Halloween is just around the corner! During this time, a tradition in the U.S. is to get your tarot cards read or to enhance your gaming experiences by either adding a divinatory element or finding a tarot-themed game. If you need resources and inspiration to read, learn, or play with tarot, we’ve got you covered! […]

To celebrate Halloween this year, I’m partipating in #WitchyWednesday to highlight different subjects in magic. Today, I’m diving into tarot. Tarot’s origins are often conflated with medieval card games, like Minchiate, Tarocchi, and early poker decks, because there’s some similarities in the card art and design. There are, however, three distinct pieces within tarot’s history: […]

Love tarot? Want to get ready for Halloween? Take my writing-centric Clarion West workshop titled “How to Use Tarot for Storytellers.” This two-hour workshop will be conducted online on Sunday, September 29th and will have a seasonal theme. Unlike my other tarot workshops, this experience will also include small group exercises to help nurture collaborative […]

If you’re a tarot or Kickstarter enthusiast, you’ve probably heard about The Alleyman’s Tarot. To date, it’s the most well-funded and backed tarot card set on Kickstarter. As one of the original backers, I thought I’d review the set and the guidebook after drawing and reading cards for some time. The size of The Alleyman’s […]

Designed by Amí Naeily, the Spoopy Tarot is a kawaii-style tarot deck with a “spoopy” theme–a haunted house filled with candy, ghosts, bats, eyeballs, potions, and so much more. Popularized by Marie Lenormand, modern tarot card readings range from the esoteric to the pragmatic. In the Spoopy Tarot, the Major Arcana is accurately described as […]

The Tarot of the Divine is a rare treasure illustrated and designed by California-based artist Yoshi Yoshitani. Each card is illustrated in vibrant colors and line art to depict scenes from fairy tales, folklore, and myths found all over the world. Vasilisa the Beautiful inspired the Nine of Wands, for example, and its illustration is […]

Have you checked out The Red Opera: Deck of Endless Possibilities on Kickstarter yet? This deck of 80-plus cards is an All-In-One Tarot; Playing Card; Spell, Magic Item, Character, Location, and Adventure Deck filled with potential. Brought to you by Apotheosis Studios, this Warlock-inspired deck is filled with details from The Red Opera: Last Days […]

That feeling when you discover a word in another language that so perfectly captures a familiar experience is a joyful, exciting feeling in itself. Think hygge (a Danish concept for the quality of being warm and comfortable that gives a feeling of happiness) or shinrin-yoku (a Japanese word for the healing act of forest bathing).

Inspired by these hard-to-name but universal feelings, those liminal spaces between Big Emotions, That Feeling When is a 44-card oracle deck crafted from evocative, inclusive, and community-sourced collage imagery. The 2.5″x3.5″ cards sport a satin-matte finish and glittery turquoise edge and are packed in a two-piece box with a full-color guide book.

In this two-hour Tarot for Writers workshop, author and narrative designer Monica Valentinelli (Vampire: The Masquerade, Shadowrun, Firefly, and more!) will show you how to use tarot in your storytelling. From inspirational prompts to building characters and scenarios, you’ll come away with fresh ideas to help you brainstorm everything from character relationships to plot twists. […]

Halloween is right around the corner, and many people read tarot cards to celebrate the holiday. In this three-part series of articles, FlamesRising.com turned to tarot card expert Paula Dempsey to talk about the history of the tarot. In the last article of this series, Paula discusses tarot and how we use and think about it in our modern day.

The History of Tarot: Modern Day

Finally, this whistlestop tour of the tarot brings us to the twenty first century. My question for modern times is: Is the tarot still truly occult? There are hundreds, possibly thousands of modern tarot packs, many of which are easily obtained from bookstores or online retailers. Books on how to read the cards may be borrowed from public libraries and tarot courses are offered in most cities. For those uncomfortable with the occult connotations, there is even a Jesus Deck.

The broken-hearted or inquisitive amongst us can phone or text a tarot hotline at any time of the day or night and instantly get an answer to “Does she love me?” or “Will I get that great new job?”

Halloween is right around the corner, and many people read tarot cards to celebrate the holiday. In this three-part series of articles, FlamesRising.com turned to tarot card expert Paula Dempsey to talk about the history of the tarot. In this first article, she discussed its mysterious origins. Today, she talks about the occult revival.

The History of Tarot: Occult Revival

The late 18th century saw Western society immersed in the Age of Enlightenment and on the verge of the Industrial Revolution. Paradoxically, this era of scientific rationalism also saw a rebirth of magical traditions. Druidry was reinvented in Great Britain by William Stukely and others. The end of the Witch-craze in Europe and the USA meant that those claiming to practice magic could do so without fearing a noose around their necks and to many, magic had an undeniable romance to it.

Did you know that Halloween is a popular time of year for divination? One way that many people celebrate the holiday is to have their tarot cards read. In this three-part series of articles, FlamesRising.com turned to tarot card expert Paula Dempsey to talk about the history of the tarot. In this first article, she discusses its mysterious origins.

The History of Tarot: Origins

Once Upon a Time…

… in 48BCE to be exact, when the Roman Empire was at its height and Julius Caesar’s troops laid siege to the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The custodians of the Royal Library of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, knew they didn’t have much time before enemy forces broke through and destroyed their precious scrolls forever. Fortunately they had made a plan. Decks of cards were small and portable, so they prepared special decks rich in symbolism carrying much of the spiritual and magical guidance from the Library, if one knew how to read them.

Opinions vary. Some people think Tarot cards hold power, while those who know say that they are merely guides, an interface to unlock your own knowledge of ancient secrets. In this book, the 22 Major Arcana are used as keys to chronicles for your Mage: The Awakening game… a smart idea as many mages study the Tarot.

The work starts with a short story in which a regular game of cards turns into a reading, and perhaps something else. You don’t need a special Tarot deck if you know what you’re doing.

The Major Arcana

Each key, each trump, is a step along the path of the mage. From the dangerous ignorance of the Fool to the completion of the World, each card holds a secret. Seek Justice, pursue Strength, trick the Devil, and defy Death — the cards will show you the way.

A Chronicle Book for Mage: The Awakening

Keys to the Supernal Tarot is available in print at Amazon.com and in eBook format at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Having read quite a few “compendiums” and “how-to” guides, some take a very emotionally-filled and visual approach, to tap into and encourage your belief in this form of divination. For me, I am attracted to a more pragmatic approach because I primarily use or research these tools for my writing. In my opinion, neither method is “bad” or “good” for, like all books, it depends upon what you want to get out of it.