As stated previously,  the Tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards.  Readings can be done using only the Major Arcana, only the Minor Arcana, only one suit of the Minor Arcana, or the entire deck, which obviously gives a more in-depth reading.

Learning to use a Tarot deck basically involves making associations with the images on the cards. Some card meanings are rather obvious, and some are not so obvious.   For example, the Three of Swords in virtually all decks depicts a heart being pierced with swords - giving it a meaning that is not terribly hard to deduce.  Depending on the deck, however, other cards are not as easy to make associations with.  We have found that in most cases the booklets that come with the cards are woefully inadequate as far as revealing the meanings of some of the more obscure cards, particularly in the Minor Arcana, and pursuant to this, we have compiled comprehensive lists of the meanings of all the cards in the Tarot  in the links below. 

Numerology is an important part of Tarot readings, and at least a rudimentary knowledge of the meanings of the numbers is essential for success in Tarot readings.  Pursuant to this, we have also included the meaning of the number of the card in the descriptions provided in the links below.

When sitting down to do a Tarot reading, it is important to ask your question properly, or your reading will be ambiguous or mean nothing at all.  Tarot does not give yes or no answers, so careful thought as to how to reword your question is important.  For instance, rather than asking "Is my ex-boyfriend going to come back", a question such as "Where is my ex-boyfriend at this point and what is he thinking in relation to me" would give a far more accurate reading. 

Unless you are extremely careful to keep your cards in perfect order, many cards laid out for a reading will be upside down in relation to you, the card readers' position.  These are called "reversed" cards, and often carry a different meaning than the same card would if it were presented upright.  A reversed card may mean the total opposite of the upright card, or may just be a watered down version of the meaning of the upright card.  It is up to you to have a strong enough association with that card to decide how the reversal actually affects the reading.

As stated earlier on these pages, choosing the right Tarot deck is one of the most important aspects of Tarot reading, and beginners decks are excellent training decks for the novice.  Though you might find the illustrations hokey or even kind of goofy, the beginner's decks are designed to make the meaning of the card as clear as possible.  Early on when I began reading Tarot cards, I bought the well-known Dragon deck, which in actuality I found rather difficult to associate with because it uses its own little fantasy land type scenario which was a far cry from the easier to read human-based illustrations on my beginner's deck.   I have now become fairly proficient with my Dragon deck, and the illustrations are beautiful, but if you do not have a good chunk of time to constantly go from book to each card, you might be wise to become very familiar with a beginner's deck, or at least a deck with illustrations of human activities rather than one of the fantasy based decks such as the Dragon.  Once you become proficient, there are plenty of more attractively illustrated decks to choose from for reasonable prices, and your learning curve will not be nearly as steep. 

Lastly, it does take time to become proficient in Tarot reading, so don't expect results overnight.  As with any discipline, Tarot reading requires time and hard work - so give it ample time and try to devote a bit of each day to it.  One very good way to start is to do readings with only one suit of Minor Arcana at a time.  Same goes for doing readings with only the Major Arcana.  Probably the best tip I ever got was to choose one card out of the deck per day and throughout the day, think about how it's meaning might pertain to that day's activities.

Having covered the basics, please check the links above on the left for meanings of specific cards and their numerological relevance.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us via the Message Board below or by email.

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