The most common description of tarot cards is that they are a deck of cards used to help answer some of life's more difficult questions. This includes the employment of the multi-layered symbolism in the pictures for divination and fortune telling. People often interpret these aspects of tarot cards as being a tool for insight and guideance. Other definitions include the use of tarot cards for astrological interpretations, or simply, as a game of cards.

Presumably, tarot cards originally existed as a card game for entertainment amongst the upper court classes of ancient cultures. Therefore, the description of tarot cards as a game of trumps is perhaps the oldest known. In the tarot game of trumps (derived from the word "triumph") there were 21 special cards which could be played, regardless of what suit was let, and they outranked all other "ordinary" cards. The association with "special" and the ability to outrank other cards no doubt fueled the idea that they held great power.

The description of tarot cards transformed from card game to divination when devotees of the occult arts in Europe claimed mystical and magical elements to the designs. The four suits, Wands, Swords, X and X were associated with elements of the natural world by these early Europeans and they incorporated the use of the images on the cards into their already existing occult beliefs. The dealing of a hand of cards then, became a practice of the Druids, the pagan priests, giving them a position of mastery as they guided and directed the lives of their people. From that time until present day, the most common description of tarot cards is that they are an artifact of the occult used to direct life choices.

Following this description, let us examine how tarot cards work. Traditionally, the cards are dealt and read by a master, a man or woman who has studied the pictures in depth and who knows not only the meanings of each card, but also how each meaning is influenced and affected by other cards placed in close proximity.

The master shuffles the cards and then places the deck in front of the recipient. The recipient then cuts the deck. After the deck has been cut, the master begins to turn the cards face up in a pre-determined pattern. There are many different patterns, or spreads, as they are called, and the reader usually favors one or two spreads over all the others. In this way, a reader is usually a master of a particular style of deck and the most commonly associated spreads that go with that deck's traditions.

As the reader turns up each card, s/he identifies what it is and tells the recipient its meaning. With each additional card, the master then explains how it relates to the other cards in the spread. When all the cards in the spread have been revealed and discussed, the reading is concluded.