Tarot Cards

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Tarot Cards are a special type of deck of cards with mystical connotations; each card has a meaning, particularly the Trump or Major Arcana suit. Tarot Divination is the art of using Tarot Cards to divine the properties and fate of a target, making it a type of Augury.

Usage

Left and Right Hands

A Practitioner will draw two cards, one with each hand. The various cards hold meanings depending on the hand.<ref name=":2">“Fool,” I said.  “High Priestess.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“Labels that were applied to me,” I said.
“How, exactly?”
“They were scrying me or something, using a spell to read me.  They drew the Fool with the right hand, the High Priestess with the left.”
“Ah.  I don’t know that particular trick.”
- excerpt from Null 9.5 </ref>

Zoey Artana speculated this is interpreted based on basic aspects of the left and right hands, practically and symbolically. The right hand is the active hand, the hand fixed in the now, the one with which you address the world, while the left is the hand used when you’ve got our hands full, in times of stress, more clumsy, but strongest when used in concert with the other, rather than relying on the other alone.

The left hand has another meaning.  When referring to the parts of the body, terminology for the right side is Dexter, as in dexterity.  When referring to the left, the word is Sinister.  In superstition, the left is viewed to be the side closest to evil and thus the hand is used only when desperate.

Cardinal Directions

Another way of drawing Tarot cards has been shown employed by Alexander Belanger, in which four cards are drawn and placed North, South, East and West.<ref name=":1">“Excuse me,” Alexander said, as he leaned in to study.  He drew some cards from his pocket and laid them down.
The Chariot at the left, the Fool at the right.  Strength at the back, the Empress at the front.
Alexander tapped his finger on the Chariot.  “Hmm.  You can close it up and open it again, if you want to see how the scene changes.  Don’t open it up in exactly the same way twice, or it may start getting nasty.”
[...]
He conducted in a few moments of small talk, shoulder pressing his phone to his ear, while he shuffled the cards.  He placed down a card by the figure in black.
Moon.  High Priestess.
[...]
“I wanted to pick your brain about something.  I’m looking at a cabin, there’s a ton of ribbons tied within.  An excess number of ribbons to tie up one… I don’t think it’s a rodent, not when it’s upside-down.  Rodent-like.  Tarot cards are west facing chariot, east facing fool, north facing strength… you know it?”
[...]
“What was that black thing?”
“A mare.  Bringer of nightmares.  Not related to this place.”
- excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z</ref>

Individual Cards

The Fool

Number 0, the Fool card was akin to the ace.  Depending on the game being played, it was often the lowest card or the highest.  Valueless or highly valued.  Powerless or powerful.<ref>“The Fool can be the lowest value or the highest value card.  The ‘zero’.”
“I know that bit.”
“Fitting, for someone who doesn’t really exist.”
- excerpt from Null 9.5 </ref> Often depicts "a boy with a dog at his heels, staring at the sky while he walked blithely off a cliff, burdened only by a bundle on a stick."<ref name=":3">The Fool in the Tarot deck frequently depicted a boy with a dog at his heels, staring at the sky while he walked blithely off a cliff, burdened only by a bundle on a stick.  The diabolist had admitted a relationship to the card.

No single detail was quite right, but much as something might appear similar if one were to unfocus their vision…

The young diabolist walked with the sparrow at his shoulder, eyes on the windows without looking through the windows, walking forward as if he were afraid to stop.  His burden here was the gas containers.

No, he was burdened not just by the gas containers, but by some notion of responsibility. - Interlude 7.x</ref>

Drawn in relation to Blake Thorburn<ref name=":2" /><ref>“I’m the Fool card, drawn with the right hand, the High Priestess drawn with the left,” I said.

[...]

“This Blake hasn’t given us any straight answers.  He’s clever, but we don’t know where he got his power, do we?  He’s the lowest value power and the highest, in Dexter’s hemisphere.  You don’t find that curious?”

“Tarot was never my thing,” Diana said. - excerpt from Collateral 4.2</ref><ref name=":3" /> and the Forest Ribbon Trail.<ref name=":1" />

The High Priestess

The High Priestess addresses the veil of awareness, about intuition. For those who know about the practice, it has a second meaning. Connections.<ref>“The High Priestess addresses the veil of awareness, about intuition,” she gave me a pointed look, one eye peering at my hand, where the tattoos were more intense.
“Well then,” I said.
“For those of us who know about the practice, it has a second meaning.  The very first thing we perceive when we enter this realm.”
“Connections.”
“Yes.  Make of that what you will.”
- excerpt from Null 9.5 </ref>

Drawn in relation to Blake Thorburn<ref name=":2" /> and Alpeana.<ref name=":1" />

The Empress

Drawn in relation to the Forest Ribbon Trail.<ref name=":1" />

The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man suggests suspension.  Patience, waiting to act to achieve a better outcome.  Being stuck.  Despite the implications of the name, the man is often depicted hanging from his ankle, not his throat.

The Chariot

Victory, control, overcoming obstacles.  It can mean travel, reaching a new point in life.  It suggests aggression finding a clear outlet, being honed, often in the frame of being articulate, winning arguments, and confidence. The black and white sphinxes that pull the chariot frequently refer to mysteries, and the stance of the man in the chariot suggests will being enforced, not strength.  Schemes, rhetoric, arguments, travel, it might point to some reckless path to ruin, or to glory.

Drawn in relation to the Forest Ribbon Trail.<ref name=":1" />

The Moon

Drawn in relation to Alpeana.<ref name=":1" />

Strength

Drawn in relation to the Forest Ribbon Trail.<ref name=":1" />

Heirophant

Number 5, represents an institution, often related to Incarnations.<ref name=":0">Bonus Material: Binding and Countermeasures</ref>

Death

Number 13. Covers transformation and rebirth, not necessarily literal death.<ref name=":0" />

The Devil

Number 15. The shadow self, bindings.<ref name=":0" />

Two of Wands

Choice, contemplation. On the brink of a decision.

Five of Coins

Poverty, adversity, loss.  In practitioner circles, one’s ‘wealth’ is usually measured in terms of power, so a loss of powers.  Might be being forsworn, might be a loss of something else that’s vital.

Ten of Swords

A loss so complete you don’t need to worry about further losses.  There’s a kind of peace you have to make in the face of absolute failure.

Notable Examples

Decks:

• Alister's Tarot Cards

Users:

• Alister Behaim
• Alexander Belanger

Trivia

• Tarot is pronounced with a silent second "t".
• In the real world, far from being ancient Tarot cards trace back to the renaissance and were originally just a form of common playing card.

References

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