Tarot Basics
If you are new to tarot, start by familiarizing yourself with your deck. Get to know the cards. Which cards are your favorites? Pay attention to how they make you feel and create stories from the illustrations. There are no wrong ways to use the cards, as long as it feels right for you.
Below is a brief overview of the traditional tarot deck. Take what knowledge is useful to you and leave the rest. You are also welcomed and encouraged to create your own definitions for the cards that resonate with you.
If you are interested in a deeper dive, there are many resources on the internet. @empress_cakez on Instagram uploads hot takes on individual cards in her original THC x 3 series (I highly recommend 🤓). Additionally, look into Bola Juju’s Patreon. Starting at just $1/month, you will get partial access to her educational Art of Tarot series.
Major Arcana
The deck begins with 22 Major Arcana cards. These cards represent life lessons.
Numbered 0-21, the Major Arcana begins with The Fool and ends with The World. The Major Arcana cards point to larger, overarching themes in your life.
Minor Arcana
The 56 Minor Arcana cards represent the ups and downs of your daily life. The four suits hold different energies.
Wands
Wands are the most magical of the suits. They represent your energy, spirituality, and passions. Wands can indicate your life’s purpose and your free will.
Cups
Cups hold emotions and your heart. They often relate to how you feel about relationships with others and with yourself. Cups can ask what matters to you.
Swords
Swords represent your thoughts and words. They are often about reasoning, communicating, and taking action. Swords can also mean using and asserting your power.
Pentacles
Pentacles are about the physical world– your career, finances, and material possessions. Pentacles can show how you can affect your environment.
The numbers in the Minor Arcana can also hold significance.
The traditional meanings are fairly intuitive.
Ace: new beginnings, starting out, possibilities
2: union, harmony, opposites
3: growth, creativity, collaboration
4: stability, building, rest
5: struggle, change, instability
6: exchange information, realignment, restoration
7: evaluation, observation, fidelity
8: understanding, action, advancement
9: achievement, realization, final push
10: completion, reset, restart
There are four Court Cards for each suit– The Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These cards can point to a person (including yourself) or situation in your life. Use whichever definition makes the most sense to you.
Pages
Pages are youthful and innocent, something or someone just starting out. Pages can be new opportunities or ideas.
Knights
Knights are about action. They can be so focused on forward progress, they find themselves moving in the wrong direction if not careful.
Queens
Queens nurture and sustain ideas into actualization. They can be influential, while flying under the radar.
Kings
Kings are fully in control of themselves. They are good and stable managers, able to direct others towards the completion of a common goal.
Reversed Cards
Reversed cards are pulled upside down, the top of the card closest to you. How you define these is up to you.
There are many different ways readers handle reversed cards. Some read them as if they were still upright. Others take them as either an amplification or a decrease in the card’s message and energy. Sometimes, I’ll read them as a non-answer.