Tarot and Children?

Children take very easily to the Tarot. Tarot cards, after all, are rich with imagery and color. I recently read for guests at a family graduation party where there were a number of elementary school-aged children. While setting up the children, curious, wandered into my room to find out what I was up to. They knew I was the "fortune teller." I took out my deck and allowed the children to look at and handle the cards while I talked about how they worked. I explained that each card contained many stories. Then I asked the children to create stories about the individual cards. 

Story telling is a powerful technique to use when working with Tarot cards. They had never seen a Tarot deck. I was amazed at how fresh and interesting their interpretations were. I was using the Universal Waite deck, similar to the popular Rider Waite Smith. When one boy saw The Tower, he said it reminded him of Rapunzel. The Five of Swords looked to him like people getting ready to go to battle. One girl described the Five of Pentacles, a card many feel is difficult, as "the Five of Stars." Ella talked about the Eight of Swords which shows a blindfolded woman, her arms tied securely by her side surrounded by an arc of standing swords while a castle sits in the background. Most people seeing that card for the first time find it disquieting, But Ella talked about an invisible shield that protected her so she couldn't be hurt by the swords. Then she put The Devil and The Lovers card side-by-side and remarked at how similar they were--except The Devil is dark and The Lovers is light. Then we placed the Eight of Swords in a 3 card spread with The Devil in the middle and The Lovers on the left. I asked her to make up a story about the three cards. Ella described the woman depicted in the Eight of Swords as being trapped by the Devil who was trying to get her under his control like the other two human figures depicted in The Devil card. She said that the angel of The Lovers card, approximately the same size as the devil in The Devil card, was trying to rescue her. I asked her who she thought would win out. She responded that the angel would win because the angel represented good.

With that ease of interpretation, Ella is a natural.

Comments

[Sandra]

Ellen,
I was intrigued reading about your experience, reading at this event for children. I have yet to sit down with my 5 year old and let her examine my decks, although she said the Empress reminded her of me and made her feel calm. Perhaps it was the motherly essence of the card she was refering to.

[Ellen Zucker]

Based on her response to The Empress, I'm sure your child would respond well to the Tarot cards. If you are concerned about her reaction to the more difficult cards, you could either hand-pick the cards you do want her to see or pull the cards you don't feel she can handle.