Tarot reading fame has reached such an extent that national commissions are presently granting certifications according to competence categories. Presently, anyone can develop such a career if he/she has knowledge and experience and would like to do this exclusively. The variety  of teaching materials is incredible, from books and paper-printed guides to books and web pages, but none of them can give the tarot card reader the subtle ingredient necessary for good card revelations.

It is believed that a good tarot card reader needs to be well anchored in the spiritual realm with an understanding of the positive and negative energies existent in the visible and invisible world. Cards can only be understood in the vicinity of other symbolic representations, since only their combinations show relevance for life issues and concerns. If you pay for the services of a tarot card reader, ask the question seriously if you want an answer as closest to reality as possible. Even when you do so, the hazard chances remain incredibly high.

One further element Internet users should be aware of is that many of the tarot card reader services provided online are generated by special softwares. Thus, you draw six cards from the deck and you receive some random interpretations for each card all in the absence of the human factor. Such automated web pages are designed for entertainment and they are free of charge most of the time. The tarot reading costs you nothing and it’s willingly offered together with info on tarot courses, the history of tarot and lots of other interesting subjects. Take a look around such sites and decide for yourself whether they are worth using or not!

The most striking tarot card meanings and symbols can be uncovered and investigated in the Major Arcana cards, they also carry the name of trumps. The magician, the fool, the hermit, the emperor, the queen, the hanged man, the devil or the hierophant represent the main figures in the spiritual and real realms. For the Minor Arcana the tarot card meanings substitute in fact the instances or the elements that connect to common daily life events, with the mention that these cards represent the forefathers of our basic playing cards.

The four alchemical elements stand behind the four suits in the Minor Arcana, and they are just as important as the complex figures designed in the Major Arcana. The cups are designated under the influence of the water element, the wands reflect the passion and courage of fire, the swords get represented by air and the pentacles stay firmly on the ground, tributary to the earth element. Thus, if some tarot card meanings relate to emotional affairs as it is the case with the fire element, the air allows logic thinking to win while the earth brings material reality closer.

Tarot card meanings are often so very stirring and striking because of the evocative nature of pictures and symbols. Images have always been able to convey feelings, emotions and ideas, and we all share a huge visual repository in our subconscious. This is one of the main explanations for the effect tarot card readings trigger in people; a person who has never seen a tarot deck will be utterly impressed about the prints, the design, the figures and the symbols combined in a very intricate structure. In alternations, the visual representations become even more striking which is why the tarot card meanings are all the more important.

In time all sorts of changes became manifest in tarot card reading; for people who are no strangers to the Kabbalah or alchemy, the symbols similarity cannot pass unnoticed. Thus, with symbols being added on all sorts of occasions, the decks we have available at present are very complex. It is also common practice to complicate things even further by personalizing the cards and adding other subtle interpretations to the decks. Thus, many amateur philosophers have their own interpretations of the mystic representations in alchemy and the Kabbalah and they choose to add them to the cards.

The tarot card meaning greatly varies depending on the interpretation; thus, a single card can be given different explanations based on the location of the card in the spread and the meaning of the other cards in its vicinity. Very often, based on the reader’s own judgment and common sense, a tarot card meaning can be discarded as irrelevant for the question that is under discussion. The cards in the Major Arcana insist on a distinct symbolism, while those in the Minor Arcana stand for the traditional alchemical elements. Thus, the pentagrams stand for earth, the wands for fire, the cups for water and the swords for air.

In general lines, the tarot card meaning represents a possible choice along one’s life journey: sometimes one can even see whether one is on the right path or has strayed away. This tarot card meaning normally results from the spreads in the Major Arcana where life aspects have correspondent cards: the fool represents the beginning of a journey, the magician shows you the path towards wisdom, the high priestess speaks of self-balance, the empress points to pleasure, wealth and love, while the emperor represents claimed power and authority, and so on and so forth.

With complex graphics and nice backgrounds one can created all the seventy-eight cards in the tarot deck. Users also find it a lot easier to understand the various symbols on the tarot cards when they have the chance to color the decks themselves and prepare the set for printing. Then, Alternatives for printable tarot cards can be found in ebooks and training courses. Unique deck imagery is also richly provided on the Internet in very suggestive formats.

