Reading the Tarot is a wonderful thing but those who approach this world often find themselves in the chaos of the multitude of news, information, schools of thought and traditions. Do not be scared, it is normal, because the Tarot is very ancient and over the years many people have studied and used them, creating their theories and passing on traditions. Knowing the meanings of the tarot cards will allow you to have a precious guide always with you, who accompanies you and advises you in all your choices and decisions.
The tarot cards and their art appear really incomprehensible to most people, however, this form of art consists in the natural ability to grasp the spirit and the proper meaning of the images they represent, involves a strong dose of sensitivity that allows to capture information arising and then express them in words. The effort required has nothing to do with the memorization of the tarot images, but with the actual identification of the meanings of the cards, taken individually or associated with other more influential ones.
Read below how to read tarot cards and important facts about this. This will make you interested about tarot and reading the future.
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How to start and learn to read the tarot
Cartomancy, and more particularly Tarot reading, is a very complex practice that can also require a lot of experience to be able to correctly interpret what the cards tell us about our future and that of the people we come into contact with. It can take months, if not years, to learn the art of cartomancy, especially if we want to make this road our profession, thus offering services to others; however, many people want to learn to read the tarot to get to know themselves and the people who are in direct contact with them, and in this guide we will indicate some basics that we consider useful to start approaching Tarot reading.
The deck as an extension of oneself
The first fundamental concept is that one’s Tarot deck should not be seen as a simple set of playing cards, but as an extension of oneself, an “extra hand” that we have at our disposal. So it is important to remember that our Tarot deck is not another person’s, and will never be. For this reason, one of the first things to do is to start using the deck we have, mix it up and interpret it as we will see shortly, as well as for learning, this practice is useful for infusing the cards with our energy, which will be essential for grasping the magical energies that tarot cards limit themselves to channeling and showing with understandable figures.
Buying the right deck of cards
If you don’t have the cards yet, the very first thing you need to do is get one right away. There are many places where you can buy it, although we recommend that you do so through safe and reliable online stores such as Amazon. This is because inside you can find quality and specific decks for each use. In fact, you can find Tarot card sets made specifically for beginners, where you can find more beautiful and easy-to-consult cards inside, with an explanation of each representation.
Obviously, if you want a more advanced and professional product, there are the Marseille tarots, and also the Visconti Sforza ones, very beautiful and difficult to find. For those who love something a little more sought after, on Amazon you will also find the Rider Waite Tarot, widely used in the Anglo-Saxon world, and still a point of reference for those who really want to know the world of cartomancy well.
Finally, for those who want a more personal deck, different from the more common and popular ones, you can find collector cards. Real representations of the very beautiful tarot cards, in a gothic style and much more esoteric, to give a real touch of mystery and magic to your reading.
The preparation of the Deck
To start using the divination technique of tarot in a profitable way, the aspiring fortune teller must, first of all, choose the deck of cards with care and attention and then take care of its correct preparation. By preparation of the deck we mean that set of procedures that allow the Consecration of the deck, and which indicate the fundamental rules to be followed, both in the act of Mixing the Arcana together, and in their Arrangement on the plan of reading. All this must always be carried out with care, precision and maximum concentration on the basis of the procedures described above.
The consecration of tarot deck
The consecration of the tarot deck allows you to create a strong bond between the individual and his tarot cards, eliminating any negative influence from the outside world. Once consecrated, the deck will belong only to the consecrating subject, just as the subject will belong to its deck. Only this perfect combination will allow reliable and precise responses.
It will also be good, cyclically and regularly to repeat the consecration ceremonial, to avoid that the always numerous negative influences of the external world can weaken the communion created between tarot and individual over time. The consecration techniques are varied, and each fortune teller will claim their own as the best. In reality, we can say that each method is effective only if dictated by the sensitivity of the individual.
