In this blog, I want to provide a source for you to learn how to read tarot and more specifically how to use your intuition paired with my unique knowledge of how the tarot deck is constructed to learn the tarot better and form a solid understanding of how all the cards work together to master your reading abilities and give the most accurate and comprehensive readings.
This article will not be focused on the definitions of the cards, but rather, lesser talked about techniques to reduce the need to remember all the definitions and form your own understanding instead. Spoiler alert! What you draw from this should align with those actual definitions! let's begin!
What is tarot?
Tarot is a deck of cards consisting of 78 total cards. Tarot is a divination tool that provides direct contact with the spiritual realm and can be used to answer many of life's questions, navigate challenges, divine the future, and provide spiritual guidance. In this article, I am breaking the deck down into 6 categories and will cover what each category represents and how to use the numbers, suites, and other references for easy memory in understanding the meanings of the cards.
Before we jump in, I just want to say that while the traditional meanings of the cards are very important, so is your intuition and I encourage you to always honor your gut feelings during a reading. This is what makes you a true psychic reader and not just a "book reader".
The 6 categories
1) The major arcana
2) The cups
3) The wands
4) The pentacles
5) The swords
6) The court cards or "the people"
The major arcana
There are 22 major Arcana tarot cards in a deck. These cards represent the big things in life; Life lessons, karmic influences, themes, and influences. Whenever a major arcana comes up in a reading, this should be a big focus and will tell you about the big life influence or circumstance that is bringing up all the other cards. For example, when I draw the Death card, I know that there is some ending or transformation that is happening for the person I am reading, or if I draw the lovers, chances are this reading is about a relationship. It does not matter whether the major arcana is the first card you draw or if it's the last, just remember that it is telling a main situation or circumstance.
The major arcana meanings:
Listed below are some short keywords for each card including the reversed meaning. Since I will not provide all the definitions for the 78 cards here, I do suggest checking out biddytarot.com for the definitions.
0 The Fool
upright- New beginning, Freedom
reversed- Naivete, fear of change
1 The magician
upright- manifestation, inspired action, creating
reversed-manipulation, disconnection from personal power
2 The High Priestess
upright- intuition, self-knowledge, divine feminine
reversed- disconnected from intuition, refusal to look within
3 The Empress
upright- receiving love, creativity
reversed- disconnection, creative blocks
4 The Emperor
upright- Inspired action, stability, personal power
reversed- inability to take action, defensive/reactive, arrogant
5 The Hierophant
upright- Teacher, tradition, spiritual
reversed- Rigid beliefs, refusal to learn
6 The Lovers
upright- Relationship, alignment
reversed- Disharmony, imbalance
7 The Chariot
upright- Inspired action, momentum, willpower
reversed- Stagnation, roadblocks, inability to move forward
8 Strength
upright- Overcoming obstacles, endurance, balance
reversed- apprehension, lacking confidence
9 The Hermit
upright- Wisdom, inner reflection
reversed- Loneliness, solitude
10 Wheel of Fortune
upright- Cycles, change
reversed- Delays, setbacks
11 Justice
upright- Truth, balance, fairness
reversed- imbalance, unfair treatment
12 The Hanged Man
upright- Waiting, shifting perspective
reversed- impatience, inertia
13 Death
upright- Transformation, release, one door closes another door opens
reversed- clinging to the past, refusing to change
14 Temperance
upright- moderation, harmony, divine timing
reversed- imbalance, pushing for results
15 The Devil
upright- sabotage, addiction, narcissist
reversed- Release, liberation
16 The Tower
upright- upheaval, sudden change, shit hit the fan
reversed- hanging on, fear of letting go
17 The Star
upright- Hope, Healing
reversed- Loss of faith, disconnection from source
18 The Moon
upright- Dreams, Illusions
reversed- Not seeing the truth, avoiding difficulties
19 The Sun
upright- Clarity, optimism
reversed- pessimism, confusion, unhappiness
20 Judgement
upright- awakening, acceptance
reversed- self-doubt, resentment
21 The World
upright- successful completion, reaping rewards
reversed- incomplete action, delayed celebration
Take a while to memorize the above keywords for the major arcana and consider separating all the majors from your deck to connect with them one card at a time. Allow yourself to contemplate the images on the cards. How do they make you feel? Happy? Sad? Scared? or motivated? Acknowledging your feelings when seeing a card is key to intuitive reading. Make this a practice with not only the major arcana, but all the cards to come.
Now let's jump into the other suits, I want to provide some references that I believe will make learning the tarot much easier!
The suites
Pentacles- Relate the element earth and correspond to money and material things.
Cups- Relate to the element water and correspond to emotions.
Wands- Relate to the element of fire and correspond to passions and ambitions.
Swords- Relate to the element air and correspond to intellectual thought (thinking, mental)
Numbers
All of the suites are numbered 1 through 10 except for the court cards (or the people) which we will talk about later. Understanding the basic meanings of numbers will assist you even if you forget the definition of a specific card.
