Tarot Interpretation—Made Easy

The 10 Best Tarot Definitions

• ■ “One can describe tarot as the picture book of God, or one could compare it to a type of divine chess, in which the large cards are moved according to their own laws on the pied board of the four elements.” —Lady Frieda Harris
• ■ “Tarot is one of many possible stairways into your depth.” —Luisa Francia
• ■ “Between dream-fearful intellect and mystical trivialities, tarot playfully responds to the intuition.” —Die Zeit (The Time, German newspaper)
• ■ “Tarot is symbolic; to it, other languages and characters are foreign.” —Arthur E. Waite
• ■ “Tarot is spiritual poker.” —Mario Montano, aka Swami Prembodhi
• ■ “Tarot is the yoga of the west.” —Robert Wang and Hans-Dieter Leuenberger
• ■ “Tarot is a good servant, but a terrible boss.” —Hajo Banzhaf
• ■ “Tarot works because the meanings of the pictures influence your subconscious, simultaneously influencing the reality of your everyday life, as well as recognizing a greater will, and proceeding to work in unison with it.” —Gerd B. Ziegler
• ■ “Tarot is an ideal bridge builder: Where you would initially go no further, you build a bridge through the cartomancy. The symbols on the cards take you in new directions. They test you. And then open yourself to new possibilities in reality.” —Johannes Fiebig
• ■ “The Old World should take pride and self-confidence in the knowledge, that they, with tarot, have produced an independent, esoteric system—a school of emotional intelligence, the wisdom of the heart and the soul, designed neither from the priests of the pharaohs nor conceived by the Kabbalistic scribes, but as if it were produced from the collective subconscious of the western world.” —Eckhard Graf

The 10 Most Important Pieces of Information
about Tarot

• ■ Tarot is a deck with 78 cards, each showing a typical composition: 22 major and 56 minor arcana (“mysteries”). The minor arcana are separated in four suits: wands, cups, swords, and slices (later also called coins or pentacles).
• ■ Tarot cards emerged in the Italian Renaissance, around 1430, in Milan and Bologna. It is unknown who painted the first tarot cards; in any case, it was not the sometimes-mentioned Bonifatio Bembo. There were already playing cards at least 800 years before the first tarot card.
• ■ Tarot introduced trump cards for the first time. Tarot cards were used for many centuries as party games and “pure card games.”
• ■ Around 1750, there was the first esoteric-symbolic interpretation of tarot cards. The notion that classical esotericism or occultism is “natural allies” with tarot cards only pertained to the nineteenth century, and only partly. The nineteenth century was the heyday of classical occultism. Many small groups, mostly separate from each other, submersed themselves in the symbolism of tarot. Divination with cards of all kinds also flourished in the nineteenth century.
• ■ Today’s boom, the worldwide prevalence of tarot cards, began in the Western world in the 1970s.
• ■ Since then, new standards were established, which today are generally self-evident to us. The first of these standards is the large variety of available tarot decks. Today there are more than a thousand different types of tarot. Many hundreds of these are available commercially.
• ■ New today, and likewise self-evident, is the large number of ways to practice tarot and examine the card layouts. There are films, operas, and novels with and about tarot cards. Newspapers and magazines present actual layout experts and tarot innovations. Thus, two facets support the general main interest: 1) the actual cartomancy with a bigger display (in this book on p.8) and 2) the card of the day.
• ■ The card of the day will be drawn in the morning or in the evening, by a rule or a particular question. In a picture, you will see the situation, examples, and a suggestion for the next step.

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• ■ The knowledge of the four elements—fire, water, air, and earth—and their correlation to the four suits—wands, cups, swords, and pentacles—is a key to the modern tarot meanings. Everyone can make a picture for themselves (p. 24 and p. 76) and can begin to interpret on their own.
• ■ Today, the cards are understood almost everywhere as a mirror. That was a given neither in the Renaissance era nor in the nineteenth century, also only to some extent. As a mirror, the tarot cards always facilitate an opportunity for self-awareness. And, one cannot perform for another in the mirror (with others—yes).

