Take your time to study the Tarot Cards

As you begin to study the Tarot Cards take your time and learn each one as thoroughly as you can before you go to the next card.

Lay one card at a time in front of you. Read the explanation given for the card. Look at the picture on the card and see how the symbology of the picture relates to the meaning of the card. Meditate on the card, think deeply about it and what it means. Go over its meaning again, see the picture in your mind. Look at the card again, look for any hidden meanings in the card which you did not see or understand the first time you looked at it. Read the explanation again, look at the card, and now let the picture tell you the story.

When you feel you have the picture on the card and the meaning of it firmly in your mind, go over the "keywords" which are given for the card. Put the picture, the keywords and the interpretation of the card together and memorize them. Once you have started doing readings, you will find that you can expand on the meaning of each card.

Take your time. The more time you spend on each individual card, the more you look at it, study it, study the meaning and the keywords, the better you will understand it. Understanding all the hidden nuances of each card will enable you to become a better reader.

NOTE:
All descriptions of the cards are based on the symbology presented in the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. There are many other decks available, but I'm recommending that you begin with the Rider-Waite deck. Although the cards have the same interpretations, many of the newer decks present the pictorial symbology in a different form.

(Updated 2006, All rights reserved.)