We will therefore describe to you one of the many consecration ceremonials, that is the one we prefer, inviting you at the same time to listen to your most intimate and profound part in the course of your growth path to seek the procedure (or the ceremonial) for you most suitable. Do not think that every tarot deck is the same and equally effective in your hands: in choosing the deck, therefore, try to rely exclusively on your sensitivity and instinct. Do not stop at the first meeting and above all, do not lose yourself in the beauty, richness and singularity of the different representations (to facilitate the exclusion of these misleading elements, rely on hand contact while keeping your eyes closed).
Then get the other objects necessary to complete the ceremony: 2 braziers filled with grain incense, coarse salt, 4 candles, a compass, holy water, a white silk cloth, and a table that you will have to choose with great care, as you will use it. thereafter, exclusively as a reading plan for your tarot cards.
The ceremony will have to take place in the evening (from 18 to 24, taking care never to exceed midnight) characterized by a crescent moon. Before proceeding to the actual consecration, you must first prepare yourself, purifying yourself with a thorough cleaning (it is preferable to take a bath that favors a moment of concentration, also allowing inner purification) and dressing yourself with clothing preferably of light colors, avoiding to wear any metallic ornament (watches, rings, necklaces etc.).
Place the tarot deck face down in the center of the table; then arrange on the floor, the 4 candles, positioning them in correspondence with the cardinal points, and the two censers, one on the table and one on the floor, so as to describe a straight line that joins the cards to the candle placed to the north. Finally, place the container with the holy water and the white silk cloth on the table next to what will be your station.
The first part of the ceremonial consists in the symbolic representation, through the deck, of the initial and final phases of the initiatory path: scatter the deck on the reading surface (keeping a clockwise rotation with your hands, in order to create great chaos ) and then put it back together (thus representing the natural order).
Once the moon goes down, at the first light of dawn, your deck will be ready. Remember to always place it in the silk cloth at the end of each use. The consecration of the deck allows, as mentioned, to create a strong bond between the individual and his cards.
Learn the meaning of the cards
Furthermore, to interpret the cards, it is essential to first know them. Knowing the distinction between the Arcana and the meaning of each individual card is the basis for starting to interpret them together, and for understanding the deeper meanings. If the information on the individual cards is easy to find, it is more complex to be able to interpret the combinations.
Those who are lucky enough to be able to turn to expert fortune tellers, who want to make their knowledge available, have an advantage in this sense, but alternatively it is possible to read our insights that explain all the meanings of the Major and Minor Arcana. In this way, continuous and regular study and practice can guide us until we are able to proceed on our own.
The first interpretations
Once we have infused our energy into the Tarot and learned the meaning of the individual cards, we can proceed by trying to verify if our interpretations actually correspond to reality.
A good way to start is to first use a single card to answer a question about our day. In the morning, we draw a single card and interpret it, then write our interpretation. In the evening, we reconsider the course of our day, and verify that the interpretation of the card has been correct.
Continuing in this way for several weeks, we will be able to start interpreting more than one card at a time, and as we proceed we will add the Minor Arcana to the Major Arcana, so as to have an increasingly clear picture of what the future holds.
In this way we will continue to learn, but not only: it will be our own interpretations to make us understand when we have interpreted well and when we were wrong, allowing us to refine our technique more and more.
Don’t “force the cards”
One of the most classic mistakes of beginners is that of the tendency to “force the cards”, repeating the same question several times to get the desired result.
We must always remember that cards allow us to interpret events but do not condition them; repeating the same question several times means not channeling the magical energies that are transferred to the cards, but rather channeling our energy, anger, which will lead to answers different from those that show reality, and consequently to interpretations that will surely be wrong.
Let’s limit ourselves, in the first periods, to observe and try to understand what the cards want to tell us. And if everything is still too complicated, let’s continue to study and interpret: only the commitment and the correct way of approaching the Tarot will allow us to use them to the fullest.
