Stop Learning Tarot Cards Like Flash Cards (You're Better Than That)
This post was originally published here on April 5th, 2018
One thing I've noticed as I've started teaching tarot cards to other people is that they have a tendency to think that every card has an individual meaning and it is their duty to memorize 78 complex sets of meanings before they can begin reading for others.
That's simply not true.
It's also incredibly inefficient and totally kneecaps you when you move on to learn another deck (and try memorizing ANOTHER 78 complex sets of meanings). Cards exist in relation to one another. Understanding those relationships lets you remember meanings quicker, better understand how cards in a spread might be connected, and give much smoother readings.
If you're learning Tarot for the first time or looking to bush up, here's my advice after reading cards for 10 years. Please, learn from my mistakes.
Tarot is a language
In the same way you learn letters and string them into words and then string words into sentences to communicate, tarot is a language you learn so your intuition can communicate more fully with you and others. And like a language, it's often best to start with the phrases that you'll use the most.
Practice: Go through your deck and pick out no more than 12 cards that are really calling to you and look up those meanings. Write them down if you're up for it. Go through your deck and pick out no more than 12 cards that give you a feeling of unease and do the same. Notice any reoccurring symbols?
Tarot is a story
How you understand that story may vary on your tradition, your experience level, your aims. Most standard Tarot decks follow the Fool's Journey through the Major Arcana as he becomes more skilled and then more enlightened. A similar pattern can be seen in each of the suits. The Court Cards are less narrative in my opinion but a similar progression can be seen.
Practice: Take out each of the suits one at a time and lay them out in a row. Read the meanings of each card and see how the story progresses. Write down a summary. Do the same with each of other suits' courts and the major arcana.
Tarot is a system
You aren't fluent until you know the language well enough to speak smoothly and in most situations. Similarly, it takes understanding Tarot at a high level to give the best quality readings and read without a book. No card exists in isolation and just like when they show up in a reading, you must read them in relation to the rest of the spread - it helps a lot to know them in relation to the rest of the deck.
Practice: Lay every card in your deck out like this (pardon my bad MSPaint job). Major Arcana up top and Court Cards off to the right and all the numbers lined up with the Fool and World left hanging. Pick one of the cards that resonated with you in the first exercise and look at how it relates to all the other cards in the deck. If it's the 8 of Pentacles, what do the other 8's look like and speak to? What do 8 (Strength) and 18 (the Moon) in the Major Arcana connect to it (if at all)? How does it relate to the rest of the story of the Pentacles?
Hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!