Cards from the Brady Tarot – Image by Inkwood Tarot
For a long time I wondered why esoteric symbols and abstract images eluded me. I admittedly have a very logic-focused brain. I’m better with science-y stuff than abstract – I have a master’s degree in conservation biology, and have spent decades studying the natural world. I don’t know if my science schooling and professional work is a result of my brain being wired for structured thinking, or if my schooling and professional work have resulted in my brain being less comfortable with abstract and esoteric images. Don’t know. Either way for as much as I loved it, I struggled with the tarot for a long time. I understood the concept of intuitive reading, but my logic-focused brain wasn’t able to make much of the card images. I needed facts. I needed to better understand the esoteric world of tarot; otherwise card meanings seemed arbitrary to a level of pointlessness. I knew they weren’t, but I needed to know why they weren’t.
I finally got what I needed when I was introduced to Rachel Pollack’s brilliant text, 78 Degrees of Wisdom at a tarot workshop in 2007. If you’re even remotely interested in tarot (which I trust you are, as you’re reading this) and haven’t yet read this book, I urge you to get a copy – it’s an invaluable resource. In this book the Pollack explains what’s behind the symbolism of the Major and Minor Arcanas. Rather than just giving pat explanations for card images, she reveals the esoteric traditions and teachings behind the cards; she explains the larger concepts behind the Arcanas, knitting the 78 cards into an understandable whole.
I’m sharing my story because I believe it’s easy to get the feeling from some tarot sources that if you’re unable to intuitively read the cards without an accompanying book, you’re not a good tarot reader. I have no doubt that others might have a similar struggle and I wanted to lift up another way of approaching the cards by creating a resource for other logic-brained readers. Don’t get me wrong – intuitive card reading is really important, and needs to be practiced. But if it’s a struggle for you, don’t despair. Keep studying and you’ll find yourself able to make your own connections as time goes on.
There are loads of websites and books that can give you a card-by-card description, so I will not cover individual card meanings here. And there are an equal number of resources on the history of the tarot, so I will leave that to more knowledgeable authors. Rather I am sharing the tarot as a system – an almost formulaic way to approach the Arcanas. This is not the be-all-end-all of what you need to know of the tarot by any stretch, but a key to understanding that can launch your reading, if needed. If you’re an intuitive reader already, but not as familiar with the larger structures in the tarot, I encourage you to use this article to deepen your own connection to and understanding of the cards.
If you’re very new to tarot, let me take a moment to say that you do not have to be “psychic” to read tarot cards – anyone can do it. How do they work, then? The tarot systems and structures mentioned above (which will be explained momentarily), along with our own intuitive guidance (and yes, we’re all capable of that too – I may be a slow learner in that area, but I’m proof it’s possible!) are what enable us to “read” tarot cards. You’re not seeing into the future, you’re exploring a story of what the future could contain, and the path needed to achieve that. You are using symbolism and imagery to communicate with your higher self – what comes out of a tarot reading comes from you and what you bring to it.
Broadly, what is the tarot and what does it consist of? The tarot is made up of 78 cards – 22 Major Arcana cards (or the trumps), and 56 Minor Arcana cards. The Minor cards structurally resemble modern playing cards with 4 suits each numbered Ace – 10, and court cards. However the tarot has 4 court cards in each suit, unlike modern playing cards which have 3.
There are literally thousands of tarot decks out there with as many different themes and tradition as you can imagine. However many draw on the Rider-Waite-Smith or Crowley-Harris Thoth traditions (some more loosely than others). My keys below come primarily from the Rider Waite tarot tradition.
Understanding the system of the tarot
It is mainly believed that the tarot was not created with Kabbalah or other esoteric traditions in mind – that those associations came later in its development. Whether or not this is the case, the tarot as we know it now weaves Qabbalistic, astrological and numerological associations into its structure, and understanding even the basics of how the cards fit in these traditions can be a powerful connection. I will touch on the numerological associations in this article, but will not dive into the astrological or Quabbalistic associations – I want to start with a more straightforward overview that anyone can apply. I will have resources published in the future that will dive deeper into the esoteric associations of the tarot.
The Major Arcana – the Fool’s Journey
The Major Arcana is made up of a series of 22 cards, using archetypes – examples of broadly specific people and events that make up the spiritual journey toward enlightenment/spiritual freedom/… The first card in the deck, the Fool, is number zero and begins the Major Arcana journey. You can look at the Major Arcana as the path that the Fool travels to eventually end up becoming the World dancer at the end of the sequence (symbolizing the completed soul’s journey to enlightenment). When looking at the Major Arcana as a whole some tarot readers separate the fool from the rest of the cards in part because as a concept zero belongs to both everything and nothing. Removed from the Major Arcana we can then look at the fool as a traveler on the road of the Major Arcana to eventual enlightenment.