How to arrange the cards
Regardless of the chosen Tarot spread, 3-Card, Celtic Cross, etc. the fundamental thing is that the cards are always arranged from left to right, usually horizontally. If you think about it, it is said to read Tarot and just like a book it is read from left to right. During a live reading, there are those who, after shuffling the cards, make them raise the cards to the Consultant and those who prefer not to let their tarot be touched , both are fine, the choice is entirely up to you.
Anyway, at the end of each divination it is good to do a Tarot purification, even if only mild. If, on the other hand, you carry out Tarot Readings online, obviously you cannot let the Consultant touch your cards, in this case you can start shuffling and ask him to tell you stop. These are ways, for those who read from a distance to create a link, a contact with the Consultant, they are especially useful for those who are beginners and do not know how to do the Tarot, with time and practice everything will come more spontaneously.
The Techniques
The techniques for reading Tarot and the methods of reading, called Stese, are endless, there are many to choose from and the better you become, the more you too can learn to create Tarot drafts. For those who are at the beginning and want to understand how to read the Tarot it is good to know that among the most common methods there are:
●The 3-card method (commonly called Past-Present-Future)
●the 10 Card Celtic Cross method
Especially at the beginning many Tarot Readers use only the Major Arcana and that’s fine then over time if you feel the need to “season” your readings with details then you can also include the Minor Arcana, you will see your readings get very enriched. In fact, while the Major Arcana represent the Archetypes of the Cosmic Journey of Man, the Minor Arcana specify the major ones, indicating people, particulates, shades, etc.
Meaning of the Cards
Anyone who feels the desire or the attitude or the pleasure can begin to approach the tarot following the rules or methods that should always be taken into consideration and never neglected. First of all, it is always advisable to begin with the physicality or the manual skills of these important cards. Ancient manuals suggested leaving the deck exposed to the moonlight for 9 days of the new moon, however it is believed that contact with the cards, daily and constant, by touching them, rather than lightly stroking them, is sufficient, without the precise purpose of reading, but for the pleasure of doing it, even if only by delineating the edges.
The major arcana
The major arcana are 22 cards, with very precise representations and in principle it is good to know that they can be used alone in some ways of reading and are not to be seen as a sort of cold codification of their symbology. We will list them individually in order to give an indication of their basic meaning, both in the case of its turn to the obverse, and to the reverse.
Arcane 1 The Magician
Its meaning to turn it to the right is linked to its starting position, of principle; indicates will, activity, initiative, creation, high self-confidence, audacity for difficult businesses, it is generally a very favorable card and for a woman it can also represent the beginning of a relationship. If it is turned upside down we have a diversification of meaning, in fact we speak of difficulty in affirming, professionally speaking, lack or serious absence of security and self-confidence, in general decision-making inability to face life.
Arcane 2 The Pope
Considering this card turned to the right it represents fecundity, the mother, the woman and the bride, the inner life and wisdom, as well as divination and all its methods; if it were turned on the contrary, it would assume connotations of superficiality, generic adversities caused by negative forces, presumption and marked ignorance, but also passionate love.
Arcane 3 The Empress
Straight card has a beautiful intrinsic meaning, in fact it speaks of intelligence and great creativity, dignity and motherhood as well as purely material well-being, action and if it refers to a woman, a person with great practical sense and decision. Turned instead it becomes the card that recalls an enemy, sterility, ignorance and arrogance, authoritarianism on children and in general disagreement, disharmony.
Arcane 4 The Emperor
A tarot that expresses earthly security, authority, wealth and power, can represent the paternal and marital figure, generosity, joviality and material acquisitions, all in its reading of the law; on the contrary, on the other hand, we speak of tyranny, brutal masculinity, narrow-mindedness, indecision and even physical and psychic weakness.
Arcane 5 The Pope
A card that symbolizes ritualism and understanding, wisdom and loyalty, the father, the man of culture and wisdom, goodness and help that comes from the invisible; its opposite or rather the overturned Pope’s card represents fragility, bigotry, disengagement and obstinacy in persevering with old traditions, without adapting to the evolution of life.
