© Elena Viktorovna Saratovtseva, 2017
ISBN 978-5-4483-8588-9
Powered by Ridero Intelligent Publishing System
FOREWORD
This book is addressed to readers who want to learn tarot divination on their own. It is written in a simple and understandable language, does not require any preliminary preparation and the presence of any special abilities.
My personal experience of working with Tarot and the experience of teaching others, convinced me that really, you do not need any special supernatural abilities to learn to read Tarot.
Any sufficiently patient and balanced person (or simply who knows how to distance himself, dissociate himself from his experiences), if desired, can learn to read Tarot cards.
Patience is needed for the reason that there are a lot of cards and it takes time to study them and initial skill training. For knowledge to become a skill, training is necessary. The more you practice fortune telling, the better you will get it.
The second thing you need to develop in yourself in order to read Tarot is the ability to calmly focus on the question. Cards are a tool that is sensitive to the inner state of the questioner, if you experience any strong emotions, for example, fear or desire to get a certain answer, this will affect which cards you eventually get out of the deck and distort the answer. In order to really receive answers with the help of cards, you need to learn how to ask them by moving away from emotions. Therefore, if a person is, in principle, not balanced, and cannot ask questions without emotions, then mastering the skill of fortune telling in Tarot will be problematic.
For most people, if they wish, it is easy to learn to guess, you only need time, which will allow you to train and hone the skill. That is why I called the book "The Simple Tarot", the essence of my learning system is in the simplicity and accessibility of skill development, without any special hard efforts and the need for special abilities. In the process of fortune telling, we turn not to some unknown force, but to our own intuition and to our own unconscious. We all have intuition, just not everyone is accustomed to using it and not everyone knows how to "communicate" with it. The Tarot deck is a language, a set of symbols with which we can learn to "talk" with our own unconscious, intuitive part, the so-called "inner teacher".
My course is about working with Waite's Tarot. This is one of the most popular decks today. Waite Tarot belongs to the English school of Tarot, which you will get to know a little about in the book. A little, since we, in principle, will not devote much time to theoretical aspects, because if you wish, you can find theoretical information yourself. This book focuses on practical lessons on how to learn to read Waite's Tarot from scratch.
There are 78 cards in the deck, 22 of which are called Major Arcana and 56 - Minor Arcana.
In the Minor Arcana there are 4 suits: Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles. Minor Arcana resemble playing cards, but appeared later than playing cards, and, perhaps, the latter became their prototype. The very word "Arkan" denotes a secret or a sacrament. The Younger Arcanum is a small sacrament, as it were, simpler and more mundane, the Elder is a deeper and more significant sacrament.
The book consists of twelve practical lessons, the first six of which are devoted to the Major Arcana, and the remaining six to the Younger.
At the end of the first part of the course, devoted to the Major Arcana, we will have such a topic as diagnostics using the Tarot of magical influences. I am not a supporter of the point of view that the evil eye and corruption should be blamed for all troubles, but quite the opposite. More often than not, problems have simple and everyday explanations. But still, there are times when we are faced with some kind of impact, so it will be useful to learn how to view it.
And I hope for your further prudence in this matter, that you will not constantly suspect that you have corruption. If you are a suspicious person, then you better not guess at such questions at all, so as not to harm yourself. After all, if you believe that damage is on you, then this can work as self-programming and failures will really begin to haunt you, but not because of damage sent by someone, but simply because of your conviction.
At the end of the second part of the course, devoted to the Minor Arcana, we will also have an interesting topic - these are archetypes in the suits of the Tarot. This topic connects tarot with psychology and will allow you to use cards to draw up psychological characteristics. You will also learn a simple technique of psychological correction using the Tarot.
From the first lesson, you can begin to practice in practice, using the simplified meanings of the cards of the Major Arcana, which are given in the first lesson. Further, each lesson, we will consider five cards in more detail and study new layouts and features of the process. Thus, the course of study is built, as it were, gradually moving from simple to complex. It is advisable to start the practice as early as possible, because it takes some time to hone the skill of fortune-telling.
