The word “significator” means “pointer”. In Tarot practice, a significator is a card that represents the querent. In some cases, the significator card is chosen for an object, situation or person in which the querent is interested.
The significator is usually denoted by the letter S.
There may be not one significator in the layout, but two or more. For example, in layouts related to the analysis of partnerships, it is convenient to lay out two significators, one for each partner.
Why is a signifier needed and is it needed at all?
The significator helps focus the layout. Its presence clearly indicates in the space of the layout field the fact that at the moment this layout is being made specifically for this person and in the context of exactly the question that was asked
The significator is not a mandatory card for interpreting layouts; they can be performed and read without it.
But many practicing tarot readers note that counseling using a significator significantly increases accuracy and facilitates the interpretation of layouts.
How to choose a significator? Two types of significators: semantic and formal
There are several ways to select a significator.
1) Traditional way
The significator is chosen from the Court Arcana cards. For women, a card is chosen from four Queens, for men – from Kings or from Knights in accordance with the color of hair and eyes, sometimes in accordance with age. A very young lady can be represented by a Page, and a very old lady can sometimes be represented by a King.
A significator chosen in this way is formal. It will tell us little about the client’s condition at the moment, about the essence of the situation.
Another disadvantage of this method is associated with the achievements of modern cosmetology. Nowadays people can easily change their appearance, hair color and even eye color using colored lenses.
Appearance by suit:
- Suit of Wands – blond, red hair, light eyes
- Color of cups – hair ashy, light brown and dark brown, eyes light
- Color of swords: brown-haired, brown eyes
- Suit of pentacles – brunettes, dark, black eyes
Age by face value:
- Pages are teenagers, usually up to 16–20 years old
- Knights – from 16–20 to 35–40 years
- Queens – 20 and older
- Kings – from 35–40 and older
A king may correspond to an older woman aged around 70 or older. When choosing a significator by age, you need to take into account the person’s life experience, status, level of responsibility and power.
2) Intuitive selection from Court Arcana cards
In this variant, the Court cards are laid out face up in front of the querent. And he is asked to choose one card that could represent himself. And if we are talking about relationships, then the second one is for the partner.
The querent selects cards by looking at the images and relying solely on intuition and personal feelings of identity or closeness with the card character.
This method is interesting and makes it possible to immediately see, based on the significators, the type of possible relationship in a couple. It can be called formal-semantic.
3) Astrological method
Since all Tarot cards have astrological correspondences, you can choose a significator based on information about the date of birth or on the data of the querent’s natal chart.
Most often, they look at what month a person was born, who he is according to his zodiac sign, and select the appropriate card, mainly from the Court Arcana cards, but also from the Numeric cards.
This type of signifier is quite formal. It does not describe the querent’s state at the moment.
Astrological correspondences
Wands:
King of Wands – Sagittarius
Queen of Wands – Aries
Knight of Wands – Leo
Page of Wands – Cancer-Leo-Virgo Quadrant
Cups:
King of Cups – Pisces
Queen of Cups – Cancer
Knight of Cups – Scorpio
Page of Cups – Quadrant Libra-Scorpio-Sagittarius
Swords:
King of Swords – Gemini
Queen of Swords – Libra
Knight of Swords – Aquarius
️Page of Swords – Quadrant Capricorn-Aquarius-Pisces
Pentacles:
King of Pentacles – Virgo
Queen of Pentacles – Capricorn
Knight of Pentacles – Taurus
Page of Pentacles – Quadrant Aries-Taurus-Gemini
4) Random selection
It is performed as follows: after shuffling the deck, the significator is taken out of the deck at random and laid out on the table. Next, other cards of the layout are taken out and laid out.
The significator in this case, more precisely than in previous versions, designates the querent at the moment in the context of the question asked.
Such a significator can reflect the current state of the querent or his role in the situation under consideration, and with its help it is possible to conduct a fairly detailed analysis of the querent’s role in the situation.
This type of signifier is a semantic one, since it gives a lot of information about the current state of the querent or the situation as a whole.
5) Random selection with the significator placed back in the deck
The querent’s significator is randomly taken from the deck, the tarot reader remembers it and puts it back into the deck. Then the deck is shuffled, and then the layout is performed.
The position in which the significator falls, or the whole stack of cards in which it is found, has a special meaning. It is also a semantic signifier. A similar technique is used in more complex technologies for performing layouts.
