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I believe that the way we experience and view the tarot is personal and evolving. There are many different ways to see the structure of the tarot. I want to share with you how I work with the tarot’s structure to give some foundation for the rest of the book. This structure holds that the tarot has three parts: the major arcana, the minor arcana, and the tarot court.

The Major Arcana

The major arcana consists of twenty-two named cards in the tarot. I view the major arcana as representing the archetypes of the divine. These are the BIG lessons that we may never fully understand. They have massive amounts of collective consciousness attached to them as spiritual beings and are cross-cultural in energy, if not by name. They are archetypal representations of our collective consciousness. Those consistent, directing patterns of influence are an inherent part of human nature and experience. Each major arcana card is given a number, a place in a specific well-thought-out order, and a title that links the card to its meaning and deeper lesson.

The Minor Arcana

The minor arcana is divided into four elemental and symbolic suits. Each suit starts with the ace and the completion of the suit is at the ten. I view the minor arcana as the way we live and experience the major arcana in our everyday lives. Through the images and meanings of the minor arcana, we are bringing the divine, the big picture, down to our daily life. They are a reminder that everything is sacred. There are lessons we can learn in everything. It is all a reflection of the universe experiencing itself. The minor arcana show us real-world reactions, cause and effect, and situations we are likely to experience in life, love, career, and spirituality.

The Tarot Court

The tarot court consists of the people and personalities of the tarot and in our lives. They are also our own personal archetypes and the different roles and behaviours we display and take on in various relationships in our lives. This is where we see the tarot cards and themes interact with each other in a personal way.

The tarot court is a reflection of cultural and collective themes and parts that we consciously and subconsciously choose to play. In these cards we are able to explore the different aspects of who we are and why we may act and react a certain way. The tarot court can also teach us about the people in our lives and help us heal relationships and make the most out of the interpersonal connections we make.

Exercise: Getting To Know You

For this exercise you will need a deck of tarot cards, a notebook, and pen.

Forget what you know about the court cards (if anything) or at least come to this exercise with as much of a blank slate as you can. This exercise allows you to see the tarot court cards in a different light. If you have a new tarot deck that you have yet to work with, this is a perfect way to connect to that deck’s court cards.

Select the deck that you would like to work with for this exercise and take out all of the court cards. Once that has been done, place the rest of the tarot deck aside as you will not require it for this exercise.

You can choose to shuffle the court cards, but I suggest to make it easier for you to reference your notes later by completing this exercise in order of suit (all of the cups together or all of the pages together etc.).

Now pick the first tarot court card from your pile. Write down the title of the card in your notebook and spend some time really looking at the card. Take everything in: the colours presented, the landscape of the card, facial expressions of the member of the court card, any animals or symbols present, the overall feel of the card, etc. From the list of suggested questions below, ask a couple of these of the card you’ve chosen. Record your answers in your tarot journal.