Notes: The Magician's Guide to The Tarot

Manuscript refers to the Rider-Waite or Universal-Waite deck.

Basic Deck

78 cards in the full deck.
22 cards in the Major Arcana
56 cards in the Minor Arcana

Why the Tarot?

So in this guide I will be looking at both ways to provide fun, entertaining 'readings' with the tarot cards, and also ways of performing magic 'tricks' (for want of a better word) with the Tarot that still manage to keep the integrity and mystery of the Tarot intact.

Understanding the Tarot

Normal playing cards: 52 cards, divided into four equal suits. Each suit has the numbers 1 (Ace) through to 10, and then 3 royal cards (Jack, Queen, King). Therefore each suit has 13 cards.

Tarot cards: have four suits in the minor arcana as well. The suits are numbered 1 (Ace) through to 10, just like playing cards, but instead of having 3 royal cards, they have 4. These are Page, Knight, Queen and King. So in effect the Tarot cards have 2 cards for the Jack – the Page and the Knight. (The Page is seen as slow and methodical while the Knight is impulsive and makes decision based on emotion rather than logic).

The Four Suits
Hearts = Cups
Diamonds = Pentacles
Spades = Swords
Clubs = Wands


Mnemonic
Hearts = Cups

"My cup overflows with love."

Diamonds = Pentacles

The Pentacle emblem is essentially a coin with a five sided star upon it. Remember Diamonds and Pentacles are things that have monetary value. 

Spades = Swords

Spada is Italian for sword. 

Clubs = Wands

A Wand can be a large staff, which in turn is called a Club.

Why Memorize the Tarot?
Each individual card has its own meaning. Some are very similar, but essentially each card has a unique meaning. These unique meanings are similar to the Barnum Statements made famous in numerous 'cold reading' books. Each meaning of each card, like each Barnum Statement, is vague enough and general enough as to apply to most members of society at most points in their lives. Therefore a pack of 78 Tarot cards is nothing more than a collection of 78 Barnum-esque statements.

The cards act as a crib, a sheet of paper disguised as something other, telling you what to say. The cards are a crib, a collection of cold reading statements that you are allowed to have in front of you
when you speak to a spectator. It's like going in to an exam with your course study books in front of you.

The Suits And There Meanings
Hearts/Cups = Love/friends/family

Diamonds/Pentacles = Money/work

Spades/Swords = Change/advancement

Clubs/Wands = Ambitions/hopes/dreams

So now at the very least you can already demonstrate a very simple reading technique. Let your spectator shuffle and/or cut the cards and turn over the top card. Depending on what suit it is, you can say: “Ah yes, this card indicates that you are thinking a lot about love/money/changes/ambitions  (delete as appropriate) right now. Does that makes sense to you?” 

Bang! You've done your first reading and learned a great skill – that final sentence ('does this make sense to you') has opened up the door and allowed your spectator to give you feedback. Feedback? Sometimes you won't be able to shut them up! But joking aside, with that one simple sentence you have engaged your spectator, asked their opinion, and invited them in. 

And don't worry if they say 'no, it doesn't make sense' because a) generally it will (90% or more of the time) and b) all you need to say is: “That's odd because this card
is all about love (or whatever) and how that's affecting you right now. I wonder why you would get this card if you don't think it's appropriate?” And again you have asked their opinion and engaged them in conversation.

The most important lesson you can learn – lose the fear of being wrong. There is no wrong. Your job is to interpret the cards. That is all. The onus is on the spectator to fit the pieces of the jigsaw together and make sense of what the cards are saying.

The Individual Cards of the Four Suits

The idea of each card in each suit having an individual meaning seems, in terms of memorising them, a daunting prospect. But I'll let you in on two closely guarded secrets – 1) Many of the meanings are duplicated throughout the deck. And 2) The Tarot cards want to tell you what the cards means! They aren't trying to keep their meaning secret. The picture on each card is telling you what that particular card means!

The Aces and the Royal Cards

The Aces
Aces are a very strong card.

