s...

Court Cards, Part I: The Kings of Tarot

Learning the meanings of tarot cards is not really very hard. The Major Arcana cards are archetypes to which most of us can easily relate. (That is, after
all, the nature of archetypes.) The Minor Arcana—at least in decks with
illustrated pip cards—are so simple that even children can do it. In fact, children are
often better at it than adults, for what could be simpler than to look at a picture and say what is going on it? Unfortunately, many adults are afraid of getting it wrong...

Court Cards, Part III: The Knights of Tarot

This article continues my series on the Court Cards. For some background
information on this series, see "Court Cards, Part I: The Kings of Tarot" and "Court Cards, Part II: The Queens of Tarot."

For this series, we are looking at the Court Cards as representing other people involved in the situation that the querent is asking about. Knights are
known for focused action that generally gets results but may be oblivious to anything else going on around them.

When a Knight appears in a...

Court Cards, Part II: The Queens of Tarot

This article continues my series on the Court Cards. For some background
information on this series, see "The Tarot Court, Part I: The Kings of Tarot."

For this series, we are looking at the Court Cards as representing other people involved in the situation that the querent is asking about. People describe the Queens as representing nurturing or an internal expression of the suit. In other words, someone who can provide needed help or advice.

While any Court Card can have negative...

Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice Part 3: Study

We began this series with the dismaying
situation of looking at our cards and feeling nothing, seeing nothing, finding nothing whatever to say. This wretched state of affairs is not terminal nor do we just have to wait it out. Like
writer's block, there are ways to jump start the creative juices and get your tarot mojo
flowing again. The first article focused on decks. The second article looked at spreads. This third will suggest taking a scholarly road to escape the land of ennui...

Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part 2: Spreads

In "Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part I—Decks," we looked at ways of recovering
from Tarot Reader Burnout. We considered a number of ideas that include using or incorporating
another deck. However, what can you do if you only have one deck, do not wish to use another deck, or want to renew your enjoyment of an old favorite deck? Why, you change the way you use or
approach that deck. There are many techniques that can revitalize your practice. In this article, we'll look at the r...