Chapter 1. Major Arcana
Lesson 1
The Tarot divination skill consists of three components: the ability to correctly formulate a question, the ability to focus on this issue at the time of drawing and shuffling the cards, and the ability to interpret these cards. In this lesson, we will sort out the basics of the fortune-telling process, and you can also get practical experience, that is, start guessing from this first lesson. Let's start by learning the basics of the process.
How to ask questions to cards?
In appearance, this is a very simple action: you shuffle the cards and mentally or aloud say the question, all the time while you shuffle and take out the cards. The degree of truthfulness of the answer usually depends on how well you focus on the question. Therefore, you need to remove everything that prevents you from concentrating - for example, unnecessary noise. When you are wondering, do only this and do not divert attention to something else: a phone call, a conversation with someone in the process, watching a TV show, etc.
In this regard, the divination process is very similar to meditation: you meditate on a question, and at this moment your hand draws out the cards. Spend enough time for this, there is no exact framework for how long to interfere and take out the cards, you need to focus only on your feelings - as soon as you feel that you have concentrated enough, but in any case, you should not take out the cards very quickly when you just start practicing Tarot divination , it is unlikely that without training you know how to concentrate very quickly. Over time, this skill will train and you will need less time shuffling and drawing cards.
As practice shows, it can be difficult to focus on questions for a long time, so do not ask too many questions in a row, as soon as you feel that it is difficult to hold attention - take a break and be distracted by another activity, switching your attention to another type of activity is the best rest.
The second thing that greatly affects the truthfulness of the answer, in addition to focus, is a correctly and clearly formulated question.
The main rule is that the more specific you put the question for the alignment, the more specific the question will be. Therefore, avoid questions like "What awaits me in love?" and instead, define for yourself exactly what you would like to know: how will the existing relationship develop in the next month (or another period of time)? Or what are the prospects for a new relationship do you have in a given period of time?
If you don’t guess the time, then according to the layout you will not be able to understand what period the answer belongs to, or you will have to do more layouts to clarify, or in principle it will remain incomprehensible. Therefore, I advise you to immediately determine exactly what period of time you are watching.
Try not to ask about concepts that you cannot accurately imagine, for example: "Is this person by fate?" - what does this phrase mean to you personally? What meaning do you put into it? Or "will the year be happy?" - what are your criteria for "happiness"? For some, a happy year is a financially successful year, for others - a new relationship, for others - peace in the family. Therefore, it is better to ask exactly what interests you personally.
It is also important to take into account that in many cases it is impossible to get an answer from a series of "yes" / "no", because the language of maps is a metaphor. Therefore, instead of asking "Will I be fired from my job in the near future?", Ask "What events to expect at work in the next 2 months?" or ask the cards for advice "is it worth fearing dismissal?" Instead of "Is this person cheating?" ask the advice of cards "is it worth trusting this person (in this specific question)?", instead of "will Vasya come back?" ask "how will relations develop in the next six months?" or "what actions will Vasya take in relation to me in the next six months?"
Make sure that the question does not actually consist of two different questions, for example:
"What are the chances in a relationship that there will be a family and children in the end?" - these are 2 different questions and you need to do 2 layouts: what are the prospects for marriage? What are the prospects for having a joint child?
Just like the ability to concentrate on a question, the skill to formulate the question correctly develops over time as you practice. Therefore, do not be alarmed by failures - what if you are asking the wrong question? Practice and each time compare the informativeness and truthfulness of the answer, only from experience can you learn. The more practice, the better you will develop the skill, although your answers may not be accurate at first.
Another important condition for the fortune-telling process is not a biased and calm attitude to the question. If you are very afraid of a certain answer, then there is a high probability that this answer will come out, because you pull out what you think about, the cards react to what your attention is focused on at the moment of drawing the cards. If you really ask a question, you get an answer, and if you really want to pull out a certain answer or are afraid of it, then you pull out exactly that. For this reason, it is sometimes easier for others to guess than to themselves. While you are studying, practice on issues that do not make you feel overly emotional.