The Pages

The Page is slow and steady

The Knights
Dynamic, adventurous, a little reckless, and can jump into situations without too
much thought.

The Queens
The Queens (and the Kings) have slightly different meanings depending on whether you are talking to, or 'reading', a male or a female.

For a woman a Queen is very positive. Hopefully this makes perfect sense. It means that the woman feels confident, valued, and in charge of her own destiny. It is a very positive card for a woman to receive.

For a man a Queen is less positive. It means that he is feeling undermined, undervalued, and that there is always people around him criticizing him or telling him what to do.

The Kings
In exactly the same way that the Queens have two meanings depending on whether you are talking to a male or a female, likewise the same applies with the Kings. However this time it is the males for whom the Kings are positive, and females for whom they are less so.

The Rest of the Suits

The Twos

The Major Arcana
The Fool (0) – a jester type figure walking along a mountain path, possibly about to walk off the edge, with a dog yapping at his heels. “This card shows to me that you are embarking on a new and exciting journey right now. You are starting something new and you're very excited about it.

The Magician (1) - “This card is called the Magician, and as you can imagine the Magician is somebody who is very exciting to be around, someone who has lots of plans and ideas, always coming up with new ways to do things, and is very enthusiastic. This card represents you right now. You may be starting new projects or have new ideas in your mind about how things can be done.

The High Priestess (2) - “The High Priestess is a card that has a very strong feminine energy to it. It represents all the positive elements of being female such a motherhood, caring, nurturing, but also the idea that you can be love and care for yourself as well as others. That it is possible to have your own life as well, and not just be selflessly serving others at all times. The High Priestess also has an obvious spiritual side to it, so you may at this moment be feeling quite an attraction to the spiritual side of things. You may find yourself suddenly asking yourself big questions about life and the universe, or find yourself being drawn towards religion. But it doesn't have to be anything big – you don't have to run away and join a nunnery! This can be just you, in your own small way, beginning to feel a
little more spiritual. The High Priestess is also a card that is often associated with those who work in what may be termed the 'caring professions', so doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, that kind of thing. I'm not saying that you work in those professions, but you will certainly be drawn to professions where you feel you can make some kind of difference to people's lives, even if it's only in a small way.”

 The Empress (3) - the Empress is very similar to the High Priestess, and I read them in a very similar way. In the same way that I describe the High Priestess as embodying all that is good about being female – caring, nurturing, looking after others, but also being able to have pursuits and interests of her own – so I apply these attributes to the Empress. What I do is simply take out the spiritual aspect of the High Priestess, and make more of the caring and nurturing aspect. So I might say: “You may find yourself being called upon to offer more help and support for those that you love. You don't mind this at
all. In fact, you'd rather people did ask you for help rather than struggle by on their own. You have a big heart and a lot of love to share, and you enjoy doing so. Of course sometimes you might complain a little, and wonder when people are going to start taking care of themselves, but really, deep down, you don't mean it. You actually enjoy helping others, and really wouldn't have it any other way.”

The Emperor (4) – a king type figure sitting upon a throne. “So this card is the Emperor. Now the Emperor, as you can probably imagine, is someone who cares for his subjects and wants to care for and protect them. But the trouble is, being a king, the Emperor can be quite traditional, quite rigid in his outlook, and not as openminded as perhaps he could be. He doesn't mean to be so closed-minded, but he just can't help it. It's just how he is. So to me this indicates that you are feeling quite frustrated right now. There may be people around you who are a little narrowminded, and who like to place people in little boxes and compartmentalise them. The trouble is, you're not the kind of person who can be placed into just one box and filed away. You're a vibrant 3D person who has many aspects to their personality, and these attempts by people around you to put you into one little box can drive you crazy! What you need to understand is that the people who you feel are limiting you, they do with your best interests at heart. They think they're helping, even though it makes you want to scream and shout! So don't think too harshly of them. I think what you need to do is try and explain to them that there are things you want to do and achieve in life, and ask them to try and understand that and trust you enough to know what you're doing and what's right for you.”