Reading Tarot: Mastering the meanings of the cards

Some traditionalists claim you should learn all the meanings of the cards by heart before you ever do a Tarot reading.

But if you’ve been reading my Tarot series, you’ll know that I call Tarot a language. Requiring that a reader know all the meanings before they start would be like insisting that no one should ever speak a language until they know it perfectly. Neither is realistic.

It does seem reasonable to say that you probably shouldn’t be charging for readings until you have mastered all of the cards, but I personally wouldn’t have a problem with a paid reader who consulted a stack of well-written books to clarify a specific point on a particular card.

I wouldn’t want to pay a translator who didn’t know the language at all, but I have nothing against a skilled translator double-checking with a dictionary.

And as for the learner who is doing readings for themselves and their friends and family, I don’t really know any other functional way to learn the cards (or another language, for that matter). One could in theory, simply study the definitions like the multiplication tables and attempt to learn the basics by heart. But it is unlikely that real understanding would accompany this.

Gaian Tarot - photo by Arie Farnam

The fact is that these are archetypal aspects of life, personality types and key concepts. They are a lot more complex than the multiplication tables.

The best way I know of to master the meanings of the Tarot is to read and study enough that you have a general understanding of the types of cards, the numbers and the suits. Then do small readings for yourself with a book until time and experience give you a more intuitive and genuine feel for what those meanings reflect in real life.

For beginners the Major Arcana cards are a challenge. For many years, the concepts all seemed equally huge and vast to me until I discovered the technique of reading them like the Hero’s Journey, in which the Fool is a person traversing a major life struggle and each of the following cards represents issues and challenges that the Fool has to overcome along the way. Then many things fell into place.

However, I am not sure if clarity came at that point precisely because I had found the magic key or because I had already spent a few years dabbling and had enough experience to make the connection. I suspect that it is mostly the latter.

Tarot is a sophisticated art and it takes at least ten years to master. I would never suggest anyone become a professional Tarot reader with less than ten years experience, and ten years would have to mean ten years of actual practice. Formal training isn’t necessary with all the excellent study materials available, though for some it may shorten the period of trial and error.

A program of study

I once found an online Tarot course that offered scholarships for low-income people and I joined it. But the teacher stopped communicating halfway through, so I didn’t get any certification from it, though I learned a lot.

It is difficult to get good Tarot training and it is very rarely affordable for most people. There is no shame in self-study, small group study or apprenticeship with whichever reader is at hand, but the Tarot is complex and requires serious study, if you want to see serious results.

Here is a course of study that you can undertake yourself and which will give you a basic mastery of the cards and their relationships.

You will need:

• A full Tarot deck with no missing cards, preferably a deck that has illustrations on all the cards, including the Minor Arcana pips.

• At least three serious Tarot books, at least one of which uses classic Rider-Waite definitions. (Serious books = not gimmick books such as The Tarot According to Bart Simpson, humor-focused books, little pamphlets that come with decks in lieu of a book or books providing less than a page per card of interpretation. Psst… I just made that up about the Bart Simpson Tarot and then decided I’d better Google it to be safe. Someone has made Simpsons Tarot cards. They are clever and entertaining, but they aren’t on Amazon. There are uses for these things, just not while actually trying to learn the Tarot.)

• A notebook or notepad app to record your notes

Exploring your cards:

• If your deck is new, it should be organized into Minor Arcana, court cards and Major Arcana. If it is not new, organize it yourself, so that you have the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 21, the court cards organized by suit and the Minor Arcana organized by suit from Ace to ten.

• Start a page in your notebook with a title like “Exploring the cards.” Write down your impressions as you continue.

• Look at the four suits. They may or may not be called Wands, Swords, Pentacles and Cups but they are likely to correspond in some way to the four classic elements of fire, air, earth and water. See if you can identify by the color scheme and aesthetic of the cards which suit corresponds to which element. (Note that there is disagreement about the answer to this question even among Tarot masters and your answer may change as you come across other decks.)

• Take a single suit in your hands from ace to ten. Notice how the colors and images change as the numbers get higher.

