Cross-Deck Comparison with Two of Cups

You may have noticed that most, if not all, of my Readings and Closer Looks are done with the Waite-Smith deck. Indeed, some tarot readers do stick to one tradition, and all my decks are based roughly on that same deck. However, tarot artists interpret Waite's and Colman Smith's work in so many weird, robust ways, that there is still plenty of variation to explore. When I began to move into other decks, I wanted to challenge myself without being too overwhelmed by new meanings or inscrutable artwork.  There are many decks that cleave very closely to the Waite-Smith, but other ostensible "clones" seem entirely disconnected at first glance.

This cross-deck comparison looks at the Waite-Smith and three other decks in the same tradition, each with different levels of abstraction from the original imagery. I hope it gives you some insight into how to be flexible with different decks while still relying on the system you've already learned. We're looking at the Two of Cups across the decks listed below: 

• Universal Waite: Art by Pamela Colman Smith, coloring by Mary Hanson Roberts. Published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. (Note: I refer to this deck as my Waite-Smith deck.)

• Tarot Mucha: Art by Giulia F. Massaglia and Barbara Nosenzo. Published by Lo Scarabeo.

• Shadowscapes Tarot: Art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Published by Llewellyn Publishers.

• Wooden Tarot: Art by A.L. Schwartz. Published by Skullgarden.

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Let's start out with our Universal Waite. Simple, clear, and accessible, this imagery conveys a sense of romantic love by evoking a sense of formal commitment.  Facing each other, exchanging cups (as one might exchange rings or vows), framed by some divine winged lion, the two characters play their parts with little ambiguity.













The Tarot Mucha interprets Waite-Smith imagery through an art deco lens.  Though not drawn by Alphonse Mucha himself, the art evokes his style.  Our winged, lion-headed caduceus still frames the picture, and a pair of actors still exchange cups.  This illustration, however, exchanges the stiff formality of the Waite-Smith for willowy lines and postures of repose. If the Waite-Smith shows a scene from a play, the Tarot Mucha is its real-life correlate.  Interpreting the meaning will not be much of a challenge.








I've written about the Shadowscapes Tarot before, and I'm happy to have another chance to show it off. This deck has us moving further away from the classic Waite-Smith imagery; notice that Pui-Mun Law has removed our weird winged lion dude, and our characters are not really exchanging cups in a ceremony (though you will see there are still two cups in the picture).

This artist conveys her meaning through a sense of movement and intuition. Instead of two humans exchanging an item, we have two nymphs/dryads/ents literally wrapping around each other, with a cute little heart ornament hanging above them, like a sprig of mistletoe encouraging a kiss. Glowing golden fish linger nearby, blurring the lines between earth, water, and sky.

While drastically reinterpreting the Waite-Smith deck, Pui-Mun Law calls on her own tools to convey the same meaning. Interpreting this deck won't be too hard, but will become much easier the more you work with it.



Finally, we have the Wooden Tarot, one of my current favorite decks.  By far the most surreal version we've seen, this two of cups forgoes human actors altogether.  Indeed, you'll note that it's not even the two of cups; the Wooden Tarot replaces cups with blooms.


This bloom may at first look like a single blossom, but it actually appears to be two flowers back to back, creating one large double bloom. This suggests to me the synthesis of two things becoming one. The suit of blooms in the Wooden Tarot very strongly convey a sense of tenderness to me, so I can extrapolate that meaning into the synthesis of two passions into friendship or love.

Here, we have a card that is technically based on Waite-Smith symbology; however, interpreting this card in isolation will work better if you are familiar with the deck as a whole.

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What do you think, folks?  Of these two of cups, do you have a favorite? Does seeing the same cards across several decks give you any insight into the meaning?  Let us know in comments! 

Court Cards: A Down Home Approach

Even if you're a beginner, you probably recognize the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana.  You might already have a decent handle on the suits, and their domains and symbolism.  If you're anything like me, though, the court cards still feel beyond your reach.

The first suggestion you will see for how to read court cards is to read them as literal people in your or the querent's life.  Some readers even go so far as to say that a court card can identify a person down to their eye color!  Now, if the querent notes that one of the court cards looks like somebody specific in their life, that is definitely something to pay attention to (I once had a querent look at the Page of Swords and exclaim, "That's my ex!"). If it occurs naturally (and it does), that's one cool permutation of a court card. But the truth is, that could happen for any character on any tarot card. I find trying to read court cards as specific people can feel cumbersome, and removes a lot of subtlety from the reading process.

