the karmic tarot cards in the major arcana

The Karmic Tarot Cards

the karmic tarot cards in the major arcana

In last week’s 11 Keys – An Advanced Love Tarot Spread, I briefly mentioned the ‘Karmic Cards’ and I was asked by a couple of people to extrapolate on this. Essentially, these are the cards that indicate issues either carrying over from a past life (or many past lives) or lessons pre-agreed upon in the Life Between Lives. For those of you interested in exploring Life Between Lives, I recommend the book Journey of Souls by Dr Michael Newton.

The Karmic Tarot Cards

A while back, I created a Past Life Connection Tarot spread. Before laying the cards out for this type of reading, I like to do a 9-square to see if there is an indication of a past life connection. I want at least two of the cards listed below to show up.

The High Priestess

The High Priestess corresponds to the Moon which shows what soul energy a person is carrying forward into this incarnation from past lives. Ancient subconscious patterns may be at work when this card shows up. Surrounding cards reveal more. Look out for at least one other karmic card to confirm that this concerns a shared past life in a relationship reading.

The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune can indicate a karmic connection and cycles of reincarnating together. It’s a sign of belonging to the same soul group or circle of souls that keep showing up together on earth to learn pre-agreed upon lessons as well as to resolve any lingering karma. It’s a neutral karmic indicator which means that you and the other person are simply here to grown and learn together.

Justice

Justice indicates a need to rebalance karma. If this card shows up with one other karmic card as well as the Hierophant, marriage between you and this soul mate is literally in the cards.

The Devil

The Devil could mean that one of you carries a heavy karmic debt toward the other person. The expression in the current lifetime usually creates a pattern of co-dependency to make sure these two are ‘glued together’ until the issue is forgiven/resolved one way or another. It can feel almost impossible to leave a relationship like this. However, there is no need to feel trapped. The door swings open quite easily once we forgive the other person.

The Tower

The Tower is akin to The Devil but usually carries more physical violence. Once it’s done, it’s done. You can’t escape it but it doesn’t tend to drag on like The Devil karmic space.

The Moon

The Moon is another neutral Past Life connection indicator but it shows an ancient connection with many shared past lives and coming closer to having resolved karmic issues. However, as you push toward the finish line, the challenges get tougher, so the relationship connection/issues indicated by this card can be tainted by deep fear.

Judgement

Judgement indicates that you have a karmic relationship with someone who is important in terms of your individual life purposes. You have a higher calling and without the other person, you may not find all the pieces of the jigsaw. You may even be on a path of divine service together.

The World

The World can indicate that you are ready to graduate. This may be your final incarnation both as a couple and as individuals. I would say this is especially true if it shows up next to the Judgement card. If it’s not graduation time, at the very least, you get to celebrate passing an exam together. A pattern will be uncovered once and for all. Well done!

love raven liora


Comments 35

  1. Hello Lisa,
    I just did a Past life connection spread concerning someone I’ve recently met; and as I laid out the cards for 9 Square I received the Wheel of Fortune as the first card, followed by the Hierophant, and at the very middle of the square was Justice. I then proceeded to the past life spread and saw in position 3 Justice again and Ace of cups for position 4. I was wondering what this could mean- was I possibly playing some significant role in the karma imbalance between us in our past connection?
    Huong

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  2. Hello:),
    I recently did a Celtic cross love spread about weather a soulmate couple would reconcile and even marry and I received Judgement for near future (which I am feeling a yes on reconciliation) and The Devil on outcome, where my question on your opinion is; I did clarifiers for the outcome of The Devil (he is also a Capricorn as a side note, but I believe it’s saying that they’re bound together/ Soul contract to marry in this life?) where I got Temperance and the Ace of Cups, and anytime I get an Ace I hover it above, and give it 2 cards where I got 8 of Pentacles and the Lovers. May I get your intuition on this outcome? Thank you again for this website it has been an amazing teaching tool over the years:) Many bright blessings, L.

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      I would not read Judgement as yes for reconcilation but see it as a sign that things are still very much in the balance and dependent on the soul mates following their soul’s guidance/calling – a life-changing decision is about to be made. Sadly, with the Devil as the outcome, I don’t believe they will reconcile to marry (or if they do, it wouldn’t be in their best interest… hard to tell without seeing the whole spread). As for using clarifiers, please read this: http://angelorum.co/topics/divination/jumpers-clarifiers-and-shadow-cards/

      Blessings to you!

