The Tarot

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by

Hadron Templeton
in , , , , , , ,

For a Brief History of the Tarot click below.

A Brief History of the Tarot

Composition of the Smith-Waite-Rider deck

This deck consists of 78 cards. 22 of them are called Trumps, Atus or the Major Arcana. The remaining 56 are the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana is divided into 4 suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has 10 cards numbered 1 to 10 and 4 Court cards which are figures who might appear at a Royal Court: a king, a queen, a knight and a page. Most modern occultists balance the sexes by treating the page as a princess. This reflects the alchemical symbolism of the chemical marriage.

The Major Arcana, Atus or trumps are as follows:

The Fool
The Magician
The High Priestess
The Empress
The Emperor
The Hierophant
The Lovers
The Chariot
Roses and Lilies in the Smith-Waite Tarot

Comments

3 responses to “The Tarot”

  1. Empress | Magic Pure and Simple

    […] This is part of the Tarot Section. […]

  2. A Brief History of the Tarot | Magic Pure and Simple

    […] The Tarot […]

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    […] will ever see. If you just want to learn to read your first deck of tarot cards, I recommend the Rider-Waite deck (which I prefer to call the Smith-Waite-Rider deck) and not the Thoth deck. A lot of the symbolism […]