Still, the court cards feel unique from the rest of the Minor Arcana; they seem to have somewhat more independent personalities.  I really like Daily Tarot Girl's method for getting to know the court card, treating them as their own unique actors in the deck. She isn't necessarily saying they always correlate to a real-life human, but they do seem more like fleshed-out characters than the rest of the Minor Arcana. I think her exercises are absolutely wonderful if you are just starting to get to know the court cards.

When I started to devise my own approach to the court cards, I was drawn to the idea of each position referring to a level of maturity; that is to say, Pages are children, Knights are youths, Queens are adults, and Kings are old and wise.  Aside from the implications about gender, this was a good starting point for me.  I decided that, for me, each court card spoke to a step in our journey of relating to the world (much the way the Major Arcana describe our path through life). Pages are just starting their journeys; Knights have more confidence, Kings are ready to make decisions, and Queens see the process as a whole (my Queens outrank my Kings).

So what does that mean for reading the cards?  Well, it means knowing the domains of each suit, so that you can see what each court card presides over. For me, it made sense for me to give each court card a motto, and I am not the first person to hear the court cards speak in first person!  You will find, within a spread, that each court card may have a lot more to say, but these mottos are a good starting point.

I've grouped them below by court level instead of by suit; this way, you can see what I mean by the progression in our personal story. We start out relating to the world as a new, wondrous thing; we gain confidence, begin to act upon the world and shape it, and ultimately gain a perspective of our experience as only a piece of a larger whole.  Our paths are not linear, either; we can return to a Page chapter of our lives many times, or we may feel like a Knight in one domain and a Queen in the other.

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Pages

• Cups: I have innocent trust in the validity of my emotions.
• Pentacles: I approach the physical world with fascination and wonder.
• Wands: My enthusiasm leads to uninhibited, spontaneous action.
• Swords: I am eager to learn everything about anything!

Knights

• Cups: I have confidence that my emotional compass will point the right way. 
• Pentacles: I have faith that consistent hard work will bring reward. 
• Wands: I strive to experience life in the fullest!
• Swords: My intellect will lead me to success.

Kings

• Cups: I balance my emotions when making decisions.
• Pentacles: Success comes through hard work and reasonable expectations.
• Wands: Passion, tempered by experience, guides my decision-making. 
• Swords: I use logic to come to just decisions.

Queens

• Cups: I have the intuitive ability to understand the important role of emotions throughout our lives. 
• Pentacles: Hard work is most noble when it serves not only your house, but your community. 
• Wands: Passion promotes growth, in our communities and ourselves. 
• Swords: Wisdom comes from the ability to evaluate experience rationally. 

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A Note On Gender

I could write a whole blog post on the fuckery that is gender representation in traditional tarot; I'm not ignorant that my beloved Universal Waite-Smith features exclusively hetero-cis-normative folks (though I do my best to expand my interpretation of those characters). When reading court cards, I remove gender as much as my colonized mind can.  That is to say, any individual court card is not tied to a specific gender, but rather speaks to a potentially universal experience. 

This is all well and good, but what we need is better representation on tarot cards. I am completely over the moon for decks like the Numinous Tarot, which features not only non-binary, non-cis folks (kings with boobs! queens with beards!), but does a great job of featuring people of color, too.  In other words, this deck actually looks like real the people in my life.  And if you're not already reading Cassandra Snow's Queering the Tarot, you should; it's a series of essays at Little Red Tarot that brings a queer lens to tarot card meanings, ultimately helping to shape a more inclusive and accurate practice of tarot. 

Does this approach to court cards resonate with you?  Are there other approaches you prefer?  How do you incorporate (or extract) the power of gender in your tarot practice?  Let us know!

A Closer Look: Queen of Pentacles

Key words and concepts

• Comfort
• Security
• Abundance
• Family
• Compassion
• Stewardship
• Sensitivity to surroundings

I grew up in a small town, and like most teenagers, struggled a lot with friendship and identity.  In middle school and high school, I hung out pretty exclusively with a small group of guys.  In typical teenage fashion, I often struggled to relate to my own mother (she is an awesome lady, but we are both similar to the Queen of Swords and didn't always mesh), so having the mother of one of my guy friends sort of take me under her wing was really valuable.