The 10 Most Popular Layouts with ONE Card

The Practical Approach:

• ■ Consider which questions you would like to pose to the tarot. Take some time for yourself, where you are comfortable and can sit upright, or position yourself so you are best able to catch a breath and can listen inwards. Then formulate a question that lies close to your heart, as clearly and distinctly as you can!
• ■ If you are pulling a card for a day, a month, or another stretch of time, you can waive a specific question, however, and ask: “What does the tarot have to say to me for the day today / the coming month / and so forth?”
• ■ Then, shuffle all 78 cards however you are most comfortable.
• ■ Hold the cards so the pictures are covered, i.e., turned downwards.
• ■ Pull the necessary cards successively in the style you are accustomed to, with relaxation and concentration: here, initially one card.
• ■ Lay the card in front of you upside down (with more cards: in the order and the shape of the spread).
• ■ The cards are now revealed individually.
• ■ (With more cards: all cards show you the answer to your question.)

• ■ Card of the day. You express a daily motto: a chance or a purpose for the day, a special “eye catcher,” your everyday guardian angel, your companion.
• ■ Card of the week. You express your theme for the week. A station of the tarot, a notable symbol or theme, will be especially emphasized for the following week, as if through a magnifying glass.
• ■ Card of the month. In a picture, you describe situations, examples, and next steps for the month. A tarot card will be especially emphasized and you can undergo a particular exploration and evaluation. And you’ll grow!
• ■ Card of the year. You express your theme for an entire year. You will draw on New Year’s, on your birthday, or another occasion. Over the course of a year, for the most part, the card of the year imparts varying visions and impressions. This strengthens your stimulus, so in the course of the year, the following personal themes will be much clearer.
• ■ The project card. Your meaning corresponds to the preceding cards, only you will not refer to a week or a year, instead about the duration of a notable project.
• ■ The favorite card. This card will not be drawn; instead, it will be sought. Which card do you like the best? Which card is your favorite at the moment?

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• ■ The personality card. Find the sum of the digits of your birthday: For example 09/03/1968 amounts to 9 + 3 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 8 = 36. Settle the sum at a number between 1 and 21, so it corresponds to the major card from your deck, the corresponding personality card. (One recognizes major cards by the fact that the word “trump” is on them.) For example, if the sum = 19, the corresponding personality card is XIX — The Sun.

When the computed sum amounts to 22, so pertains to the twenty-second major card—that is the Fool with the digit 0—as the corresponding personality card. If the sum of the digits is 23 or higher, as in the previous example, you need to find the sum again. For example, as a further sum, 36 yields 3 + 6 = 9; the large card with the same digit is now the corresponding personality card, in this example IX — The Hermit.

• ■ The character card. If the sum of your birthday is a number over 9, find the sum one more time and obtain the character card (for example: the personality card is 14, then we use the sum 5, and corresponding is card V — The Hierophant, the character card, or the core). If the personality card is smaller than 10, personality cards and character cards fall together. Then one can extrapolate vice versa and use the card from the major arcana with the same sum as a complement. Example: The personality card is VII — The Chariot. Then
  VII — The Chariot is also already the character card. In this case,
  XVI — The Tower is the personal complement, because VII and XVI have the same sum.

Generally, the character card is rather playful to consider. The personality card is and stays different because it describes something typical about the corresponding birthday. The character card and the card with the same sum are both complements to the personality card.

• ■ The accomplishment card. For many interpreters, the Fool is not only a beginning card; it is also the twenty-second great card, therefore the card of wholeness and great accomplishment. A card now yields the difference between your personality card and the Fool (For example: Your personality card is the 14. The difference between the Fool is
  22 - 14 = 8. The great card VIII is your accomplishment card; it indicates the rest of the way to go in order to complete your own personality.)
• ■ Sum or bottom line. Following the same calculation method as the personality card, one can add the digits of the laid out cards at the end of every spread.

In doing so, the digits of all the revealed cards will be added together (court cards, such as kings, knights, and so forth, will be counted as 0 like the Fool, and aces count as 1). Proceed as if the sum would describe the above personality card. The great card, whose digits correspond to the computed sum, is the sum card or the bottom line.

The meaning of the sum card is: The layout itself is and remains complete; nothing new comes from the sum card. The sum card represents a summary of the layout, like a headline, but sometimes also a control card, a cross check, one that invites a further examination of the respective cards.