  3. Having recently done a flop regarding an internet dating prospect, I had 5/6 major Arcana and two of the karmic cards show up. Tarot and the devil side by side. These are some genuinely dark cards in some people’s eyes,but they were comforting. I am wondering if you would view the Death card as a karmic card? It came.up in the relationship karma position and I kind of blinked.

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      So sorry for the late reply, Halo. Your question was hiding in the moderation queue and then I had comments turned off for quite a while. I consider Death more of a card of initiation and transformation but if you feel it is a karmic card by all means honour your intuitive guidance. Blessings, Lisa

  4. I FOUND some cards separated from my deck. Scattered over just a little area, each on their own. There were 5 cards. I didn’t really understand why, but I do know that jumping cards usually are the most significant. I asked the cards about me and Adam and the Ace of cups jumped out. I got my answer. This was May of last year. Nothing of our relationship has come to fruition. I just know we fell in love with each other on line but we have never met in person yet. We talked through Facebook only as I was married but I was never in love with my husband. I never knew the true feelings of Adam cause he would not disclose his feelings. No, he blew up one day and that’s when I found out, the man I was in love with, was very much in love with me too. I then found out why he had visited the state I was in a few days after my brother in law in beat me up while my husband stood there and watched him! He ran to me to get me away from my husband so he could be with me! I didn’t know and figured it out on my own last November. Well, Adam didn’t want to be in a relationship with me anymore and then ran around the states hooking up with all kinds of women after declaring he still had feelings for me. He broke my heart last December and I bashed him a few weeks ago for just wanting to be “Adam the Woo” and wanting to get laid after telling me he loves me, we have a future together! I bluntly stated this to him: Just let me f**k these women 1st. He broke my heart. He knows he screwed up. I know he still loves me, I found myself no blocked on his Instagram. He left a message on a picture and I’m trying not to get my hopes up, cause all he’s done is hurt me and give me false hope. I told him bluntly again, I’m depressed again and don’t care if I’m alive. All people do is hurt me and I can’t take it anymore. He visited a location in the movie the Cast Away and quoted a line but changed the words to you instead of I. He said: You’ve got to just keep breathing. The sun will rise tomorrow and you will never know what the tide may bring. My cards say reconciliation. I’ve been feeling him the last week wanting to be with me. I feel him pull me, he pulls my energy to him. I told him I love him and always will and I felt him so happy with me the next day and his eyes just glowed. But it’s these 5 cards separated from the deck that must have some sort of meaning to all of this. When I read this article, it finally clicked. The cards were: 3 of cups, Wheel of Fortune, Page of cups, Justice, and Ace of wands. I don’t want to get my hopes up. Cause all he’s done is hurt me. But these cards, this article, and just feeling him happy with me and wishing he was with me, has my heart racing and happy too. I learned he has liked me too from the very 1st day I sent him a friend request on Facebook and the day he added me. He opened up last December and then quickly went back into his shell. I think he knows he can lose me for good now. If he really truly loves me like he stated on his Disneyland New Year’s Wish daily vlog on YouTube, (I knew without a doubt, he was wishing for me.) He will come after me, we can officially meet and go from there. He’s told many of his 24,000+ followers on 1 channel of his and 115,000+ on his other. I do believe thousands of women and men know of me, for he has already did a vlog about me in 2013. He also told everyone on Twitter about me. A lot of his followers want him to meet me too. I just try my best not to get my hopes up too high as he’s broke my heart. He’s hurt me a lot. And knows this. Even my oracle cards from Doreen Virtue say good things. From what I’ve told you. The cards: 3 of cups, Wheel of Fortune, Page of cups, Justice and the Ace of Wands, and this article, do you feel we have a very good chance of reconciling? And eventually being together in a very happy loving relationship? Kelly on Keen.com says she seen us very in love and inseparable. I just don’t want to get my hopes up, just to get my heart broke once again. Our “relationship” started in Sept 2011. We’ve been hooked on each other ever since. We’ve literally been following each other since that day he added me on Facebook. I would love to hear your incite on the cards, the love story and this article that appears to make everything make complete sense. Sorry for the book! I know lots of people are in love with our story and are rooting for us, so I decided to share it now. Thousands of people already know. Please do let me know your thoughts. And I will update if anything happens. πŸ™‚

    1. You need to start living for YOU not for some man you have never even met. Only you can complete you. But I have seen this over and over when people are unhappily married. They start living in a fantasy world. Ask yourself “Why am I pinning all my hopes – for YEARS – on a man who won’t even see me? The answer lies in the perennial truth ‘We accept the love we think we deserve’… I’m rooting for YOU not for this fantasy drama.

