How To Read Tarot Cards and The Meaning of Each Tarot Card
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How To Read Tarot Cards
You'll also need an explanation of the meaning of the Tarot cards like this one. I've given a short explanation of each of the cards below.
You should conduct your reading in a quiet place where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Turn off your cell phone and remind your client to do the same. You may decide to use scented candles or other items to create a relaxing atmosphere.
Before you deal your Tarot cards, separate them into the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.
Ask the person who you are "reading" to shuffle each Arcana and then cut each set. Ask them to focus and think about the question they want answered whilst they do this. Tarot cards can be awkward to shuffle but the method of shuffling isn't important.
You then need to decide which Tarot spread to use. A couple of the easiest ones are:
Three card spread
This uses just three cards, laid out left to right. The cards represent past, present and future.
Five card Horseshoe spread
Five cards, laid out in an arc or horseshoe shape. Left to right, these cards represent the receiver's present position, their present desires, the unexpected, their immediate future and their outcome.
You're then ready to perform the actual Tarot reading and interpret the Tarot cards. You'll need a book on Tarot interpretations to help you do this.
The Meaning of Each Tarot Card
- The Fool
Also known as the Jester and can have the number 0. This card is often interpreted as confronting fears and taking risks. - The Magician
The magician normally points to talents available and often signifies an ability for the sitter to tap into their full potential. - The High Priestess
She guards your subconscious mind. When the High Priestess is dealt, it is usually taken as showing that you need to look deeper into the situation being read. - The Empress
She is normally interpreted as anything in the reading that relates to motherhood as well as the loving care and attention that goes with this. - The Emperor
As you'd expect, the Emperor means that you want to rule over the things around you. Sometimes it signifies that you may need to be less of a control freak in your life. - The Hierophant
Sometimes known as The Pope. This card can have religious meanings but more commonly it is interpreted as representing education and also moral standards. - The Lovers
When this card appears, it usually means that a decision will need to be made about a relationship. - The Chariot
The Chariot usually represents some kind of battle that will be won providing the person experiencing the reading has the willpower to win. - Strength
Signifies internal battles that need to be won. So this card relates more to inner strength than physical strength. - The Hermit
As you'd expect from a hermit, this card often means that you need to withdraw from the rest of society. - Wheel of Fortune
Nothing to do with the game show of the same name except that it has an element of randomness about it. Which means it often signifies a change in direction in life. - Justice
There are implications of both justice and the law with this card as well as situations where judgments and decisions are made. - The Hanged Man
Contrary to initial thoughts, this isn't to do with death but signifies letting go of your worldly attachments in order to get a more profound view of a situation. - Death
This is card number 13 and it normally signifies the end of something (but, fortunately, not usually life). It often relates to the end of a relationship. - Temperance
This card normally interacts with one of the other cards that have been turned up in the reading - it shows the need for moderation in some aspect of your life. - The Devil
The Devil represents something we are doing that is holding us back. This could be binge eating, getting drunk or a host of other things. If the person being read is very withdrawn, it could show that they need to get out their shell more. - The Tower
The Tower normally represents a dramatic change in direction or fortune. The fire and lightning on the card design further emphasize tis turmoil. - The Star
We've always looked to the stars for inspiration and that's exactly what this card represents: hope and inspiration. - The Moon
The moon and its gravitational force affects us in a lot of ways and this representation is to do with sleep and sleep patterns. It can refer to pleasant dreams or unpleasant nightmares. - The Sun
The sun normally means happiness, contentment, vitality in life, self-confidence and success. It can also mean enlightenment and greatness. - Judgement
Judgement day, whether that's good or bad will depend on the other cards that are drawn with it. - The World
Normally this represents an end to a cycle in your life. This is often accompanied by a feeling of achievement and accomplishment.
What Do You Want To Get From Your Tarot Card Readings?
Interpreting Tarot Cards
Interpreting Tarot cards is a skill. If this is your first time, it will pay you to get a good book on Tarot card interpretation to help steer you through the many different scenarios.It's best to practice on yourself at first.
Choose which Tarot spread you want to use, shuffle and cut the cards and then deal them out as you would if you were doing a reading for someone else.
Think of the cards you've dealt as chapters in a book. Each one has a specific story to tell. It's quite likely that the cards will jog your memory as you are looking at them and a particular interpretation will come into your mind - go with this as first instincts are often the best.
Keep a journal of your personal Tarot readings. You can then go back over this to see how events have turned out for you.
Think of your Tarot reading as being similar to going to a doctor other than your own for a second opinion. It will often help you to see a situation in a new light.
When you move on to give readings for other people, be careful in your choice of words. Our minds are easily led and you want to make sure that you are presenting the information you are interpreting from the Tarot cards as well and as positively as you can.
This book will help you in your Tarot card interpretations.
Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners
Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/10/2009)
Learning the Tarot is a complete course on how to use the tarot cards for personal guidance. The 19 lessons in the course cover the basics and then move gradually into more advanced concepts. Exercises and sample responses for each lesson help you learn and practice. For simplicity, only one easy layout is used throughout the course - the Celtic Cross Spread.
Tarot Cards on Wikipedia
The tarot (first known as tarocchi, also tarock and similar names), , is a pack of seventy-eight cards, used from the mid fifteenth century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Italian Tarocchini and French Tarot. It has four suits corresponding to the four suits of the modern 52-card pack, though the suit symbols and the number of court cards differ. It is distinguished also by a separate 21-card trump suit and a card known in English as the Fool which may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit, depending on the game.
Rabelais gives tarau as the name of one of the games played by Gargantua in his Gargantua and PantagruelFrançois Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, ch. 22, "Les Jeux de Gargantua"; this is likely the earliest attestation of the French form of the name.
In English-speaking countries, where these games are largely unknown, Tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes. Huson, Paul, (2004) Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage, Vermont: Destiny Books, ISBN 0-89281-190-0
Mystical Origins of the Tarot
Occultists call the trump cards and the Fool "the major arcana" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana. The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the eighteenth century.
Share Your Tips On Interpreting Tarot Cards
prosperity66 wrote...
Short and sweet but very CLEAR explanation on how to read the tarot cards!
5 stars from me :)
Posted June 21, 2009
Slim_N_Trim wrote...
Not bad but like the other poster said, you need to allow your intuition to tell you what the cards mean to you, the reader. It's not just about what is written in a book...
Posted May 26, 2009
spirituality wrote...
To interpret tarot cards, you have to find out what they each mean to YOU.
Posted July 30, 2008