Which hand to get the cards - left or right?
There are different opinions on this, but I think that the left is better. In terms of energy channels, the left side of the body is the lunar, passive and receptive, feminine type of energy. The right one is solar, active energy associated with the expression of oneself into the outside world, a masculine type of energy.
Physiologically, the left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain, and the right is controlled by the left. As you know, intuitive and creative abilities are associated just with the right hemisphere, that is, with the left side of the body. Therefore, it is better to get the cards with your left hand.
Should you give cards in hand when you are reading to another person?
Here, too, different tarologists have different opinions. I give the cards in the hands of the one to whom I am guessing, ask them to mix, speak the question and draw the cards. The deck itself is just your instrument, the cards do not have their own consciousness and emotions and cannot be "offended". Turning to cards with a question is an appeal to your own intuition, to the unconscious. The person who turns to you with a question for fortune-telling may be able to concentrate much better on his question than you, because in the same words we can put completely different meanings and according to the words of the person who applied, you cannot always clearly imagine the essence of the question.
Sometimes it is simply too difficult to focus on other people's questions, especially if you do not know the questioner very much, it takes effort to clearly understand what the question is about and to keep your attention on this issue. This is, in principle, possible, over time you will learn to guess other people without giving cards in hand, for example from photography, but the development of such a skill takes time and more effort. Therefore, at the beginning of the practice, I recommend that you guess to other people directly at the meeting, ask the person to shuffle the cards, pronouncing the question, and then pull out the required number of cards, which you will further interpret. At the same time, avoid working with people who are afraid to draw cards or have other strong emotions that interfere with thinking about the question. In this case, it will be easier to pull out the cards and ask a question for you than for the asking one.
If there is a desire to delve into the question and get more information, or you have doubts that the questioner was able to concentrate well on the question, then you can do 2 layouts: the first time the questioner pulls out the cards, asking the question, and the second - you. The question and the alignment remain the same. That is, you do one alignment for one question 2 times, but the first time the questioner pulls out the cards, and the second - you. Compare these 2 answers, sometimes the answers will be approximately the same, and sometimes different - describing the situation as if from different sides, which allows you to get more information.
How to protect yourself from negative consequences when you are guessing to others?
Fears of giving other people cards in their hands are usually associated with fears that the cards "stick" on themselves the negative from the person. In fact, this is a very rare case, but extra precautions will not harm you in any case. Simple safety techniques will help you protect and magically clean the cards:
1. When you read fortune to someone at a personal meeting, put a candle on the table (if possible), so that it is between you and this person. And when you just light it, look at the flame, and mentally turn to the fire, asking for protection. Flame, in addition to protection, helps you to better tune in to the process.
2. When you have already finished guessing for someone, in order to additionally clean yourself and the cards, first sweep the cards over the candle flame 3 times, asking mentally or aloud to cleanse them of everything bad, and then hold your palms over the candle flame for 2-3 minutes, also asking the fire to cleanse you of other people's problems and negativity. If you do not have the opportunity to light a candle at the meeting itself, then do this cleaning when you return home.
3. Once a year or more often (if necessary), you can perform a more complex ceremony, which we will analyze later in this lesson.
Use this same rite to clean and prepare a new deck or deck that has already been used.
4. While you are just training, you can not take payment for fortune-telling to others, because this is still only training, but later, when you already see what you have begun to succeed, take at least a symbolic payment, it is important to observe the principle of interchange, this protects both you and the one to whom you are guessing - it may be a small coin, some pleasant trifle that a person is ready to offer in return, for example, treat you to a cup of tea. It is not the value of "payment" that is important here, but the observance of the principle of interchange - you give something and receive something in return.
