When you first start reading Tarot, you will of course be heavily reliant upon the Tarot card meanings you choose to refer to. As you gain experience and knowledge on the topic, you’ll gradually refer to scribed Tarot card meanings less and less.
You can also now download our beginner’s guide to reading tarot for absolutely FREE here.
All of the Tarot card meanings can be found by clicking on the links below:
- Major Arcana Tarot card meanings
- Suit of Swords Tarot card meanings
- Suit of Cups Tarot card meanings
- Suit of Wands Tarot card meanings
- Suit of Pentacles Tarot card meanings
Tarot reading appeals to us as it is an opportunity to share the gained wisdom and knowledge about life, its challenges and how to deal with them that has been accumulated over hundreds of years by thousands of people. Consequently, here at Simply Tarot we place a lot of weight on respecting the structure of the deck, the relevance of the suits and honouring the core Tarot card meanings themselves.
However, all things should be kept in context and Tarot card meanings are only one of the many component parts of reading Tarot. If you’re planning to read professionally for other people then it’s not really enough to just regurgitate pre-written meanings statically in spreads. There’s so much more to a reading than that.
We’ve spent an incredibly long time, well over a decade now, writing, re-writing, reviewing and refining our Tarot card meanings. They are a very real labour of love and will remain a constantly moving, changing, evolving thing that will probably consume us for the rest of our lives!
We’re really committed to creating Tarot card meanings that are clear, unambiguous and easy to understand to help more people learn Tarot. We want our resources to really highlight the healing, empathetic and constructive self-help nature of the Tarot and Tarot readings. We want to help as many people as possible to use Tarot for the good they can do with it.
However, no matter how much good will and hard work went into authoring these Tarot card meanings, they’re still just our interpretation, our take, our understanding of what the Tarot has to say. Each Reader will go on to have their very own, individual take on the card.
One of the best ways for a Reader to “memorise” or learn Tarot card meanings is by attaching a personal experience to a Tarot card so they can relate to it. Where the Reader doesn’t have one of their own, they could look to the experiences and situations of people around them to try and understand more.
As a learning exercise, the Reader can attempt to recall the events or circumstances that they’re attaching to a chosen Tarot card. They should then mentally walk through that situation again asking key questions such as:
– What was good about that situation? What was bad?
– What were the emotions coming in to play?
– What happened with other people, family or friends?
– Were there other dynamics to consider?
– Were there knock-on consequences to deal with?
The next time the Reader pulls that card, they’ll have a much deeper affiliation with it.
This will not only help to commit Tarot card meanings to mind, it will also help the Reader genuinely empathise with the person they are reading for and that’s such an important part of being a good Tarot reader.
As a Reader attaches their own stories and experiences to the cards in this way, they’ll develop their own, slightly nuanced interpretations of the Tarot card meanings. And that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be in our mind! It’s how Tarot has evolved into what it is today and it’s how it will continue to evolve into the future.
It’s also important to note that a Reader’s relationship with their Tarot deck will help to add something even more unique to their Tarot readings. With more experience behind them, the Reader will start to spot trends, recognise certain card combinations or patterns of cards that can help them to identify and connect with the situation at hand.