I always recommend that beginners create avatars for each Court card based on a celebrity or someone they know. This is a mnemonic device, a memory aid that will help your brain remember the energy of each figure.A traditional tarot deck is composed of seventy-eight cards. You might encounter modern sets with extra cards. Frankly, I'm not a fan of those because I'm old skool. I take out the extras and stick with the seventy-eight. You might want to do that too . . . or not. Heck, if you feel those additional cards are going to add something to your readings, keep 'em. Otherwise, follow my cue and stick to the tried 'n true.
The tarot is divided into two sections:
Major Arcana
Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana cover the bigger picture, fated events, life's journey, and the significant lessons you may learn along the way. There are twenty-two cards in the Major Arcana, beginning with the Fool, which is numbered 0. Each image depicts an archetype that represents a step you might encounter on your spiritual path. Think of the Majors as the driving force to your evolution.
The Minor Arcana represent the day-to-day things that make up your life. Your job, relationships, finances, and struggles are depicted in the Minors. These are the things you can handle. There are fifty-six cards in the Minor Arcana.
In the Minor Arcana, there are four suits:
Wands
Cups
Swords
Pentacles
Each of these suits symbolizes a different facet of life:
Wands—Enterprise, creativity, work, passion
Cups—Emotions, relationships, love
Swords—Thoughts, conflicts, challenges
Pentacles—Finances, material goods, values
Each suit is also connected to an element:
Wands—Fire
Cups—Water
Swords—Air
Pentacles—Earth
You might want to consider the Major Arcana to be the element of spirit.
Let's explore the elements first.
Water nourishes the soil and helps things grow. It pours, overflows, but can be stagnant too. Water can drown, but it can also dry up. Emotions can be like that too. Think about when your feelings are flowing beautifully. You forge deep connections, share your soul, fall in love, express your heart with vulnerability. But when your emotions get clogged, you can easily get hung up on the past. On the occasions when emotions overflow, they get the best of you and threaten to overwhelm. How do your feelings impact your life? In what way do you connect with others?
Play with the Water element and Cups: Lay out every card from the Cups suit in a row, from Ace to King. Examine how every figure interacts . . . or doesn't. Consider how the energy of a reading may feel if the majority were Cups. Would it tell a story of love . . . or emotions run amok?
Embody Water: Visit a lake, ocean, or other body of water. Sit at the edge and gaze out. Notice the ripples. Or, if it is still, peer in and look at your reflection. Take off your shoes and dip your toes into the water. Allow yourself to be quiet as you ponder how water feels. Then ask yourself: how deep can I go? Not into the water, but into the realm of emotions. Stand in a rain shower. Feel the droplets on your face. Allow yourself to get soaked to the bone. Inquire: How do my emotions impact my life? When have I totally immersed myself in my feelings?
Fire can heat up any situation. It warms your bones and helps you cook the food you eat. It can blaze trails and spark ideas or shed light. Fire creates movement and adventure. It's passion incarnate. Think about the flame that burns in your heart. What does it feel like when you're in love with a person or an idea? What can you build from that initial spark? Fire must always be handled with care. In the wrong hands, it can destroy what took a long time to create. It can extinguish an entire forest. Another side of this element is burnout—that feeling that happens when you give it your all and push beyond capacity. In this case, the flame dies because it cannot sustain that same level of heat. The Wands signify passion, the spark that creates movement, adventure, and work. How do intensity and devotion show up in your life? What are you building?
Play with the Fire element and Wands: Lay out all the cards from the Wands suit, from Ace to King. What passionate adventure can you see unfolding? If your reading was mostly Wands, would this indicate excitement or a situation that's ready to burn down?
Embody Fire: Light a candle. Soften your eyes and stare into the flame. Feel the warm glow as you bring the candle closer. Let your mind wander. Ask yourself: What lights me up? What brings intensity to my world? Then blow out the candle. Contemplate the times in your life when your dreams went up in smoke. What happens when you give up on your passions? What about when you go for them wholeheartedly?
Air swirls around us. We are all breathing it in at the same time. It's continuously moving, even though we cannot see it. Air can be the force that moves a windmill. Swords are the realm of thoughts. Our thinking can be bold, exciting, or stifled. We can fly. Air can be thick and hard to breathe too. It can bring the storm that, in turn, clears the skies, but it can also whip things up and tear things down. Air needs grounding, or it can be unpredictable. The old saying “scattered to the four winds” means ideas that cannot be grounded. How do you channel your thoughts into action? In what way do you speak your truth?
Play with the Air element and Swords: Lay out every card from the Swords suit in order from Ace to King. What's the weather forecast? If you were a meteorologist and this was your fourteen-day forecast, what would you predict? If your reading was all Swords, would you see conflict or resolution?
Embody Air: Stand outside and feel the air on your face. Is it a cool breeze or a fierce wind? Allow the gusts to muss up your hair and spin you around. Breathe in deeply and exhale slowly. Think about how we're all breathing in the same air. Contemplate how that connects you to a family member or a stranger passing you on the street. Ask yourself these questions: How do my thoughts create connection . . . or conflict? When have my ideas inspired or created controversy?
Earth grounds us. It gives us something to stand on, and digging our toes deep into the dirt feels good. It's the soil upon which we plant our seeds, and we need it for growth. Think about how hard it is to cultivate anything in a desert. The lack of nutrient-rich dirt makes it impossible in some places. The earth regenerates itself and can heal. Pentacles is the material element of the tarot, the thing that makes life worth living and helps us create security. It's our roots. Those roots stabilize us. Earth shows us where we need to dig deep. But it can also be unyielding. In that case, nothing much happens. What do you value? Are you willing to get your hands dirty to make your dreams a reality?
