by Christine Masssie

Created on: July 09, 2009

So, you have purchased or received a deck of tarot cards and are eager to begin learning to use them. No doubt, that with your deck came a book or pamphlet that introduced the meaning of the cards in a sentence or two, and may have even demonstrated some of the traditional tarot divination spreads. As you lay out the cards, you may see certain patterns emerge, but they don't seem to make any sense - you have to keep referring to your reference material and it's all very frustrating. There seems like there must be a better way to learn to read tarot cards And there is!

The first step is to put away all those books and charts telling you how to read your cards. Before everything else you must explore your own deck. Divide the cards first into the Major and Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana (sometimes called the Trump Cards) consist of the cards numbered 0 -21. The Fool is the zero card. The ancient lore around the tarot depicts the journey of the Fool from innocent folly to the end of the Major Arcana where he has triumphed with the symbol of card 21 - The World. Spread the cards out in order. Take the metaphorical journey with the Fool. Notice the symbolism that is particular to your deck. What catches your eye in the depiction of each character? Make up a personal story about each character; don't try take memorize someone else's interpretation. As the deck becomes more personal to you, explore some of the symbols that arouse your curiosity. The High Priestess is often depicted with a quarter moon, while the Empress is often seen wearing a crown of stars. Is there significance in these symbols? What do they suggest to you? What do they suggest in context of historical symbolism? Let your curiosity guide you; it will bring so much more meaning than trying to memorize other people's ideas about the cards. If your goal is tap into your own intuition with the tarot; then you must make the tool, the cards themselves, meaningful to you on a personal level.

After you have spent some time familiarizing yourself with the Major Arcana, start the same process with the Minor Arcana. Divide the cards into suits and contemplate them first in groups and then as individual cards. First, work with the Royal Cards. Again, working from a personal perspective, think about the place of each card within the royal court. What does it mean to be a King or a Queen? Why Does the Ace carry more wait than even a King? What is the Knights role in the life of the Kingdom? What function does the page serve? First contemplate your own ideas and then augment those ideas by looking into the traditional mythology surrounding the idea of a royal court.

Now as you contemplate the suited cards; consider the meaning of the suits themselves. What do Cups, Staves, Swords, and Pentacles seem to represent. How is each tool depicted on the card being used? Look at the pictures and the numbers on the card and see how they related to action of the characters represented. Many cultures have developed a system of symbolic meaning surrounding numbers. How do you related to the particular numbers and how is that different or the same in the way the number is interrupted by the card.

The more you familiarize and personalize your tarot deck, the more meaningful it becomes as a tool of divination for you. While the cards themselves are full of ancient symbols and traditional meaning, you are the one that is interpreting and finding meaning in the way they fall together. As you train your intuition to be guided by the cards, your readings will be more confident and contain more and more precise clarity.

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