The memory system

The first thing to do is to learn the meanings of the 78 cards. It sounds daunting but most cards have a number and a suit and if you understand what the number signifies and the meaning of the four suits you can easily combine these to work out a meaning for each card. Keep in mind at this stage that we are merely looking at very crude meanings for each card. The Tarot cards are actually rich with meaning and have nuances that change depending on the situation. Some of the meanings given might be enough to make a proper Tarot reader fall off their chair in consternation, so bear in mind this is just a start. If you have a little intuition and do some more reading, then over time you will pick each card’s full meaning.

The suits

Just like regular playing cards the Tarot deck has four suits: cups, swords, coins (sometimes known as pentacles) and wands (sometimes known as batons). Each suit refers to a different aspect of life. Cups for example focuses on our feelings about a situation: love, fear or anger etc.  

• Coins » what we have - money, possessions
• Cups » what we feel - love, happiness, sadness 
• Wands » what we do - actions, motivations
• Swords » what we think - ideas, thoughts spoken and unspoken

An easy way to help you remember these is:

• Coins » picture yourself putting a coin in your pocket. This is what you have.
• Cups » imagine yourself drinking a cup of something alcoholic. This brings on feelings of happiness or sadness.
• Wands » imagine yourself waving a wand. This is you doing something.
• Swords » picture the word ‘SWORDS‘. We think and speak with words.

Now that you’ve got a hold of the suits we need to look at the numbered cards.

The numbers from two to ten

For each suit there are cards numbered from 2 through to 10. Each of these numbers has a meaning. Below is a list of meanings for each number expressed in a simple keyword. To help you remember the meanings each word has as many letters as the number it is associated with, so for example eights represent strength and the word ’strength’ contains 8 letters.  Try and memorize the following list:

• 2. TO
• 3. NEW
• 4. SAFE
• 5. ISSUE
• 6. SOLVED
• 7. WAITING
• 8. STRENGTH
• 9. COMPLETED
• 10. UTTERMOST

Let’s go through each of the numbers and explain what they mean and learn how they can be combined with your new found knowledge of the suit, to work out particular card meanings. 

Twos

The twos represent action and direction. One person on their own can be quiet and introspective but when two people get together things start to happen. They may start a business,  fall in love, get married, fight or just interact. We use the keyword ‘TO’ here because it is associated with action and direction, going to fight, running to school etc. So if twos are about things happening then it follows that the two of coins for example represents things happening with money or material possessions. Turning up this card might be an indication that the questioner (the person the reading is for) is getting to grips with their financial situation. As we go through these numbers it will become clearer how we work out the meanings.

Threes

When two things get together then often a third will emerge whether it be two people having a baby or producing an idea or a shared experience. Three is the number representing newness and creativity, and you can remember this because the word ‘NEW’ has three letters. So for example if you wanted to work out what the Three of Wands means, we know that Wands are about what we do; so it follows that the Three of Wands is about doing something new. It invites us to be creative and find new ways of doing things.

Fours

Four is a safe and solid number. A chair has four legs and a house four walls to provide stability.  Solidity and stability can be a good thing, especially when one has been through a turbulent patch; but this card can also represent stagnation if things are ’safe’ for too long. An example of this number is the Four of Cups, which demonstrates stability in the feelings - usually interpreted as a stable relationship.  This could be welcome if the questioner has been seeking a relationship; however it could refer to things becoming dull or overly safe if they are already in a relationship.

Fives

The keyword ‘ISSUE’ is another word for problem. After the solidity of fours, fives are difficult and cumbersome numbers. Ever tried building a house with five walls?  Whenever you see a five in a Tarot card reading think of it as pointing out a difficulty or conflict where the nature of the difficulty is dependent on the suit. The Five of Swords refers to a conflict of ideas or words i.e. an argument.  You may not have worked out that meaning from our system but as long as you remember the card has something to do with problems and with thoughts and words you won’t go far wrong.

Sixes

After the five comes six and after a problem comes a solution. Sixes represent resolution and rebalancing after a difficulty. The Six of Coins for example predicts the solving of money issues and/or a balancing of your financial situation.

Sevens

Sevens are simply about waiting and patience. The Seven of Cups talks of holding out for love or waiting for a loved one. You should be getting the hang of this by now.

Eights

The eights are about strength. The Eight of Swords refers to strength of will and having the strength of character to say just what you are thinking.

Nines

The nines represent completion and finishing. If the Nine of Wands turns up in a Tarot reading then it can be advising us to finish what we have been doing. 

Tens

The word ‘UTTERMOST’ means the ultimate of the suit so The Ten of Cups might represent true love or the Ten of Coins absolute wealth.  

