I HAVE to ask.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 18 Aug 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

schaea	18 Aug 2001
Hello everyone, I haven't posted much here before (a couple of times, though), I mostly just "lurk". Most of my questions are answered in other posts. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Andrew and I have been practicing the tarot for almost 8 months now. Although I feel pretty comfortable with reading and what not, I do have one question that has been nagging me. What is a significator (sp?). I keep hearing everyone talking about them, but I have no clue what they are ??? Could someone give me a brief explanation as to what these are? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Regards, Andrew.

RiotFemme	18 Aug 2001
The significator is the card that is chosen to represent the person you are reading for. There are several ways to select this card. You could choose a Court card that corresponds to the age of the Querent (the person you are reading for). For example, choose a Page for a young, unmarried man or woman; a Queen or King for an older, mature, married woman or man. You can also use the Querent's physical characteristics to choose the significator. For example, the Queen of Wands for a blonde or redhead with light eyes. Or you can choose a card that represents the Querent's personality or temperament if you know him/her well. You could also choose the card using the Querent's astrological sign. Another way is to let the Querent select the card that he/she feels attracted to. Hope this helps.

Rhiannon	19 Aug 2001
I have also used the method MeeWah described under the thread "personal card" to figure out my querent's card and sometimes used that as thier significator. Especially if that description fits them better than a court card. Rhiannon :)

Mojo	19 Aug 2001
schaea, The use of a significator is a totally optional thing to do. I don't use them because I don't like reducing the deck by a card for a reading. I know some readers who pull a significator card from a different deck. Some people just choose from the court cards and some only from the major arcana. But like I said, I've never felt the need to use one.

The I HAVE to ask. thread was originally posted on 18 Aug 2001 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.