From Esmeralda to Peaky Blinders, via the Arte radio podcast, Romanesque, told by Alexandre Romanès, founder of a circus, Gypsy culture has always fascinated. Queens of palmistry, fortune tellers in front of a crystal ball, medium … Gypsy women are given many gifts of divination. As the Egyptians or the Amerindian shamans have their own tarot, the gypsies also have their own deck of cards. "A confidential and kept secret tarot, which is transmitted from mother to daughter", says Ophélie, a fortune teller who hides behind the Instagram account @unregardversdemain.
What is gypsy tarot?
Very colorful and meticulously detailed, the real gypsy tarot is handmade. If it is transmitted from generation to generation, there is a reproduction explained by Tchalaï Unger. A journalist and psychotherapist, author of numerous books on the subject.
In this game, four colors dominate : blue for the feminine, the sacred, faith, yellow for the universe, red for the masculine and passion, and green which represents the path to follow. "Very powerful, it approaches the Marseille tarot", admits the fortune-teller, Ophélie. It then consists of 38 cards, including 22 mysteries which are not numbered. Then, "there are four series: roma, gypsies, gypsum and the family of gypsies"As with any oracle or tarot, each card, each blade has its own meaning. To learn to read the gypsy tarot and thus find the answers to your questions, it is therefore essential to understand each of the cards and the combinations that can be created. For example, the father represents the past, the mother represents balance and the child represents the future.
How to draw the gypsy tarot?
Drawing the tarot requires following certain rules. And it is all the more important with the gypsy tarot. "Start by removing your jewelry, then wash your hands, up to your elbow", explains Ophélie."You can also burn some incense, or place stones, to prepare and purify you. It is important to empty yourself and be calm so as not to influence the cards."Other advice: let the cards rest on Sunday and avoid drawing them on Monday. The saying goes that on the day of the Moon, the cards lie. So work with the cards between Tuesday and Saturday, remembering to ask the game for permission to use it. Despite all these rituals, Ophélie prefers to warn: "if the gypsy tarot decides not to speak, there is nothing to do. Give up and start another day ! "
Gypsy tarot: the different prints to test
With the divinatory arts, forget the rules to follow and let your intuition speak. This applies to the use of a pendulum or coffee beans, but also and above all, for drawing cards. Everyone is free to do as they wish depending on how they feel. So, to use the gypsy tarot, you have several possibilities:
- The print with three blades: take out an arcane which represents you (masculine or feminine according to your personality), then draw a card to predict the future (problem / answer) and another to give you an idea of how to act, to indicate you which decision to take.
- Past, present, future print: draw three cards, line them up and decipher the meaning of each.
- The cross print: widely used with the gypsy tarot, this method requires that all the cards are posed. We extract 5 which allow to form the cross.
"Vibrant, rich and very talking, the gypsy tarot, reputed to be one of the most powerful in the world, is easy to handle"For the fortune-teller, if this is not the easiest way to get started, it can perfectly suit beginners."The main thing is to trust yourself!"
Read also :
⋙ What is an oracle?
⋙ Cartomancy: the different meanings of the deck of 32 cards
⋙ Tarot des Saisons: meaning of the cards and prints of the oracle of Marc Angel