Monday, April 28, 2025

Tarot Talk: The 004 Card Cut

 My Life in the Cards 

When I was a kid, the TV channel TBS used to show James Bond movies all week long. My favorite was "Live and Let Die" from 1973. In that movie, there was a character named Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour. She was a tarot card reader who worked for a bad guy named Kanaga. He was a diplomat from another country who wanted to control the heroin business in the United States.

Solitaire could read tarot cards almost perfectly as long as she was a virgin. For example, she could predict when James Bond was coming, what his mission was, and how he would travel. This helped the bad guys send assassins to try and kill him. In another scene, Solitaire could even follow Bond's movements in real-time using her tarot cards.

Back then, I hadn't started learning about magic, so I actually thought it was possible to read cards that accurately. I had the "virgin" part down, but I didn't have any tarot cards! One day, I was at the local drugstore getting ice cream and saw a magazine with an article about how to read regular playing cards. It was a tough choice between the ice cream and the magazine, but I ended up buying the magazine. I secretly brought it home and hid it under my mattress, like it was something I wasn't supposed to have. I read that article over and over until I knew most of it by heart. When I felt ready to try it out, I borrowed a deck of my grandfather's poker cards. For several months, I secretly practiced reading the playing cards and slowly started doing readings for my family.

Even though I liked playing cards, I really wanted a real tarot deck. In the summer of 1992, my aunt Ernestine bought me my first one, the Rider Waite deck, at a Waldenbooks store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That's when I started learning and practicing with tarot cards. I remember my first big prediction was that Bill Clinton would win the presidential election that November. And as we know, he did.


The Four Card Cut 



One of the first tarot card layouts I learned was the four-card cut, and it's still one of my favorites. Even though it looks simple, you can get a lot of information from these four cards. You can even draw an extra card for any of the positions if you need more clarity, or add more rows of cards.

To start, you shuffle the cards while thinking about your problem or question. When you feel they're shuffled enough, you divide them into four piles from left to right. These cards represent:

  • The Past
  • The Present
  • The Future
  • The Outcome

Besides looking at what each individual card means, I also look at the whole layout like a painting. I consider the balance of the different elements in the cards (like water, fire, earth, air). Are there a lot of cards from one element? Is any element missing? This can show what's needed to bring balance and solve the issue. I also look at the colors in the cards. Do they go from light to dark, or the other way around? Do they start cool and become warm? This can give you an idea of how the energy is flowing and how it might affect the final outcome.

Next, I look at each card individually. The first card shows the past or the person or event that started the problem. The second card, the present, is seen as a continuation of what happened in the past – it shows where you are now in relation to that. The third card represents the future as it grows out of the present situation. Finally, the last card shows the likely outcome if things continue as they are right now. I always tell the person I'm reading for that the choices they make in the present can change what happens in the future.

This simple but powerful layout was one of the first things I learned, and it still helps me understand the flow of time. It shows me what happened before, what's happening now, what might happen in the future, and what the potential result could be. It also reminds us that we always have the power to make choices that can change what's going to happen.


Carolina Dean 
Official Tarot Reader
12th House Books 


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