Rider Waite Tarot Card Deck

The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is one of the oldest and most popular tarot decks in the English-speaking world.

Tarot cards represent lessions, situations, events, interactions and influences that affect people. The cards feature descriptive imagery designed to project the possibilities of a situation or influence. When reading Tarot cards, one should look carefully at the entire picture, both the foreground and the background. It is important for the reader to pay attention to the possibilities presented by the cards.

Unlike some types of playing cards, Tarot cards typically are not reversible. If turned over, the image is upside down. This characteristic is used in readings to glean additional information form the cards. The Tarot deck may be shuffled with some of the cards in upright and others reversed. When the cards are dealt, leave the reversed cards in position and use the reversed card meaning to interpret them.

This Tarot deck is composed of seventy eight cards. For the purpose of divination, the deck is segmented into two parts, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. As with Astrology, Tarot is associated with the elemental forces of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Each suit represents the influence of one of the elemental forces. The Wands relate to Fire. The Cups relate to Water. The Swords relate to Air, and the Pentacles relate to Earth. The Major Arcana cards also each have an elemental connection.