Lots of the printable tarot cards can be personalized to help the user better read the spreads. People who have a deeper knowledge of tarot meanings and allegories will not depend on Internet decks that much. Collages, individual artwork, personal digital photos could be very well integrated in the design of printable tarot cards; the capacity to relate to the tarot deck and perform the reading is higher when you have a personal connection with the cards. Last but not least, here are some technical facts to consider when printing tarot decks.

Printable tarot cards can be laminated to make them smooth and resistant, and this trick stays valid regardless of whether you glue the pictures onto the cards or you use cardboard to print the decks directly. Thus, you can choose either paper with a glossy card coating or a matte finish variant; other varieties do exist, but the examples above remain the most popular and resistant for the tarot cards design. Before printing the decks, check some Internet sites to make the downloads a lot easier to work with.

The tarot spreads are arranged only after the person for whom the reading is performed has finished shuffling the cards. Usually one seeks answers for a particular life area such as love, work or health, and therefore he or she has to focus on the question that needs a reply. After card shuffling, the next step is to lay the tarot spreads. The diversity of the tarot spreads is incredible covering very complex combinations on the basis of the 78 cards available.

Certain tarot spreads bring information on the emotional elements in one’s life while others will indicate various aspects of the relationships with the people around or the career issues. In this direction, the most popular and widely-known of tarot spreads is the Celtic Cross available with detailed instructions and plenty of features posted on the Internet. The card combinations and the pairings affect the meanings and the interpretations of the tarot spreads; yet, do not run your life according to tarot predictions. Tarot makes an alternative learning choice for those who want to take a guess about the direction of their lives.

To sum it up, you can learn about tarot spreads from a variety of sources, but definitely the Internet remains the richest available. There are people who have turned card reading and divination into a profession, and such workers often advertise both online and in local newspapers in the classifieds sections. Most of these tarot gurus will perform the reading you want in exchange for a fee; however, criticism is vividly pointed in the direction of interpretation authenticity. Many such experts are considered frauds, and the explanation for such a label comes from shared skepticism in occult practices according to the opinion of people in urban areas.

Lotus Tarot does not rely on software or flash players for their readings, and the user is actually shown the cards for which the interpretations are given. It is a great thing if you already know the meanings of the cards so that you can better understand the way the interpretations work and are made in the first place. Once you enter the Lotus Tarot site, go for private readings and then email the page coordinators for tarot readings. In case things are not moving fast enough for you, go for the free reading. Such options are not the only kind of service provided by Lotus Tarot: there are plenty of books and info on regarding tarot techniques in general.

Moreover, you can take part to the twelve week courses organized by Lotus tarot to teach users basic and advanced readings. Interactive options support the course steps online, allowing participants to develop skills more easily. Thus, if interested, you can divine the secrets of tarot in your home comfort. The details of the training sessions and the lessons will be passed to you on the email. Before subscribing to the course, make sure you find the content adequate for your needs: in a nutshell, you’ll be studying the history of tarot, the distinct card meanings as well as their interpretations in context.

Lotus Tarot vouches for the confidentiality of your contact details, and your email will never be disclosed to a third party. Part of the free service they provide is the weekly newsletter, yet, this is not spam and you can stop the emails any time you want. Moreover, in the site disclaimer, users are warned about the risk of trusting subjective interpretations as real life events. The interpretations are not to be taken literally and you should only have fun and not take things seriously. Hence, use your own judgment and common sense to decide what’s good for you.

Tarot readings vary in complexity and extent according to the location of cards in the spread. Thus, you cannot interpret one card without the help of another. People often consider the instructions for tarot readings pretty difficult to understand and perform, particularly if they are beginners in the art of divination. Moreover, you will come across all sorts of tips and words of advice about how to preserve the intensity of the meaning or how to relate the beginning with the end of the spread.

Tarot readings can be best performed when the person focuses on the question he or she needs an answer to; an energetic transfer occurs between the reader, the person for whom the reading is performed and the situation in question. The intensity and the depth of the tarot meaning afterwards may vary depending on the above mentioned elements. However, mention must be made that tarot is called the art of divination and not the science of divination. Do not expect real truth revealed together with clear action suggestions! Card reading should not play the role of decision makers.