Arcane 6 The Lover
Its divinatory meaning to law is well clarified by speaking of love for all that is beautiful, optimism, falling in love and generosity towards the other, in short, it includes choices in the affective field with a positive meaning; in its reverse we find meanings such as the breaking of a love, the dryness or the presence of an unrequited love up to depression or instability.
Arcane 7 The Chariot
It is the card of travel par excellence, of triumph, of total success in all sectors, of honors and glories, of independence, of conquest and expansion in the financial sector; his reverse turn involves a reading of marriage and patrimonial failure, unsafe and dangerous travel, panic, confusion and even ruin.
Arcane 8 Justice
It means that from its name, justice, fairness, correctness and righteousness, virtue, reasonableness and even impartiality and balance, overall positive, while its reverse portends abuses, intolerance, great injustices, condemnations and misconduct, in practice it is known as the reading of the card in reverse is often the exact opposite of its presence in the upright version.
Arcane 9 The Hermit
The divinatory meanings of the Hermit to the law lead us to prudence, protection and caution, isolation and reflection, even to the misanthropic and ascetic subject; the thing gets worse in its reversed version where selfishness, avarice, hypocrisy, pessimism, sloth, lack of impulses, foolish or even reckless actions appear.
Arcane 10 The Wheel of Fortune
Very beautiful card, propitious of luck, destiny and happiness, close solution to problems, intuition in business, winnings at the game, opportunities to be seized with excellent results, for obvious reasons its turning it upside down leads us to bad luck, decay and precariousness, unexpected unpleasant and unstable situations.
Arcane 11 The Force
Concept of courage, conviction, achievement, heroism, physical strength and endurance, challenge and determination; on the other hand, we speak of weakness to the point of meanness, impotence, tyranny and selfishness, arrogance and pride as well as sentimental aridity and careerism.
Arcane 12 The Hanged Man
As in the image depicted he is in the passive or mystical phase, it can mean price to pay or atonement, renunciation, repentance, forced stasis and punishment, in its reversed version the burden grows, we speak of sacrifice without fruit, self-centeredness and illusions, habits ominous seasoned with anguish and fear.
Arcane 13 Death
Paper that inspires fear, but wrongly because it is, on the contrary, life in its purest sense. In fact, one thinks of total renewal, at the end of any chapter of life, of a year to pass because 13 are the phases of the moon, of an inheritance, but also of the influence of the dead; the reverse divination meaning, on the other hand, denotes pessimism by introducing great disappointments, loss of honor or incurable diseases, serious accidents or immobility.
Arcane 14 Temperance
As from the verbal meaning we tend to attribute the sense of moderation, patience and a profound spirit of adaptation, calm and reflexivity, in some cases even miracles and healing magnetism, on the contrary we find chaos or disorder, lightness character, disorder, disagreement, impatience, apathy, lack of restraint, coldness and difficulty in integrating.
Arcane 15 The Devil
The first part of meaning concerns magnetism, personal charm, immorality, ruin, black magic, supernatural experience and the absence of humor as well as evil. the vices and the failures, in seeing it upside down the Devil is the card of repression and of the immeasurable consumption of sexuality, deceptions and lies, slavery even from drugs and drugs, quarrels and diseases.
Arcane 16 The Tower
It exposes as a meaning at the end of a balance, to a drastic and ruinous change, to imprisonment, to the atrocious and painful defeat, catastrophe and divorce, change of opinion and passage to new experiences, to totally leave the old situations; on the other hand, it means a dead end, a suffocation, the inability to change things and therefore a succession or submission and servitude.
Arcane 17 The Stars
To the straight form they provide bright prospects, success and friendly aids, prosperity and revelations, passive luck and generosity, beauty and romance, discretion and good prospects for excellent resolutions; on the contrary, frustrated hopes, pessimism and inner discomfort, uncertainty and mental and psychological disorders, errors of evaluation and excessive passivity in the management of one’s life are glimpsed.