She was a passionate gardener, and her name was Rose, of course.  She had the quiet patience and compassion that goes with being a kindergarten teacher (her profession), as well as the sense of humor and quick wit that comes from growing up as a dorky, not-traditionally-beautiful girl (something I desperately needed to relate to as a teenager).  Whenever I pull the Queen of Pentacles, I smile and say, "Oh hey, Rose, nice to see you!" This Queen--and my childhood role model--both serve to remind me that compassion for yourself and others is never a bad move, and that there is comfort to be had in cultivating your home.

The Queen of Pentacles offers warmth, comfort, and security--but she worked for it.  This queen doesn't hire a gardner or groundskeeper; she is in the dirt, caring for her flowers and vegetables.  She's up at dawn to milk the cows herself, and the result is a cultivated and healthy domain of her own doing.  And look at the results!  Her throne is richly carved with animals and fruits, and vines of roses wind their way around the border.  She's even attracted a happy little bunny at her feet (when she was younger, she was probably that Disney princess who had birds help her get dressed in the morning). I think of her very much as a steward of not only her land, but of its plants and creatures, as well as the human subjects of her kingdom.  

When I read court cards, I often think of them as attitudes we can take (as opposed to reading them as literal people in our lives).  The Queen of Pentacles' motto is, “Hard work is most noble when it serves not only your own house, but your community and the earth.”  She values abundance and hard work, but in the context of service to the greater good.  She is a reminder to prioritize our values, even if we are in the midst of the rat race of capitalism, and to use our gains in a way that encourages healthy, equitable growth. 

Is there somebody in your life who provides this queen's energy?  When have you embodied it yourself?  How else does the Queen of Pentacles show up in your life?

Suit Meanings and Reading Runs

Part of the Down Home Tarot approach is not to overburden beginners or casual tarot enthusiasts with tons of hidden or esoteric information; I've said before that just knowing one meaning per card can lead to plenty of quality interactions with your deck.  However, if you're reading a blog about tarot cards, you probably enjoy learning a bit more about them, even if you choose not to incorporate every detail into your own practice. Personally, I don't use sacred geometry or much astrology in my readings. But I do incorporate suit meanings, which allows me to read runs of minor arcana.

A run of a suit means that you have three or more cards of a given suit in your spread.  For example, if I read a Celtic Cross--which has ten cards--I could end up with, say, five different sword cards.  That means I had a run of swords in that spread.  You can, of course, have runs of more than one suit if your spread is large enough.

So what does that mean?  Well, each suit is associated with not only its own domain, but a cardinal direction, a season, and a classical element.  I especially like incorporating the seasons into my reading.  You can totally pick and choose what works for you!  Probably the most significant and frequently-used associations are the domains of each suit.

Swords are the domain of intellect, and govern communication, truth, objectivity, and logic.  If you get a run of swords in a spread, it could mean that the querent is preoccupied with finding out the objective truth of a matter.  Perhaps it means that the querent is a particularly strong communicator.  The classical element associated with swords is air.

Cups signify emotions, and often indicate dreams, fantasy, intuition, and the subconscious. A run of cards could indicate that the querent relies heavily on their emotional reality, or that they often make decisions based on intuition.  Water is the cups' classical element.

Pentacles traditionally signify the domain of work or commerce, since they are originally literal money (coins).  More and more often, though, they are read as the physical aspect of reality, structure, and tangible existence.  A run of pentacles may mean that the material needs of the querent are prominent; it could also mean that the querent has a very practical, down-to-earth approach to life.  Pentacles are linked to the classical element of earth.

And finally, wands refer to the somewhat ill-defined domain of spirit. In this context, spirit refers to passion and creativity, energized action, and sometimes sexuality.  A run of wands may mean that the querent is eager to use their creative energy, or excited about changes and progress in their life.  Wands' classical element is fire.

When I am reading runs, I use these domains as a starting point for interpretation.  If you want to give it a try, I recommend not reading it too literally; allow these suit meanings to round out the narrative that is already present in the cards.  If that seems too intimidating, but you still want to work on reading runs, you can always just point out the run to the querent.  Saying something as simple as, "You have four wands in your spread; that usually indicates high creative energy," can be enough to add depth for the querent.  As always, it is up to you!

