One of the reasons so many of us love tarot is the cards…we like to collect decks because we love the art. We love reading visual images (rather than words). In addition to the symbols, composition, and style in each of these tiny pieces of art, color plays an important role in how we respond to a card or to a spread.

Interpreting color as symbol can be tricky, as not all artists use the same sort of palate. However, artists create images meant to evoke certain responses and to do that they use the rules of design and also what they know of our responses to color. I don’t always consciously scan a reading for color in order to interpret it, but I do know that as a reader I do respond to color, particularly it shows up in several cards in a spread in a way that grabs my attention. Here are some of my responses to some colors in readings (which interestingly are not always the same responses in other areas of life):

Red: boldness, passion, courage, drive, strong energy, sometimes raw pain

Orange: drive, will (in other aspects of my life, orange is more fun, refreshing, light, but in tarot it has a definite focused energy)

Yellow: clarity

Green: prosperity, abundance

Dark blue: mystery, the soul, water

Light blue: serenity, peace, healing

Violet/purple: spirituality

White: purity

Grey (particularly sky): confusion, turbulence

Pink, brown, and black, unless they are in such abundance as to be impossible to ignore, usually don’t hold a lot of influence for me in a reading.

How does color effect your readings, or doesn’t it?