Episode 2: Live tarot workshop series: What is a significator (a picture, a card, your client?), how to use them — and so much more

Tarot Workshop series: Tarot Significators Q&A

Summary: Today we examine WHAT a significator is (for professional tarot readers, it is rarely a card), how to use one (or more), when to use one, and we cover what to do when cards sly out of the deck. LOTS of extras revealed along the way.

DETAILS:

Q: How to tell if a card is upright or reversed when they fly out during shuffling?

A:- Some readers refer to these cards as "Jumpers".

Usually happens when you're hyper-focused

Recommendations:

1. Discount statistics/law of probability. Just because something happens, doesn't mean it's divine providence, not everything is a "sign", if it is you will know it. If you miss it -- it's okay.

2. Do we flip it, do we turn it? Most people turn the card over regardless -- because subconsciously we need to make order so we end up flipping the card upright to see what it is.

Mentions of the "no-spread" technique, for more advanced students. **

Additional notes:

To get the most confidence out of this, stop for a moment, really focus on what you were thinking of the moment or prior to the card flipping out.

1. How does that card relate to that thought?
   
2. Does it make more sense if it were reversed versus upright?
   
3. If you can't find instant, clarity, resounding voice or sensation in your head of "this card is telling me this.. therefore reversed or upright makes sense". Set the card off to the side and keep going.

Don't ignore the card, just set it aside. Continue to shuffle with that card on the back burner in your mind.

Allow input from the peanut gallery, as long as the card that flips out does not stop you in your tracks midway and/or distract you from the rest of the reading.

How do we know if "jumper" card is meant to be reversed or upright?

• You don't, but context helps fill in the blanks. How relevant is the card (in both angles) to the question at hand?
• Until the card makes sense, don't stress out.

Q: Can we go over multiple significators, and when to use them?

A: Okay so why do we use significators in the first place?

• A Significator can represent "this is who we're reading about". Remember, if we have to memorize anything, memorize card position meanings, not card meanings.
• It is one card that sits outside of the spread OR it is the first card of the spread specifically in the celtic cross.

We don't always need it, sometimes it is a lot simpler without it — but really it's whatever works for you and the reading at hand.

***

When choosing a significator, preferably select one from the 2's to 10's, it provides more personality to the individual.

Ask yourself...

• Is this the circumstance the person is in, how does it relate back to the question?
• Does this card match what this person is going through now?

Significators do not need to be tarot cards at all.

The greatest significator ever is a photograph. Ever heard of psychometry?

Not to say that the tarot card itself is the actual person. Remember the Tarot is a tool to help your intuition. It's like Astrology, it's not about people's personality, it's a tool to help people answer questions. We just happen to be talking about people all the time.

We don't just assign or pull a random card as a significator. The significator is a grasp of who this person is in relation to the person asking the question.

If you don't have time.. just take a piece of paper, write KoS (King of Swords). Transmute, translate that KoS into a psychic image, your best guess to what "Bob" would appear like. Picturing Bob, or anthropomorphizing this description I'm given. I'm telescoping on Bob's energy. So that's a rundown of how or why we would use a significator.

-- Example --

A mother wants to know if her daughter is interested in marrying loser bob. In mothers mind, this guy is unacceptable or unworthy of her daughter. She's interested in knowing how it's going to go? She wants to know what's going on.

Simple answer is to do a "this or that" spread. This spread for Bob, that spread for the unnamed daughter. We're asking a central or overall question about how this relationship is going to be for each person. Because we're asking about people.

When do you need focal points? Ask yourself that when using multiple significators. When information gets too convoluted, if you can't just do spreads consecutively, if you need to have multiple points of references, that is where multiple significators work.