Tarot cards are one of the most popular tools of divination and have been used for thousands of years. Their mainstream counterparts, playing cards, are even more of a common concept, full of royalty, hierarchy, and even a joker or two. There are many parallels between the two because the common playing card deck is based on the tarot deck.
But what makes these cards so fascinating? They tell an archetypal story, one we are all somehow familiar with, one we all understand. The concept of hierarchy is a natural one for us, and the order of royalty speaks louder than words.
Tarot cards split into two kinds of cards, major arcana and minor arcana. The major arcana represent archetypal concepts that we can all relate to easily. The Emperor, the Sun, and the Moon are some of these cards, representing easily understandable concepts as old as time.
The minor arcana range from Ace to 10, and are based on the different aspects of numerology. Aces represent the fundamental energy of each of the different suits, while a 4 may be associated with foundation, and 10 with completion.
The four suits of the tarot deck correlate to the four elements, fire, earth, air, and water, as do each of the connotations for them. Action, stability, communication, and emotion could all be associated with the respective suits.
It is in this exact understanding how one can make a basic tarot draw a part of your daily check in practice with themselves. Whether you choose to draw one card, a basic three card spread, or an advanced spread of your choosing, doing this daily to check in with yourself develops a better understanding of the individual cards.
See how these correlations relate to you, both in your daily life, with a particular situation or question, as well as its overarching theme, that you may see understand from your day-to-day draws. Say a certain card keeps coming up, or that its placement is peculiar, or that all the cards seem to tell you the same story
This daily practice will help you understand those nuances more, differentiating generalities from specific situations, or for understanding what a certain combination of cards represents. Maybe you identify a progression or resolution unfolds, or understand that a certain card is trying to bring something to your attention.
Using tarot cards as a tool for daily check-in makes you both a better tarot card reader, and brings you more in touch with yourself. The magic of tarot cards lies in the subtlety, not the generalities, and this can help you understand tarot, archetypal psychology, and your own personality more. It is a great tool for storytelling and interpreting larger-than-life concepts.