Tarot
What is Tarot?
A divinatory system using a 78-card deck to explore questions about life, relationships, and decisions through symbolic imagery and intuitive interpretation.
History and cultural context
Tarot decks first appeared in 15th-century Italy as playing cards (the carte da trionfi), and were adapted for divinatory use in 18th-century France. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith and published in 1909, established the visual language most modern readers use today. Tarot is practiced widely across Europe, the Americas, and increasingly online; it is not tied to a single religious tradition and is used by people of many faiths and none.
How it works
A reader and querent agree on a question or area of focus, the deck is shuffled, and cards are drawn into a spread (often three cards for past-present-future, or ten for the Celtic Cross). The reader interprets the cards' imagery, position, and relationship to one another in light of the question. Tarot is reflective rather than predictive — sessions are conversations that surface what the querent already senses, not declarations of fixed outcomes.