Are Significators Significant in Modern Tarot?

A significator is a card chosen to represent the querent or situation in a Tarot reading. In essence, this card “signifies” the focal point of the reading. I decided to address significators today because I stumbled upon a discussion about them in a Tarot group. After providing a brief response in the thread, I gave in to the urge to write about the subject in more detail.

Significators aren’t commonly used in Tarot reading these days. A few reasons that were stated in the discussion group that I felt provided a good summary were these:
~ It removes a card from the deck that could otherwise show up in the reading
~ It clutters up the reading space as an “extra” card without much value (you should know what you are reading about and who the reading is for, especially if you are reading for yourself)
~ It’s a “traditional” thing (hating on “traditions” and “systems” seems to be very trendy in the Tarot world right now)

First and foremost, significators serve a functional and practical purpose in the Golden Dawn’s Opening of the Key method of Tarot reading. Rather than being removed from the deck, the significator is an integral part of the reading process. It confirms the subject of the reading and dictates the direction for card counting, for example. (The OOK method of Tarot reading is beyond the scope of this blog post, but you can find a breakdown of the method on page 49 of this PDF of the Golden Dawn’s Book T, courtesy of Benebell Wen). This is a very significant detail about significators! I cannot stress this enough: Significators are an essential component in certain reading methods.

Unfortunately, it appears to me that as Tarot reading methods have changed and evolved, significators are sometimes awkwardly implemented. Currently, Tarot reading typically involves interpreting a single positional spread of cards, and the functional purpose of significators is lost in that translation. Therefore, instead of doing something, they are the card that just kind of sits at the sidelines, hence the first two major grievances listed above. It is easy to be dismissive of significators if they are completely passive and functionally insignificant. That is not always the case, and I think it is unfortunate that the significator in popular Tarot culture has become a shadow of its former self.

Now that we know, or have been reminded, that significators can be useful in the world of Tarot, what do we do with that information? I love Tarot traditions and learning about them, but I’m not going to deny that the OOK is involved, time consuming, and often impractical. Is there a way to incorporate significators into a Tarot reading that is both useful and feasible for the average reader’s time and needs? Yes!

Determining which card is the significator does not mean you need to remove it from the deck. You don’t do that in the OOK and you don’t have to do that in any other significator-centric reading method. You can say that the querent is the Queen of Swords, or that you are the Queen of Swords if you are reading for yourself, and then carry on with your deck intact. Locate the significator in your shuffled deck (be sure to keep the cards in order) and interpret the cards on either side. If you want to assign positional meanings for X number of cards to the left and right side of the significator, you are certainly free to do so. For example, the card directly to the left of the significator could represent the person’s job, and the card directly to the right can represent their home life. The key thing here is that the significator is the flag card. It’s says “Hey! Right here! I represent you, and the cards next to me are the ones that are really important right now!” You can get as detailed as you want with what the cards on either side of the significator represent. Create a large spread if you wish. The idea is that the significator tells you where the reading starts because it is in the center of it.

Another option that is inspired by the OOK is to decide upon a significator, then shuffle and deal the entire deck into piles. You can decide how many piles you want to make, just be sure that there are enough cards in each pile to fill your chosen layout of cards. After the entire deck is distributed, search through the stacks for the one with your significator in it. This is the pile from which you will shuffle and deal your spread. You can leave the significator in this pile or remove it for this final shuffle and deal. If the number of cards in each pile exceeds the number of cards in the spread, you can consider the extra cards as minor influences, or you can disregard them if you want to keep it simple. A lot of it depends on the number of piles you choose to create.

Some folks like to pull the significator card from a separate deck so that it can be set aside without removing a card from the working deck. (This was a popular response in the discussion group). I like this practice too because it allows you to use the significator as a meditative focal point while you shuffle cards for the reading. That, I think, is one of the best arguments for using a significator as a card that is “set aside,” whether it is from the working deck or a separate one.

Other folks say that they draw a significator at random. To me this is a bit more like a spread position than a significator. It seems synonymous with spread positions such as “you” or “the situation,” so while I understand the concept and I think it can be a good way to start off a reading, the purist in me says it is something slightly different than a true significator. But this is mere pedantry, and the point is that whatever you call it, if drawing a random “significator” card is useful to you, then do it and enjoy it. Select a significator and then draw one at random and read them together if you want to.

I think significators can be a good idea to incorporate because they engage you (if you are reading for yourself) or the querent, in a special way. It creates a deeper connection to the reading. This card is YOU. This is what is around YOU. It makes it more personal and exciting, doesn’t it? It makes you want to dig deeper and interpret the cards more fully because there is less disconnect between you and the cards. It’s a bridge of sorts. People enjoy getting Tarot readings because they like to hear about themselves (even things they already know). A significator puts them in the center of the action as a part of the deck. That makes for a vivid and memorable reading experience, and remembering a reading is what really matters when it comes down to implementing its wisdom.

To summarize, I would say that yes, significators do have a place in modern Tarot reading. It is easy to incorporate a significator as part of the action in contemporary reading styles. Don’t limit yourself to the idea that a significator is a card you have to remove from your deck. I personally think it works best when it is identified and returned to the pack to perform its service. So, if you find that setting aside a significator from your deck isn’t a good method for you, I encourage you to try a different approach, such as the ones I outlined here, before you completely “discard” the idea. Significators can make a reading significant – you just need to give them a job to do.

Happy Shuffling!