• Take up the court cards and look at how their colors and personalities match their suit.

• Without looking at the meanings, choose a court card which best represents you at this stage of your life, based on the picture. Then read the meaning in one or more of your books and record your impressions. How well does the card reflect your personality and struggles?

• Pick up the Major Arcana cards in order and fan them out. Notice the progression of colors from beginning to end.

• Hold your hands over the fanned-out Major Arcana cards and move slowly from zero to twenty-one. You may want to close your eyes. Do you sense intensity or tension along the way? Is there a section or a card that draws your attention?

• Add the digits of your birthdate together like this. If your birthday is Jan 21, 1994,, you add 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 4 = 27 And then if your result is higher than 21, you add again. In our example, 2 + 7 = 9. Look at the Major Arcana card which matches your birthdate sum. Does it relate in any way to the part of the cards where you felt intensity? Read about your birth-date card. I find that this card has an uncanny correspondence to a person’s overall life lesson or struggle. I cannot explain why this should be, but I have never known someone well for whom this was not true.

Card of the Day

• After you have completed the initial exploration of the cards, shuffle your deck well. Focus your mind on the day ahead of you or behind you, depending on if you are drawing in the morning or in the evening. Draw a single card, using either the cut-the-deck method or the fanning method. See this post for detailed instructions on shuffling and drawing.

• This single card is your “card of the day.” Read the description and meaning of your card in one or more of your books and consider how this card relates to your current attitude and situation. The card may address a single event throughout the day which has greater significance than you might initially think. Or it may address the overall atmosphere of the day or give advice on how you should conduct yourself.

• Write your impressions of the card in your notebook with the date.

• Each day thereafter draw a new card of the day, read about it and record your impressions.

• Look back at the cards drawn over the last few days. Do you notice anything interesting? Do you understand how they relate to your current situation? Do you find that you keep drawing the same few cards, despite thorough shuffling? Don’t worry. Shuffle well, but this will happen a lot more than pure chance would imply. It is not a sign that you are doing something wrong. It is a common occurrence and generally indicates a pressing issue that extends over more than one day. I have recently received the same Major Arcana card twelve times over the past forty days. And yes, I got the message.

Understanding different interpretations and approaches

• Read through the introductory information in each of your three chosen Tarot books. Notice that this information usually gives an overview of the philosophy and atmosphere of the Tarot system favored by the author. It isn’t hugely important which system you choose, but it is essential that you try out more than one or two before focusing in on one, if only so that you can understand what your method is not.

• Read through the information at the beginning of the section on the Minor Arcana cards. In many books this will come after the Major Arcana and court cards. However, the concepts in the Minor Arcana are by their very nature simpler, more mundane and more familiar to most people. It is helpful to begin your studies with these. Read what each of your books has to say about the Ace through ten cards, what each book says about the different suits and what it says about the numbers on the cards.

• Many Tarot systems employ numerology or astrology to assist in understanding the Ace through ten cards. These are added tools and if you find them helpful, you may wish to ultimately choose a Tarot system which employs them. Even if you are not smitten with the numbers, it is worth noting the similarities and differences between cards of the same number in different suits. Just as each suit corresponds to an element and a personality type, each number has a kind of theme that is seen through the filter of each particular suit. Aces are about beginnings and the seeds of things. Twos are about equilibrium, even if sometimes uneasy balance. Threes are about passion, the tone of which depends on the suit. And so forth… It is worth understanding the diversity of Tarot on this subject.

• Now turn your attention to the court cards. These belong to the same suits and many books will include a section on the court cards that explains what the four different levels of court cards are. (A very few Tarot systems use only three court levels and are still considered Tarot, rather than Oracle Cards, though this changes the ultimate number of cards in the deck.) Court cards are seen as personality types in almost every Tarot system. They have other meanings as well but their most basic meanings relate to personality types. Some systems insist on a gendered approach to the court cards that dates back centuries to a time when gender was a major dividing line in European society. Others take a different approach. It is interesting to note that classic Tarot decks have sixteen court cards and the Myers-Briggs personality test has sixteen personality types. Consider the approaches taken by your three chosen books.