5. Guess those people who, in your opinion, really need your advice and who themselves asked you about this, you do not need to guess if the person did not ask you. As you know, advice is only good when asked. Avoid becoming a "savior" for others and taking full responsibility for solving other people's problems, fortune-telling is just a way to give advice, looking at the situation from the outside, and not to solve the problems of a person instead of himself. Do not get too emotionally involved in something that is not your problem, this can not only harm you, but also affect the quality of the interpretation of the cards of the alignment, because the situation is best seen by an observer who is not involved in it, emotions greatly distort the perception of the question.
How to interpret cards?
Tarot beginners often have difficulty interpreting it. A typical situation: you have acquired several books with the interpretation of the Arcana Tarot, the interpretations of each card are very broad and contradictory and you cannot understand which interpretation is correct. Or another case: you are trying to interpret the cards according to the little book included with the deck, the values of the cards are very meager and not suitable for your situation. Why, in various sources, the interpretations of the Arcana can contradict each other and does this mean that in some the information is correct, and in others it is not?
The Tarot Arcane Language is the language of metaphors and archetypes. Each card depicts a certain plot - a mythologeme: an event, force or hero is described. You also get the answer to the question in the form of a metaphor - either the development of your situation will be similar to the plot of the map, or you are your state, you yourself will be like the character depicted on the map. This is roughly as if you were guessing using a collection of myths and legends, only in this case these myths are not explicitly described, not described in words, but "encrypted" in pictures. It is only by the plot, colors and symbols on the map that one can assume the original meaning of the myth, and different people can understand this plot in different ways.
For some decks, their creators issue detailed instructions on the interpretation, and for some they do not, in the second case, there are more differences in interpretation among different tarologists. At the same time, as a tool for obtaining answers, the deck works equally well for different craftsmen using completely different interpretations of the same card.
In fact, the mechanism of working with Tarot is such that what interpretations you "agree" with your unconscious, in such interpretations you will receive answers. That is, there are no only correct and incorrect interpretations of the cards - the cards still answer you within the framework of the values that you have learned and accepted for yourself, and in order for this system to work, you just need to "agree" with yourself that for a specific card means you.
Of course, for such an awareness, your own subjective understanding of each card to develop, you need some time and experience, and at the very beginning, while you have no experience, you still have to rely on someone's interpretation. And in this case, you can choose any system of interpretation that is convenient for you, as long as it is not too confusing and contradictory. In our course of study, I suggest that you use my system of interpreting maps, developed on a long personal experience. First, you will use brief interpretations of the Major Arcana, which we will analyze in this lesson, and then, in each subsequent lesson, you will study more detailed interpretations of the Arcana.
Use short interpretations, starting with this first lesson, and as you progress further, we will delve into the meaning of each card in various issues, and your idea of each card will gradually be supplemented with new details. Further on, your "teacher" will be practical experience, the more you practice, the more subjectively, in your own way you will understand each Arcana. For the duration of the training, I do not recommend that you use other interpretations of the cards, just so that you do not have confusion associated with conflicting interpretations. The main condition for getting answers from your unconscious, your intuition is to “agree on a certain language”, “agree” with yourself about unambiguous interpretations of each card.
So, we have learned the basics of the fortune telling process itself and in order to translate this knowledge into a skill, let's move on to the practical part of the lesson. The following is a ceremony with which you can prepare your deck of cards for work, a simple and short layout of the "Cross", from which you can start the practice and short interpretations of the Major Arcana. At first, you can use only this part of the deck in fortune telling, and when you are already more confident in interpreting the layouts on the Major Arcana, add the Minors.
In addition to this alignment, I recommend that you, all the time you study, pull out the "card of the day" with the question - what will this day be? Or what events to expect today? That is, a layout for a day on one card. During the study of the Major Arcana, you can draw out the "card of the day" only on this part of the deck, and in the second part of the training course, when interpretations of the Minor Arcana are added, you can use a mixed deck or the Major and Minor Arcana separately.