Do these domains resonate with you?  Do you think you will try to incorporate runs in your readings?  Would you like to here more about different associations with each suit?  Let us know in comments!

A Closer Look: Seven of Cups

Key words and concepts

• Overwhelming possibilities
• Lack of focus
• Inspiration
• Imagination
• Indecision
• Numbing through excess

Seven goblets brimming with treasures float among the clouds, tempting the character in the foreground. He hasn’t yet reached for any one cup, not having made a decision.  The character is overwhelmed and unable to evaluate his options, even though he is excited by the possibilities.

The seven of cups can be read simply as overwhelming possibilities leading to an inability to decide.  Each cup looks so tempting that it’s hard to pick just one!  The idea here is that, before we commit to a decision, we can let our imaginations run away with each unique opportunity. One description gives the example of somebody considering three possible romantic partners; instead of evaluating the decision and picking one person to date, the character on this card would instead spend their time imagining in great detail how each relationship could go, and get caught up in the fantasy.  In the end, their opportunities pass them by because of indecision. 

You can also look at this as the “careful what you wish for” card.  Some cards are full of exciting treats, like a fancy castle, a pile of jewels, or a laurel wreath (which symbolizes victory).  But look a little closer at that cup with the victorious laurel crown: There’s a skull hidden inside that cup!  Creepy, right?! Though our fantasies may gleam and shimmer in our minds, the reality may be much more mundane or even unpleasant. 

You’ll notice that one of the key concepts listed here is numbing through excess.  Some folks read this card as addiction or substance abuse.  I personally do not read cards that literally.  My tarot readings are not the place to explore medical or mental health issues in a diagnostic way.  A querent who is managing an addiction doesn’t need me to probe their substance use specifically; if I open the door by exploring themes of being overwhelmed or using excess to escape, the querent can decide whether or not it is helpful for them to disclose their addiction.  Tarot is about universal human experience, and everybody—whether or not they have experienced substance abuse—knows what it’s like to be overwhelmed and want to escape.  Use that as your starting point, not an assumption about addiction.

This brings me to another point about tarot.  You’ll notice on my Request a Reading page and my Etsy store, I point out that tarot is for entertainment purposes only and not a substitute for healthcare.  That’s not because tarot isn’t useful for healing, growth, insight, or even recovery from trauma; indeed, that’s what draws many people to the cards in the first place.  The disclaimer is because tarot readers are not necessarily trained to deal with the specific challenges posed to trauma survivors, or folks in recovery from addiction, or somebody working through a mental health diagnosis.  Tarot can certainly inform those experiences, but not in the same way treatment does (and not everybody pursues treatment in the same way).  I’m a social worker by trade, and work very hard not to “social work” my clients, because that is not the role in which they are coming to me.  

If you decide that you want to read tarot for strangers, I recommend having a list of local hotlines on hand.  If something comes up during a reading, do your best active listening and let the querent know that there are resources (and free ones are best).  Some populations for whom I keep hotlines on record include:

• Survivors of trauma/violence
• Veterans
• Folks in recovery from substance abuse
• Folks with mental illness
• Folks with disabilities or chronic illness
• Folks experiencing food scarcity (pantries, etc.)
• LGBTQIA folks
• Ex-prison residents (especially for jobs and housing)
• Immigrants and refugees
• Folks experiencing unwanted or unintended pregnancy

Local resources will vary greatly, but you can almost always find a national or state-level hotline for each of these issue.  

Having your cards read is an inherently vulnerable act.  We need to respect that vulnerability—and its associated risks—by recognizing our own limitations.  Tarot is such a powerful tool for growth and self-awareness; as readers, let’s also be a source of connection to resources for people in our community who need it the most.

A Closer Look: Queen of Swords

Key words and concepts

• Reflection
• Wisdom
• Mental acuity
• Impartiality
• Wit
• Experience
• Articulate speech
• Sorrow
• Pain

The Queen of Swords is an intriguing card with a lot of depth. I used to see her as cold and critical, using her intelligence to make fair but merciless decisions. My feelings towards her became more nuanced when I found suggestions that her wisdom and intelligence is a result of painful experiences in her past.  The Queen of Swords is well acquainted with sorrow, and if her judgments seem harsh, it's because life has left her with a clear sense of realism. 

