How to Learn Tarot Card Meanings

Major Arcana cards from the Rider - Waite tarot deck.

Our essential guide on how to learn the Tarot card meanings quickly and easily.

If you are just starting out in Tarot it can feel daunting to understand and remember all of the card meanings. Have no fear, this guide will take some of the mystery out of the process, so you can get to work reading Tarot right away!

First thing to understand is that there are 2 main groups of cards, the Major and minor arcana. The Major Arcana, represent major themes in life such as strength, creation and death. These cards paint a big picture, indicating major events in our lives. The minor arcana are the everyday cards. These cards represent topics like decision making, work, and relationship dynamics. Things you encounter in the daily flow of life, that are achieved or resolved quickly.

Getting to Know the Major Arcana

Start by getting to know the 22 Major Arcana. Separate these cards from the rest of the deck and flip through them one at a time. Look at the character, or scene on the card and draw your own conclusion first. You must learn to trust your own intuition. This is key to developing your own personal reading style.

Lets take a look at the Fool and ask some questions:

Who is The Fool?
What are they doing?
When is this happeneing?
Where are they?
Why are they doing this?
What feeling do I get from this card?
What does this mean to me or my situation?

learn the meaning of The fool card — The Fool from the Radiant Wise Spirit

Now that you have a basic understanding of the Major Arcana as life lessons, or big archetypal energies. Lets look at the Minor Arcana.

The minor arcana are divided into 4 suits:

Cups: emotions and relationships.
Pentacles: material reality, work, body.
Swords: thought, conflict, clarity.
Wands: creativity, will, action.

Wands represent inspiration and drive, Cups indicate emotions and relationships, Swords for thoughts and challenges, Pentacles refer to the material and work

Interpreting the Minor Arcana from Ace to Ten through the lens of suits and numerology will give you a clear structure to start with:

Aces spark beginnings and pure potential
Twos show choices and balance
Threes reveal growth and collaboration
Fours indicate stability, foundations, or stagnation
Fives bring conflict and necessary change
Sixes suggest recovery, sharing, and harmony
Sevens represent assessment, and perseverance
Eights focus on movement, skill, or sudden action
Nines reflect nearing completion, and refinement
Tens complete a cycle with culmination, or overflow.

The number adds context to the suit (e.g., a 10 of Swords signals the end of intellectual conflict, while a 10 of Pentacles shows culmination of financial goals).

Ten of Swords in the Sci Fi Tarot deck — 10 of Swords in the Sci-Fi Tarot deck

Understanding the Court Card Meanings

Court cards function as people, personality traits, or stages of development.

Pages are youthful learners, they bring messages, curiosity, and beginnings. Knights are young adults, full of vigor and ambition. They move the suit’s energy outward with pursuit or change. Queens are the maternal figures. They embody mature, receptive mastery and nurturing energy. Kings are the masters in their realm. They represent authority, structure, and control. Read these cards as roles or energies rather than fixed identities. (Although they may indicate a specific person in some instances.)

The court cards should not be read as strictly man or woman, but rather, as masculine or feminine energy, which we all embody. Consider element, posture, surrounding cards and reversals to refine whether a card speaks to inner states, external people, or unfolding events.

Lets look at the King of Cups in the Cosmic Slumber tarot for example. This suggests mastery in the realm of emotions, no matter what crazy stuff the sea is throwing at him, he remains calm and unbothered by it all.

Flip through the deck to quickly learn the meaning of each card.

Draw a Card

Layers of Meaning in the Cards

Each card has several other layers of meaning

The colors
The number on the card
Pictorial symbols
Astrological symbols
Historical or religious symbolism

If you have no clue what meaning to divine from the card, that ok.

Just take out your guidebook and look up the meaning. You can use it for reference, or to add some depth to your own meaning.

Each guidebook will offer a slightly different meaning for each card. Don’t let this confuse you. If the meaning resonates with you, take it. If not, then distill your own meaning or try a different guide.

The Fool tarot card meaning — The Fool Tarot card meaning from the Pulp Tarot deck

How do you learn the meanings of tarot cards when information is contradictory?

