Tarot glossary quiz: do you speak the reader's language?
A quiz on the language of tarot readers: querent, significator, clarifier card, elemental dignities, timing and narrative reading. Five of twelve.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
What does the tarot glossary quiz test?
Tarot has a working vocabulary of its own: querent, significator, clarifier, elemental dignities. This quiz checks whether you understand those words when you meet them in a book, on a forum or in someone else's reading. Every definition comes from Tayna's tarot glossary, where each term gets a sentence or two and usually an example.
Each round draws five questions out of twelve. Most are small scenes: something happens at the reading table, and you name it with the right term. An explanation appears after each answer, and a full review waits at the end, so even a wrong guess teaches you something.
Why learn the terms if you can read the pictures?
The pictures do come first, and intuitive reading from a first impression is a perfectly good way to work. Terms simply save words. "Missing suit" is quicker than "there is not a single Cup in this spread, and that means something too." And "repeat reading" reminds you straight away why asking again on the spot rarely helps.
Tarot books are also written in this language. Without it, it is hard to follow why an author says to "pull a clarifier" or why a significator is chosen before the spread. A couple of dozen words unlock almost the whole literature, from old manuals to modern blog breakdowns.
Words about people, cards and reading
It helps to sort the glossary into three groups. First, people: the querent asks, the reader interprets, and when you read for yourself you play both roles. Second, cards: the significator stands for a person or topic chosen in advance, the clarifier explains an unclear position, and some readers treat the bottom card of the deck as the hidden background of the question.
Third, techniques. Narrative reading ties the cards into one story with a start, a turn and an outcome. Elemental dignities show how neighbouring cards strengthen or weaken each other. Timing tries to express when through suit or number, but it is a helper, not a calendar. Keywords help you hold on to a card's core, but they never replace looking at the picture itself.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. What do you call the person who asks the cards a question?
Right answer: The querent
The querent is the one asking. The word comes from the Latin for "to seek, to ask".
2. The Queen of Cups is picked in advance to stand for you in the spread. What is she?
Right answer: The significator
A significator is chosen before the spread to stand for the querent or topic. It is usually a court card.
3. What is a "missing suit"?
Right answer: A suit absent from the spread
An absent suit is read too: that area of life is quiet right now or is not getting enough attention.
4. A position is unclear, so one more card is drawn to explain it. What is it called?
Right answer: A clarifier
A clarifier explains an unclear position. It adds detail but never cancels the main card.
5. The querent and the reader are always two different people.
Right answer: Myth
When you read for yourself, you are the querent and the reader at the same time.
6. What are "elemental dignities"?
Right answer: How neighbouring elements interact
Cards of the same element support each other, while Fire and Water, or Air and Earth, weaken each other.
7. Right after a reading, the cards are laid out again on the same question. What is that?
Right answer: A repeat reading
A repeat reading is usually discouraged. It is better to sit with the first answer or wait a while.
8. What does "timing" mean in tarot?
Right answer: Reading a timeframe from cards
Timing looks for when through suit or number. It is a helper technique, not an exact calendar.
9. What is the "bottom card" of the deck?
Right answer: The last card after the cut
It is the card left at the bottom after the cut. Some readers see it as the hidden background of the question.
10. A card's keywords fully replace looking at its picture.
Right answer: Myth
Keywords are a memory aid. They cannot replace the picture's details or the context of the spread.
11. What do you call reading a spread as one connected story?
Right answer: Narrative reading
Narrative reading links the cards into a story with a start, a turn and an outcome, so you see where things lead.
12. A card is read from its colours and first impression, with no book. What is that?
Right answer: Intuitive reading
Intuitive reading starts from impression, not a guidebook. It works best once the basics are familiar.