Tarot Cards and People's Looks?

[Emberlyn]

I received a book with some spreads and a few of them have cards that relate to how a person looks. How do you determine physical features?

 

[Laurel]

Honestly, I typically don't try to associate cards and looks. Some people are gifted in ways I'm not and can actually see clear images of what someone looks like just through divination and there's some old-fashioned attributions based on the tarot court cards but typically for me, I read people "inside out" and get first a strong sense of their personality and then *maybe* some flashes or images in my head that are vague at best and might very well just be my imagination adding pictures on its own, just like it does when I'm writing fiction.

 

[Sulis]

I don't think you can determine looks with tarot cards. I think cards speak, especially the courts, elementally and they describe what a person is like rather than what they look like.

Most tarot decks contain mainly white people and the descriptions I've read describing looks do that too and seem very old fashioned to me, especially since most of us now live in a multi-cultural society. I just don't think descriptions like 'a fair skinned, dark haired woman with blue eyes' cuts it these days. What if your client is black or you live somewhere where most of the people aren't Caucasian yet you use a deck like the RWS where black people or people of any colour whatsoever don't even exist?

I think tarot is deeper than what colour hair or eyes someone has.

 

[nisaba]

I received a book with some spreads and a few of them have cards that relate to how a person looks. How do you determine physical features?

The short answer is that you don't. Tarot cards are concerned with the inner world, with issues to do with temperament, behaviour, intellect and the heart. None of those are defined by colouring or physical features.

 

[rwcarter]

I don't think you're going to get "blonde hair and blue-eyed" or "pretty" as answers from the tarot unless you look at the people on the actual card you pull. You're more likely to get answers like, "She looks tired," "He looks impoverished," "She looks like somebody you don't want to mess with," etc. type answers from tarot cards.

Does the book you have include sample readings with those spreads so you can see how the author interprets the cards for looks? You can always rework the spread to change that looks position into one the tarot can answer for you.

Rodney

 

[Aeric]

Court cards used as significators in some popular old Tarot books are determined by hair, eye, and skin colour, usually chosen by the querent. Court cards that show up in spreads were sometimes taken to indicate people with such features.

I once knew a person who believed certain cards indicated levels of fitness; Nine of Cups meant excessive and out of shape, Seven of Pentacles fit and active, as well as other healthy/unhealthy cards like Temperance, Death, etc. I think Nine Cups + Ace of Pentacles was a sign of obesity or something. It was very strange. To my knowledge none of her predictions about peoples' size were accurate.

 

[seaglass]

I never liked the attributions such as "dark-haired" for pentacles or "red-headed" for wands. That said, I do have my own gut reactions for attractiveness...

Like, Queen of Pentacles is going to be naturally pretty (or handsome) and have understated good taste.

Queen of Wands is sexy, in both looks and spirit.

Knight of Pentacles is very attractive physically but also kind of brutish / unsophisticated.

etc etc

 

[seaglass]

I once knew a person who believed certain cards indicated levels of fitness; Nine of Cups meant excessive and out of shape, Seven of Pentacles fit and active, as well as other healthy/unhealthy cards like Temperance, Death, etc. I think Nine Cups + Ace of Pentacles was a sign of obesity or something. It was very strange. To my knowledge none of her predictions about peoples' size were accurate.

That's really funny, Aeric!

 

[danieljuk]

when I first dabbled with tarot about 20 years ago, all the books gave those physically descriptive meanings obsessively. They are horrendously limiting for people. I notice coming back to it in the last few years that it's really ignored these days. Using them, everyone is either blonde or good looking or brown haired or blue eyed etc. 'dark looks' for some of the court cards hardly covers all the darker than white skinned people in the world! lol

I try to not use them and also not use sexes either. It's limiting as well. Just look at the personality characteristics and the themes of the cards. Maybe astrological info can help with them as well. I don't think you can really guess someone's looks by them, well unless you ask what a future love will look like and get the exact card persona in real life for the person! although that would be freaky

 

[Emberlyn]

I have a book called "How to Read Tarot Cards" by Doris Chase Doane and King Keyes. It explains physical characteristics based on the Astrological sign that correlates to the card. I can post the physical attributes when I am finished putting them into my notes if anyone is interested in seeing what the authors view on this particular topic is.