Before understanding the history and meaning of tarot cards individually, you must get a general overview of the tarot card list. Each card does have a specific purpose and role in your reading. As you will come to see, there is more than just memorizing a list of meanings of tarot cards or a set of characteristics adopted by each card. Tarot is a fluent and dynamic process that takes into consideration, the cards’ spread, position, combination as a whole etc.
However, you have to start somewhere when it comes to tarot reading. So, on that note, the obvious questions is: “What’s the meaning of the tarot cards?”
I’ve compiled a general list of tarot card meanings to help educate you as you begin to discover for yourself what is the meaning of tarot cards during your spiritual journey. I’m not going to get into card-specific meanings (that’s in the next article). I also encourage you to sign up to our free TarotOnlineReading.com newsletter to obtain free information, regular mailings, and special bonuses like free tarot e-books, free courses, and special offers exclusive to our members. We never sell, trade, or share any information from our email newsletter member list – so don’t let that stop you from signing up! 🙂
For now though, let’s do a general overview and unlock the mystery of tarot readings by understanding the tarot card meanings:
- There are 78 cards in the modern tarot card deck
- The deck is split up into the Major Arcana (22) and the Minor Arcana (56) cards
- Major Arcana cards are general representations of larger periods of a person’s life. For example, pre-birth, birth, career, love life, family, personal growth, marriage, children, retirement, death, after-life — basically, they are major life events and/or personal attributes.
- Minor Arcana are less significant and generally represent your qualities and events.
- Minor Arcana represent the remaining cards which closely resemble an average deck of playing cards. Instead of clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds, you have “Cups”, “Pentacles” (also referred to Disks or Coins in some decks), “Wands” (sometimes referred to as Batons) and the “Swords”.
- The similarity to playing cards is very real Cups relate to Hearts, Wands to Clubs, Swords to Spades, and Diamonds to Pentacles.
- Each suits is has a specific realm of influence. Cups reign over Emotions, Love, Art. Pentacles reign over Money, Career, Wealth (obviously!), Wands reign over Inner Mind, Intelligence, Free Will, and Swords reign over Brute strength of will, Oppression, and Dealing with conflict.
The specific meanings of tarot cards vary a great deal depending on which tarot card reader you decide to use. It’s a very personal process. And it’s definitely much more complicated than a simple reading of the individually selected cards.
I will delve into the specific meaning of each tarot card in another article. However, I wanted you to have a good overview and point list of tarot card meanings in a general context.
In my blog I prefer telling to newbies that Rider-waite deck is perfect for learning because there are a lot of new decks availables but not really easy to use when we start learning tarot; it is important to say that tarot reading as to be learned with a good deck, not only the one we find beautiful. In fact would advise Rider-Waite tarot to beginners.
🙂