The 10 Most Beautiful Ways of Examining Layouts

• ■ “Three Daily Cards”

1 - Situation

2 - Task

3 - Solution

• ■ “Oracle Game”

1 - The current problem

2 - The way out of it

3 - The future, if you are ready, the way to go

• ■ “Glimpse into the Future - I”

1 - The current situation

2 - The past, or something that has already been

3 - The future, or something new to consider

• ■ “Glimpse into the Future - II”

1 - The key or main aspect

2 - The past, or something that has already been

3 - The future, or something new to consider

4 - Root or basis

5 - Crown, chance, tendency

• ■ “Coming Up Next”

1 - What you already have or know

2 - What you can do well

3 - What is new

4 - What you are learning now

• ■ “The Start”

1 - Where you stand

2 - Your responsibilities

3 - Your difficulties or reservations

4 - Your strengths

5 - Your purpose

• ■ “Mind the Gap”

1 - What is possible

2 - What is important

3 - What is brave

4 - What is invalid

5 - What is notable

6 - What is cheerful

7 - What is funny

8 - What continues

• ■ “The Way”

1 - That’s what it’s about. These are the chances and the risks that correlate to the question.

Left Column = Previous Behavior:

2 - Conscious attitudes, thoughts, reasons, visions, intentions, or behavior that the asker has “in mind.” The rational behavior.

3 - Unconscious attitudes, wishes, longings, that the asker carries “at heart.” Hopes and fears. The emotional behavior.

4 - Outward demeanor. The asker’s demeanor and eventually their façade.

Right Column = Suggestions for Future Behavior: The Meanings Correspond to Numbers 2–4:

7 - Conscious attitude. Suggestion for the rational approach.

6 - Unconscious attitude. Suggestion for the emotional behavior.

5 - Outward demeanor. How the asker should behave.

• ■ “The Wish’s Way”

1 - The current situation

2 - The wish’s goal

3, 4, 5 - The bridge from 1 to 2

Do not draw cards for this spread; instead, seek them. First, with calm and concentration, choose a picture for your current situation. Then find a card that represents what should be: that is, what you wish for yourself. Take as much time as you need. Then search for three more cards that can serve as joints for a bridge that can connect you to your wish’s goal. Finally, consider the cards as a consistent path and a story.

• ■ Celtic Cross (Variant)

1 - Theme of the question—You yourself

2 - Positive supplement to 1

3 - Negative supplement to 1

4 - Root, basis, support column

5 - Crown, opportunity, bias

6 - The past, or what has already been

7 - Future or what is new to consider

8 - Summary of items 1–7; your inner strength, your subconscious

9 - Hopes and fears

10 - External environment and influences; your external role

11, (12, 13 - Pull 1–3 cards for this item, depending on how many you’d like) - A summary or a factor to which you should be particularly attentive, something that is readily available and would be especially meaningful for your question.

10 Helpful Interpretation Tips

• ■ Develop the Theme of the Card.

Every card has its own theme: a large marker in your life, such as birth, marriage, or death; an example/archetype, such as Justice, the Fool, or the Hermit; notable characters, like the court cards, or element-based themes that manifest themselves in the four suits, such as conflicts in your love life or dealings with obstacles. These themes are not random, but are also not to be captured in one single subtitle. It applies it piece by piece in order to open up and understand. The most important key here is the knowledge of the four elements (p. 24).

Use the hints in this book with every card under the heading “Basic Meaning.” If needed, keep your own “tarot book,” in which you note your insights of the cards. This is not about the concrete statement of a card, but about the overview; which markers, archetypes, and elements tarot generally holds.

• ■ Ignore the Subtitle.

Subtitles such as “success” or “defeat” do not belong to the standard of tarot’s history. The very first tarot cards in the Renaissance carried neither digits nor a title. Indeed, the general identifiers for the major arcana and the court cards established themselves as standard in the course of a century: for example, the Hermit, Queen of Wands, or Knight of Swords. However, all other additives do not belong to the general standard, such as the subtitle on the numbered cards in Thoth Tarot.

• ■ Expand the Subtitle (If You Still Look at It).

Additionally, the subtitles are often falsely or insufficiently translated into German. “Defeat,” the English subtitle of the card Five of Swords, for example, would be often portrayed with “defeat.” Actually, “defeat” in English can mean “failure” as well as “to conquer” in a positive way; both meanings can be uncovered from the word. Defeatism can be very helpful in certain layouts. Furthermore, the saying “it defeats me” means as much as “I don’t understand it”; this lends the Five of Swords an interesting tone. “Futility” (on the card Seven of Swords) means not only “futility” (or on the newest version of the Thoth Tarot cards, “uselessness”), but also “fragility” and concerns a (healthy) lack of illusions. “Indolence” (on the card Eight of Cups) means not only “inertia,” but also literally “freedom from pain,” and concerns, among other things, the sustaining power of faith.

