I feel that a lot of people, when trying to teach Tarot reading, tend to make it complicated, a bit fluffy, a bit too technical or miss the point completely! I believe its best to keep things simple and keep a certain structure to learning the Tarot so things don't become confusing so......

This article will get you Tarot card reading in no time because you will learn to read the Tarot cards in a simple way. You don't even need to have memorised any Tarot Card meanings or descriptions. However you will need to become familier with the cards eventually. And as you become familier with them you will find that it all 'comes together' in your head. Its not something that you can get the hang of straight away but it is a fun journey getting to know them.

I recommend using the Rider-Waite deck because it is the standard deck upon which most other decks are based.

The pictures in the Rider-Waite deck were designed by Arthur Waite who was a member of a Secret Society called, The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn. The cards were drawn by Pamela Coleman-Smith under Mr Waite's instructions. They were first published by the Rider Co. which is why they are traditionally called the Rider-Waite Tarot!

There is a system behind the Tarot that relates to the images, names and numbers that they do. There a couple of links at the bottom to get you discovering them.

You may also notice a Biblical theme to the Tarot, so need need to worry about the Tarot being 'of the devil'. In fact it is rather complementary to the Bible. There is also a rather COSMIC angle to the Tarot too. Researching the Rider-Waite deck will take you on a exciting journey indeed!

But lets not get off-topic, lets get you reading the cards.....



Get yourself a book, just one book! don't overload on Tarot meanings yet, with some simple Tarot meanings in 'Teen Tarot' by Theresa Francis Cheung and Terry Silvers is pretty good for this or try www.learntarot.com or look at my page on Fun and Simple Major Arcana Card Descriptions (no, I haven't done the Minor Arcana yet!)

The Major Arcana cards are the first 22 cards starting with the FOOL 0 to THE WORLD 22. They are the important cards of the deck and carry more weight and significance when doing a reading. They represent the lessons and the 'ups and downs' of our journey through life, from beginning to end. You can read the Fool's Journey which might help you to understand the Major Arcana cards a little more.

The Minor Arcana cards are like the standard playing card deck in that they consist of four suits. These Minor Arcana cards fill in the gaps of a reading and give a little more information about it.

The suits are:

PENTACLES; for material matters like money, business and work (things that keep are bodies going).

SWORDS; are for thinking, thoughts and idea's (things that keep our minds going).

WANDS; are for passionate and active things like creativity and sports. (things that relate to our energy).

CUPS; are for our emotions like love, sadness and happiness (things that relate to our heart).



Here is an example using a PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE Spread. Just using the Major Arcana.

You lay three cards left to right in from of you. They are The Tower, The Hanged Man and The Star.

The left card represents the past, the middle card represents the present and the right card represents the future.
Here is the question (don't forget the question when your working out the interpretation!)

"A university student is concerned about his upcoming examinations."

Now work out your answer using just your simple card meanings and try to link the cards together in answer to the question. Literally use the book with the meanings in to find the cards and then link them together with the question in mind.

Here is an example answer

There is suggestion that you have had some sort of unexpected shock or surprise, perhaps this had resulted in having to put your studies on hold or perhaps they may have been delayed. The future implies success and achievement surrounding your examinations.

Not everyone will have the same interpretation which is good as long as you do relate the card to its basic meaning otherwise you could confuse the card with another. Keep it SIMPLE! (as my Mother always taught me)

NOW do it again, the same question but this time re-arrange the three cards and re-interpret them!

Think about Joining 'Tarot Together' Where you can do just that...... Check it out!



It is my understanding that when you are focused on the intent of the Tarot reading, synchronicity will come into play and by trusting the Tarot and yourself and by following your (good!) heart you will be able to achieve both effective and positive results.

The Tarot is an intuitive tool but one you need to work with, otherwise you would be a psychic and not a Tarot reader! The Tarot does the main work by placing itself where needed in the reading so you can interpret it. The cards have pictures and meanings for a purpose which is to enable you to interpret what the Tarot is saying and to trigger your intuition.

Once you have gained some experience with the Tarot and practised your basic meanings and interpretations you can practice reading for other people and when you read for other people you will find that the cards will trigger your intuition and you will 'know' and begin to 'feel' what that reading means intuitively. Just like when you know who is at the door or on the other end of the phone when it rings.

The basic meaning of the cards will still be rooted within the reading but you will be able to expand on the meanings intuitively.

NOTE! Sometimes it's best to just read what comes to mind rather than trying to think to about it too much or you might start to 'reason' it out rather than just go with the flow of reading. It will come together as you get into it!



Once you get the idea of reading the Major Arcana you can continue to become familiar with the cards and start to integrate the Minor Arcana too. It might be best to practice with a 3 card reading at first until you get a good familiarity with the cards. Remember to keep it simple!

Its also a good idea to just study one or two cards a day and, with regards to the Minor Arcana, study one suit per week keeping in mind the suits qualities (i.e. Pentacles - money business and the like). Again, it will all 'come together' as you become familiar with the cards and you will understand how they all fit in symbolically in the end.

When you progress on to more detailed spreads look for patterns in the cards, for example, more Major Arcana cards than Minor, which suggest a stronger influence than the Minor Arcana. Look for matching card numbers, colors and symbols which all help to get a better idea of the spread and just see if anything ‘jumps out at you’!

I really think it’s a good idea to stick with the Rider-Waite system of Tarot before advancing onto other decks otherwise things may become confusing. As I have said before, most Tarot decks are based on the Rider-Waite deck.

You might already read your horoscrope and have some idea about the influences of your personal star sign. Each Rider-Waite Tarot card has a corresponding Astrology sign and planet. If you look at each of the Rider-Waite Major Arcana cards you will see that most cards imply or have a symbol of the Zodiac or of the Planets within the imagery. This is part of the Rider-Waite system and helps to understand the cards. You can see the Major and Minor Arcana associations HERE.

For Example,

'The High Priestess' has several moons within the picture. This card is associated with THE MOON!

'The Emperor' has several symbols of the Ram, The Ram is the symbol of Aries and Aries is the association of the card.

'Justice' hold a set of scales. The scales are the symbol of the Zodiac sign of Libra and Libra is the association of this card.

This Zodiac and Planetary associations will help you to explore the cards in more depth. You might know a little bit about your Zodiac sign, perhaps from reading your horoscope, this will help you to understand the cards a little better. It might even get you into astrology too!



This site gives an insight to the meaning of numbers in the system of Tarot.

This site gives an A-Z index of the symbols and imagery within the Tarot cards with the meaning of each one. From 'clouds' to 'birds' this site is GREAT!

This site lists the colours and the meaning connected to it according to the Rider-Waite Tarot