THE TAROT STUDIES GLOSSARY · A–Z
The Letter C
Explore Tarot terms beginning with C, from card positions, clarifiers, and Court Cards to correspondences, comparative study, and the emotional language of Cups.
On This Page
Card Charging
An optional ritual intended to dedicate a Tarot deck or associate it with a particular purpose. Practices vary and may involve focused intention, moonlight, crystals, prayer, or simply spending time with the cards. Charging is a personal practice, not a requirement for accurate reading.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: deck care, intention, ritual
Card Pairing Method
The practice of interpreting two cards as a connected statement rather than reading each one separately. Readers compare figures, symbols, elements, directions, and meanings to understand how the cards support, challenge, or modify one another.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: card relationships, combination, visual narrative
Card Position
The assigned role a card holds within a spread, such as past influence, present challenge, advice, or possible outcome. Position provides context and helps determine which part of a card’s meaning is most relevant.
Subject: Card Structure
Related terms: spread, positional meaning, layout
Card Relationships
The ways two or more cards influence, support, challenge, echo, or modify one another within a reading. Readers may compare imagery, direction, number, suit, element, position, and narrative sequence rather than interpreting every card as an isolated statement.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: Card Pairing Method, Visual Narrative, synthesis
Card Study
The intentional practice of learning a Tarot card through repeated observation, traditional meanings, symbolism, comparison, journaling, and experience. Card study develops familiarity without requiring the reader to memorize one rigid definition.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: Tarot Journaling, Comparative Tarot, Traditional Meaning
Cartomancy
The practice of divination or symbolic interpretation using cards. Tarot is one form of cartomancy, while playing-card reading, Lenormand, and Kipper are separate card systems with their own structures and methods.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: Tarot, Divination, Lenormand Deck
Chakras
Energy centers from Indian spiritual traditions that some modern Tarot readers use as a correspondence system. A chakra spread may explore themes such as grounding, communication, intuition, or emotional openness. This is a later interpretive overlay rather than part of the original Rider-Waite-Smith structure.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: energy centers, chakra spread, modern correspondence
Channeling
A spiritual practice in which a person believes they receive information from a nonphysical source. Some readers combine channeling with Tarot, but Tarot reading does not require it. Clear boundaries and honest language help distinguish symbolic interpretation from spiritual claims.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: intuition, mediumship, spiritual practice
Citrinitas
The yellowing stage in some alchemical models, associated with illumination, dawning awareness, and the emergence of wisdom. In symbolic Tarot study, it may be used to explore images of sunlight, awakening, and developing consciousness.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: alchemy, illumination, transformation
Clarifier
An additional card drawn to help explore an unclear card, position, or relationship within a spread. A clarifier should narrow the question or reveal another layer; repeatedly drawing cards can create more confusion instead of clarity.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: follow-up card, confusing card, focused question
Clearing the Deck
An optional practice used to reset attention or mark the transition between readings. A reader might shuffle, reorder, tap, fan, or quietly rest the cards. The practical value often lies in focus and ritual closure rather than a single required method.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: deck care, shuffling, ritual
Clusters and Patterns
Repeated visual or structural features that appear across several cards in a spread—such as many figures facing one direction, repeated numbers, dominant suits, or recurring colors. Patterns can reveal the reading’s strongest emphasis before individual details are interpreted.
Subject: Symbols and Imagery
Related terms: repetition, visual pattern, spread overview
Comparative Tarot
The study of how the same card or archetype appears across different decks and Tarot systems. Comparing artwork, titles, symbols, and guidebook interpretations can reveal both shared traditions and meaningful differences.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: deck comparison, Tarot systems, visual study
Consent in Tarot
Clear and voluntary agreement about whether a reading will take place and what it may explore. Consent includes respecting a person’s privacy, boundaries, and right to decline, redirect, or end a reading. It also discourages using Tarot to investigate another person’s private life without their participation.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: Querent, Relationship Spread, Agency in Tarot
Context in Tarot
The circumstances that help determine how a card’s meaning applies, including the question, spread position, surrounding cards, visual evidence, reading style, and the querent’s situation. Context turns a general card meaning into a specific interpretation.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: Interpretation, Card Position, Card Relationships
Correspondence
A symbolic association that connects a Tarot card with another system, such as an element, number, planet, zodiac sign, Hebrew letter, color, or alchemical stage. Correspondences can deepen study when used consistently, but they remain interpretive frameworks rather than the only meaning of a card.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: Elemental Correspondence, Astrological Association, Symbolic Framework
Counterfeit Deck
An unauthorized copy of an existing Tarot deck that is reproduced and sold without the creator’s or rights holder’s permission. Counterfeit decks may have lower print quality, altered packaging, missing guidebooks, or misleading seller information. The informal phrase “clone deck” is sometimes used for counterfeits, but it can also describe a legitimate deck that closely follows another deck’s structure, so the terms are not always interchangeable.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: clone deck, copyright, authorized edition
Court Cards
The sixteen personality or role cards of the Minor Arcana: Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings across the four suits. They may represent people, behaviors, developmental stages, social roles, or ways of expressing an element.
Subject: Card Structure
Related terms: Page, Knight, Queen, King
Cross-Elemental Conflict
Tension created when cards carry elemental qualities that traditionally oppose or weaken one another, such as Fire and Water. Readers use this relationship to explore friction, competing needs, or energies that require adjustment rather than treating either card as automatically negative.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: elemental dignity, Fire, Water
Cross-Spread Reading
A reading layout organized around intersecting horizontal and vertical lines. The crossing point often represents the central issue, while surrounding positions examine influences, tensions, or movement around it. Exact meanings depend on the specific spread design.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: cross layout, spread structure, central card
Crowley, Aleister
An English occultist and writer who developed the Thoth Tarot with artist Frieda Harris. Crowley supplied the deck’s esoteric framework, titles, and Thelemic, astrological, alchemical, and Qabalistic correspondences, while Harris translated those ideas into its distinctive painted imagery.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: Thoth Tarot, Golden Dawn Tarot System, Qabalah
Cultural Context
The historical, religious, artistic, or community setting from which a symbol, story, or practice comes. In Tarot study, cultural context helps readers recognize that similar-looking images may carry different meanings and encourages respectful study rather than treating traditions as interchangeable.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: Mythology, Indigenous Divination and Tarot, Esoteric Symbolism
Cups
One of the four Minor Arcana suits. In the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, Cups are associated with Water and commonly explore emotion, relationships, receptivity, imagination, and the ways people connect with one another.
Subject: Card Structure
Related terms: Water, emotions, Minor Arcana