Tarot reading is the practice of divining wisdom and guidance through a specific spread of Tarot cards. However, contrary to popular belief, the cards do not simply tell your fortune, and are definitely nothing to be afraid of! Hollywood has certainly capitalized on the image of a spooky woman with a crystal ball reading fortunes in the back corner of the local festival. Much to the innocent characters dismay, the spooky woman turns the death card!! Oh No! Doom!! This is not the case at all with tarot reading, I assure you. The cards provide insight into the innermost truths of your higher self. They give life and meaning to the energies currently surrounding a situation. In other words, the cards provide an evolved awareness of what you already know deep within. The origin of the Tarot is unknown, but we do have documented references of Tarot card use back to fourteenth century Europe. With the most popular version named the Rider Waite Smith desk illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith and based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite. The Tarot has been used as an oracle, in the basic form we know today, since the beginning of the seventeenth century.