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  5. Hi Lisa, what do you think of getting the Devil and the Hierophant in this context of karmic relationships using the 9 square? There were a total of 5 major arcana cards in the reading but the other 3 were The Sun, The Empress and The Fool, which don’t mean karmic ties. Thanks!

    1. It’s hard to say really… I see the first card of the 9 square as ‘setting the tone’ and the central card as the key… With that many Majors in a 9 square, they could all relate to the same past life issue… depends on what your question was and what YOUR intuitive guidance is telling you.

  6. I did a 3 tarot card spread very new to this but extremely confused as to what it means i asked if my ex was going to come back since it is a on and off relationship for some years now .. i got
    1.world
    2.Judgement
    3. 6 of cups
    From what ive read on tarot it signifies no to me and that the karmic relationship is complete i need to move on from my past .. that what i got from it am i right :/ i want to learn so much more

    1. It does look like a karmic relationship based on these three cards and yes, with the 6 of Cups he is likely to return. The question you should ask yourself/the cards is if it is for your highest good or if you are perhaps ready to graduate from the lessons of this relationship and move onto something more stable. Blessings

  7. How about the hanged man? I read somewhere here on this website that the hanged man is a common visitor on soulmates relationships….

    1. If I had had the experience of the Hanged Man showing up in this context, I would have shared. I’m sure other Tarotists will disagree. Ultimately, YOU are the authority – not some book or blog post author. Make a mental note of the possibility, record your readings and find out for yourself.

  8. Hi Lisa,
    I did the 9 square spread to look for indicators of shared past lives, and didn’t get any of the above karmic indicator cards, but did get the Sun, the Star and Temperance (which has come up in more than one reading over the last couple years regarding this person). Could those be karmic cards as well, or could it be that there’s not a whole lot of karma between this person and me? In a couple past readings over the last 3 years (done by others for me), Justice came up repeatedly- at least 5 different times, 2 of those times in a single spread in which the reader used a tarot deck and an oracle deck with a Justice card. I thought it was very interesting that it didn’t appear in this spread, as it seems to be a theme for me. Any thoughts? Many thanks.

    1. Sara, unless the other readings were for a possible past life connection, I wouldn’t go looking for a karmic meaning for Justice in those. I’m sure the readers knew what it meant to them at the time! A reading to establish if you have a karmic connection with someone is not a reading you repeat – you can only do it once. Having lots and lots of readings about a love interest by various readers usually creates confusions. The cards you pulled now sound absolutely wonderful (even though not indicating a karmic connection) – I take it you’re together and planning a bright future together…? If not, you may want to consider that you maybe have been reading on this a bit too much and the cards are starting to play tricks on you.

      1. The other readings weren’t for past life connections; they were for the present time. They did help me understand the dynamics going on and some of the spiritual influences too. I have been careful to not get readings on love life issues *too *often- maybe once or twice a year, but I could also see the possibility of me doing it on my own a wee bit too much, since I’m also practicing learning Tarot (and Lenormand) and it’s tempting to read on love issues! So yes, that could be what happened in the 9 Square I did last night… cards messing with me lol. Thank you again πŸ™‚

  9. So happy that you’ve written this post! The Devil card has come up for me and another person since we met and it feels very much like you describe. You say that “The door swings open quite easily once we forgive the other person”, but what can you do if you’re the person who needs to be forgiven? I feel like I’m the one trying to pay off the debt. πŸ™

  10. Thank you for this! I get Justice, the Moon, and Judgement repeatedly in my readings regarding one particular person, and always was wondering what that meant. This gives me better understanding.

      1. Hey Lisa beautiful spread..
        I was shocked how accurate it is… I did this spread for me n my ex.. We broke up due to his family n still kind of find it difficult to let go..:(
        Judgement
        Wheel of Fortune
        Devil
        Tower (R)
        Justice

          1. Thank you Lisa, It is hard to say because I only got one of the required major arcana cards…But then…there was a significant number of Majors in the spread like you said. My question was if I have a past life connection with this person. The first card was the 10 of cups and the central card was The Devil. Being The Devil such a powerful card and looking at its position as the key of the matter….I think there is a past life connection and unfortunately doesn’t seem to be a “desirable” connection. I have stopped contact with this person, after a disagreement with him and I certainly don’t want any co-dependent relationship with anybody…..Thank you Lisa for your input and for sharing your knowledge with us!

          2. Used entire deck for both the spreads n got these majors
            Judgement
            Wheel
            Hanged man
            Justice
            6 of cups
            Magician
            Devil
            Tower
            Sun
            Empress
            Don’t know what to expect πŸ™

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