Cilla Conway

The Intuitive Tarot

Welcome to The Intuitive Tarot, and another world. The cards will work for you on whatever level you desire – for occasional feedback, for a wise, lateral viewpoint, or as a guide to spiritual development.

The Tarot is a gateway to our intuition, which is in turn the link to a much wider, multi-dimensional universe. These other dimensions are all around us, deep and enticing, like the world of reflections in a still pool, hidden until we look for them. The figures in the Tarot journey through that world, and we can see ourselves reflected in them: a mirror world, which shows us as we are, and as we may become.

The Intuitive Tarot consists of seventy-eight fully pictorial cards, 8.8 x 12.8cm with a black title border at the bottom of each card. The original edition, now out of print, was smaller (7.3 x 11cm) with cream borders and a title border at bottom.

The oval motif that surrounds each image appeared at the same time as the Fool first announced himself on my sketch pad. He was a complete surprise – on that evening in 1973, I had been watching TV, idly doodling and when I glanced down, his strange, other-worldly gaze looked back at me. In that moment, I was transported into his world. I could feel the sun on my head, hear the birds cawing, smell the herbs of that Mediterranean landscape.

Every tarot deck consists of 22 ‘Major Arcana’ and 56 ‘Minor Arcana’. The original Minor Arcana were virtually identical to cards found at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, and it is now considered likely that the originals were brought to Italy from Constantinople before the fall of Byzantium. The Church in Italy was not impressed with this new gambling craze and railed against the cards. However, around 1392 different cards were invented – possibly as part of a wedding gift for Filippo Visconti, or alternatively (ironically) as part of the enormous religious Mystery Play floats. However it happened, these new cards were very popular and by the end of the 15th century both decks were amalgamated into one, the tarot as we know it today. The ‘Tarocchi’ cards were still used for gambling – the idea of using them for oracular use only began in the mid-16th Century.

Today most people see the 22 Major Arcana as powerful archetypes that all people would understand – images such as The Empress (the Mother), The Lovers, Justice, The Devil, The World. The Fool, who begins the story, offers us the concept of an innocent who bumbles through life but, somehow, has an innate wisdom that sees him through. The twenty steps that follow offer increasing stages of awareness until he or she reaches The World, the ultimate stage of self-awareness.

The fifty-six ‘Minor’ Arcana consist of four suits – 1-10 ‘pip’ cards of Batons, Cups, Discs and Swords, and the ‘court’ or ‘face’ cards. In the Tarot these are four Pages (either male or female), four Knights (usually male), four Queens, and four Kings. Today we see a wide variety of different titles: it has become customary to change these to suit the creator’s philosophy.

The Intuitive Tarot loosely follows what has become known as the ‘industry standard’ – the RWS. At the time I began my deck, I was blithely ignorant of any of this. I bought a deck but couldn’t work with it, so I began to paint my own, based on medieval tapestries. It wasn’t very good, and I eventually sold it to Stuart Kaplan of US Games, who put a few images into his Encyclopaedia of Tarot.

And then one evening, watching TV, I looked down and found I had doodled a Fool – a being so different from any Fool I’d seen to date that I was transfixed. I have always said that he called me into his world – it was not a summons I could have ignored. I’m still following in his footsteps today.

The Intuitive Tarot was reprinted in 2017 by my publishing company (cc3 publications, London), and, because of its powerful clarity and beautiful design, is popular with new users and discerning collector alike.

“I just got both decks (Intuitive Tarot and Devas) and I love them SO MUCH!! Can’t wait to have some time to really dig in to the guidebooks and use the cards. Thank you for these beauties, and for being so kind and helpful throughout the process of ordering them!”

Murileel, France – October 2020