1- the individual, new beginning
2- choice, partnership, duality
3- creativity, collaboration, community
4- structure, stability, foundation
5- change, instability, loss
6- balance, harmony, choice
7- inspired action, magic
8- infinity, success, power
9- alone, near completion
10- completion, end of a cycle
With knowing both what the suites stand for and the meaning of a number, you can pretty effectively deduce the meaning of a card. Here is an example:
5 of pentacles; We know that pentacles relate to money and 5 relates to loss, change, or instability. Therefore the 5 of pentacles is talking about financial loss or instability. See how that works? For another example, let's use the 2 of cups. 2 relates to unity or partnership and cups relate to emotions so 2 of cups means partnership or relationship.
Now that we have talked about the basic principle of using the meanings of numbers and the suites, you can practice drawing any of the minor arcana cards and test this theory for yourself. I'm not going to list all the definitions here, but you can use a website like bidytarot.com to check your results.
The court cards "The People"
Now that we have covered the major arcana and the suites (that's 5 categories), we are going to delve into the court cards. The court cards depict specific people or personality traits within the deck. These can represent the influence of other people in your life and how they influence you or a situation. The court cards can also represent personality traits and serve as a suggestion of how you should handle a situation. An example of this: The queen of swords comes up in your career reading. For me, the queen of swords is strategic and no bull shit. She takes matters into her own hands and gets the job done. What she says goes. So by pulling this card, I know that you need to step into your confidence and put your foot down. Create a plan and go for it. Take the lead in order to climb that corporate ladder!
From experience, I know that the court cards are usually the hardest to learn. With that said, I'll provide a trick to making this learning process simple.
There are 4 court cards in each suite (pentacles, cups, swords, and wands) The four court cards are the Page, Knights, Queen, and King. I like to think of them as a family and pair the ages along with gender to determine the meaning of the card. Here's a breakdown.
-Page Youngest, starting new things, curious, naive, no specific gender
-Knight Maturing, ambitious, quick moving, eager, starting to master skills, no specific gender
-Queen Feminine, nurturing, supportive, the matriarch, the leader under the King
-King Masculine, assertive, knowledgeable, experienced, the Patriarch, The leader
So now that we know the qualities of the court cards, we also have to pair the meanings of the suites. Remember the breakdown earlier (pentacles, swords, cups, and wands). To practice, let's take the King of Pentacles for example. King is knowledgeable and experienced, pentacles relate to money, so The king of pentacles is probably experienced with money matters and would be someone to seek as a financial advisor. Here's one more example. Let's pick the page of pentacles. We know we're still in the money department, but now we have a young, inexperienced person who's probably learning new things. The page of pentacles may be starting a new job or learning something new with money. The page should definitely reach out to the king for his advice.
There you have it. As you can see, instead of listing out 78 definitions of the cards, I am teaching you simplified techniques and references to more easily learn how to read the tarot! We do, however, have one last topic to discuss... Intuition
Intuition and discernment
I suppose I can break this point down into two categories so that we can differentiate using both intuition and discernment during your readings. These are going to give you the deepest connection to your tarot and provide the most detailed and accurate tarot readings you can deliver.
Discernment-
Discernment is using your powers of observation and truly taking the time to pay attention to the details and imagery in your cards. You have already learned how to pair numbers and suites to determine the meaning, but the imagery in the card can tell you so much more. What are the primary colors in the card you observe? Are they bright and uplifting or are they dark and drap? Do the characters look like they are celebrating or are they suffering or fighting? always pay attention because the imagery really can be a dead giveaway to what the card is about. Making a practice of this will also allow you to slow down and catch all the details and your reading will be more accurate and heart-felt.
Intuition-
This is definitely the hardest part of reading tarot but also the most powerful tool you can develop. This is what separates you from what we call "book readers" who simply read the definitions and unfortunately have no "soul" to the reading. The concept is simple. Pay attention to all of your feelings when doing the reading. Thats it? Yes, but the practice is challenging because your mind wants to dismiss everything.
During a reading, you are going to pick up energy from the cards, from spirit, and from the person you are reading for. The cards may look like happy cards but all you feel is sadness or anxiety. Why? This may be your intuition telling you that the person is seeking these happy things but they are currently unhappy with everything around them. The tone of the reading would change here and your focus would then be to help them take the necessary steps to reach that happiness.
Your intuition will also guide you through the reading and help you as the reader determine what questions should be asked, especially if the client can't think of a question or doesn't know how to proceed. You are the master here, the spiritual advisor, so make a habit of listening to all of your feelings and sharing them even if they may not make sense to you at the time.
I hope that you have enjoyed this article on my methods for learning tarot. It is my goal that it makes the process a little easier for you, especially if you are a complete newbie. Let this help you become a master in no time! If you are interested in a one-on-one mentorship program, where you can learn tarot from me you can book a session below!
Please feel free to comment below and share your thoughts. Have the things I suggested helped you? What specifically stood out for you? Do you have anything you would add or share with other people reading this blog?
Thank you! This layout has really put learning into a simpler breakdown that I can reference to. I appreciate your secrets you have listed. Great blog!