Before I began visiting haunted cities like Savannah, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida, I had always been captivated by tarot cards. It wasn't just the allure that they could predict the future, but I always found the tarot card art to be beautiful as well. There are numerous decks, depending on the style of art.

One of the oldest is the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck. The cards have a very Medieval appeal to them, not surprisingly considering this deck originated in the 15th century. Another famous tarot deck is the Tarot of Marseilles, which of course came from the Marseilles region of France. This deck is quite colourful, playing up blues, yellows and reds. A more modern deck, and I've owned a few of this one, is the Rider-Waite tarot. I've noticed that the older decks are a lot less detailed than the modern ones, with simple motifs, rather than vivid details in the background.

The tarot deck, and this is for all of them, is separated into the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. The major arcana is usually what people think of when they think of the tarot. The major arcana is the portion of the tarot which has cards like "The Fool", "The Magician," and "Judgement." The minor arcana looks more like a medieval deck of cards, and instead of hearts and spades there are "cups" and "wands."

The reading of the tarot is done by several different means. There are different layouts, depending on the preference of the tarot reader. The cards can be read both right-side up and upside down, each taking on a different meaning. I have found a site that has been quite helpful when I am trying to decipher the art of reading the tarot. It does simplify the layouts and the meaning behind each card.

This article was taken from the site
http://www.articlealley.com/article_513737_13.html