This is another post in the “Ask a Tarot Reader” series. If you have a question for me that you’d like to see featured here, please email me at tarrytowntarot@gmail.com, Subject line: “Ask a Tarot Reader”. Please specify how you would like your name to appear or if you wish to remain anonymous.
“How did the use of the significator card come about? How do you choose a significator? Do you use only Major Arcana cards, or all 78 cards?”
Historically… well, this required a little bit of research, and what I found out is suspect at best, and flat-out wrong at worst. I tend to take anything found on the internet with a grain of salt, and I ask my readers to do the same. Wiki Answers™ claims that “The use of a ‘significator card’ stems from the early practice of using Tarot cards at parties. Each party guest would select a card, and the rest of the guests would tell why that particular card fits the person who selected it. In many predictive Tarot spreads today, the ‘significator card’ may still be suggested. The ‘significator card’ represents the client for whom the reading is being made by the card reader. For this reason, many card readers invite their clients to sift through the cards of the Tarot deck, until they find a card that they feel represents them best.”
Now, I don’t know if that first part is true… (the whole “early practice of using Tarot cards at parties” thang… all I know is I was not invited to those kinds of parties!) but I DO know that most of the time, a significator IS used to represent the client… it’s used as a focal point for whatever tarot spread is being used.
How is a significator chosen? Here’s what I do: When I read for people, I usually include the significator as part of the shuffle… meaning I assign the significator randomly (or as random as tarot can be!) as the first card I pull and set down after shuffling. I use all 78 cards to choose the significator. I usually interchange the “situation” card for the “significator” card, but keep in mind that that’s how I happen to work, and not necessarily how all tarot readers work.
There are some spreads or readers that require the client to choose their own significator, based upon who they are, personality-wise, or what situation they want to know about. For example, if a person wanted to know about their love life, I would recommend their consciously pulled significator card be the 2 of Cups or the Lovers. I would then ask the person to shuffle while focusing on the significator card and think about the situation they want clarification on or questions about. It is the physical representation of the abstract situation. Signficators can also be chosen with regard to physical characteristics, such as male/female, light/dark hair, and I know of some people that use court cards exclusively as “person significators.”
For more helpful information about the significator, see these resources:
- “The Art of Choosing a Tarot Significator” by Susyn Blair-Hunt
- “Three Reasons Why You Should Use A Significator Card And Six Reasons Why You Should Not” by Douglas Gibb
Blessings,
~*~Hilary~*~
www.tarotbyhilary.com
The significator card: do you use it in your readings? Does your reader use it when you are receiving a reading? Share your experiences in the Comments section below.
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