What I learned from two months of learning to read tarot... so far.

It seems weird to write that headline. I’ve only been doing this for two months. But already, it feels like a lifetime of learning. And I think it feels that way because the skills involved in this have taken a lifetime to work on. Intuition is something I’ve been actively learning and growing my whole life, it seems.

First, I want to point out that I don’t consider myself an expert in this. And I don’t want to be an expert either, but I am sharing my journey here so that others might be inspired to learn to dread tarot cards. I hope that you might see that it’s not as daunting as it first appears. That’s what stopped me from learning this thirty years ago. I also know that I wasn’t ready for it back then. I needed more life experience before tackling something like this.

So what have I learned? So far, I’ve learned that there’s a lot of what I thought was random information in my head about the occult, symbology, numerology, and religious information. Not just Christian symbols and ideas. But also things from Judaism and the Kabbalah, Islam, Buddhism, etc. Pagan and Wiccan ideas are also in there as well. There’s probably more that I’m just not registering right now. But all that shows up, or at least it does for me. I didn’t realize I had retained so much from those days when I left my Christian church due to hypocrisy and started looking for other things to believe in.

The main thing for me so far comes from the High Priestess. This card shows a woman sitting on a bench between two pillars. These pillars are believed to be the pillagers from Solomons’s temple. One pillar is dark with the letter B, and the other is white with the letter J. The B stands for Boaz, which means ‘in his strength,’ while the J stands for Jachin, meaning ‘He will establish.’ Behind the High Priestess is a veil, so we cannot see what’s behind her. However, we get a glimpse of a waterscape through the sides of the veil. It looks like a large body of water. So basically, the High Priestess is guarding the temple of secret and mysterious knowledge. This is the knowledge that only worthy persons can access.

Water is a symbol of emotions and intuition. This is most likely referenced in the idea of “secret and mysterious knowledge.” Most people don’t know where this information comes from. So it can seem mysterious. There is also a certain kind of flow when it comes to intuition. When you work on your intuition, ideas, and information flow in; if you’re doing it right, it will be effortless, and the ideas will just come. That’s probably what makes it so mysterious. I haven’t had much trouble with this in the past two months.

Another thing I’ve learned about this is also to trust my intuition. And again, this comes from The high priestess card. She wants us to trust our instincts. To trust our gut. In the grand scheme, this is how you get past the High Priestess card, move towards the Empress, and continue on the path that leads us through the Major Arcana. The Major Arcana is about a journey toward enlightenment. All the steps that one must go through. And again, this is where all the information about the world’s religions comes into play.

Another thing I’ve picked up is that as there are many tarot decks, there are just as many ideas on what each card means. There are very well-respected standards for each card, but there are so many interpretations of the same card that it’s often difficult to pinpoint one as “the one.” Finding a definitive source for what the cards mean is not easy. I’ve tried to read as many books on the subject as I could in the last two months. And so far, I’ve discovered that most tarot readers agree on most of the cards, but interpretations vary. And it’s really up to you what they mean. Only you can say for sure what each card shows you. That’s beautiful, but it can also be frustrating when trying to learn it. I recommend reading the nook with your tarot deck to unlock what that author or artist wants to direct to your attention. But I would also pick up a copy of Arthur Waite’s Key to the Tarot. It’s a great read. And it contains more of his insights than the little white pamphlet with the Rider-Waite-Smith decks. That booklet is based on his book… But the book has a lot more information in it that helps.

Another book that helped me was Kitchen Table Tarot by Mellissa Cynova. In this book, she tells stories that reflect the cards. She does so with a spunky style, an excellent guide in understanding the cards. But her ideas do differ from Arthur Waite’s slightly. It wasn’t until I was halfway through her book that I realized it was up to me as a reader to interpret the cards. In many ways, it’s like making music. You have to learn the rules and the framework for which the music will exist, but ultimately it’s up to you to make that music. And here in the tarot, we have a similar idea. You can read all the books on the subject and never come away with anything definitive. But it’s not until you start trying to make something out of it that you understand it.

The other book that speaks to me is Rachel Pollack’s “78 degrees of wisdom.” This book is a deep dive into every card. It’s truly amazing what she gives you in this book. I find it so dense that I can only read about two cards daily. After that, my brain is saturated. But it’s such good information. I’m about halfway through it right now and know that once I finish it, I’ll start over again because I feel like I might have missed a few things. I recommend these books, but you should also seek books that speak to you.

My advice to anyone starting is to grab a deck, pull a card and ask yourself, “what is this card telling me?” And then answer your question with what you see in the image. Whatever answer you come up with is the answer. I like to study a single card for a while as I come up with what it could mean. I’ll try to see all the little details. How many items are in the image? What direction are they facing? And not just in the card but also are they pointing to anything outside of the card. Is there something on my desk that’s being pointed to? Perhaps a compass direction? You can go wild with this. If you put down a second card, are these two cards interacting? Are there similarities between them? Colors? Shapes? Lines? Does it look like the page is looking at the children in the garden from the 6 cups? Or has he turned away? This is all vital information to be used in the reading.

Another thing I learned had to do with numerology. When I started reading the tarot, I focused on the numbers first. Now, this was a great idea since I already had a sense of numerology and a basic understanding of the meanings of the numbers from 1-10. I compiled my list and started reading. However, I will say that after a week or so, I noticed that a few numbers didn’t seem to mesh with the images on the cards. This was when I started buying books and researching the tarot more thoroughly. At one point, I got very frustrated because It didn’t seem anyone agreed on the numbers. Even in numerology, you’ll find different means for the numbers from other sources. But again, the Kitchen table Tarot book showed me that it’s up to me to discern the meanings. So I went to my cards and began looking at them in sets. I looked at the aces and saw similarities, twos, threes, fours, etc. And that’s how I arrived at my understanding of the cards today.

Again I’ll re-iterate that I’m only two months into my journey with this. I am not an expert, and your results will vary here. But I hope my journey inspires you or, at the very least, allows you to see that this isn’t as difficult to learn as you think. It can be frustrating. But it’s also rewarding as well. I’ve learned a lot more than what I’ve been able to write here. And perhaps someday I’ll write it all out. For now, I’m excited about what I’ve learned so far and what I will learn in the future with tarot.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks again and have a great day!