Talking Tarot – The Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana

Talking Tarot

The Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. What’s the difference?

In a nutshell, the Major Arcana chart the soul’s journey through life. The big, archetypal themes that we all meet at some point that help us evolve. The Minor Arcana tend to talk events, issues and people that make up our daily lives.

When Major Arcana turn up in Tarot readings, they are telling us that we are dealing with something big. Something that spreads its influence across the board.  The World, for instance is a peak experience a feeling of having it all until the cycle turns. The Major Arcana  are also the magic of the pack and contain the wisdom and secrets of eternity! Legend has it that all the secret wisdom of the ages were hidden in plain sight. I could talk about the power of the Major Arcana all day long; but let’s look at it from a practical tarot reading point of view.

The Major Arcana can also tell us about the overall energy we are tussling with; or can call upon to support us. The Devil asks us to look at where we are falling under the spell of our obsessions; or even addiction and reminds us we can shake off their chains whenever we choose. The Star urges us to look for the divine inspiration; that manifests in signs and signals that lead the way forward.

Cross-over meanings

Sometimes the meaning of cards can cross over. This is the equivalent of a Tarot reading trying to tell us something using caps lock, bold and underline.  Let’s say The Devil shows up along with the eight of swords.  Traditionally, this talks about a situation that feels like bondage; but where the person can slip off the blindfold and neatly hop through the swords plunged into the ground towards freedom.

In a Tarot reading, that would point towards a situation where the person having the reading feels trapped and tied down.  Maybe they are feeling boxed in by too many demands between home and work or in their relationships.  Other cards will help you hone in on the detail of what that situation is.  The eight of swords says that feeling of being trapped is illusionary, and The Devil pushes it deeper.  It says, this is a pattern that has dug right in to the person’s psyche to the point where it has totally distorted their reality.

Deeper work

Rather than just encouraging the person having the reading to make changes on the surface, it calls for deeper work to be done.  Otherwise, any changes they are likely to make just won’t stick.  Say they are feeling a bit pushed around by the people they share a flat or house with.  They might try and get a housework rota going, but without tackling that underlying feeling of powerlessness and psychological paralysis The Devil refers to, they might cave the first time it doesn’t work and be right back at square one – with another experience to stack on their idea that they are stuck!

This is where you, as a Tarot reader or psychic reader, draw on a totally different skill set to help them connect with their power.  You might talk about previous times that they’ve successfully tackled similar issues.  If you are using psychic skills along with Tarot in the reading, that’s what you’d use your intuition to go looking for.  Or you could get a sense that whatever they are dealing with mirrors a situation from their childhood and that they are bringing that past into their present.

Always look at the cards that show up in a reading as a whole and you will start to see the astonishing depths a reading can take you to.

Loads of love,

Michele x

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