Larisa
Larisa’s reading style
Larisa reads the cards together with their mythological, astrological and esoteric symbols as well as their classic meanings. She sees tarot as a tool for guidance rather than a pronouncement of fate. She reads difficult cards directly: Death describes the end of a chapter and transformation; the Tower, sudden realisations and upheaval in an established order; the Devil, addiction, obsession, unhealthy bonds, control and the shadow. These are the themes she names when explaining her approach to Death, the Tower and the Devil, alongside the surrounding cards and the question being asked.
She reads relationships through the dynamic between two people rather than “do they love me or not?”. She reads a reversed card in the light of the question and the cards around it, never the same way every time. And she approaches dreams as a whole that is symbolic, psychological and esoteric at once.
Every meaning here is written from this point of view. The “Larisa’s approach” boxes on the card and dream pages are drawn from what she has said herself and given in her own voice.
The symbolic language of each tradition
Tarot. The meanings follow the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition, the most widely used tarot system in the world today. The pairings between cards, signs and planets come from the Golden Dawn tradition that shaped that deck. Every card page also reads the symbols of its drawing in the Larisa deck.
Katina. The Katina meanings rest on Katina’s own reading language. Person cards, objects and symbols are always read with the cards beside them; a neighbouring card can soften a message or sharpen it.
Dreams. A dream symbol is read first through the feeling in the dream, because that is usually what carries the message. Then comes the traditional folk reading: interpretations handed down through generations, presented as the wisdom of a culture.
How to read a meaning page
Begin with the short answer, then follow the kind of reading you need. Tarot meanings cover upright and reversed cards, love, career, money, mood, which way the card leans in a yes-or-no question, combinations and symbols. Katina meanings centre on relationships, work, reversals and neighbouring cards.
Dream meanings follow a different route: the symbol’s central theme, specific scenes, emotions, traditional readings and related cards. Being chased by a snake and catching one yourself are different scenes, so compare what happened with the feeling you remember most clearly.
The questions at the end of each page answer what people most want to know about that card or dream. Related cards, spreads and dreams are linked at the foot of every page, so you can follow your own question from one meaning to the next.
The readers in the Larisa app
In the Birth Chart Tarot by Larisa app, your readings are given by five reader characters: Selene, Mira, Daren, Liora and Orion. Each has a voice of its own, and all of them were designed within Larisa’s approach to reading. In the app, it is these readers who read for you, not Larisa herself.
The readers follow the same line as the meanings here: they read a card or a dream as guidance to reflect on, never as a certain future.
What we keep in mind
- Read the present situation. Begin with the pressure, choice or recurring pattern in your question. Compare the cards’ themes with what is already happening, and use the outcome position to examine the direction of the spread as a whole.
- Keep relationship readings grounded. Read the bond, your experience of it and the contrast between the positions. Separate what you observe in the relationship from what you assume about the other person.
- Read money through everyday choices. Focus on earning, spending, the value of your effort and your relationship with security and abundance.
- Read tradition as culture. Notice the associations a dream book or folk tradition gives a symbol, then return to the dream’s scene and the feeling it left with you.
Put the reading method into practice
Take one question and compare the card’s central theme with its position and the cards beside it. For a dream, write down the strongest image, the scene and the feeling before choosing a symbol to explore. Larisa’s account of learning this symbolic language is in About Larisa.