She's not all judgment and criticism, though.  She's often described as witty and articulate; I think of her as having a silver tongue to go with her shiny sword, which is pointed skyward with calm confidence. She is a leader, and though she expects much from her followers, she gives back in wisdom and reflection. She always considers all sides of an argument or decision, no matter how difficult. 

I see the Queen of Swords as the Minor Arcana counterpart to Justice.  Whereas Justice is the pure form of the ideal, the Queen of Swords embodies fairness in the ways we encounter it in everyday life. She's the friend who isn't necessarily warm and fuzzy, but is always there for you when real disaster strikes.  She's the boss that makes a decision that is harsh, but takes the time to explain to her employees why it is necessary and helps them through it. She looks at life unflinchingly, unafraid to see things as they truly are, bringing wisdom, fairness, and measured consideration to a situation.  Ultimately, her goal is justice in service to her subjects.

Are there people in your life (not just women) who embody any of these aspects?  Have there been times in your life when you have drawn on your own internal Queen of Swords?  Be sure to share your thoughts in comments!

A Closer Look: Two of Cups

Key words and concepts

• Romance
• Kindred spirits
• Partnership
• Affinity
• Empathy
• Commitment
• Soul mates
• Well-balanced friendship

If you are new to tarot, you may very understandably think that the trump card the Lovers is the card of romance, but the two of cups deserves that distinction.  This example from the Universal Rider-Waite deck shows two people facing each other with formal but gentle postures, and Waite suggests that they are toasting their commitment to each other.  

I know this card was intended to be a woman (left) and a man (right), but I feel like the genders read much more ambiguously than that, which I really like.  I could easily see these two folks as men, women, or non-binary.  It creates more depth, and more accurately represents a "universal" experience, if we allow for more flexibility in interpreting the genders on the card.

Another aspect of this card that I see overlooked sometimes is the aspect of friendship.  I am guilty of seeing this card in a spread and automatically thinking, "Romance! Love! Sex!" The truth is, the two of cups also symbolizes the affinity our soul feels when encountering a best friend.  For as much as this card could be the romance card, it could also be called the bosom buddies card. Again, keeping this interpretation in mind helps your readings become more universal and more accessible; after all, you don't want to alienate an ace client by declaring a steamy affair is in their future.

Finally, there is the imagery of a caduceus and giant.... winged lion head? What does that have to do with relationships, love, and friendship?  Robert Place explains that these are references to the god Hermes, and the winged lion's head a reference to the ancient religion of Mithraic mysteries.  But what does that mean for reading the card?  Well, honestly, it doesn't change my reading that much. This is a great example of why it isn't necessary to have an exhaustive knowledge of ancient symbols and belief systems to understand tarot.  It's cool to realize that Waite was making a statement about the role of divine power in loving commitment, but it doesn't really change my personal connection with this card. 

The more you work with the two of cups, the more you will discover shades of meaning.  It could refer to relationships that are romantic or platonic, sexual or not, straight or queer.  When you see this card in a spread, I hope you feel the warmth of a tender, supportive connection.

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What does the two of cups evoke in you?  Do you have any particular decks with a two of cups you're just crazy about?  Let us know in comments!

A Closer Look: Ten of Cups

Key words and concepts

• Success 
• Happiness
• Contentment
• Emotional warmth
• Happy home life

It's hard not to smile when you pull the Ten of Cups.  The imagery is pretty literal: A dancing, happy family frolics before their simple but lush estate, framed overhead by a rainbow.  I mean, a rainbow, for Pete's sake. It's all almost a little over the top.

The key words above give you a pretty good sense of this card; one of the words I hear often for this card is "harmonious," in the sense of different parts of your life coming together in a cohesive, positive way.  The result is a secure life at home and a stable family.

One thing that challenges me about this card is the normativity: success is defined as a happy (hetero) romantic partnership and children, with fertile land of your own.  I could read this imagery as symbolic: the card means success and emotional warmth, but as defined by the querent (so, not necessarily a hetero relationship with kids while owning your own home).  But I could also read it as the expectation of traditional success.

For example, let's say I pull this card in a position that represents the querent's hopes and fears.  I could read it as the querent's desires for the traditional success as pictured in the card, with the fear that it won't happen.  But I could also read it as a discomfort with this particular representation of success, with hope for the querent's own authentic version of contentment instead.