• ■ Say Goodbye to the Subtitles.

In the best case, the subtitle captures a tiny part of a card’s meaning. Creating a personal interpretation based on the subtitle would be misleading. Moreover: Then it asks “success” or “futility”—but what does this refer to? Will your hopes be in vain, or will they become doubts? Are your efforts or your doubts in vain? It is best to cover the subtitle of the card with corrective tape or something similar; therefore, your gaze is drawn to the actual meaning of the picture and not to the subtitle. Instead of using corrective tape, you can also make it work by placing your thumb on the subtitle, so that you can understand the card in the truest sense of the word!

• ■ Every Single Symbol Is Ambiguous.

For example, let us consider the symbols Dove and Snake, both of which are counted among reoccurring tarot motifs. The dove is an attribute of different love and wisdom goddesses, the sign of the Holy Ghost, the peace dove, and a symbol of spirituality and sexuality. But also: it is the embodiment of aloofness, hysteria, and deafness. The snake warns of base urges and false instincts. However, the curled snake is also a symbol of higher development, of the wisdom of learning through experience. This is how it is with every detail in every card. Thus after many years, tarot card spreads are not boring, because one always discovers new meanings and symbols from the cards.

• ■ The Colors Represent a Lot.

White: An initial condition (like a blank piece of paper) or accomplishment and healing; dazzling, blinding, emptiness, or uncharted spiritual territory.

Gray: The unconscious state (“the shadow” in psychological meaning) or conscious indifference, that means impartiality or equality.

Black: The unknown, the interior of the earth or of a situation, “black box,” visible shadows, darkness of the soul, or uncharted territory for the soul.

Red: The heart, temper, will, love, passion, anger, fury, and blood.

Yellow: Consciousness. Vitality; envy, cognitive dissonance (“shrillness”).

Gold: The sun, awareness, eternity; envy, greed, blindness, gaudiness.

Orange: Vigor, warmth, combination of red and yellow, capriciousness.

Blue: Coolness, longing, blues, sentimentality, intoxication.

Light blue: Air, heaven; (clear) water; spirituality; also, “starry-eyed,” “adoration.”

Green: Fresh, young, promising, inexperienced, immature.

Dark green: Close to nature, vegetation, drawn-out, sustainable.

Beige: The human body, corporeality.

Brown: Down to earth, grounded, creature-like.

Purple: Borderline experiences; combination of blue and red.

These short descriptions render the essential standard meanings of colors in the Western world.1 Using them, one can reliably interpret tarot.

• ■ Do Not Interpret Numbers.

One can play with numbers and one can calculate with numbers. Numbers, however, do not possess a general, compulsory meaning. One cannot say with seriousness and claims of validity that “5 is crisis” or “6 is harmony.”

Naturally, numbers can have a symbolic meaning. For example, numbers such as “4711” or “1968” or “9/11” are connected to specific histories.

And: The number 1 can stand for singularity, but also for unity, simplicity, loneliness, and all other ideas that are related to the word “one.” The number 2 can be found in ideas such as doubts or divisiveness; one shouldn’t forget the fitting phrases that express supplement and reinforcement of the number 2: “Two is better than one,” “Birds of a feather flock together,” and “One can run on two legs,” etc.

Many numbers yield plays on words, for example the number 7 and the word seven (with the sieve seven) or 8 and attention, awareness! Therefore, numbers do not possess universally valid, established meanings. When a book of tarot meaning says: “The crisis-ridden character of 5 is shown in this picture because…”, the author foists his view of the card (that it deals with crises) onto the number 5. This in itself, however, can do nothing and certainly is not subscribed to the theme of “crisis.”

Only the value of a function is reliable for tarot interpretation, for example 2 + 3 = 5. Consequently, these are exciting exercises for advanced tarot practitioners.2

• ■ Blind Spots Are Gateways to New Prospects.

If, to the best of your abilities, you can see a card as only positive or only negative, then you know that you have discovered a blind spot in your perspective. Or if you have the impression that the artist of a particular card has misrepresented the meaning, then there is evidence of such a blind spot in your perspective. Rejoice: This blind spot almost never emerges only through the tarot cards, but the corresponding theme is usually present in your everyday life. Do not rush; actually take your time to gradually enlighten this blind spot. You will be rewarded with new perspectives!

• ■ Look at Yourself in the Face.