"Card of the Day" will help you better understand the meanings of the cards by experience, and also just remember them, instead of memorizing interpretations.
If you want to get an extremely clear idea of what tarot card divination is, then know: this is a completely and completely justified aspiration. This is explained by the fact that through this fortune-telling tool, which has come to us from time immemorial, it is possible to get answers to many questions - both rather prosaic and of paramount importance.
Divination by tarot requires a lot of experience and awareness.
However, where do you start? After all, tarology is far from the simplest science, requiring a fairly decent level of awareness from the fortuneteller. Of course, if you have an acquaintance or friend who knows the discipline in question well, then you can always turn to him for a hint. But if you do not have such an advisor competent in fortune telling, then the best solution in your situation may be to study tarology from books written by recognized experts in this field.
It should be noted that nowadays it is not difficult to find tarot books for beginners. They are presented in huge numbers on the Internet; in addition, many shops selling books on esotericism and magic allow you to purchase the classic, "paper" versions.
This abundance also has a downside: there are a lot of offers, and therefore it is often extremely difficult for a beginner to find the most suitable option for himself. Perfectly understanding this circumstance, we consider it necessary to acquaint you with the best books on tarot - works, thanks to which you will learn the art of divination extremely easily and in full accordance with generally accepted fortune-telling traditions.
From the abundance of thematic literature in stores, beginners can scatter their eyes
Books by foreign authors
To begin with, we will list the most notable works of tarot readers from Western countries. Among all the basic textbooks published by them, first of all, it is necessary to highlight the following, suitable for beginners in the most possible way.
- Arthur Edward Waite, The Illustrated Key to the Tarot. This work was created by one of the most prominent tarologists of the 19th and 20th centuries, who was an honorary member of many esoteric societies. It is the primary source through which you can familiarize yourself with the knowledge of Waite himself - the founder of one of the most famous schools of fortune-telling. The book contains descriptions of the 78 arcana of the tarot deck, with an emphasis on their Elder variations. It also describes layouts and card combinations.
- Hayo Banzhaf, Fundamentals of Tarot. Encyclopedia of the Arcana ". This work by one of the leading German esotericists and masters of fortune-telling is primarily a collection of detailed interpretations of the meanings of the arcana - both the Elder and the Younger. It is also noteworthy that the book in question is easy to read, and therefore it is especially recommended for all beginners. The works of Bantzhaf, we advise you to familiarize yourself with his other creations - first of all, with the "Self-Tutorial on Tarot" and the work "Tarot: Key Concepts. Textbook and spreads ”, containing a lot of useful information for those who like to read fortunes.
- Alla Alicia Khshanovskaya, "Magic of Tarot". The work in question invites the reader to familiarize himself in detail with the meaning of each of the 22 Major Arcana. This book is also of interest because it contains descriptions of several layouts techniques and allows you to get an idea of the ethics of a professional tarot reader. We also advise you to familiarize yourself with another creation of the same author - "The Mystery of the Tarot", which sets out the interpretation of the Minor Arcana and everything related to their use in fortune-telling. Another famous book by Khshanovskaya is “The world of tarot. Layouts ”, which can bring a lot of obvious benefits to everyone who wants to acquire the skill of a professional fortuneteller.
- Anthony Lewis, "Tarot is simple and straightforward." This work contains detailed interpretations of all 78 arcana and includes a description of the six most common card layouts. In addition, the author considered it necessary to acquaint the reader with the history of the tarot, a predictive tool known for several millennia in a row.
- Teresa Michelsen, The Complete Tarot Guide. This book is interesting in that it reveals in detail such important points for a novice tarologist as the choice of a suitable deck, the meaning of cards and the interpretation of layouts. In addition, it contains a dictionary of tarological symbolism and astrological associations. The peculiarity of the work in question is the manner in which information is presented: it is simple and understandable, which is important for any novice fortuneteller.