Arcana 18 The Moon
Hidden, hidden dangers, fantastic imagination, error and bad external influence, slander, lies, indolence, secrets and moody people, dreams as frightening as nightmares; on the other hand we talk about hallucinations, disorder and blackmail, hatred, self-pity, even possible health problems up to very serious.
Arcane 19 The Sun
His vision is immediately thought of happy marriage, well-being and warmth, freedom and fulfillment, happiness accompanied by health, good humor, idealism and triumph; in its inverted version the meaning becomes vanity, lack of friendship, blunder, artistic failure, banality and susceptibility.
Arcane 20 The Angel or Judgment
Seen as rebirth, announcement, awakening, promotion or news, change of situation, surprise and inspiration; the reverse implies indecision, serious inner conflicts, disappointments and frustrations, unconsciousness and inability to deal with difficulties.
Arcane 21 The World
Card with a positive meaning of triumph and reward, total fulfillment, security and achievement of the highest aspirations, long-lasting success and reward for hard work; its opposite is read as a vain sacrifice, stagnation, difficulties in general, immediate reversals of fortune and misunderstandings.
Arcane 22 The Fool
Significant is the sense of unconsciousness that this card represents, of the head shots and insecurity, the unpredictability of destiny and of the subconscious, the extravagance, the loss of free will, genius and recklessness; the overturned card symbolizes madness, anguish, obsessions, irresponsibility and passivity to the will of others, immaturity, impudence, jealousy and violence to the point of perversion.
The minor arcana
The minor Arcana have very specific meanings, in fact they represent the world of affections and the daily life of individuals in the smallest details. They are many more numerically than the major Arcana and are divided into 4 groups of 14 cards, each of which numbered from 1 to 10 and four representing: the knave, the knight, the king and the queen for a total of 56 cards. They are divided into 4 suits which are: sticks, cups, coins and swords and obviously have distinct symbols and meanings.
Sticks
Emblem par excellence of virile fecundity, phallic and command symbol, strength; it can lead back to people in charge or tied to the earth.
Cups
The concave amphora depiction refers to the symbol of femininity and everything that derives from it or is connected to it, therefore thanks, artistic skills, therefore connectable to artists or those who by profession use culture in general.
Coins
It symbolizes the penetration also referred to the word, invasive and aggressive, it also expresses excesses of aggression through the force of imposing power.
Even from an exclusively numerological point of view, the cards of the minor Arcana have a precise meaning in the art of divination, regardless of the suit they belong to. In this regard, it is good to detail the meanings of the single ones from 1 to 10.
●Minor arcane 1: debut, symbol of the male number.
●Minor arcane 2: female and binary symbol or dualism between good and evil.
●Minor arcane 3: propitious and generative symbol, as the son n.3 derives from 1 and 2, therefore excellent for business in general.
●Minor Arcana 4: It represents home, family and stability.
●Minor Arcanum 5: that is the union of 3 and 2, it means harmony, art and beauty, Venus and everything that can have a bearing on it.
●Minor arcane 6: that is double ternary which means freedom, work and balance.
●Minor Arcana 7: a number which is important in itself on a biblical level and means harmony and peace.
●Minor arcane 8: solidity, well-being, justice, triumphing truth.
●Minor arcane 9: prophetic and magical number.
●Minor arcane 10: in the Kabbalah it is the perfect number, of luck and unexpected positive surprises and events.
●Minor arcane 11 is the knave: that is the number of the unfinished.
●Minor arcane 12 is the knight or the accomplished one.
●Minor arcane 13 is the queen and means good or bad omen.
●Minor Arcana 14. he is the king and means fusion and association.
Methods how to read tarot cards
To do this, you have to read the story that the map tells. Not just, the image coldly, but the story that it tells us, interprets. The idea is to let your story come, by letting yourself be guided by your intuition (the spokesperson). This method makes it possible to combine the messages that one feels with the personal situation and the question. And all in a single story that truly matches the given situation.
