Tarot:

                                                 

Vision quest cards

There are probably hundreds of variations of tarot cards, and usually come with their own book of interpretation of each card.
According to some, the tarot is named after the Torah, or law in Hebrew, comprising the first five books of Moses and the bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), which is the written code of Judaism and to which Greek translators gave the name of pentakeukhos (Pentateuch) or book of five roles.
For others, the origin of the word “Tarot” is to be found in the Latin word for wheel, rota.
Finally, others saw a link between the Tarot and the book of Thot, the god of ancient Egypt depicted as a scribe with the head of an ibis, the wise, fair and supreme judge of the divine tribunal, who was assimilated with Hermes, then with Mercury in the west.
But, whilst its true that the cards of the major arcane of the tarot show similarities to the numbers-letters of the Hebrew alphabet, that, together, they symbolise the wheel of life and, that, finally, the ninth card, the hermit, was named after Hermes, it is to its Indian ancestors, the Desavatara, that the Tarot pack owes its name and its historical background.
Historically speaking, we know that the Mogul emperor of India, Djalal ed - Din Mohammed Akbar (1542-1605) – who reconciled Hindus and Moslems – regularly used the Desavatara.
He modified its symbols and introduced the pack into the Middle-East. Then it was the bohemians or gypsies, descended from a caste of Hindus driven away from India – some travelling through Italy and Germany and others through Egypt and North Africa via Spain, who finally established it in the Middle-East and Europe.
When choosing your pack, you should work by the same principals as choosing crystals, allow the pack to choose you, do not be in a hurry to own a pack, remember you have to be in tune with them, or you will find great difficulty working with them, allow you intuitive instincts to work with you, you will know if the pack you choose is right for you, you will feel it!!

                                         

Angel cards

Although each pack comes with its own booklet with the author’s interpretation of each card, the interpretations are only guidelines to help you.
To read the cards you don’t just use your eyes, you use your feelings too, it’s what you feel you need to say, use the image on the card as well as the colours, they all tell you a story, and the more in tune with the cards and yourself the more accurate the reading.
You can also build a link with spirit too, so pass on what they have to say, and remember to give the person to whom your reading for the evidence of the spirit person you have with you, a good description of this spirit person is worth more to them than the reading sometimes.
I run workshops on how to read the tarot, and how much information the cards can give you, please check the workshops page for more information.