Guest author, LK Below

Today I welcome a guest, LK Below. Her newest release, Beauty in His Bed is set in New Orleans, and includes an awesome tarot scene. So she's talking a little about tarot cards:

Ten Fun Facts About Tarot Readings

1. Tarot originated as early as 1540. A book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli from that time period shows a rudimentary form of divination, though the cards held little meaning. By 1735-1750, the cards had developed means based on the symbolism of the drawings.

2. The most common deck is the Rider-Waite deck, designed by Pamela Coleman Smith based on instructions from occultist Arthur Edward Waite and originally published by the Rider Company in 1910.

3. Before tarot developed, the cards were called trifoni cards and used as playing cards for games like trumps.

4. There are 78 cards in a deck: 22 in the Major Arcana, and 56 in the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana consists of four suits, most commonly shown as: wands/staffs, swords, cups, and pentacles/coins. The cards in the Minor Arcana number from Aces to Ten and include Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings.

5. There are over fifty commonly used tarot layouts, and more being created all the time.

6. The oldest surviving tarot cards are from fifteen fragmented dekcs painted in the mid 1400s. They belonged to the Visconti-Sforza family, who were at the time the rulers of Milan.

7. Giacomo Casanova had a Russian mistress who read tarot cards.

8. The Bioardo Tarrochi poem, written between 1461 and 1494, describes the symbolism of the tarot (tarrochi) cards at that time.

9. Guido Gillabel has a museum called Tarot Haven, which contains over one thousand different decks.

10. It's featured briefly in my newest release, Beauty in His Bed!

Here's an excerpt:

After a minute, she looked up. “Has something turbulent happened to you recently?”

Flabbergasted, Amy felt her mouth drop open. She craned her neck to peer at the cards. Did they show that Tim had broken up with her? All she saw was a bunch of swords and staffs. What did that mean?

Danielle continued, “I only ask because of these cards.” She pointed at the first two. “This one, representing the past, is the two of swords. You see how the figure is blindfolded? That could indicate that you were once blinded to something or someone. Even so, based on the figure’s position, you also felt defensive. Maybe you’ve felt that way for a long time.” She moved on to the second card. “But here in the spot representing the present, you have the six of swords. It shows that you’re running away from something. See the choppy water on this side of the boat? You’re sailing from something bad into calmer waters. That could be the reason you’re here in New Orleans.”

Amy didn’t look at Monique. But she didn’t have to. Danielle was completely right--she was running from something. Her breakup.

When she didn’t say anything, Danielle pointed to the third and last card. This one was brighter than the others, with a yellow background and garland twining around four staffs. “This is your future, the four of wands. It indicates a celebration to come. Normally, this card means there will be a wedding in the future, but it could be any kind of party. A baby shower, a housewarming party, or even the celebration of an accomplishment.”

Unfortunately, Amy knew which one the card indicated. There would be a wedding in the future--it just wouldn’t be hers.

Beauty in His Bed is now available from Lyrical Press, Inc. Read more or buy it at http://bit.ly/BeautyInHisBed. Visit L.K. Below online at www.lbelow.net.