- Daniela Chris, “The Magic Book of the Tarot. Fortune telling ". The work in question is unlikely to leave indifferent everyone who seeks to comprehend the secrets of the Egyptian tarot - the oldest surviving to this day. The book contains detailed answers to many key questions, so with its help you can count on making the right decision in a situation of any complexity.
Regarding the last of the works listed above, it is worth adding that it tells how:
- determine your own karma and purpose;
- "Untangle" the alignment, no matter how complex it may be;
- identify the evil eye and / or damage;
- reveal your "sleeping" spiritual qualities and develop them.
That is why "The Magic Book of Tarot" has been in such demand for many years in a row. With its help, any person who initially does not possess the skills of a tarot reader will quickly be able not only to better understand himself, but also to learn how to change the world around him for the better.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot - Book by Arthur Edward Waite
Books by Russian tarologists
With regard to the works of Russian specialists in fortune-telling with the help of tarot cards, only a few can be attributed to them.
- Evgeny Kolesov, "The tarot alphabet". Despite the fact that the volume of this book is relatively small, it contains a lot of interesting information that is valuable for lovers of fortune-telling. First of all, it is notable for its description of the Universal Tarot tradition and the presence of a section devoted to the interpretation of the cards of Etteilla, the notorious French astrologer and occultist who lived in the 18th century.
- Galina Bednenko, “Major Arcana of Tarot. Theory and practice". Beginning to familiarize yourself with the contents of this material, be sure to pay attention to one more work of this author - “Minor arcana tarot. Theory and practice". As you might guess, they are closely interrelated, and therefore it is most rational to study them together. The books provide beginners with a lot of useful advice on deck selection, card interpretation, and familiarity with the main tarot varieties. In addition, the works describe the author's layouts and meditative techniques.
- Andrey Kostenko, “Tarot Waite: theory and practice”. This work is interesting in that it describes very accurately and in detail the fortune-telling system of A.E. Waite is one of the most respected tarot readers of all time. In fact, this creation is the "alphabet" of the considered school of fortune-telling, which includes fragments of the original texts of the latter's creator. The book tells about the interpretation of the cards and their esoteric content. Also noteworthy is the practice section, thanks to which any beginner can learn a variety of exercises.
- Alexey Klyuev, "Textbook of the tarot". This book is excellent material for helping beginners gain an understanding of concepts such as deck, tradition, and divination practice. In addition, this work contains a lot of useful information regarding the origin of the described techniques and what is remarkable about each of the tarot cards. The book is easy to read, and thanks to the convenient heading, you can find the information of interest with minimal time expenditure.
Of course, the above list can be supplemented with many other works of Russian tarologists worthy of respect. Fortunately, now it is not difficult to find such works, for which one should thank the ubiquitous World Wide Web.
"Textbook of tarot" by Alexei Klyuev contains a lot of useful information
Concluding this material, it remains to add that in the matter of choosing books on tarology, you should first of all pay attention to the works of the most respected authors, whose authority is beyond any doubt, some of which have already been listed above. It is highly discouraged to ignore this advice, since the success of your training largely depends on it, as well as how simply and quickly you will achieve the desired result.
Also, do not forget that one instruction for the deck of cards you purchased is clearly not enough.
As a rule, such tips, made in the form of small books, contain very superficial information, on the basis of which it is simply unrealistic to get a thorough understanding of tarot divination. Moreover, the content of such instructions is often an automatic translation of tarological interpretations, which is often very problematic to understand.
As for which authors to give preference to - Russian or Western - everything here depends solely on your preferences. Practice shows that in terms of their competence, domestic tarologists are in no way inferior to their Western counterparts. The validity of this statement has been repeatedly proven in practice, and you can always be convinced of this from your own experience.
