A Complete Introduction to Tarot: From Card Structure to Reading Practice

Part One: The Basic Structure of Tarot

A standard tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana represent significant life events or turning points, telling the story of “The Fool’s Journey” — a symbolic narrative of death and rebirth. The Minor Arcana reflect day-to-day situations and events, serving as detailed aspects of the Major Arcana.

The Minor Arcana are arranged into four suits. Each suit contains cards from Ace through Ten, plus four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These four suits correspond to different areas of life, creating a rich and nuanced interpretive system through the combination of elements, numbers, and symbols.

Part Two: The Suits, Elements, and Corresponding Areas of Life

Each of the four suits has its own ruling element and corresponding domain. Understanding these elements is fundamental to mastering tarot interpretation.

Cups: Corresponds to the element of Water, representing emotions, relationships, love, and intuition. Water is flowing and gentle. The suit of Cups deals with connections between people, inner feelings, and subconscious activity.

Pentacles: Corresponds to the element of Earth, representing material possessions, money, achievement, and the physical body. Earth is solid and stable. The suit of Pentacles deals with work, finances, health, and all practical matters related to worldly life.

Swords: Corresponds to the element of Air, representing intellect, decisions, thinking, and communication. Air is sharp and quick. The suit of Swords deals with thought processes, verbal expression, conflict resolution, and moments requiring difficult decisions.

Wands: Corresponds to the element of Fire, representing instinct, travel, communication, passion, and creativity. Fire is hot and energetic. The suit of Wands deals with taking initiative, exploring the unknown, travel, and all matters requiring courage and drive.

Psychologist Carl Jung famously distilled humankind’s mental processes into his theory of four functions, which aligns neatly with the suit meanings: Swords and Air correspond to thinking, Wands and Fire to desire, Pentacles and Earth to possessing, and Cups and Water to feeling. This correspondence provides a deep psychological foundation for tarot interpretation.

Part Three: Additional Elements of the Court Cards

The court cards not only belong to their respective suits but also carry additional elemental attributes, creating compound elemental combinations:

For example, the Queen of Wands combines the Water of the Queen with the Fire of the Wands suit, suggesting emotions and intuition together with communication and energy, representing a person who is both passionate and empathetic. The Knight of Cups combines Fire and Water, representing a romantic pursuer who acts on behalf of love. These elemental combinations make the interpretation of court cards richer and more multi-layered.

Part Four: A Brief History of Tarot

The earliest surviving tarot cards date to 15th-century Northern Italy, such as the Visconti-Sforza tarot. These hand-painted cards predominantly featured Christian themes and imagery. Although the Church called early cards “the devil’s picture book,” the original cards were actually tools for telling stories of faith.

In the 18th century, French Freemason Antoine Court de Gébelin proposed that tarot originated from the ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth, claiming it contained hidden wisdom. Subsequently, Eliphas Levi connected the Major Arcana to the Hebrew alphabet and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, establishing deep links between tarot and esoteric traditions.

In the early 20th century, A. E. Waite and illustrator Pamela Colman Smith共同 created the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck. This deck was the first to illustrate every card of the Minor Arcana with complete scenes, making interpretation more intuitive. It remains the most classic and influential tarot deck to this day.

Part Five: Attuning to a New Deck

Before using a tarot deck, you need to establish a personal connection with it, a process called attuning. The more connected you feel to your cards, the more accurate, insightful, and inspiring your readings can be.

Attuning method: Sleep with your deck under your pillow for seven consecutive nights, allowing the cards to merge with your energy field while you rest. Each day, take out the cards, look at each image, and touch the surfaces so your fingers become familiar with the texture of the cards.

Visualization attunement: Hold your cards in your right hand — known as the giving hand, because you are about to give your energy to the cards. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and visualize pure white light pouring down through the crown of your head,and flowing through your third eye chakra, throat, and heart, then down your right arm, into your right hand, and into every card in the deck. If you work with spirit guides or angels, ask them to come close and to help and protect you during readings. Open your eyes when you feel the energy flow is complete.

Part Six: Cleansing and Protecting Your Cards Before a Reading

Tarot cards, like people, absorb energy. During readings, your cards absorb your energies and those of anyone else who touches them. For this reason, daily cleansing and protection are important, and you should avoid letting other people casually touch your cards.

Cleansing method: Hold the cards in one hand and fan them out. Gently blow on the card edges — you can do this in one breath. Next, put the cards back in a neat pile, still holding them in one hand, and then knock firmly once on the top of the deck. This simple action effectively clears away any old energy from the deck.

Protection method: When you are not using your cards, keep them wrapped in a cloth of a dark color, such as deep purple cotton or silk. Dark colors help shield the cards from external energy interference. Place the wrapped deck in a tarot bag or box. You can also store them with a favorite crystal — such as clear quartz, known as the master crystal for keeping energies clear, or amethyst,用于 healing, insight, and protection. These crystals help keep your cards energetically cleansed and safe.

Part Seven: Creating a Space for Your Readings

Creating a dedicated reading space helps improve concentration and accuracy during readings. Find a peaceful space where you feel relaxed and comfortable, and make sure it has a flat, clean surface you can lay your cards on.

Most readers put down a reading cloth first. This layer both physically protects the cards from wear on the table surface and energetically shields them from external interference that the surface might carry. The reading cloth is usually the silk cloth you wrap your cards in when they are not in use, but any piece of fabric you like will do.