In addition, this allows us to divide the major arcana into 3 sections or stages – visualize dividing the cards up into three lines of 7 cards each. Rachel Pollack in 78 Degrees of Wisdom details each row’s level of work as such:
- Conscious; the outer concerns of life, work and society, cards 1 – 7
- Subconscious; the inward search to find out who we really are, cards 8 – 14
- Superconscious; the development of a spiritual awareness; the pathway of enlightenment, cards 15 – 21
As a starting point for understanding the Major Arcana, I found this to be the method that made the most sense and was the quickest to take in. One of the interesting attributes of dividing the cards this way are the vertical relationships between the cards that appear. Try laying out your deck’s Major Arcana in three rows (less the Fool), and observe how the cards vertically align.
The Major Arcana can also be divided equally in two if we include the Fool in the layout. This puts the Wheel of Fortune – clearly a turning point – at the end of the first line, and Justice at the beginning of the second. The two lines can be seen as divided into external issues and influences in the first line, and internal work and issues in the second.
The Minor Arcana
As the Major Arcana depicts the journey a soul travels on the path from birth to enlightenment, so the Minor Arcana depicts the everyday events that occur in human lives.
The minor arcana can feel less straightforward than the Major, especially if you’re using a deck that does not have full illustrations for the number cards. some decks including Crowley’s Thoth deck, and the incredibly beautiful Haindl Tarot have limited or not pictures on the number cards and use symbols, colors and keywords instead. Decks more strictly based on the Rider-Waite system use illustrated pictures of objects and people to tell the story of the Minor Arcana; the Rider-Waite deck does not use keywords, but some Rider-Waite based decks do (my beloved Brady Tarot is an example).
There is a system for learning the Minor Arcana basics, without having to memorize every book’s definitions for each deck you work with, although it still requires some learning. Since decks do vary quite a bit, you can then take these basics and use them as a starting point for understanding a specific deck’s imagery.
The Minor Arcana number cards correspond with esoteric numerological understandings of the numbers 1 – 10 (see below). These meanings combine with the correspondences for each suit to give each card it’s unique meaning.
Below are the suit and numerical associations from 78 Degrees of Wisdom, and Tarot for Life (see resources below). In addition I have added the direction usually associated with each element, as used in some occult practices, including Wicca and other Pagan practices. This is not necessarily true for all decks however – the Haindl Tarot is an example of a deck based on Rider-Waite and Crowley traditions that changes up the directions associated with the elements. But many decks based on these systems observe the following correspondences:
- Wands (rods, staves)/Fire – Action, movement, optimism, adventure, struggle, business in the sense of activity rather than commerce, and beginnings. In many Western Esoteric practices, Wands and the element of Fire correspond to the direction of South.
- Cups (hearts)/Water – reflection, quiet experiences, love, friendship, joy, fantasy, passivity. Cups and the element of Water usually correspond to the direction of West.
- Swords/Air – conflict, angry or disturbed emotions, sadness, but also mental activity, wisdom, the use of intellect to understand the truth; Swords and Air are usually associated with East.
- Pentacles (coins, disks, stones)/Earth – nature, money, work, routine activities, stable relationships, business in the sense of commerce; also, because Pentacles are magical signs, they stand for the magic of nature and the wonder of ordinary life, not always perceived, but often hidden under the surface. Pentacles and the element of Earth usually correspond to the direction of North.
Wands and Swords represent ‘yang’ or active situations while Cups and Pentacles stand for ‘yin’ or passive situations.
Both Wands and Pentacles deal with business, both Wands and Swords indicate conflict.
Cups and Wands tend towards happy, positive experiences, while Pentacles and Swords often represent the more difficult sides of life.
Cups and Swords cover the general range of emotions, while Pentacles and Wands depict the more physical activities. (from 78 Degrees of Wisdom)
Numerological associations:
- Aces/Ones – Basic quality, root, unity, initiation, beginning
- Twos – Duality, union, choice, relationship
- Threes – Full expression of the element, synthesis, expansion
- Fours – Structure, stability, order, possession
- Fives – Loss, conflict, challenge, meditation
- Sixes – Communication, harmony, equilibrium
- Sevens – Victory, tests, commencement
- Eights – Movement, change, ebb and flow
- Nines – Compromises, struggle
- Tens – Completion, need to go beyond, perfection, beginnings and endings
For example a start for understanding the Two of Cups is to combine the two’s meaning of union, duality, choice and relationship with the suit of Cup’s associations with emotions, love, relationships, joy and nurture. The result is a card that is indicative of a romantic or intensely emotional relationship – most often a harmonious and/or joyous one.