A possible problem of the Thoth Tarot exists in the fact that almost all of the human figures are depicted as faceless sketches. The face is a symbol of the identity. A faceless figure indicates not only a loss of face, but also a loss of identity. When someone already has problems looking at themselves in the face and knowing who they are, then tarot cards with more faces can be potentially more helpful.

On the other hand, the relative facelessness can be an artistic medium and can induce a kind of “anti-reflection.” It can be a form of productive alienation, produced especially by your thoughts, that the pictures must be understood as symbolic. That is no small feat, because with most themes with which we strongly associate, we lose that distance and identify immediately with the picture.

• ■ The Court Cards Represent Evolved Personalities.

We find a rapid access to independent interpretation if we occupy ourselves with the four suits (refer to p. 24). And if we conceive of the court cards (queen, knight, prince, and princess3) as personalities, we can bring these four elements closer to ourselves. Each court card represents an ideal type, a person, like a majesty who masterfully knows how to handle the corresponding element. The four types of court cards exhibit diverse nuances and characteristics:

The Queen: intuitive, incipient, exploratory (corresponding element: water),

The Prince: thorough, intense, stabilizing (corresponding element: fire),

The Knight: increasing, expanding, considering consequences (corresponding element: air),

The Princess: makes something concrete out of or with her element (corresponding element: earth).

The 10 Most Important Interpretation Rules

• ■ The Cards Are a Mirror.

The cards are like the mirror on the wall: They help us to better see and understand ourselves; unfortunately, there is not a guarantee of correct insight. When one stands at home in front of the mirror and always says: “I am the greatest, most beautiful, etc.” or “I am the stupidest, ugliest, etc.” in the worst case, one will make that so for the entire lifetime! There is no guarantee that the mirror will speak to you and automatically correct your somewhat one-sided perception.

Certainly: Tarot interpretation offers hints that can make us attentive to certain distortions of perception. The following rules represent established tools of the trade that help us avoid one-sided and arbitrary perceptions. When we undertake this in our everyday lives, we will abandon most one-way streets and reach new answers.

• ■ Every Card Possesses Positive and Negative Meanings.

This is rule number 1—the most important rule to embark in symbolic interpretation. The authors have met no one (themselves included), who spontaneously can positively and negatively see all 78 cards. This creates a process of discovery—with tarot and with you—for a long time to come.

• ■ Every Card Represents an Encouragement and a Warning.

A card such as the Two of Cups encourages you to share and exchange your feelings; it warns of superficialities (partial feelings). The encouragement and the warning are not unconditionally mutual; instead, they can complement each other.

This goes for every card: The Tower encourages you to open yourself and allow yourself to fall. It warns against insufficient fortitude or pride (“Pride comes before the fall!”). Ten of Wands warns against an underestimation of obstacles and exaggerated effort; it encourages total commitment and very figuratively, to arrange big purposes.

• ■ Allow Time for You to See, without Immediately Evaluating.

This necessary impartiality can be best practiced with the Card of the Day. Although we would prefer a quick, clear answer to our current question—and precisely because this is so—it is helpful if we muster the patience and first just look at, without evaluating, what the chosen tarot card is saying to us.

This is, incidentally, perhaps the most important distinction between novices and professionals in tarot: The novice thinks the card they draw is most important. The professional knows that it is at least just as important how one sees the card that was drawn!

The more we enter into the picture, maybe even taking the stance of the figure in the picture, or playing through the different perspectives and so forth, the more productive and also unexpected the ultimate solution is that the cards provide to us.

• ■ Work with Subjective and Objective Levels.

The Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung developed these terms for dream interpretation. Viewed from the objective level, the figures and scenes in a dream (or here in a tarot image) stand for other people and external experiences. Viewed from the subjective level, the same figures and scenes are now mirror images and facets of the own person and inner experiences.

A fight or dispute in a dream or in a tarot card can serve as the processing—or also the preparation—for an actual fight with another concrete person. However, the same dream or tarot card can also indicate an inner conflict.

Whether the subjective level or the objective level is more prominent varies from time to time. When in doubt, consider both possibilities.

• ■ Pars Pro Toto (The Part Stands for the Whole).

The pictures and their details represent (positive and negative) meanings that together are unanimously exemplary of the whole card. Alone, a theme such as the root system in the cups cards already speaks volumes. Through the comparison of the individual cards, we determine that the Four of Cups is the only card in which the (psychological) roots are completely covered. Also, the Six of Cups express more about the depths of feelings than any other cups card, because it is only in this card that an end to the stalks and stems cannot be seen below.

