Yesterday I wrote about the Tarot of Fifty Shades of Grey. Today I’m gonna flip that around and write about Fifty Shades of Tarot. A bit of a recap of some of the things we’ve discussed in the last couple of months with maybe a few bonus extras thrown in. Hold onto your hats. It’s going to be a long one. The mother of all my posts.

1. Nobody knows who invented Tarot cards. Or when. Or why.

2. The Empress: Hello Mother!

3. The Emperor: Hey dad!

4. The Tarot deck contains a secret holy book. I call it Life Lessons Tarot.

5. The number 5 on a Tarot card suggests some kind of struggle is going on.

6. The Devil can be your friend (If you heed his warning!)

7. The Tarot deck is divided into two parts called the Minor Arcana and Major Arcana i.e. Little Secret and Big Secret (I call them Everyday and Life Lesson Tarot.)

8. The Hanged Man card can indicate someone is pregnant (with babies, ideas, whatever!)

9. The Eight of Wands Reversed is the universe giving you (or whoever the reading is about) a kick up the bum. Telling you to get a wriggle on.

10. Tarot = The one step do-it-yourself know-thyself kit. Or as I like to call it: An Agony Aunt In A Box. (You can tell I’m a science graduate by the way I sometimes write sentences like mathematical equations. I bet you didn’t expect to hear that from a Tarot card reader. I even graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in Australia. Ha!)

11. Tarot card reading 101: Just hold a question in your mind and pull a card out of the deck baby. It can be that simple.

12. The Star: Holding onto the hope that everything will turn out ok after experiencing a traumatic event.

13. Two of Swords: Leave me alone! The introvert card.

14. Tarot cards can be read in a positive or a negative way. Yep, even Death and The Devil.

15. Each card has many shades of meaning. The way you work out which one is being referred to comes down to context.

16. The more time you spend reflecting on the images in the cards the better you get at reading them. Like everything it just takes practice to become an expert.

17. Mr Four of Pentacles: Otherwise known as Ebenezer Scrooge.

18. Strength: The card representing your conscience.

19. Eight of Cups: Can refer to someone walking a spiritual path. Both literally and metaphorically.

20. Ten of Swords = The Tarot Of Meetings (for me at least).

21. Number two cards deal with some kind of duality (guess that’s not a surprise, lol.)

22. Tarot cards are closely associated with gypsies whose origins can be traced back to Ancient India where civilisation flourished in the Indus Valley long before Sumer and Egypt.

23. The Queen of Wands: Your typical working mum, bless her.

24. King of Swords: The lawyer. The policeman. The social justice worker.

25. Six of Wands: What Lance Armstrong used to be.

26. The Tower: Frankenstorm.

27. The Celtic Cross is the most popular and most famous type of card reading. It’s the one I use all the time.

28. You can work out your Tarot Year Card by adding your birthday number + birth month number + year number together. The total is the number of the Life Lesson Tarot card that reflects the experiences you will have during that year.

29. Nine of Swords: The panic attack and anxiety disorder card.

30. Nine of Cups: Feeling mighty pleased with yourself!

31. Three of Wands: Go for it!

32. The court cards – Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings – are the most complicated and hardest to understand in Tarot.

33. Tarot’s like a language written in pictures.

34. Five of Swords: Bullying.

35. Knight of Swords: The Arsehole.

36. The Fool: Anything can happen!

37. ‘A sip or two of tea makes the Tarot reading go down’ (As Mary Poppins should have sung!)

38. Tarot cards came to light at the SAME TIME as playing cards during the Middle Ages. Co-incidence? (I think not.)

39. Italians today still use playing cards that are very similar to Tarot to play popular card games like Briscola.

40. You don’t have to be psychic to read Tarot cards. You just have to learn the lingo.

41. The High Priestess: Secret keeper extraordinaire!

42. The Magician: Showing potential!

43. The World: Becoming who you wanted to be in The Magician card. Reaching your personal nirvana. A rare achievement.

44. I highly recommend reading the cards yourself. Cut out the middle man i.e. psychics.

45. You can use Tarot cards to tell stories. (Have you noticed?)

46. The number three means some kind of growth.

47. Four of Swords: Needing time out e.g. A holiday.

48. Picking a card out of the pack each day to reflect on is a good way to learn how to read Tarot cards.

49. Six of Cups: Fantasy. Delusion. First love. All of the above.

50. Three of Cups: Sharing my thoughts about Tarot with you dear readers. (Now, if only I can find a way to get you to talk back.)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!