Maya Cointreau - Tarot - A Complete Course in Basic Tarot Meanings & Techniques

TAROT

A Complete Course in
Basic Tarot Meanings & Techniques

MAYA COINTREAU

An Earth Lodge Publication
http://www.earthlodgebooks.com
Roxbury, Connecticut

*** Divinatory techniques are for entertainment purposes only and are not intended to take the place of professional counseling. ***

All text and layouts, Copyright 2014 Maya Cointreau
Published in the United States by Earth Lodge

ISBN 978-1-944396-20-6

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever, without written permission, except in the case of brief quotation in critical articles or reviews. All information in this Earth Lodge book is based upon the experiences of the author. For information contact Earth Lodge, 12 Church Street, Roxbury, CT 06783 or visit Earth Lodge online at www.earthlodgebooks.com

Cover Artwork by Maya Cointreau, depicting Visconti Tarot Cards from 15th century Venice, Italy

For the seekers and the bringers of light.
Shine on, adventurous ones, shine on.

We can starve as much from a lack of wonder as we can from a lack of food. If only for a little while, let us open our heart and see what glories unfold. Ted Andrews

TAROT WAS REVEALED TO ME on a dark winter evening by candle and firelight. I was ten years old, and a friend was sleeping over. We were supposed to be playing upstairs, allowing the grownups to talk and enjoy their evening. But we heard the laughter and fun taking place downstairs, and so we crept down for some cookies and milk, hoping to have a few moments of fun with Elise. My mothers artsy friend from New York, had just finished doing a reading and was putting the cards away when we asked what she was doing, if we could see the cards.

And so the lesson began.

Elise wouldnt even let us touch the cards until she had taught us to visualize ourselves inside a protective barrier of light. The next hour began my introduction to the tarot, to mysteries of intuition and divination, and ultimately led to the awakening of my young soul. My mother took me to buy my first deck
shortly after, and I havent been far from one ever since.

Ive given readings with 1 card or 30. In nightclubs with lines out the door, and in the quiet of my own home. To me, tarot is simply a way to connect with my higher self, with my spirit guides and higher powers for guidance and sometimes reassurance. Used properly, tarot can help illuminate the unknown, and show which fork in the road to travel.

This book is intended to open the door to your own unfolding. It will introduce you to the basic, universal meanings assigned to the majority of tarot decks. Some of the layouts in here are well-known, used by many people, and several are of my own design.

You will find that the more you practice, the more cards will take on their own meanings for you. My mother, my friend and I all learned tarot the same night but we each often have a different take on the same card. Thats where your intuition comes in.

Remember that tarot is simply a tool. Use it for the highest good of all involved, and it can do wonderful things.

In Love & Light, Maya Cointreau

TAROT, AS WE KNOW IT today, varies little from the card decks used in the 1400s throughout Europe to play a game called Triumph. This game was much like Bridge and called Tarrochi (Italian) or Tarot (French). There were 22 trump cards, which we today call the Major Arcana, and four suits. The four suits each contained 10 numbered cards (or pips) and 4 court cards, and today we call them the Minor Arcana. It is believed that this European game came over from Islamic societies, where the cards were used for centuries before as a game.

Some historians believe that the cards originated first from Egypt, and represent all that is left of a lost esoteric book from the library of Alexandria. The cards are believed to hold the heiroglyphical keys to creation.

Fortune telling with cards began in the 1500s and continued to develop throughout the next two centuries. Occult meanings and interpretations were assigned to the cards through numerology and the Kabbalah. In 1909 Arthur Edward Waite sought to remove the tarot from the occult and create a more accessible, mystic tarot. To that end he designed a tarot deck complete with illustrated pips to facilitate interpretation which was published by Rider and Sons and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck remains the foundation of the imagery used in most Western tarot decks.

In this book, we use illustrations adapted from Waites Pictorial Key to the Tarot, a monographic illustrated text published in 1910. Once you learn the basic symbolism used by Rider-Waite-Smith themed decks, you will be able to read the majority of tarot decks with ease.

THERE ARE 22 CARDS IN the Major Arcana. These cards were originally used as trump cards in gambling games. The Major Arcana is generally ordered by number, which can offer additional insights for those knowledgeable in numerology.

Some tarot decks contain additional trump cards, but to be considered a true tarot deck it must include the minimum 22. Decks that do not contain the full major arcana or all four suits are commonly called Oracle cards.

A Note about Reversed (or Upside-down) Cards:

Reversed cards represent the opposite of the card when it is upright. Thus the Star, reversed, is no longer lucky or a good omen, but a sign of bad luck or ill timing. The Four of Wands, reversed, might signify problems with your house or the breakdown of a marriage. A King of Cups, reversed, might show a man in the downward spiral of depression or who is overly sensitive to other peoples emotions.

I prefer to shuffle my cards so that the cards tend to stay upright that way, when I do receive a reversed card, I know it is a significant message. There are enough cards in an upright tarot deck that readings will always present the information that is needed.

The Fool (0 or 22)

The Fool is the first card in the Major Arcana, and represents innocence and its protection by a higher power. The fool is the holy fool of European or Russian literature, the figure that walks along without paying attention to where they are going, impulsive and nave, yet rarely in danger because they are watched over by God and all of Nature. The fool is the initiate, the beginner, the eager seeker and adventurer ready to embark on life.