Magic of Tarot, Alla Alicia Khshanovskaya. This book by the famous Polish tarologist and author of many books on the Tarot by Alla Alicia Khshanovskaya is dedicated to the Elder Arcana of the Tarot. By the way, it is her lectures in audio format that are posted on the main page of the Tarot School and in the Tarosophy blog. From the book Magic of the Tarot, you will learn about the archetypes and meanings of the Elder or Major Arcana of the Tarot, and also get acquainted with some of the ways of layouts. The book also contains material about the ethics of the tarot reader, personality development and the technique of fortune-telling.
Mystery of Tarot, Alicia Khshanovskaya
The book is from the same author, but this time the work of Alla Alicia Khshanovskaya is devoted to the Minor Arcana, in addition to describing the meanings of the cards themselves, in the book you will find layouts using the Minor Arcana, methods for determining the appearance, age and time of events on Tarot cards.
The Tarot and the Hero's Journey, Hayo Banzhaf
A very famous book from a very famous Tarot author, who unfortunately has already left us, but left behind many interesting books and practical developments. An overview book for beginners, from which you will gain an understanding of the history, structure, symbolism and meaning of the Tarot cards. Although there are now many review books, this book is considered a classic and is recommended by all Tarot schools working in the Universal Tradition.
Book for beginners, download book
Alphabet of Tarot, Evgeny Kolesov
One of the best Russian tarot books for beginners. Many books of our compatriots have now been published, but among them there are very few worth reading, mostly compilations or outright plagiarism. Against this background, the books of three Russian authors Kolesov, Klyuev and Kotelnikova remain the undoubted leaders in popularity. This book is quite small, but contains a lot of useful information for beginners. In addition to information on the classical tradition of the Universal Tarot, the book contains an interesting supplement on the interpretation of the Eteylla Cards. Download
Evgeny Kolesov
(HetMonster)
THE ABC OF TAROT
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
History of divination cards
Arcana: Senior and Younger
Divination theory
Magic Safety Technique
Clients and Patients
Divination practice
LAYOUT
Celtic cross
Gypsy layout
Compatibility
Calendar
Celtic cross-2
Alternative
Mimir's head
Karmic alignment
Equilibrium
Celtic cross-3
Twelve houses
Twelve houses-2. Method one
Twelve houses-2. Method two
Twelve houses-2. Method three
Fifteen cards
Nine cards
Russian fortune telling
Eteilla's system
Numerological meaning
INTERPRETATIONS
Rules of interpretation
Major Arcana
White Card
Minor Arcana
Foreword
to the second edition
This book was written ten years ago, when there were almost no books about Tarot in Russian, and those that were, were not suitable for beginners, because they began right away "from the middle", assuming that the reader already knew the initial concepts of Tarot. Therefore, I wrote it specifically as an introductory course and called it "ABC", which is the easiest to start with. And the book, apparently, fulfilled its task, because after the first (official) circulation of one hundred thousand there was at least one more, no less (unofficial) one, and excerpts from it were published in many other books.
But both editions were sold out long ago, and the number of those wishing to study the Tarot is not decreasing. Despite the fact that there is now a lot of literature, there is still no other such elementary practical course. Readers and listeners of seminars often asked if there would be a reprint. And now such an opportunity presented itself.
However, over these ten years, my experience with the Tarot has also deepened significantly. I took into account a number of comments made by listeners and readers, reduced some of the interpretations, while others, on the contrary, expanded due to the accumulated practical experience. The structure of the book also had to be slightly changed to make it more convenient to use.
Nevertheless, on the whole, the task of the book remained the same: to give everyone an introduction to the Tarot and a reference manual for these cards - at least for the first time. Having become acquainted with the basic concepts and examples from practice, it will be easier for the reader later to understand other books - those that start “from the middle” and even “from the end”.
As for the deck of cards that came with the first edition, fewer of them were printed than the books themselves, and they sold out even faster. It makes no sense to republish the same deck, because now there are already enough different versions of Tarot cards on sale, including in Russian.
In addition to the short course to which this book is devoted, I have also collected material on the next steps of the Tarot, and I hope that after the publication of this book it will be their turn.
