Knowledge Source · Tarot
How tarot works
Tarot is not prediction. Tarot is a mirror, a conversation between you, your unconscious and the moment you live in. In this article you'll learn how these 78 cards have been helping people find clarity for centuries.
A brief history
The first tarot decks appear in 15th-century Italy, at the courts of Milan and Ferrara. What began as tarocchi, a card game for the aristocracy, was reinterpreted in the 18th century by French occultists like Etteilla and Antoine Court de Gébelin as a secret language full of Egyptian and kabbalistic symbolism. In 1909 Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith designed the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the imagery we still recognize today as the tarot.
The structure of the deck
A tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into two parts:
Major Arcana · 22
The great archetypes: the Fool, the Magician, the Lovers, Death, the World. These are life lessons, turning points, the spiritual journey every soul takes.
Minor Arcana · 56
The daily flow: four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles) standing for passion, emotion, thought and matter. Ten numbered cards plus four court cards per suit.
The four suits, the elements
- Wands · Fire, passion, action, creativity, ambition. The spark that sets something in motion.
- Cups · Water, emotions, relationships, intuition, love. The heart and what flows through it.
- Swords · Air, thinking, truth, conflict, communication. The clarity of the mind.
- Pentacles · Earth, work, money, body, home. What is tangible and grows.
Laying a spread
A spread is the way you lay out the cards; each position carries a meaning. The three most popular for beginners:
- One-card draw, perfect for the morning. What do I need today? Which energy runs through this day?
- Past, Present, Future, three cards in a row. Where did this come from, where are you now, where is it moving?
- Celtic Cross, ten cards, the classic deep dive. For big questions or important decisions.
How do you read a card?
Always begin with what you see, not what you know. Which colors stand out? Which way does the figure face? What feels heavy, what feels light? Only then add the traditional meaning. A card is never good or bad — a reversed Tower can be the eyeopener that breaks years of waiting, an upright Ten of Cups can ask what you truly need for yourself.
The magic is in the combination: how does this card speak to your question, in this moment, under this moon, in this phase of your life? That brings us to the Cosmos Method.