Aces

Now that we’ve looked at all the numbers the one number we have neglected is number one - the ace. Each ace represents the pure essence of the suit so the Ace of Swords is about pure uncluttered thoughts. The Ace of Cups is about pure feelings of love.

 Court cards - The royal family

When a court card turns up in a reading it usually represents a person in the questioner’s life. The trick is to work out exactly who this person is. There are four court cards for each suit.

• The page » a child
• The knight » a teenager or adolescent
• The queen » a woman
• The king » a man

The suit gives a clue to who the person might be; so for example if you draw the king of cups then this would represent a man for whom the feelings are important or prominent (for instance an emotional man or a man with a lot of feelings of love for you). The knight of coins could represent a teenager or young person for whom possessions are important. He could be materialistic or perhaps business-minded. The more readings you do the better you will become at identifying these individuals. The meanings shouldn’t be taken too literally, so a Page may not always indicate a child but may in some cases represent someone who is childish or child-like. Pages and Knights are generally depicted as male but they can equally be female. Kings and Queens however are invariably male and female respectively. You can practice identifying court cards by thinking of people you know and asking yourself which court card best represents them.

The Major Arcana

The Major Arcana (also known as trumps) are 22 picture cards, usually numbered from 1 to 21 in roman numerals. They are considered the most powerful cards in the deck and deal with matters of greater importance, so when they turn up in a reading you should sit up and take notice.

The first four cards we will look at are very straightforward because their name tells you exactly what they mean:

• Strength - strength
• Justice - justice
• Temperance - temperance (an old fashioned word meaning self-restraint or moderation)
• The Lovers - love

To make remembering the remaining 18 cards easier we have grouped them together in pairs with opposite meanings:

• The Fool - beginnings
• Death - endings

• The Magician - activity
• The High Priestess - inactivity

• The Empress - nurture
• The Emperor - discipline

• The Chariot - adventurous
• The Hermit - careful

• The Sun - truth
• The Moon - lies

• The Star - hope
• The Devil - despair 

• The Tower - Punishment
• Judgement - rewards

• The Hierophant - conventional ways of doing things
• The Hanged Man - unconventional ways of doing things

• The World - completion
• Wheel of Fortune - things still needing to be worked out

The best way to memorize these is to lay the nine pairs out in front of you and try to fix the coupled images in your head. Shuffle them and see if you can put them in pairs again. Grouping the cards in this way means you only need to remember the meaning for one card and the other one follows on from that.

Time for your first reading

Hopefully by this point you will have memorized the four suits, the numbers, the court cards and the Major Arcana. Now it’s time to give a Tarot reading.  A Tarot reading follows these steps:

1. The questioner decides on an issue they are seeking guidance with
2. They then shuffle the deck whilst contemplating their question
3. The cards are handed back to the reader face down
4. The reader places the cards in position face up

The positioning of the cards depends on the ’spread’. A spread is simply an arrangement of cards designed to address a particular issue. To get you started we will use a three card spread of ‘past, present and future.’ Lay three cards out from left to right.  These cards represent what has happened to the questioner in the past, what’s happening now and what may happen in the future. You can also lay a fourth card above these to represent advice to the questioner. Remember when the deck is handed to you not to rotate it because this would make some cards come out upside down and cards that would have been upside down will come out the right way up. We haven’t covered this particular issue here, but many readers will vary the cards meaning if it is ‘reversed’ i.e. upside down. For the sake of simplicity we will ignore reversals.

Example reading

Let’s suppose your questioner wants to ask about her career.  She has shuffled the cards and the cards that turn up are:

1. PAST: The Moon
2. PRESENT: Seven of Coins 
3. FUTURE: Queen of Swords
4. ADVICE: Judgement

The first card is The Moon and we know this represents ‘lies.’ The position of the card is the past. Just how far in the past we are talking about here depends on what you decided with the questioner beforehand. A typical reading would be monthly so we would be looking at something that happened within the last month. This card then represents some deceit that happened last month regarding her career. You put it to your questioner that maybe someone has lied to her or maybe she has been dishonest at work, which has played its part in her getting to the situation she is in now.

Tarot - the big secret

I should at this point take a moment to make a very important point. The person receiving the reading is called the questioner but the truth of the matter is that you the reader are the one asking questions. It is really important that you realize you are being prompted by the Tarot to ask questions and allow the truth to come out. I have personally given many readings where the client has left a session immensely grateful for the wisdom the cards have revealed, not realizing that all the insight came from their own lips. In our example it is very likely that she will not have consciously known she had been lied to at work but when prompted may start to tap into some uneasy feelings.