• Now turn your attention to the section on the Major Arcana. These twenty-two cards represent enormous, universal human concepts. Many books treat them as archetypes. The original thinking behind the Major Arcana was very hierarchical. Each card was considered to be stronger or superior to the one before it. Each concept trumped the one before it, and the cards are still often called trump or triumph cards as a result, a tradition that far predates anything to do with current politics. Other Tarot systems are more cyclical in approach, seeing the progression of the Major Arcana as a cycle of change within the individual and in society at large. Similar to this, some systems relate the Major Arcana to the psychological concepts of the Hero’s Journey and use ancient myths and classic human stories to explain them. Read through your three books and take a look at how each one treats these cards.

• Be patient with yourself. Fully grasping the Major Arcana is a lifelong pursuit. This is the kind of thing mystics have spent their lives contemplating for thousands of. years. The only reason to worry might be if you feel certain you understand everything there is to know about the Major Arcana. You might then spend some time contemplating the dangers of the Tower.

• Finally read through the sections of your three books giving sample readings and layouts. Consider the differences and similarities between them and take notes.

Do a three-card reading

• I highly recommend that you try a few types of three-card reading before moving on to more complex spreads. Three-card readings are not necessarily simplistic, but they are short. They give you a good chance of being both specific enough and being able to hold the entire reading in your mind at once.

• Think of and write down a question with an open-ended answer (not a yes or no question), the more specific the better. Shuffle the cards well and draw three cards, laying them out in front of you from left to right. The first card represents the situation or you in the situation. The second card represents the action called for. The third card represents the likely outcome from the present perspective. Record your reading in your journal with the date and your impressions.

• Think of and write down another question or a situation that changes over time. Shuffle the cards again thoroughly. Lay three cards out from left to right again. This time the first card represents the past, the second card represents the present and the third card represents the future. Depending on the scope of the question, this may be a long time span in terms of years or even generations. Or more commonly it may relate to only a span of a few weeks. Either way, if the past appears to date only a few weeks back, it is likely that the future will only look a few weeks ahead. Record your impressions again.

Do a Yes/No reading

• This is another three-card reading but it is a bit more complex and often requires repeated questions. Think of and record a question that should have a yes or no answer. Shuffle the cards well, making sure in this case that some cards can and will be turned upside down, and draw three cards, laying them out from left to right. In the most basic interpretation, three upright cards means yes. Three reversed cards means no. Two upright cards means mostly or probably yes. Two reversed cards means mostly or probably no. Those are the only possibilities. The cards themselves give context and explanation to the answer. This reading is often uncomfortable and brutally honest.

• Record the reading and your impressions in your notebook, and consider whether or not the reading actually fully answered. your question. A yes or no reading often only leaves you with more questions.

• If you have further questions closely related to this question, leave the three cards where they are and reshuffle the rest. Record your follow-up question and then lay out another three cards below the first. You can continue this with further follow-up questions for as long as you need to.

Learn the cards as a language

• By this time you have hopefully become familiar with the Tarot and have at least a vague idea about the meanings of many cards without having to look at your books for each one. Some people will find that they can read the cards without books fairly quickly by using the images and their own intuition. But there is no superior or inferior way, as long as the results speak for themselves. If you want to know the meanings of the cards by heart and decode the language of the Tarot, it is time to treat it like a language, just like French or Mandarin, which you might sit down and learn.

• This will take time. If you have a spiritual or study time every day, take a card every day to study. It can be very helpful to reorganize your cards into suits and numbers to do this. Pick a suit and start with the Ace. Read the description, put yourself into the card and the concept. Write down your impressions based on your chosen book or books and any previous experiences in readings.

• Then the next day, move on to the two of the same suit. And so on until you pass through all of the Minor Arcana, the court cards and the Major Arcana starting with the Fool. This would take you 78 days of study, if you could do it every day without fail. That would be a tall order for many. Another way is to commit to tackling three cards a week or even just one. This isn’t a race but consistency and persistence is key when learning a language.