Before you lay out the cards, you might like to perform a short ritual to honor the ancient practice of tarot reading. A ritual helps focus your intention and establishes a strong connection between your cards, yourself, the person you are reading for, and any spiritual guides you work with.

Suggested ritual: Light a candle in your reading space on a safe surface. Close your eyes and take a few calming breaths. Set your intention through visualization or silent affirmation — for example, visualizing white light flowing from your crown into your cards, or simply saying in your mind, “I intend to enjoy the best tarot reading I can.” When you have finished your reading, affirm in your mind that the reading is over, feel gratitude for the insights your cards and intuition have given you, put your cards away, and blow out the candle.

Part Eight: Selecting Cards for a Reading

Shuffling: After you have cleansed the deck, shuffle the cards for a few minutes. Relax and allow your feelings and questions to surface. The shuffling process itself is a form of meditation, helping you focus your attention on the upcoming reading.

The fan method: Use this method when you want just a few cards for a reading. When reading for yourself, spread all the cards facedown in a fan shape. Choose the cards one by one with just your left hand — known as the hand of fate — from anywhere in the fan, and place them in front of you, still facedown, following the spread layout you have chosen. When reading for another person, have the person shuffle the deck. Take the deck from the recipient, fan out the cards, and ask the recipient to choose cards from the fan with his or her left hand, then pass them to you to lay out.

Cutting the deck: Use this method when you need many cards for more elaborate layouts, such as the Celtic Cross or Tree of Life spread. When reading for yourself, cut the deck twice with your left hand so you have three piles facedown on the table. Choose one pile to become the top of the deck and gather up the other two piles underneath it. Lay out the cards according to your chosen spread by dealing from the top of the deck and placing them facedown. When reading for another person, ask the recipient to shuffle, then split the deck into three piles using his or her left hand and choose one pile. Gather up the remaining two piles and place the chosen pile on top, then you lay out the cards.

Part Nine: Turning Over Cards and Reversals

When turning over cards, always flip them sideways — from left to right — not from top to bottom or vice versa. The reason for this is to maintain consistent orientation, because flipping from top to bottom may unintentionally reverse the card and change its meaning.

A card is known as upright when you turn it over and it appears right side up. A card is known as reversed when it appears upside down. A reversed card’s meaning is generally more negative or blocking than the upright meaning, though it can also indicate suppressed energy, delayed manifestation, or the need for inner exploration.

However, there are different opinions regarding the use of reversals. Many experienced tarot professionals ignore reversals in a reading and simply turn the cards the right way up if they come out reversed, using their intuition to interpret the card in a positive or negative light. Whether to use reversals is entirely a matter of personal preference — do whatever feels right for you.

Part Ten: Interpretation Tips and Beginner Advice

Look before you look up meanings: Before consulting the interpretation of a card, spend a moment gazing at the image. Notice which symbol, color, figure, or scene attracts your attention first. This first impression is your inner guidance directing you to the most relevant meaning of the card for your current reading. The beauty of tarot is that the same card can convey different messages at different times and for different questions.

When you cannot make sense of the cards: If you begin a reading and cannot understand what the cards are telling you, shuffle and lay out the cards again. If the same or similar cards come up this time, go with the reading. Relax and stop worrying about reading the traditional interpretations. Say what comes into your head straight away — you will find that the words flow.

Start with only the Major Arcana: Beginners can start by reading with only the 22 Major Arcana cards and progress to the full 78-card deck when more confident. The Major Arcana represent the primary, fundamental energies, while the Minor Arcana are more incidental, detailed influences. Since many minor cards are dilutions of the majors, using only the Major Arcana will not cause you to miss any vital information.

Ignore reversals while learning: As you are learning, work only with upright card meanings. If you get reversed cards, turn them the right way up and focus on your responses to the card in this position. Some tarot readers use reversals religiously regardless of their experience and knowledge, while others never do — it is a matter of preference.

Read suit cards by their element: Learning the meaning of each suit’s element is an effective shortcut. Pentacles, the Earth element, tells you that security — home and finances, structure and planning — is the focus. Wands, the Fire element, reveals talking, creating, and action. Cup cards, of the Water element, ask us to tend to our emotions and relationships. Swords, of the Air element, ask for mental clarity and the need for resolution and decisions.

Read suit cards by their numbers: Numbers also carry significant meaning in tarot. The following are the general number meanings:

Number meanings are modified by the element of the suit. For example, the Three of Swords, in the sharp suit of Swords, means sorrow or betrayal — three swords competing against one another. The Three of Cups, in the loving suit of Cups, means celebration — three people making a happy crowd.

Read any card by its colors: Colors are also important interpretive clues. Red represents energy, passion, and the material world. Yellow represents consciousness, illumination, and self-expression. Blue represents truth and clarity. Green represents nature and growth. Gray represents neutrality and unknown outcomes. Purple represents intuition and spirituality. Black represents both protection and oppression. White represents purity and innocence. Orange represents creativity and impulse. When you feel uncertain about a card’s meaning, notice which color on the card most catches your eye — it will offer an important hint.

Reference

  1. How to work with this book. (n.d.). In Tarot guide (pp. 10-28). [Book excerpt].

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