There are few types of tarot in the world that are so brilliantly and consistently composed as the cards of the Thoth. It invites you to investigate. Everything is perceptible in these pictures (one needs no secret knowledge!).

• ■ Recognize and Classify Associations.

There has been “Interpretation Literature” about tarot cards for a good two hundred years. Today, a few general standards have been established, the most important being the relationship of the four suits to the four elements. For example, the cups cards stand accordingly for the element water and in turn for all of aspects of souls and minds. However, the personal associations can relate to very different subjects, for example in the image of the Seven of Cups: “The poor Professor Dumbledore…(in the sixth book of Harry Potter) must drink a toxic green excruciating poison…” or “The golden knight on the Chariot card reminds me of Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz!”

Such personal associations make viewing the images colorful. However, only with personal associations is there the risk that we turn tarot interpretation in circles; we often repeat what we already know. Therefore it is important to know and to separate both levels of interpretation: personal associations and interpretation standards.

Thus, new views often arise in everyday life. It can be seen in the examples that Seven of Cups has something to do with the ability to sort out one’s feelings (the overflow drips off and whatever stays in the cup counts). Prior to that, the golden knight also represents a warning that one digs oneself in too deep, and comes out of oneself far too seldom. And finally, the Chariot encourages us to dare something, namely something that we wish, and to fight for it like a noble knight.

• ■ It Is about Symbolism: But It Is Always (also) about Your Own Life!

Especially in his last years, the great psychologist C. G. Jung was vehemently committed to the “symbolic life.” Like all famous depth psychologists, Jung was convinced that we only experience the holy strength of our consciousness when we connect our thinking and actions to our dreams, visions, and heart’s desires. The life with symbols—with the “fables, myths, dreams,” as Erich Fromm named it—provides the best connection of inner and outer life.

Certainly C. G. Jung foresaw (although did not mention it anywhere) that a “symbolic life” can also produce something negative: namely, a life as if! A life in rites, formulas, and writings can also be a “symbolic life,” a parallel world below or on the level of the living, lived life.

To separate the wheat from the chaff, it is essential at every card reading to bring the interpretation to the real personal wishes and fears and then to take the next steps.

• ■ An Interpretation Is First Concluded When It has Practical Consequences.

We see the biggest benefit of the card readings when we can see practical consequences from our own knowledge. We recognize whether an interpretation is correct for personal meaning from practical experiences. The central theme is that of The Way of the Wishes: This way arises and will be pursued when we:

• ■ understand and fulfill meaningful wishes
• ■ realize and break loose from meaningless wishes
• ■ take seriously and make provisions for valid fears
• ■ relinquish invalid fears.

As long as you continue this way, you use your own way to handle tarot or any other kind of psychology or fringe science. And vice versa, even a rich tarot practice or an extensive knowledge of symbols stays worthless in the personal sense, when that central theme, the abolition of personal wishes and fears, is missing.

• ■ The Magic of the Present Moment.

We experience the magic of the moment doubly through cartomancy: As the magic of the eyes, as the magic of the games with opinions and perspectives. And secondly as the magic of time, as working with the quality of time, with the magic of the moments (also of the eyes, the moment in the Universe card; refer to point 5, p. 70). To savor this magic, it is good to separate every card reading from previous judgments. We should of course take our knowledge with us and take it into account; however, we should give every card and layout the chance to consider it openly and in an unbiased way, as if it were our first tarot card ever.

[contents]

1. Klausbernd Vollmar, The Big Manual of Colors, Expanded ed., Königsfurt-Urania, 2009.

2. These exercises can be found in: Evelin Bürger and Johannes Fiebig, The Big Book of Tarot Spreads (Munich: Heyne Press, 2007), 51.

3. The names of the court cards in Thoth Tarot differ somewhat from the common designations. Mostly circulated are Queen, King, Knight, and Page/Knave. The Knight in Thoth Tarot corresponds in most aspects to the commonly understood Queen. From the astrological assignment, which plays a notable role in Thoth Tarot (refer to p. 186), the equalization of the knight in Thoth Tarot is also revealed with the Knights in other types of tarot. From the astrological assignment, the Queen in other types of tarot corresponds to the Prince in Thoth Tarot. Refer to Bürger and Fiebig, The Big Book of Tarot Spreads, pp. 173–192.