Play with the Earth element and Pentacles: Once again, lay out all the cards from the Pentacles suit in a single line, from Ace to King. What's growing? What is the path to real security? If the reading was mostly Pentacles, would you see financial growth or something else?
Embody Earth: Take off your shoes and walk barefoot on the earth. Or dig your hands into the soil of a potted plant. Feel the terrain around you. Get sensuous with it. Smell that richness. Meditate on the wonder of the earth—how it sustains, heals, grows, replenishes. Ponder this question: What makes me feel secure? What can I create right now that might make a difference?
Think about how the elements might work together . . . or not. For example, Water and Earth show the potential for growth. After all, water replenishes the soil and creates the conditions for things to flourish.
On the other hand, Water and Fire create simmering energy that can make steam . . . or boil over. In some cases, water puts out the flame.
Air helps a fire to grow bigger. For example, when you're building a fire, blowing on the small flame creates a blaze. But wind can dry up earth, parching the surface and making the conditions unsuitable for farming.
Air and Water are neutral to each other. Same with Earth and Fire. That being said, anytime you see one element dominating, even in the case of compatibility, there is always the potential for things to become imbalanced. In a reading, look to see if the Minors are in harmony or if one is prominent.
This description provides a simplified version of elemental dignities, a tarot technique that derives interpretations based on how the elements of the cards go together . . . or not. If you want to learn more, you might want to check out Tarot Decoded by Elizabeth Hazel, which covers this technique in depth.
Within each suit of the Minor Arcana, there are four cards known as the Court cards. They can symbolize people in your life, opportunities you might be manifesting, as well as the energy you're transmitting or might need to bring to a situation.
Page—Young people, messages, seeds
Knights—Young people who identify as males, action, messengers
Queens—People who identify as females or feminine energy, mothering, nurturing
Kings—Mature people who identify as males or masculine energy, leadership, mastery
Do not get overly concerned with gender. Anyone at any time can operate with male/female energy. The King of Pentacles doesn't automatically guarantee some tall, dark stranger is about to waltz into your life. This card could indicate that you need to take responsibility for your finances instead!
How do you know which meaning is which? The interpretation all comes down to the context of the question and the position of the card. For example, if someone is asking about their business and the Queen of Pentacles shows up, this card might be a sign that the querent needs to focus on the financial aspect of the company. The Knight of Cups in the near future position might indicate a romantic partner on the horizon for someone who is wondering about meeting someone new. Two Pages in a general outlook could signal a time when the querent is developing new projects . . . or is pregnant with twins.
Getting the hang of the Court cards takes time, but with enough practice, you'll start to see when it's a person, message, or advice for the querent. If you want to learn more, I recommend that you check out Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K. Greer and Thomas Little.
I always recommend that beginners create avatars for each Court card based on a celebrity or someone they know. This is a mnemonic device, a memory aid that will help your brain remember the energy of each figure.
Now that you understand the basic structure of the deck, let's gather some possible interpretations. The tarot card meanings in this manual are meant to be general guidelines. The longer you read, the less you need to rely on these interpretations. For now, though, lean on them. Refer back to the book as much as you need.
When you're starting out, you might need to refer to the book all the time. That's fine. Keep going. Soon, you'll be able to read the cards without glancing at the book. But until then, these interpretations will help you navigate tarot with a bit more confidence . . . like a set of tarot training wheels! No shame in that! (Psst, we all started out this way!)
In addition to interpretations for each card, you'll notice journaling prompts, Tarotcises, and a section called “How to embody the energy of this card.” Each of these elements will help you connect with the tarot in different ways.
The journaling prompts are designed to get you thinking about what the cards might mean to you. The Tarotcises challenge you to explore different ways of looking at the cards. The “embody” parts allow you to bring tarot into your everyday experiences and feel the energy of the cards, essential for understanding the meaning. I recommend doing all three for each card for a full, rich experience.
If you want to see tarot people argue, ask their opinion about reversals. Some readers hate them. Others think they are essential (and that people who don't use them are lazy). For myself, I didn't realize that some people didn't use them until much later in my career.
I have always worked with reversals. In my opinion, they can add subtle nuances to a reading. But I've had plenty of great readings from folks who didn't bother with them. Really, it's up to you.
When you're first starting out, you might want to leave them alone. That's fine. But once you get going and feel confident with uprights, give them a try. You might find that they take your readings in exciting new directions.
Reversals can signal blocked energy or something stalled. You can also look at them as the opposite meaning of the card. For example, the Devil reversed may imply a release from something that is binding you. Liberation time, baby!
Keep in mind that whatever card you're looking at, when upside down, it's not in its element. The vibe is unsteady, blocked, or the opposite. One technique that I like is to look at the upright version of the card as advice. For example, if you pull the Hermit reversed, it might be a sign that you need to take time out to contemplate your situation. The Three of Cups reversed might say you need to blow off some steam and hang with your friends . . . or to seek support from your buddies. The solution is in the upright version! Shazam!
My friend Shaheen Miro likes to turn the reversed card upright as a way to “move the energy.” I love this idea. If you pull a reversal for yourself or another person, turn it upright. How does that feel? Be curious. Turn it back upside down. What do you see now? Does it feel different? Once again, turn it around. Think about how that energy might be moving forward if you make a change. Tarot is so magical!