Evgeny Kolesov (Het Monster)
Moscow, 1999
Introduction
Answers to questions about what will happen to them, people began to look for thousands of years ago. They turned to the stars, wondered by the flight of birds, by the location of sticks, coins, tea leaves, by the dice, by the entrails of animals ... And they did receive answers.
Of course, there are questions that can be answered by inference. Even the future can be judged more or less accurately when it comes to conclusions from known premises, when it is only necessary to find a consequence of known causes. But, in addition to the usual causal relationship, there can be another, albeit hidden, but no less close connection between phenomena, uniting things that, at first glance, are divided by an immeasurable abyss. This connection or, more precisely, this relationship at different times was called differently - similarity, affinity, sympathy, analogy, considering it the expression of a single world law: “That which is below is similar to that above”. This was understood even by Hermes Trismegistus, a magician and scientist who lived in Egypt five thousand years ago. The closest descendants considered him a god (Thoth), and the more distant ones - a semi-mythical person who never wrote his works that have come down to us. He himself did not consider himself a god. Using the method of analogies, he tried to understand this hidden connection that exists between the movement of cards, bones, planets and the movements of the human soul, believing that it manifests the will of God - or gods, as people then imagined.
Fortune-telling should be considered one of the most important branches of the hermetic sciences. There are a great many ways of fortune telling. Tradition claims that a person can, with the help of fortune-telling, find out everything he needs in order to change the unfavorable course of his life - or, conversely, preserve and strengthen its favorable sides, gaining inner freedom. For the answer to his questions is already inscribed in his soul, and fortune-telling symbols only help to read this answer. * What is below is similar to what is above, ”says the fundamental principle of Hermes Trismegistus.
The fact that the future grows out of the past is a fact that is self-evident. The future is not complete freedom of choice, it is virtual, that is, there are two, three, even ten, but nevertheless a certain quite definite number of options for "continuing the novel" from the place where you and I have stopped at the moment, in other words, from the point of Here and Now. And it is not necessary to give a choice to Fate. Fortune-telling helps to take these options into account.
You can guess, in principle, on anything; you can pick up a handful of pebbles on the street, you can choose three coins of the same denomination from your wallet; you can also resort to one of the options that have been tested by mankind for centuries, be it coffee grounds, the I Ching book, or your left hand. Or cards.
History of divination cards
People have laid out cards since time immemorial; they are not forgotten even today. In Europe, the first mention of them dates back to the XIV century. Fortune-tellers of that time used cards inscribed on ivory tablets. . Some believe that these tablets came to us from India or from China; others find their prototypes at Moors or at Arabs. Others believe they were brought to Europe by the Gypsies; they are also said to have been brought from Palestine by the crusaders. And finally, there are people who believe that the cards came to us from the ancient Egyptians.
The idea of the kabbalistic roots of divination cards is also worthy of mention; The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are indeed comparable to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. However, their relationship, although undoubted, is not as simple as it seems at first glance.
The French occultist of the 18th century Eteylla, who had been studying the history of fortune-telling and playing cards for a long time, did a great job of restoring and elucidating the meaning of seventy-eight symbols, now known to us as the Tarot and traditionally erected on the images on the wall of an underground gallery of one of the Egyptian temples.
It is believed that the Tarot (one of the variants of the origin of the name - the Egyptian "" Ta-Rosh "," The Way of the Kings ") was originally a hieroglyphic“ Book of Thoth. ”This book consisted of 78 gold plates, on which some mysterious signs were applied. says that it is the only book that survived the wrath of Caliph Omar, who destroyed the Alexandrian library, and passed on to the Greeks and Romans, and from them spread further.
The introduction of the Tarot cards in France is credited to the painter Jacquemien Gringonier; history says that Gringonier received 50 sous from the royal treasurer for three packs of multi-colored cards, drawn for the amusement of the imbecile Charles the Sixth (king 1380-1422).
