I have to confess that I am fascinated with Tarot Cards. There are different decks of Tarot Cards but the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is probably the most popular. It is a 78 card deck designed by Pamela Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite (according to the box.)
The Rider-Waite Tarot website has a great page with pictures of all the cards in the deck.
The Tarot deck is made up of the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana. The Cards of the Minor Arcana represent the energy, emotions and activities of our daily lives.
The Minor Arcana is divided into 4 suits:
- Pentacles represent business, money, material possession, practical skills and tangible accomplishment.
- Cups are cards of emotion and reflection and indicate spiritual authority, contemplation and inner feelings.
- Swords indicate temporal authority, leadership, wisdom, ideas, creativity and decisiveness.
- Wands indicate practical strength, productivity, confidence, physical power and self-reliance.
The Major Arcana, also known as trumps, are picture cards that represent principles, concepts and ideals. They are numbered one through 21, with the 22nd card (the “Fool”) marked as zero. The Major Arcana cards represent strong, long-term energy or big events in some area of life.
This site also has descriptions of the cards – http://www.psychicguild.com/tarot_about.php
There are different ways to read the cards but one of the most popular is the Celtic Cross reading and it is the easiest to get the desired result for the most questions. This video shows a Celtic Cross reading:
Placement of the cards and Significance in the Celtic Cross
Here is an example of how to read the Celtic Cross – http://www.biddytarot.com/how-to-read-the-celtic-cross-tarot-spread/
1 – The Heart of the Matter
2 – What’s Crossing You
3 – The Root Cause
4 – The Recent Past
5 – Possible Outcomes
6 – Immediate Future
7 – You (The Querent) personal feelings
8 – The Querent’s Environment
9 – Hopes and Fears
10 – The Outcome (based on all the other cards)
http://www.tarotelements.com/1278/how-to-read-the-celtic-cross-spread-like-a-pro/