Conflicting meanings occur beacuase tarot is a living language shaped by history, culture and personal experience.

Here’s a clear, practical approach to learning card meanings when sources disagree and you are not sure what to read.

Do a bit of research to understand the layers of meaning. Explore the longstanding interpretations from Rider–Waite, Toth or Marseille. These will give you a solid foundation (e.g., Death = transformation, not literal death). This understanding will help resolve contradictions.

Look at the imagery, colours, numbers and elemental correspondences for more clues.

Follow your own feelings and intuition. Your understanding of the querent’s story can shift a card’s tone. For example if the querent is hoping to conceive a child, The Empress should be read as a good omen for fertility, but for another individual it may mean they should pursue their creativity, or build a stronger connection with nature.

Create your own Tarot meanings list.

Aside from historical meanings, there are also many contemporary interpretations of the tarot. Modern authors and practitioners update meanings for current contexts such as career, relationships, mental health.

Pick one main tradition deck or guidebook as your anchor. I would recommend a Rider–Waite-Smith deck as it is commonly used and easy to to understand, making it a good starting point.

Choose 3 main "keywords" to define each card to avoid getting lost in long lists of definitions.

Get out a notebook and your favorite guidebook. Carefully read over the meaning for each card and jot down 3 main keywords from your primary guide. You can now use your list, along with your own intuition, to divine the meaning for any card you draw.

Here is my keyword list, which you are welcome to download and print for your own handy reference. Tarot Meanigs List

list of Tarot card meanings — My Tarot meanings list for quick reference

Tips for Comparing Tarot Meaning Sources Intentionally

Read 2–3 different authors or guides for the same card and note where they overlap and where they diverge.
Ask: Are differences stylistic, cultural, or based on a different system (Kabbalah, astrology, elemental dignities)?

Work with the imagery

Spend time with each card visually: notice colours, figures, objects, posture and background.
Write your own short description of what the image suggests to you before consulting texts.

Keep a personal tarot journal

Draw a card daily and record it.
Record your initial impressions, keywords, reversed meanings, and any shifts after readings.
Include the traditional meaning as well as any personal ones that arise.
Add other information you find useful such as zodiac and astrology associations or yes or no meanings.
After some time look back on these cards and note how well your interpretation fit the outcome and what you’d adjust next time.

Practice with spreads and context

Cards don’t mean the same in isolation as they do in relation to others. Practice three-card spreads (past/present/future) to see how meanings interact.
Ask specific questions rather than vague ones; specificity focuses meaning.

Develop and trust your intuition

Use exercises like free-association, meditation with a card, or speaking aloud what the card feels like.
Balance intuition with learned meanings — use one to check the other, not to replace it entirely.

A Card can Have More than One Meaning

A card can mean opposites depending on position, question, timing and surrounding cards (e.g., The Tower = sudden change or necessary clearing). If it drawn in reverse, (upside down) this may shift the meaning to the opposite of the upright, to a lesser degree, or to mean that the querent is lacking this element in their current experience. Embrace this ambiguity as a feature, not a flaw. The skill is discerning which shade of meaning fits.

Learn from experience and feedback

Do practice readings for friends and ask for reflections.
Revisit readings after events to see which interpretations were accurate and why.

Use simple decision rules when stuck

Prioritise the querent’s context and question.
Choose the interpretation that offers the most constructive insight or actionable guidance.
If two meanings apply, present both and explain how they might relate.

Keep studying and stay curious

Read a variety of voices (historical texts, contemporary practitioners, cultural perspectives).
Attend workshops, join study groups, or follow a curriculum to deepen understanding.

Quick exercise to reconcile contradictions

Pick one card that confuses you.
Step 1: Look at the image for 3 minutes; jot first impressions.
Step 2: Write 3 keywords from your primary guide.
Step 3: Read two other concise takes and list overlaps.
Step 4: Do a one-card reading for someone and note which angle fits best. Repeat this cycle until the card feels integrated in your practice.

Bottom line: Contradiction is part of tarot’s richness. Build a stable foundation, engage the imagery, practise deliberately, and form your own working meanings that you can explain and test in readings.