Either reading would be consistent with this card, and the querent might be able to tell you which one is more accurate.  Ultimately, it's up to you to decide how to read it!

Pips vs. Pictures: A Follow-Up

I posted earlier today about choosing between pictorial Minor Arcana versus those with just pips.  I'm sharing an example here to make that distinction more clear.

To the right, you see the six of pentacles from a Marseilles-inspired deck (though it is likely that tarot originated in Italy, the French deck is considered one of the oldest available examples of tarot art).  If you were to compare it to a four of pentacles, it wouldn't offer much contrast.  As such, it's going to be much harder to remember the distinct meanings for each Minor Arcana.  They will be much more likely to blur together in your mind.

Below, you see the six of pentacles from the Fenestra deck, a contemporary deck based on Rider-Waite symbology.  You can see that it is fully illustrated, with characters interacting in an environment.  The character is giving coins to the children in the picture; it's so much easier to remember the meaning of generosity associated with this card!

I hope that makes the distinction more clear, and that you are better informed for choosing your deck!

Selecting a Deck

I often see folks say that you really have to handle your deck before you buy it, especially if it's your first deck.

Here's what I think.  If people can meet their spouses online, you can buy a deck of tarot cards online.

If you have access to a store, or a place where you can see the whole deck before you buy it, that can be a lot of fun!  Truth is, I live in a rural area and don't have access to those kind of options, so buying a deck online was more practical for me.  You can also do a lot of research on decks before ordering them, with some websites showcasing hundreds of decks.

I only have a couple general suggestions for people planning to use cards for reading (i.e. as opposed to getting them solely as a work of art).  In order for those suggestions to make sense, though, it helps to know how a typical tarot deck is organized.

The Major Arcana, or trump cards, are numbered zero through twenty one.  They represent a progression through stages of life, or typical events and people that most of us encounter. Their meanings are derived from a unique character or item portrayed, like the Star, the Hermit, Death, the Tower, or the Lovers.  They take on special prominence in spreads, and in the original game-playing use of tarot, they outranked number cards (think of the expression, "The issue is trumped by extenuating circumstances.")

The Minor Arcana are made up of four suits: cups, pentacles, wands, and swords.  These are numbered similarly to traditional playing cards, ace through ten and then the court cards.  As in playing cards, the king ranks highest, with the queen second highest (though I idiosyncratically read queens as higher).  Next in line is the knight, or in some cases, the prince.  Finally, the page, or sometimes princess, is the lowest ranking court card.

Now, the Major Arcana are almost always illustrated, and court cards often have at least something pictorial. But the numbered Minor Arcana sometimes only have pips, or the corresponding number of symbols.  In fact, the original tarot decks probably had pips instead of pictures for the Minor Arcana.  This means that they look more like traditional playing cards.

So what does this mean for you?  Well, it means that a deck listed as having "illustrated Minor Arcana" will have unique pictures on each card that will help you associate it with a distinct meaning.  If, instead, the Minor Arcana are listed as illustrated with pips, it means that there will just be the suit symbols.  These can still be beautiful decks, but they are much harder if you are just learning.  Many readers who use pip cards incorporate numerology in order to read these cards; that is an intriguing approach, for sure, but I like to keep it relatively simple.

This leads me to my first suggestion: Get illustrated Minor Arcana!  The very first deck I bought only had pips, and trying to memorize meanings was frustrating and arbitrary.  When I got my Rider-Waite deck, I was suddenly able to connect the card meanings to what I was seeing.  Learning tarot became much more rewarding.

A few other suggestions are simple: check online reviews if you can, seeing if anybody says anything about the paper quality and sturdiness.  When you get your cards, check for the Little White Book (LWB) that comes with almost every deck; this usually entails a card-by-card explanation and a few suggested spreads.  The quality of LWBs varies greatly, with some being useful and creative, and others confusing and poorly written.  Ultimately, I was able to come up with a better sense of card meanings by checking out books from the public library.

Keep these things in mind as you are buying and receiving your deck, but ultimately, don't overthink it.  It's always great to find that deck that sets your heart on fire, but you can also spend a lot of time searching for the Perfect Deck without ever getting your hands on some actual cards.  Get illustrated Minor Arcana, check your local library for tarot books, and have fun!