That’s Antprodite,
a Twitch psychic giving advice to one of his viewers
on her marriage.
Unfortunately for him, this clip of the reading ended up
on a Reddit community where both he and the viewer
who requested for advice were heavily criticized
for using tarot cards to solve a relationship conundrum.
But Antphrodite and his viewer are not the first
— and probably won’t be the last —
to use tarot cards as guidance.
A quick YouTube search shows us several other readers
providing similar predictions free of charge,
many of which are well-trusted by their followers.
And for those who don’t trust tarot at all,
you can still safely experiment with
online tarot readings.
Hundreds of artists create and sell designs
for tarot decks.
From classic 18th-century style art
to cartoon-like designs,
tarot cards have been helping those that like exploring
the occult navigate their way through life.
If you get Death,
a period of change could be coming your way,
whereas the ten of cups represents happiness and
fulfillment in your future.
Tarot readings aren't based on any science.
However, that hasn’t stopped them from staying relevant
in our modern world,
with readers switching rickety wooden tables
for YouTube channels.
So where did tarot cards come from?
How did they become so popular
and when were they attributed with divination powers?
You’re watching Explore Mode and today
we are diving into the origin of tarot cards.
Let’s take a trip back in time.
Back to late 14th Century Europe.
Tarot cards back then were known as trionfi
and had nothing to do with feeling energies or
predicting the future,
they were used to play games.
In fact, tarot cards have a lot in common with
modern playing cards.
They have four suits:
Wands, also known as staves,
discs or coins, cups, and swords.
Eventually, Italian artists began expanding the suits
by adding trump or triumph cards.
These were detailed with beautiful artwork
and soon wealthy families began paying artists to
create customized versions of the trump cards
featuring their family.
Take a look at these triumph cards commissioned by
Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan,
and by his son-in-law Francesco Sforza.
Here you can see triumph cards like the Death card,
The Empress, and The Fool.
Since their creation in the 1400s,
many cards from these century-old decks have been lost
but the ones that remain are preserved in museums and
have greatly influenced the aesthetics and interpretation
of tarot cards in divination today.
But when did tarot go from a regular game of bridge
to an actual bridge to divine energies?
Tarot became a divinatory tool when the occult
took hold of the cards around the eighteenth century.
This is when people began to find meanings in the cards,
particularly the triumph cards,
now known as the major arcana, more on those later.
The true turning point for Tarot cards
was in 1781 when Antoine Court de Gebelin,
a French clergyman, wrote a paper that was published
in his own compilation fo papers called
“The Primitive World, Analyzed and Compared to the Modern World”
explaining that he believed that tarot cards were
linked to Egyptian mysticism and Egyptian gods.
He went so far as to say that the Catholic Church
had been informed of the powers of tarot cards
and had tried to keep it a secret.
We still don’t know whether or not
de Gebeline’s claims are true
— he failed to back them with verifiable evidence —
but that didn’t stop people from becoming fascinated
with the potential occult powers of the tarot.
It didn’t take much time for tarot readings to become
popular among nobility, with readers making
appearances in parties and gatherings.
A decade later, in 1791, French occultist
Jean-Baptiste Alliette who called himself Etteilla,
released the first tarot deck design
specifically for divination.
Until today, Etteilla is considered to be
the first tarot reader.
Now we know where the tarot cards came from and
how they became what they are known for today
but WHAT DOES IT ALL ACTUALLY MEAN?
There are a total of 78 cards in the tarot deck:
These are divided into two groups:
22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana.
Minor Arcana are further divided into
16 Tarot Court Cards and 40 numbered cards
categorized into 4 Suits –
Swords, Cups, Pentacles, and Wands.
Major Arcana cards are believed to carry deep meaning,
representing changes and lessons in life
and expressing the general energies present in the life of
the inquirer.
Major Arcana card include: The Fool,
The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress,
The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot,
Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice,
The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil,
The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun,
Judgement, and The World.
Minor Arcana are interpreted as challenges we face
on a day to day basis.
Their influence is interpreted as more temporary than
that of Major Arcana cards
meaning the inquirer has the power to change
the situation if they wish to.
Each suit also has distinct energy:
The Suit of Wands is linked to the fire element,
so it's connected to the feelings of passion, brightness,
and new concepts.
The Suit of Pentacles is more about worldly
possessions,
so money, finances, and career life.
The Cups suit goes inward.
It’s believed to represent emotions and intuition.
These cards are usually hinting at relationships and
exploring connections within yourself and others.
And last but not least, the Suit of Swords
portrays the inquirer’s inner power.
They connect with their actions, ideas,
decision making and way of communicating.
Tarot cards can be laid out in different ways.
Each spread pattern is believed to have different energy
and each position assigns meanings to the cards.
The most basic one is the three card cluster
or three card spread.
After shuffling the deck, the inquirer picks three cards.
The cards represent the past,
the present and the possible future outcome.
Let’s try a fake spread for the sake of understanding
this layout:
Say you asked about your future in your career
and picked out The Tower as your past energy,
The Death as your present
and The Queen of Pentacles as your
possible future outcome.
The Tower is a card of change,
so in this hypothetical interpretation,
the tarot reader might tell you that you’ve felt a lot of
change and conflict at work.
The Death card is also symbolic of change,
more specifically the end of a cycle.
In this case, it’s in the present position,
so this might mean that a pattern at your job or
in your career path is changing or coming to an end.
The Queen of Pentacles represents success
and prosperity.
So in the context of this spread,
the reader might say that success may be on the horizon
after a period of chaos and change.
However, cards can also take on a different meaning
if they are in reverse.
If, in this case, The Queen of Pentacles was in reverse,
it would represent failure and lack of control.
This gives the reader a chance to evaluate the situation
and change the outcome.
If the Death card were in reverse
it would mean slow changes or stagnation.
If the tower were the one to be in reverse,
it would symbolize fear of change.
There are plenty of other more complex spreads.
There’s The Pentagram Tarot Spread.
As the name suggests, five cards are positioned in the
shape of a five-pointed star.
Four of the six cards represent an element,
Earth, Air, Fire and Water,
while the other two represent the querent.
Then there’s The Seven Card Horseshoe Tarot Spread
which consists of seven cards spread in a ‘V’ shape.
The first card represents the past,
the second the present,
the third the inner thoughts influencing the querent,
the fourth represents the person asking the question,
the fifth external influences,
the sixth represents advice for the viewer,
and the last is the potential outcome of the conundrum.
The Celtic Cross is also a very popular spread,
but it’s a but more complicated. It looks like this:
The cards stacked in the center represent the present
and the challenge ahead.
The cards surrounding it represent the past,
the future the querents consciousness and their
subconscious.
The column to the right represents advice from the
cards, what’s influencing them,
the querents fears and hopes,
and finally the possible outcome.
As we mentioned, there are many more spreads
some geared towards specific topics like love or
finances,
but regardless of what spread is used or even what
meaning each reader attributes to the cards,
tarot readers mostly believe that the future is
truly uncertain and that ultimately,
it’s in the querants hands whether or not
the possible outcomes come true.
Thanks for watching Explore Mode,
if you liked this video hit the thumbs up button.
And if you want to explore even more topics with us,
make sure to hit the subscribe and bell button
so you get a notification
whenever we upload a new episode.
See you next week, and in the meantime,
keep your explore mode on.