Very often when we study tarot, we are focused on how we will interpret a card, or a group of cards, in a reading. We want to learn how to answer a question with a card. That is, in fact, the essence of tarot reading.

Yet, interpretive tarot is only a portion of how we can encounter tarot, contemplate tarot, and understand tarot. The more ways we have to work with a card, the easier tarot interpretation becomes.

When we study tarot in a broader, more contemplative way, we learn from tarot, as well as learning about tarot. In time, it begins to feel that tarot is teaching us. Tarot can teach us about life, and about ourselves. Tarot can also teach us new ways to work with, and interpret, the cards in divination.

It is never too late in our tarot journey to learn something new about a card. The more possibilities we add to our tarot vocabulary, the more our intuition will have to call upon when we see a card in action.

The more ways we learn to use tarot, the more helpful tarot will be in our lives.

Interpretation in Divination

Interpretation in divination is what most people think of when they think of tarot study. We may memorize classic interpretations and keywords. We may study astrological and Kabalistic associations.

In my practice as a reader and a teacher I have discovered that finding the stories within the numerical order of the cards can be an effective way to understand and remember the classic card meanings. Remembering the elemental and numerological associations for each card is a helpful way to enhance a divinatory practice.

It is perfectly acceptable and advisable for a student to perform even large and complex readings by consulting the book, or several books, to reference the classic interpretations and the artist’s intentions. Part of the skill of a tarot reading is in extrapolating the classic meaning into the actual life situation. One does not need to have the cards memorized in order to do this.

Spiritual Lessons

Tarot is a book of spiritual wisdom in picture form. Each card, and each section of cards, can teach us a spiritual lesson. These are lessons that we learn in our study of the cards, and that stick with us throughout our lives. Sometimes in a reading a card will remind us of its spiritual lesson, and that lesson will become part of the reading. Yet, the spiritual lesson we take from a card may not be involved at all in a particular divination.

For example, from the Wheel of Fortune we might learn to accept the ups and downs of life which are beyond our control. Yet, in a particular reading, the Wheel of Fortune might reference a trip to a casino, or reuniting with an ex lover.

It is a good practice to think of the lessons of each card and carry those lessons in your heart. It is also helpful to think about the lessons of the cards in sections. For example, what lessons do we learn from the suit of Swords, or from the Aces, or from the Sevens? Tarot divides into natural sections, and each section carries its own lessons.

Cognitive Contemplation

There are many great tarot exercises which involve choosing a tarot card, not at random, but cognitively. Whether working from the full deck or a small section thereof, to choose a card based on your knowledge, the image, or the way it makes you feel, helps you learn about the cards and about yourself.

For example, if you choose five cards at random and look at them all, you might challenge yourself to decide which one of these cards expresses something you are feeling at the moment. That process of contemplating all the cards, choosing one, and think about how that card applies to you is immensely powerful.

You might do the same sort of exercise choosing from just the Majors, or from just a particular suit.

This sort of exercise leads into the practice of tarot magick, where we choose a card, or a few cards, to bring a particular energy into our lives. We might also choose a card which expresses an energy we want to banish from our lives.

Many who do not know much about tarot, and some who do, often focus only on the process of divination when studying and practicing tarot.  The less we limit the cards, the more we learn about their power to teach us, to inform us, and to change the energy around us. Then, we are able to truly harness and use all the power of tarot in our lives.