Special card readings, books and courses are well represented in terms of market presence serving the purposes of regular students and independent tarot teachers. In the American professional system, you can receive one of the seven certifications according to the knowledge standard level you show at an official exam. Thus, one can begin as an apprentice tarot reader and move to superior formation levels that include professional tarot readers, tarot masters, tarot consultants and tarot grandmasters. These categories only aim at classifying skills and helping people with tarot interests turn it into something more than a hobby.

Only when you know how to create good tarot layouts can you move on to learning card meanings and vice versa. Several personal aspects require attention in the choice of the best tarot layouts and they all gravitate around the end results. What exactly is it that you want to achieve with a certain reading? Whom does it concern or involve? What are your overall intentions for the issue in question? Time comes next as a factor of decision; more elaborate tarot layouts will take plenty of time to create, therefore do not use them for too pressing issues.

Another tip here for nice and accessible tarot layouts is the use of the Major Arcana only. The twenty two cards that make the Major Arcana represent the essential elements in one’s life, and therefore you’d be able to find the keys to the most important events without too much time, effort and complex card patterns. Once you have decided what to stick to, it’s time to move on to the reading of the tarot layouts as such. Cards will carry a form of relevance only in relation with the others.

Some tarot layouts work great for study; take for instance zodiac tarot. It only takes twelve cards in the spread, with every zodiac sign having a corresponding card; once you create the layout, the cards are read in context depending on every life area you are interested in. The cards are used in a clockwise direction, in the places corresponding to clock numbers. Many tarot readers consider this kind of tarot layouts pretty easy and fun; they use them with friends or on their own, usually for entertainment purposes.

As for the oldest tarot decks ever preserved, they date from the mid 15th century and they were made on the special order of the Visconti family. There are sixty-six cards in the deck and they are displayed at the Yale University Library of New Haven. Another well-known deck was painted by Bonifacio Bembo at the request of Maria Visconti, they are preserved with the exception of two who were either lost or never existed. These latter tarot decks are known as Visconti-Sforza and their design is very popular nowadays too.
Plenty of modern imitations combine coins, cups, swords and batons with trump cards that represent a clear image of the classic iconography of the old times.

The number of initial tarot decks must have been small given the amount of work involved in the making and the painting of these miniature works of art. Old tarot decks have survived to our days from Switzerland, Egypt or Marseilles, and the centuries gave them the occult or mystical connotations they have today. Occultism and magic fans were the first to start reading the cards for all sorts of symbolic interpretations that have passed on to our modern world too.

Tarot decks cannot be given a clear origin, yet, some scientists revealed that the etymology of the word tarot is Egyptian, meaning the royal road. According to tradition, Gypsies are said to have spread the tradition of card reading in the first place, but the exact period when tarot decks started to serve for predictive purposes is not clear. As for the passage of tarot popularity to the English speaking world, Eliphas Levi was the one to make the transfer possible, and introduce tarot to aristocratic and middle classes too.

A tarot deck can only be discussed according to the major and the minor arcana; the minor arcana consists of swords, wands, cups and circles/pentacles that replace the classical hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. The cards can only be interpreted in relation to life events. The tarot deck layouts in the minor arcana usually aim at depicting the normal ups and downs in daily life. For the major arcana, suits are not necessary; only picture cards are used for these tarot decks and they stand for ideals, principles and concepts.

The big events and the long-term elements that can be analyzed with every tarot deck could change life perspectives and personal opinions but no one should trust such predictions one hundred percent or put all the eggs in one basket. Maybe tarot can help you understand there is something more to this world than just the immediate touchable reality around, but making decisions based on tarot interpretations could prove irresponsible. Tarot deck meanings and interpretations could very well be taken up as a hobby particularly when one has fun predicting one thing or another.

The elements that allow the selection of the perfect tarot deck vary from individual to individual; some people prefer personalized decks, others are content with the standard look of many printable tarot cards, while others are more interested in the meaning of the cards than in their design. The bright side is that the richness of options allows for all sorts of choices, and the fun part has preponderance over tarot as business. Don’t panic if someone predicts some terrible event close in the future. Enjoy the moment and use personal common sense to take decisions not tarot predictions!