If you’re like me, even understanding the associations for numbers might feel random – where did this come from? I needed to know if there was a greater system being drawn on, and there is. These associations come from Qabbalistic and occult understandings of numerology. If you want to dig deeper into numerology, there are a number of great resources that can help add to your understanding of the tarot. I’ve listed my numerology resource at the end of this article.
Court Cards
Each of the four court cards have their own associations: that of the station itself (King, Queen, etc.) combined with the suit’s elemental energy.
The system I found most helpful came from the Golden Dawn (an occult society from the late 19th and early 20th centuries). That’s where I found the elemental associations for each position which helped me think about them more concretely. I derived the below definitions from the Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot and Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom:
- Kings – Represent Fire, as well as social responsibility, power, and success.
- Queens – Represent Water and a deep appreciation of the suit and creativity.
- Knights/Sons – Represent Air along with action and responsibility to others.
- Pages/Princesses/Daughters – Represent Earth as well as exploration and study.
The titles for the court cards can vary quite a bit from deck to deck. Some use a family structure (Father, Mother, Son, Daughter) or other similar titles to the traditional court. Other deck creators have moved further away from the tarot’s traditional (but limited) medieval structure. Frequently, even if the station name is changed, the associations are still similar, but not always.
One last word on learning tarot systems. Unless you’re working specifically with the Rider-Waite or Crowley decks, there is going to be some changes in both the Major and Minor Arcanas. Even decks that follow a tradition closely, like the Morgan-Greer deck (another favorite of mine) which follows the Rider Waite Smith, will have some different artistic interpretations.
Decks that are themed, and/or a bit more loosely based on a traditional system might have a much higher degree of variability from more traditional decks. This is where intuitive reading comes in (and an artist or creator’s notes if they come with the deck). There are tarot decks out there with every possible theme; if you select a deck that truly speaks to you, whether because of the quality of the artwork, the system it follows, or the theme of the deck, you will develop your own relationship with it over time, and your own associations and understandings of the cards as you work with them.
Intuitive Reading
The flip side of the tarot reading coin is intuitive reading. Intuitive reading takes practice and comes easier for some than others; if you’re the sort to jump right in with a deck and let yourself find your own way through it, you should begin your tarot studies with intuitive reading.
How to build your intuitive reading ability? Mary K. Greer, in her book Tarot for Yourself offers a starting point that I really like; a series of questions you might ask yourself every time you turn over a card (I’ve adapted these slightly):
- What is the first thing you see – what stands out?
- What is the general atmosphere of the card?
- How does this card make you feel?
- What human or animal figures do you see? What are they doing and where are they facing?
- What colors are prominent and what do they mean to you?
- What numbers and symbols are prominent and what do they mean to you?
Another method of developing your intuitive awareness of cards is to just sit with them and study them. Do an imaginative exercise that takes you into the card and has you interacting with its figures and landscape. You can do this lightly for a reading, or as an in-depth meditation with one card at a time. Journaling or recording your meditation sessions (as well as your readings) is a good way to build and be able to reflect on how you respond intuitively to the cards. Mary K. Greer’s book Tarot for Yourself is a fantastic resource for building your own intuitive understanding of the tarot, and I highly recommend it as a companion to Rachel Pollack’s Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom. It takes more of a workbook approach, with exercises and meditations designed to help you delve imaginatively into the world of the tarot.
Reading tarot intuitively and with key system understandings are both valuable reading methods, and most valuable I believe, when combined to some degree. Whether you start with interpretive reading and slowly introduce yourself to the tarot’s larger systems, or learn some of the universal(ish) keys to the tarot in order to help you open the door to your intuition, the tarot is here to teach us how to tap into our own unconscious knowing and discover our own potential.
Finally, it is important to understand with both these reading methods that the goal of tarot reading is to look at a spread and be able to tell its full story by following your heart. How the cards interrelate and weave a larger picture is the emphasis, not just thinking about each card individually. I will cover this idea further in a future post about reading cards for yourself and others.
Happy reading!!
Resources
78 Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack
Tarot for Life, Paul Quinn
The Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot, Chick & Sandra Tabatha Cicero
Tarot for Yourself, Mary K. Greer
The Occult Power of Numbers, W. Wynn Westcott