Method 1 – Like The Stories
Here is the basic method for reading Tarot cards. You might say that telling the stories you see in Tarot cards seem quite logical. But here, it is above all a matter of starting by telling each of the stories of each of the cards in a personal way that make up the draw.
Indeed, each card contains a very specific and very particular story. I would like to point out to you that this story is different every time you draw the Tarot cards and ask a new question. So each card tells a multitude of stories. And precisely by highlighting this story, you will be able to understand the overall story of the entire draw. And more generally the direction that the tarot shows you.
Let us take a specific example only with two cards in order to facilitate the demonstration. Suppose you asked the question “What should I focus my attention on now?”. Each card will tell you a specific story about you and your question. It is therefore important first to observe the map and to describe intuitively for yourself what you see there.
In the Wheel of Fortune of the Tarot, we can observe a spinning wheel with one character going up and the other going down is one that tops the whole. This wheel seems to float on water carried by the current. The story I can tell through this map is that events change. The current carries the wheel but the characters themselves always continue to turn on the same wheel without realizing that life is passing. So in permanence there is a form of routine as well. Life goes by but the actions that are done are often the same and if we are not aware of it, we are not enjoying life.
In the Tarot World card, I see a woman surrounded by an oval of the same color as the water of the previous card or of the central character. What I see as a story here is the ability to be at the center of the wheel and to have it spinning around us and no longer to be on the wheel, tossed about by events.
So once we understand what impermanence is, we manage to find a form of stability in our life where we watch things go by with calm while having found our place. We enjoy life, without letting ourselves be taken down. This is undoubtedly what I should focus on today. Stay focused and enjoy life without getting carried away by the daily grind. I suggest you do the same exercise for yourself. Draw two cards by asking a question and try to combine the two stories you see in the cards to tell your story.
Method 2 – Read The Tarot Cards By Observing Their Interactions
You will undoubtedly have noticed that the Tarot of Marseilles (but it is true for the other tarots also) presents many characters.
●All kinds of characters with different poses, different looks
●Characters in action or not
So when you draw the cards together, you can see that these characters can interact with each other. This will reveal to us the story behind their conversations. For example, imagine asking a question about your teenage child. Say you draw the cards deciding that the first card will represent you and the second one will represent your child. If in this print two characters appear, in this case observe how the characters talk to each other.
To take an example, let’s imagine that you draw two cards and that the first, the one that represents you, is the Pope of the Tarot. And let the second one that represents your child be the Devil’s card. In the first card, the Pope seems to look fondly at the Devil. But the Devil is looking straight ahead. However, his ear is at the level of the Pope’s mouth.
One interpretation that could be given to this combination would be that you remain the caring parent and ready to counsel this teenager. To give him your love and your guidance. He, on the other hand, hears you but above all seems to live in his world. A way of saying, here, that your advice is no longer useful, however, you may be able to get in touch with him by trying to use his language. So then, given that he hears you, will he listen to you?
Method 3 – The Direction Of The Cards
Another rather nice technique is to look at the direction of the characters or scenes in the cards. It means looking for what there is in common in the maps. Then, look at the meaning of the objects or characters that are in the cards. Are they going to the right, are they going to the left? This type of interpretation makes it possible to see what the evolution is in relation to the question.
Here are some tips to observe the direction and the commonalities between the maps:
●Find objects that appear in common
●Observe the colors
●Compare the positions of the characters
●Observe the clothes (shapes, colors)
●Observe the background of the map (depending on the tarot cards)
If I shoot the Mat and the House God. I notice that the Mast seems to be walking in one direction (to my right) with his head in the air. His head is at the level of the head of the tower and the flames. One could say here that what is in the head of the Mat seems to be a burst and an intense upheaval. Here we have the Mat’s thoughts which are reflected in the following card.