• As you study the cards make special note of the keywords that make most sense to you. The card’s concept is more than just the simple keywords, of course, but these keywords can help you a great deal in recalling all that you have learned and they can at times be used just like words in a sentence.

• To get to know the cards better, you can use the keywords to make sentences with the cards. The sentence “Childhood friends celebrate a the birth of a baby,” can be expressed as the Six of Cups, the Three of Wands and the Ace of Cups in that order. Try writing messages using the cards like hieroglyphs. Note that this does not limit you to 78 words. The Six of Cups represents “childhood friends” as well as “nostalgia” and in some cases “memory” or the verb “to remember.” That’s just one example and each card has a set of interrelated meanings.

• You can use this technique in a three-card reading as well. Read three cards, not as separate cards but rather as words in a sentence. This is a fairly advanced technique but you can experiment with it until it gets easier.

Practice

• Reading Tarot—using it for introspection, communication and decision making—is a skill. It may not be “a skill like any other.” There is an element of intuition and understanding beyond the purely intellectual. Up until now this study program has primarily relied on mental skills, but that is far from all there is to learning Tarot. Practice with openness and intuition is just as important, if not more so.

• Just as drawing a card of the day and studying the cards in order takes time, practicing Tarot takes time and patience. However, this is real Tarot reading as well. There is no set, defined point at which you transition from practice reading to “real” reading. Once you do a reading it is real. It is simply worth recognizing early on that your first readings may be unpredictable.

• Do a Path Practice Attitude reading. This is a very illuminating type of reading, it is also particularly helpful in learning the cards. Divide your deck up into three categories 1. Major Arcana and the Aces, 2. all non-court Minor Arcana cards and 3. the court cards. Record a question involving what your best course of action is in any given situation or problem. Shuffle each stack thoroughly and draw a card from each. The card from the first stack is your path, the major life lesson this situation or problem involves. The card from the second stack is the best action you can take to solve a problem or bring about the best in the situation. The card from the third stack represents the attitude you should attempt to emulate. This reading gives excellent advice and is a helpful aid to learning all of the cards if it is repeated many times.

• Do complex readings for. yourself. Use your books or the internet to find readings with multiple card placements. I will eventually post about some of my favorite spreads, but for now it is plenty to simply experiment with the layouts listed in the Tarot book you have chosen. Make sure you do several more complex readings for yourself before moving on to reading for your family and friends. This is simply good practice. If you were painting nails, you’d practice on yourself first.

• Keep notes and do readings over the course of several months. You can certainly do small readings every day, though complex readings may be best reserved for a once-per-week or once-per-month event. in the beginning it is good to do something with the Tarot at least every few weeks. Otherwise it is difficult for you to internalize the language of the Tarot both intellectually and intuitively.

• Do at least three readings for others. It is definitely a good idea to read for other people, even if you don’t plan on making a career of it. It is often far easier to see the messages of the Tarot from a more objective position. It is common for readers to get bogged down and confused in their own readings but find reading for others refreshingly straightforward. The different perspective on card meanings helps a lot.

This course of study is about becoming familiar enough with the meanings of the cards that you can do readings without a book, if you choose. But it is certainly not everything there is to learn about the Tarot. You will have to study further to learn about the history of the Tarot, the deep symbology of the Tarot, the philosophical basis and how it is changing with modern decks, deep numerology and astrology in Tarot and a great many other worthy topics.

Still, if you can stick to a course of study like this and actually do the work, you will learn the Tarot and be able to read and. understand the cards.

While I can’t guarantee that this course of study will change you into a powerful psychic reader, it gives you a chance to begin to open up your intuitive faculties. We can’t control intuition through study. Techniques to increate your intuitive strength include time spent alone in nature, time with animals and small children, art and meditation.

There are many uses for the Tarot. Even if all you do is use the cards in a logical, analytical manner, they will aid you in a great many ways. And you are likely to find that the process of using Tarot is another method to strengthen your intuition.