EASY TAROT COMBINATIONS

Easy Tarot Combinations: How to Connect the Cards for Insightful Readings © 2023 by Josephine Ellershaw. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Edition

First Printing, 2023

Book design by Mandie Brasington

Cover design by Shannon McKuhen

Editing by Laura Kurtz

Interior card spreads by Llewellyn Art Department

Tarot Original 1909 Deck © 2021 with art created by Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite. Used with permission of LoScarabeo.

Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)

ISBN: 978-0-7387-7271-4

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwardsed but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources.

Llewellyn Publications

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Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com

Printed in the United States of America

Other Books by Josephine Ellershaw

Easy Tarot: Learn to Reads the Cards Once and For All! (2007)

Easy Tarot Reading: The Process Revealed in Ten True Readings (2011)

The Chronicles of Destiny Fortune Cards (2014, Schiffer Publishing)

About the Author

For Josephine Ellershaw, the tarot has been a constant life companion on a personal journey that now spans five decades. She is the author of the international bestseller Easy Tarot: Learn to Read the Cards Once and For All, along with other titles: Easy Tarot Reading and The Chronicles of Destiny Fortune Cards. Based in North Yorkshire, England, Josie provides professional readings and mentoring to an international clientele.

In memory of Hamsavatar Das, my Vedic astrologer and spiritual guide of many years, who departed this realm whilst I was finishing this book. Sincere gratitude for your guidance, friendship, unwavering support, and encouragement to stand up and follow my dharma.

Acknowledgments

From an author’s perspective, writing can be an intense but solitary process, yet there’s a whole army of people who quietly occupy an unseen universe in the publishing house standing beside you. Behind the scenes they magically transform a manuscript into the finished item of “The Book,” until it finally lands in its shiny new cover.

To all the team at Llewellyn, who play such a huge role in the ongoing process before, during, and after we go to print, my sincere thanks and appreciation for everything you have done, and continue to do, in relation to my books.

With special thanks to my editor, Barbara Moore, for your wisdom and experience, support, and encouragement; your emails always arrive with smiles and sparkles to brighten the day. To my eagle-eyed production editor, Laura Kurtz, as we navigated some of the quirky differences between English and American language; I’m in awe of your skill and patience—and the fact you can do this every day!

Over the course of the last ten years, I’ve had the great pleasure to work with around a thousand students on an individual basis, and this book wouldn’t have been written had it not been for their persistent requests. I regret there are too many of you to personally mention, but I value the time we shared together and the insights you afforded me. I’m sorry it took me so long but hope it contains all you asked for.

As tarot readers, our clients arrive seeking guidance and answers, but through the experience we also gain knowledge through this mystical energy exchange as they sit across our table and open their lives and secrets to us. The information featured here is a result of all they taught and continue to teach me, and I’m grateful to those who entrust me with their confidences.

Sincere thanks to my family for their ongoing support and understanding when I was totally submerged in writing and missing in action—Daph, Rob and Hannah, Ems and Dave, and our little munchkins, you’re the best!

Special mention to Judy, Jennifer, and Gary, for your optimism and much needed light relief at just the right moment when I was buried in words and needed to come up for air.

With gratitude to my readers, without whom none of this would be possible; thank you for your continued support!

IX–The Hermit 230

X–Wheel of Fortune 233

XI–Justice 236

XII–The Hanged Man 240

XIII–Death 244

XIV–Temperance 247

XV–The Devil 251

XVI–The Tower 255

XVII–The Star 259

XVIII–The Moon 262

XIX–The Sun 266

XX–Judgement 270

XXI–The World 273

Chapter Four: Final Notes

The Probable Future 279

Six Degrees of Separation 280

Breaking It Down:

Reading Checklist Summary 280

Endnote 283

Bibliography 285

Introduction

The many facets of tarot never fail to amaze and inspire us with the different and varying ways the cards can be used, from providing personal insights to helpful guidance when reading for others. Yet of all the questions that arise regarding tarot reading, the one I’m most consistently asked is how to link the cards to tell the story they’re trying to convey. Once the individual cards are known, trying to join them together to produce a cohesive reading can be where some people start to feel discouraged. If you’ve ever felt this way, I’d like to reassure you that there’s no need, and it’s a perfectly normal part of the process until you find your feet. You may even be heartened to hear that those disjointed cards could actually form a certain type of combination too! In tarot, everything means something, even if at first it may not seem immediately apparent.

The way in which you read your cards is as unique and individual as you are; as you progress, you’ll start to add your own interpretation and flavour gained through your own tarot journey and reading experiences over time. To begin, most people usually follow someone else’s methods or a particular tradition and school of thought, adapting and adopting various styles until they feel comfortable and confident enough to branch out in their own way.

For the purposes of this book, we need to be sharing the same thought process in order for things to make sense, so what I share here is my own way of reading cards, developed over some fifty years. If my style is slightly different from yours, I can only encourage you to explore and experiment with an open mind to see if the results work for you and then adapt as necessary to suit your own purpose.

Similarly, some of my interpretations may vary from yours, but you can make adjustments if or when you choose. To begin, we both need to be speaking the same language, so please consider it a starting point or guidepost on your journey. As with all readers, your methods and interpretations will naturally evolve through time and experience. This book is intended to help guide you through those next steps into reading what are more commonly referred to as tarot combinations.