The beutiful thing about cards is that besides being used for playing games, magic or building awesome structures, they can also be used to tell a story.
This is best shown by the all-mighty and mistical tarot cards. So if you want to read an interesting story about life and learn the meaning of each tarot card, keep reading.
First a little disclaimer. I am not a tarot reader and probably not the best person to teach tarot, but the story behind the major arcana cards of tarot is really awesome and I feel like shearing it from my point of view and my understanding of it. So lets begin!
This is a story about life and growth. The main actor in this saga is the Fool, the first card in any tarot deck.
The Fool
We all begin life as naive children, you could say as fools. We do not know much about the world and the world doesn’t know much about us. This is what the Fool represents. He is the main protagonist in this story and in a way he is all of us.
The magician and the high priestess
The world is run by two main forces, positive and negative. These two tarot cards represent that and they set the scene for our story. We all come in contact with these two forces and so does the Fool. Meaning of each tarot card, the Magician and the Priestess shouldn’t be confused with the concepts of good and bad, but should be perceived more like positive and negative charge, you need both to have the world we know.
The Empress
Now that we set up the world in which we and the Fool live, let’s see how our journey goes. Our first sight is set upon our mothers. The Fool upon birth sets his first sight on a motherly figure, the Empress.
The Emperor
The next person we see is usually our father. The Fool sees the Emperor. Consequently the Empress and the Emperor each represent different things. The first is love and warmth and second is authority. Both important figures, if not the most important in our lives.
The Hierophant
As we and the Fool grow, see the world and meet the people around us, we integrate into different cultures. We come in touch with different religions and other forms of group belief systems that define our values and morals.
The Lovers
Further on in life everyone of course finds a partner, someone to share his or her life with or just a brief sexual or emotional affair. Surprise,surprise, at this point in his journey the Fool experiences this as well.
The Chariot
Through out this journey,the Fool builds a persona. If everything goes OK to this point, we should all get to this point. Feeling confidante and building a strong ego, being in control! We and the Fool feel like that in our youth. The world is at our heels!
From here on out our journeys differ, but I’m sure everyone will find something they can relate to or will relate to later in life.
Strength
The Fool meets his first serious failures. He and we have to draw on strength to overcome these, after all failure is natural, but how we overcome it is what defines us.
Hermit
Meaning of each tarot card has a point in it. Sometimes we should, and probably do, ask ourselves what is the meaning of it all? Why are we here? Maybe meditate in solitude? The Fool changes into a Hermit and ponders these deep questions.
Wheel of Fortune
After years of tough questions and thinking about the meaning of life, the Fool starts seeing the world in different light. Now everything makes more sens. A lot of events in the world are decided by chance and luck, but there is also decisions. Has all the pondering payed off?
Justice
Ever looked into your past and thought »Damn, I did a lot of sh*t!«? Well, there is always a time in life to reflect and the Fool reached his. Now he is going to think about all the things he did, he’s going to be honest to himself and others, »face justice«.
Hanged man and Death
As the Fool is growing, pondering and facing justice for his past transgressions, he also realizes it’s time to let go and drop the past, but not forget it. So he becomes the Hanged man, he failed sometimes and now he is letting go. He faces the Death of his past and continues forward as a new man.
Temperance
Now that the Fool has experienced sooo much and seen the different aspects of life and different ways to live it, he has found some balance… or did he?
The Devil
The thing about the world is that it’s full of temptation. No matter what we do, the material world that is all around us is limiting and is binding us. We are bound by our habits and our material needs. Can the Fool truly overcome this »Devil« and realize his true potential.
Tower
So how to escape this prison of the material? Break down the walls and run! And so the tower breaks down…
The Star
Now that the Fool is out of his prison, he can see the stars again. Everything is serene.
The Moon and the Sun
After the escaped he sees the stars again, he wants to share the truth and tranquility with the world… but will he truly see the truth? Will it shine on him as the Sun or will the new found freedom falsely turn him towards the Moon?
Judgement
Now it’s time for judgment! The Fool went through many life experiences and found the truth he was seeking. He now has to decide, if it’s the correct one? Time to take time to make a solid judgment and come to a final decision on life itself… was it worth it? Is this what we ware looking for?
The World
Did we decide? The Fool has and now he is ready to truly step into the world, become active and share his knowledge with all the other fools entering the world for the very first time!
Now you know the meaning of each tarot card of the major arcana… my interpretation 🙂 Hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe even learned something new.
