THE TAROT STUDIES GLOSSARY · A–Z
The Letter F
Explore Tarot terms beginning with F, including Fire, Fours and Fives, focus cards, fortune-telling, free association, and the Fool’s Journey.
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Face Card
An informal name for a card that prominently represents a person or rank. In Tarot, the term usually refers to the Court Cards—Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings—although it comes from ordinary playing-card language rather than formal Tarot structure.
Subject: Card Structure
Related terms: Court Cards, rank, playing cards
Figure
A person, animal, or personified being shown in a Tarot image. A figure’s posture, expression, clothing, gaze, and relationship to the setting can provide important clues about the card’s mood and activity.
Subject: Symbols and Imagery
Related terms: body language, gaze, character
Fire
One of the four classical elements used in Tarot correspondences. Fire is commonly linked with Wands and describes qualities such as drive, creativity, desire, vitality, courage, and action. Its expression may be constructive, excessive, or depleted depending on context.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: Wands, passion, classical elements
Five
A number associated with disruption, challenge, instability, or necessary adjustment in Tarot numerology. The Fives often interrupt the relative order of Four, showing how each suit responds when its familiar structure is tested.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: numerology, challenge, Minor Arcana
Fixed Signs
The middle signs of each astrological season: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. They are associated with steadiness, continuation, concentration, and resistance to change. In Tarot correspondence systems, fixed energy can help describe what is sustained or difficult to shift.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: astrology, modality, zodiac
Focus Card
A card selected or drawn to establish the central theme of a reading, study session, or spread. Other cards may be interpreted in relation to it, helping the reader maintain a clear question instead of following every possible association. A focus card is established deliberately, while a key card may also emerge during interpretation.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: anchor card, central card, theme
Folk Magic Tarot Traditions
Ways of using Tarot that are woven into local, family, or community-based magical practices. Methods may include prayer, charms, protective customs, or regional forms of divination. Because folk traditions are culturally specific, they should not be treated as one universal system.
Subject: History and Systems
Related terms: regional practice, divination, cultural context
Fool’s Journey
A modern teaching framework that reads the Major Arcana as stages in a symbolic journey from innocence and possibility through experience, challenge, transformation, and integration. It is a useful learning story, not the only historical way to organize the cards.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: Major Arcana, archetypal journey, card sequence
Fortune-Telling
The use of Tarot or another divination method to describe future events or likely outcomes. Some readers practice predictive Tarot, while others emphasize reflection and choice. Responsible language distinguishes possibility from certainty and avoids presenting a reading as guaranteed fact.
Subject: Tarot Foundations
Related terms: prediction, divination, possible outcome
Four
A number associated with structure, stability, boundaries, rest, and consolidation in Tarot numerology. Fours show how a suit creates order, but they can also reveal when security becomes stagnation, withdrawal, or overcontrol.
Subject: Correspondences
Related terms: numerology, stability, Minor Arcana
Free Association
An intuitive exercise in which the reader records immediate words, memories, sensations, or ideas prompted by a card before consulting a guidebook. The method can uncover personal connections, but those responses should still be considered alongside the image, question, and traditional meaning.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: intuition, first impression, Tarot Journaling
Future Position
A spread position that explores what may develop if the current pattern continues. It is best read as a likely direction, emerging influence, or possibility rather than a fixed promise, especially when choices and circumstances can still change.
Subject: Reading Language
Related terms: Outcome Card, prediction, card position