Tarot Glossary
A compact glossary explains arcana, suits, courts, reversals, spreads, positions, querents, and provenance so learners can compare sources precisely.
Overview
A tarot glossary distinguishes deck structure, card orientation, positional spreads, interpretive context, and evidence language so similar terms are not silently treated as identical. Definitions should identify whether a term names a physical feature, historical category, publisher choice, reading convention, or editorial interpretation.
At a glance
- Core reader question
- tarot terms glossary
- Page owner
- One canonical learning task
- Evidence layer
- Sources plus conditional editorial interpretation
- Publication state
- Draft / noindex pending native review
Direct answer and scope
This glossary defines the structural and method terms needed to read a tarot guide without confusing deck families, card groups, orientations, positions, or evidence claims. Each definition is scoped to its historical or practical use, and variant terminology is retained when traditions name the same-looking feature differently.
How to use or verify it
Check each term against the deck or method using it; preserve variant names instead of forcing one vocabulary onto every tradition. When a guide uses “court card,” “Page,” or “Valet,” follow the linked definition and edition note before deciding whether the labels refer to the same rank.
Hypothetical worked example
“Major Arcana” describes a 22-card group in common modern decks, while “trump” reflects the earlier playing-card function; the terms overlap historically but carry different context. A careful entry provides that relationship without claiming that every surviving pack used the later esoteric category.
Near miss and alternative explanation
“Reversed” describes orientation in a declared method, not an automatically negative event or the opposite of every upright keyword. Likewise, “clarifier” names an added-card practice only when its trigger and role were set before the draw; it is not a license to keep searching.
Evidence, ethics, and stopping rule
Museum catalogs and named manuals support terms only within their historical deck or method context; they do not prove that every school uses the vocabulary identically. A glossary entry should therefore show scope, variant names, and a linked example instead of presenting one modern usage as timeless consensus.
Sources and editorial basis
- Before Fortune-Telling: The History and Structure of Tarot CardsMet Perspectives, “Before Fortune-Telling: The History and Structure of Tarot Cards,” paragraphs describing fifteenth-century northern Italy, 56 suit cards, 21 trumps plus the Fool, and the later turn to divination.Museum scholarship used for fifteenth-century northern Italian origins, the 56-suit-card plus 21-trump-and-Fool structure, and the later shift from play to divination. It does not validate prediction.
- The World in Play: Luxury Cards, 1430–1540Met exhibition “The World in Play: Luxury Cards, 1430–1540,” gallery sections on early Italian cards, surviving objects, makers, materials, and suit structure.Exhibition-catalog evidence for surviving early playing cards, materials, makers, and suit conventions. It does not supply modern upright or reversed meanings.
- The Pictorial Key to the TarotPart III, “The Outer Method of the Oracles,” §§1–9: deck divisions, card descriptions, recurrence, and named positional procedures; scope is one RWS-era text.Waite’s 1911 companion to Pamela Colman Smith’s images, used for RWS-era order, imagery, card descriptions, and named divination methods. It records one historical author’s system; it is not universal or scientific validation.