How do Tarot cards work?

[yummyumm]

I just wandered, I would be intersted in finding out, is there a quick explanation or should I get a book from the library?

[andy-hughes]

The reading of the cards follows a specific pattern - you will need to check on how it's done - and the reader interperets the symbols revealed. The whole point is, the symbols are open to pretty wide interpertation - for example, the 'Death' card may not mean an actual fatality, it may just indicate misfortune.

If you want to pursue matters further, there will be plenty of books available.

[snook]

As for interpretation, yes, it can vary widely, but I think the point is that if the reader is gifted then he or she will be using the cards only as a guide and will use them to 'tune in' to the problem and its possible outcome. You'll see some tarot readers merely glance at the cards and then gaze off into the distance, as though seeing something becoming clear to them.

Of course, another interpretation of that is that the reader is just acting (though some card readers come up with very specific details regarding the questioner's life and problem, things that could hardly have been known by ordinary means, but if you think it's all bull then I'm sure that won't convince you!).