Easy Tarot: Learn to Read the Cards Once and for All! »

Josephine Ellershaw’s (United Kingdom) personal journey with tarot spans three decades. She has sixteen years of experience with personal development and has been providing readings, healing, guidance, and paranormal advice on a professional basis for twelve years.

Ciro Marchetti (Florida) is an award-winning artist from the United Kingdom. He studied art in London, followed by a career working in Europe and South America before settling in the United States where he opened a design agency in Miami. In addition to managing his company, Ciro also gives workshops and lectures on digital imagery and illustration at the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute, and continues to create his own visionary art.

"You don't need a special 'gift' to read tarot," insists Josephine Ellershaw. And to prove it, she has boiled down thirty years of experience into a straightforward, easy-to-use tarot guide for beginners. More than just a manual, Easy Tarot is a boxed kit that also includes The Gilded Tarot—a stunningly beautiful and popular deck by the well known Ciro Marchetti.

Ellershaw gently guides novices to become proficient, sensitive, and responsible readers. Suit by suit, she introduces the distinct characteristics of the minor arcana, court cards, and major arcana. You will learn how the cards link to one another and produce insightful relationships as their unique energies merge in the Cross of Truth, the Celtic Cross, and other spreads. There is even a list of card combinations that commonly indicate specific events-such as pregnancy, a wedding, a new job, and more.

A quick guide to card meanings, sample readings, safeguards, ethical guidelines, as well as tips for keeping a tarot diary, are all covered in this well-rounded introduction to tarot.

Foreword xiii

Part one: Good Foundations 1

Step 1: Background 4
No history lesson 5
About the Tarot deck 6
Introducing the Gilded Tarot 6

Step 2: Answering Your Questions 8
How does Tarot work? 8
Who uses Tarot cards? 9
Do I need to be psychic? 9
How soon will I be able to do readings? 10
Fate or free will? 12
Disposing of a few myths and misconceptions 13
About other ancient sciences 13

Step 3: Making Preparations 15
Caring for your Tarot cards 15
Guidance and protection 16
Using a crystal 17
Preparing your Tarot deck 18

Step 4: Keys to Learning 20
Your number one learning tool 20
What kind to use? 20
How to record information and why 21
viii – Easy Tarot Handbook
About dreams and psychic development 22
Your intuition 24
Tying it all together 25

Step 5: Just Before We Begin . . . 27
One card does not a reading make 28
About reversed cards 29
About Tarot spreads 30
Getting started 30
Following completion of each suit 32
Congratulations 32

Part Two: Meeting the Tarot 33

Step 6: The Minor Arcana—Suit of Wands 34
Step 7: The Minor Arcana—Suit of Cups 46
Step 8: The Minor Arcana—Suit of Swords 58
Step 9: The Minor Arcana—Suit of Pentacles 69
Step 10: About the Court Cards 80
Step 11: The Minor Arcana—The Pages 84
Step 12: The Minor Arcana—The Knights 89
Step 13: The Minor Arcana—The Queens 94
Step 14: The Minor Arcana—The Kings 102
Step 15: The Major Arcana 108
Part Three: Preparation for readings 139
Step 16: Getting Ready to Read 140

Reading for yourself 141

Preparation 141

Asking the Tarot 141
Shuffling and cutting 143
Using a significator 145
Recording readings in your diary 146
Example of a Tarot diary record 147
Before you begin, some helpful advice 148

Part Four: Various Tarot spreads in depth 151
What type, when, and why? 152

Step 17: The Cross of Truth 154
About your reading 156
What if the cards seem unrelated? 157
Checking your accuracy 158
Sample reading: The Cross of Truth 159
Points to note 162
Step 18: The Nine-Card Spread 163
Step 19: The Celtic Cross 165
Further insights from the Celtic Cross 169
The “what-if ” scenarios 172
Timing with the Celtic Cross 176
Step 20: The Life Spread and the Anchor
179

Life Spread positions 182
The Anchor 183
How “non-fixed” spreads differ and rules that apply 184
The key cards 185
Impact on area groupings 185
Connection to the Anchor Spread 187
Timing for the Life Spread 189

Part Five: The Final Touches 191

Step 21: Card Associations 192
Sample from the Life Spread 194
The cards you can’t relate to 196
About the “awkward” cards 197
Putting it into perspective 199
About illness 200
Card combinations 203
Step 22: Living with Tarot 208
Reading for others 209
Reading for minors 211
Some final words 213

Part six: Useful Tools and Templates 215

Minor arcana cheat sheet 216
Major arcana cheat sheet 218
The Cross of Truth template 220
The Celtic Cross template 221
The Life Spread template 222
The Anchor template 223