Major Arcana cards and Court cards are usually used as significators. Photo by Steve Bonner.
By Michelle Crandell
SIGNIFICATOR: Tarot card INTENTIONALLY SELECTED to represent the person asking for advice or guidance from the Tarot. Some Tarot readers find it valuable to choose a significator for every querent. Some do not. Some Tarot spreads require a significator. Court cards are most commonly used as significators, followed by Major Arcana cards. Minor Arcana cards are rarely used; however, they are not ruled out completely as significators.
Ways to choose a significator include:
- Astrology: Use court cards. Air signs match swords, water matches cups, fire matches wands, and earth matches pentacles.
- Physical Appearance: Match the Court card with the age, sex, and general coloring of the querent. For example: a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman over 35 corresponds to Queen of Pentacles. This method of determining a significator is very old and rarely used by modern readers.
- Numerology: Angeles Arrien suggests adding the number of letters in your name and consulting a Court card chart to find your lifetime significator. Members of the Order of the Golden Dawn used court cards that matched twelve designated fractions of the calendar year as personal significators. For example: February 18 to March 11: Knight of Wands. Pages are not used.
- Archetypical Persona: The Major Arcana card corresponding with the querent’s Sun sign. For example: Capricorn and The Devil or Libra and Justice. Alternatively, the Major Arcana archetype the querent is manifesting or wants to manifest.
- Problem Addressed: Minor Arcana card is chosen based on the problem to be addressed. For example: the Five of Wands as significator for a question about coping with anxiety.
- Gut Feeling: Court/Major Arcana chosen by reader, querent, or both based on intuition.
More on this next month…
Michelle Crandell provides individual Tarot readings for a fee. Once a year, she teaches LEARN TO READ TAROT. Call if interested in her next class. To learn more, email michelle.crandell@gmail.com or call 501-655-6242.
{Find more of Michelle’s Tarot wisdom and articles on our website at thespringsmagazine.com/category/health-wellness/tarot/.