The next card is the seven of coins which represents what’s happening now.  As we have learned, sevens are about waiting and the coins are about material possessions. Ask her what she is waiting for. Is it a pay rise or maybe a new home? It won’t take much probing to find out what the cards are pointing to.  

The Queen of Swords suggest that a thoughtful woman who perhaps has a lot to say for herself will play a significant part in the questioner’s career next month. Ask her who this person might be. Consider the possibility that it is the questioner herself, and that something is going to happen to make her more outspoken in her job.

The final card representing advice to the questioner is the Judgement card which means ‘rewards.’  Like all cards this could mean several things. It could be saying she needs to make sure she is being fairly rewarded for her efforts at work. It may also suggest she needs to ensure those working for her receive what they have earned. Either way the advice is to be aware of the idea of rewards.

So that in a nutshell is how to do a Tarot reading.  It is recommended that you try reading your own cards until you get the hang of it.  Just revise the memory system and you shouldn’t go wrong.

Happy reading!

Traditionally the tarot has been interpreted by a ‘tarot-reader’ - either professional or amateur. More recently, however, computers have been used more often to give readings online or on CD Roms etc. This site, for instance, is designed to provide you with online readings and their interpretations. There is a common theory that only face-to-face readings with a professional tarot reader can give you an accurate interpretation of your situation.

Many people are sceptical or fearful of the ‘fortune-telling’ aspect of tarot and do not want to become involved in its use. However, there is evidence in the history of tarot to suggest that tarot has been used as much for reading the unconscious and understanding aspects of our psyches as it has for fortune-telling purposes, and in fact the first account of its divinatory use was over 350 years after the tarot’s inception. We believe that, provided you approach this site with good intentions and with no aim to harm anyone, you will be assisted in applying its wisdom to improve your life.

Origins

There is much mystery surrounding the history of the tarot and myths about its origins abound. Some cynics say that this mystery has been perpetuated as a marketing tool for tarot card salesmen! However, by just looking at the evidence available we can estimate that the earliest surviving full deck was painted in 1422 by Italian artist Bonifacio Bembo. This is known as the Visconti deck, named after the Duke of Milan, who commissioned them. Although accounts of Ancient Egyptian, Celtic, Indian and earlier Italian links have been suggested, there is no evidence to support claims of earlier decks than the Visconti. It is possible that these more exotic links were drawn as a result of the Moorish and other cultural influences on Italian society at the time. 

The tarot’s use by the Upper Classes probably saved the game from being banned by the Church (though some accounts state that tarot was considered heretical and outlawed by the Church). Indeed in the latter half of the fifteenth century some church sermons labelled tarot as the work of the Devil. But in fact the Church concerned itself more with the use of ordinary playing cards, which were considered gambling. Some cards from the tarot deck - such as the Devil, the Tower and the Death card - were on occasions omitted from the pack, as they were feared by many people, but little harm was actually done to the use of the cards until centuries later.

Evolution

The tarot has undergone many permutations in its use, design and interpretation over the centuries. There is early evidence, for instance, to suggest that one of the first permutations was in using the cards as inspiration for poetry - possibly the first use in describing aspects of the human psyche and personality traits. The cards have since evolved according to the prevailing culture of the times and attitudes within them.

Rebirth and Occult Connections

The first evidence of tarot being used as a divinatory tool came in the early eighteenth century in Bologna. In 1781 a clergyman, Antoine Court de Gebelin, revitalised and raised awareness of the tarot in his book, which drew links between the imagery in the Major Arcana and the mysteries of Ancient Egypt. This was later picked up by occult practitioners (occult means “hidden”) such as Alistair Crowley and Waite of the Rider-Waite deck. The imagery on this deck is the one with which we are most familiar today as this was the deck introduced into America in the twentieth century and the only one readily available to generations of Americans. We therefore tend to associate the tarot with more esoteric connections, rather than the lighter use which defined its origins in fifteenth century Italy, over 500 years before.

A ‘Game of Triumphs’

The cards were originally used for a game called Tarocchi or ‘Game of Triumphs’ which was similar to Bridge. The game was played mainly by the Upper Classes and has continued in some circles (mainly in Italy and France) to be played to this day. 

How to use a Tarot reading

Keep an open mind

When you receive your reading try to look at the advice and look at it from different perspectives. This way you won’t close your mind off to interpretations you may not have thought of otherwise.

Treat the tarot like a friend.

Like all good friends the tarot may be telling you something about where you may be going wrong which is difficult to hear but needs to be said. Remember also that friends can give us insight and information, but it is up to us to do the interpreting.

Coincidences

As we change and grow so will our tarot readings. Look out for cards which keep appearing in your readings at different times in your life. Remembering these coincidences will help you to look back over the past with a broad overview of different stages of your journey and the lessons you were learning at these times.