Tarot Card Meanings

Major Arcana

Wands

Pentacles

Swords

Cups

Learn the basics of Tarot

Learning to read Tarot cards is not as simple as a + b = c. Every Tarot beginner starts by pulling some cards and then looking up the meaning for each card in a book, or online, trying to piece together some logical message like the words in a sentence. Most Tarot card guides are a collection of the authors experiences with each card. Examples of meanings that they've seen a card representing over the years they have used them. Tarot is very much a individual and unique experience for each person. A symbol or card can mean one thing to you and something entirely different to others.

Phuture's approach to learning Tarot is to quickly learn the basics of the cards, to pay attention to the subtle details of the images and how the cards relate to each other. We try not to suggest combination meanings or situations unless it helps with explaining the symbology. Instead we focus on the four elements, the numerology of the cards and the card character's direction and attention which is an important, and often missed detail, in most tarot guides.

If you have ever learned to drive a car you will appreciate how hard it is learning the co-ordination required to control a vehicle well. A learner driver has no spare attention to sit back and enjoy the scenery they are driving through. Once you have mastered the controls, and passed your test, these learned techniques move to a secondary position in your mind allowing you to focus on other things while driving. Learning Tarot should be the same. Once you have grasped the basics of Tarot's symbology you should then allow it to move to the learned, instinctive, part of your mind. If you see a hazard while driving you don't think "brake", your foot just moves instinctively to the brake. In a Tarot spread seeing an Ace should trigger your intuition to feel for what's beginning. What does your heart and intuition tell you when you look at the cards in your tarot spread? If you use only your head and thought process it will have a tendency to revert to logical analysis which often creates unnecessary drama from fear or desires. This is particularly true if you are reading for yourself or someone close to you.

Tarot is comprised of 78 cards split into 5 suits, or Arcana (from the Latin arcanus meaning “hidden" or "secret”). The Major Arcana is made up of 22 cards numbered from 1 to 21 plus The Fool which has either no number or is assigned zero. The cards of the Major Arcana are related directly to the cards in each suit of the 4 Minor Arcana through either their numerical, and numerological, values or by virtue of their characters hierarchical position. i.e. The Emperor and The Kings, The Empress and The Queens, The Chariot and The Knights and The Fool and the Pages. In our card meaning guides we've drawn attention to how the cards in the minor arcana relate to these major arcana superior cards. The minor cards tend to focus on only one good or negative theme. Their major superior card combines all their positive qualities, together with the higher spiritual realm, to form a holistic pinnacle of enlightenment. This is what the story of the passage, made by The Fool, through the Major Arcana, from card 1 The Magician to card 21 The World, represents - the path to Spiritual Enlightenment.