Mystical Angels

How can I become more familiar with the meanings of the 72 tarot cards?

It's a lot to memorize(I found a book with all the meanings, upright and reversed). Would creating my deck first help in the memorizing process, or is it better to get to know the cards, then create them? I'm hardly a beginning tarot reader, so any kind, helpful tips are welcome! Thank you in advance!

Public Comments

1. Helpful tip: Spend your time doing something less useless.
2. Most modern books on the Tarot are put together by publishers' committees to exploit a gap in the market. The folk who write them usually know little or nothing about the history or uses of the cards. A E Waite's Pictorial Guide is one of the few reliable classic texts. If your book doesn't at least list Waite in the bibliography, it probably isn't worth bothering with. The way to learn the symbols is to read anyone and everyone who will let you. Like everything else, there is no substitute for practice. But remember that if you practise getting things wrong, you can become an expert at that too.
3. What do you mean 'creating the deck'? Generally, it's easier to remember by thinking in terms of what each number means, and what each symbol represents. The major arcana usually represent a specific person, or the person being read. Pentacles represent earth which signify things of the material world- money, possessions. Swords represent air, which signify thoughts. Cups represent water which signify emotions. And Wands represent fire which represents enthusiasm or intentions. 1, is usually the beginning of something new. 10 usually represents completion of something. And then there's everything in between, which I cant remember at the moment. You can also get meanings from the pictures by understanding what the symbol is doing. The four of cups, for example, can br read a couple of ways. On one hand, it appears that he is too focused on the emotions(cups) that he has to notice that life is offering something new to him. In another view, it can be seen that the person is serene and calm. Perhaps he realises that it is the mind, not the body that needs nourishment most.Things of the world rise and return, but the wise spirit, perfectly empty, lives unattached to things of the world, and hence, without fear.
4. Don't intellectualize this too much! Get the basic Rider Waite deck. Look at the images. The images tell a story. Glean the meanings visually. Then look at "The Book" for more detail. If you can study a world language in high school with hundred of vocab words and dozens of grammar rules, learning the Tarot meanings isn't so tough!
5. Hello A tarot deck has 78 cards. Just live & breath tarot for a while, the meaning will soon sink in. Pam
6. Personally I, like many of my acquaintances, read intuitively. That is, we examine the illustrations depicted on the cards and focus on those things that stand out to us at the time. Hence, the 8 of cups does NOT always mean the same thing to me. I did not learn the assigned 'meanings' of the cards, and yet I am quite accurate without knowing them. (Sometimes just out of curiosity I will check back on some reading I've done and see how it lines up with the card 'meanings'....and it often does....but I find that I can be more specific and personal if I am not tying myself to a book of definitions.
7. Bad news. That book doesn't hold "all the meanings" of the cards. The true meanings shift and change with each reading. Don't try to memorize the cards. They're not like pages from a book... they don't always mean the same thing every time you see them. They're interpretive tools and you may need to interpret them differently in different spreads or situations. That said, it's helpful to have some background on the traditional meanings. I know I took several months of very intensive study to get a grasp of the basic meanings, even if I don't use those meanings that much, they're helpful to learn so that you can become familiar with how tarot works. One effective method of learning tarot is to journal. Go card-by-card through your deck in order and spend some time with each card. Study the image on the card and record your impressions. Break down the symbolism (out loud if you have to) and record what you think it means (on a personal level, not what you think it's "supposed" to mean... if you get an impression about the meaning of a card, you aren't going to get it "wrong" even if every book you read says the opposite.) Then get out your books… the guidebook that comes with the deck and any other book you have with tarot meanings (at least having one other book can be helpful. I recommend either “Tarot: Your Everyday Guide” bu Jenina Renee or “The Tarot Workbook” by Nevill Drury) and read through the entries while examining the picture on the card. Record whatever information seems important or relevant. When you are through with the deck, go back through your notes and study them… compile a short statement about the card, maybe a couple of sentences describing what you think it means… then see if you can break this down further into a keyword or two that describes the card… this will help the meanings you see by studying the cards stick in your head a little. The next thing you might try is comparing the numbers. Take out all the aces and compare what they mean… the things they have in common will refer to the essential meaning of “ace” and the things that are different about them will refer to the essential meanings of each suit. Go on and do this with the twos, threes etc until you’ve gone through all the minor arcana. I found this to be extremely helpful, myself. Next, find a reference for the “Journey of the Fool” and the story about the major arcana and why they are in that particular order and what they symbolize in our greater life’s journey. Journal about the Journey and how you feel about the major arcana… these things were all very helpful to me in my training. To do a reading, leave the book alone. Don’t even keep your guidebooks with your deck as you don’t want to be tempted to reference it during the reading. Read from the images, even if you have no experience with the cards. Look at the people on the cards and figure out what they are doing, how they are feeling and what the various symbols might indicate, then try to apply the behaviors and symbols on the card to the situation at hand. Use your intuition to focus on what seems to be the most important and relevant aspect of the image or symbolism. Best of luck, -Scarlet