Introducing My Tarot Deck

When I began my journey with the Tarot, I was introduced to it by a friend, as so many of us are. And, as tradition dictates, I was not allowed to purchase my own deck of tarot. Instead, she took me to the store, where I perused literally fifty different decks, before carefully choosing the Lover's Path Tarot, created by Kris Waldherr. The choice of a deck should not be made in haste. Rather, the new deck should call to you, reaching out with its energies, for you will be forging a relationship with these cards that will be meaningful in both tangible and intangible ways.

This deck spoke to me.

In particular, I loved the imagery on the cards. The art was inspired by the creator's visit to Italy, and the images reflect the rich world of the Italian Renaissance. And, as she states in the companion book to the tarot deck, she became enchanted with the labyrinth of Venice, because she "could never be certain what would appear before me around a corner." That, in essence, reflects the art of the Tarot. It helps us to discern what is around each new corner. She states, "Often, just as I convinced myself that I was irrevocably lost, I would find myself exactly where I intended." How often have we found that, just when we believe our path is irrevocably twisted away from our goals, that we have arrived just where we need to be?

This is the gift of the Tarot.

And it is in this deck, in particular, that I have found the means to help find our way through the labyrinth that is this life.

So, I thought, what better way to start this new blog, that through an introduction to the tool that helps me decipher the twistings and turnings that surround us?

This deck, like most traditional tarot decks, contains seventy-eight cards, divided into twenty-two major arcana cards and fifty-six minor arcana cards.

The major arcana cards are each affilitated with the story of a famous historical or mythological couple, exploring the many experiences of love and the major archetypes and universal questions of life's journey. Each card is thus named after archetypal emotional states represented by the stories, and in turn, are related to traditional tarot symbolism.

The minor arcana cards explore the great themes of the major arcana, but now brought to earth, and made relevant to our individual experiences. The minor arcana are divided into four suits: cups, staves, arrows, and coins, related to the elements of water, fire, air, and earth. The cards in any given suit retell one of the classic love stories, with each card progressively depicting an important scene from the story. Together, they impart the lesson associated with each suit.

So, watch for a series of posts introducing the cards of this deck, with explanations and images of the various cards in the Lover's Path. I hope you will find it as exciting to learn them as I did, when I first held their energies in my hands.

Welcome to the Lover's Path.