My Tarot Meanings
DRAFT – March 15, 2014This is a list of the basic tarot meanings I tend to use. This is an interesting exercise as I’ve never tried to pin down every card before. I tend to treat them in a more fluid fashion during readings, where meanings shift like wisps of fog according to the question and surrounding cards. Still, I have an idea of the core meaning(s) that each card has for me. I expect that this list will be refined as I work on this page.
These tend to slant towards the Waite-Smith deck, with a dollop of Golden Dawn (Book T) thrown in, and some idiosyncratic stuff. For more comprehensive meanings, I recommend supertarot.co.uk.
Pardon the virtual construction dust, if you note errors or inconsistent formatting. I will remove the DRAFT status when I consider this list complete, or at least edited for format and appearance.
Major Arcana
0. Fool – Unexpected, foolish, beginning
1. Magician – Skill, a magical person, power to act
2. High Priestess – Knowledge, wisdom, intuition
3. Empress – Woman, creation, fertility, birth
4. Emperor – Man, authority, boss
5. Hierophant – tradition, teacher
6. Lovers – Partnership, joining, united
7. Chariot – Success, movement, vehicle
8. Strength – strength, fortitude, vitality, compassion
9. Hermit – alone, solitary, self guidance
10. Wheel – change of fortune
11. Justice – balance, legal matters, right vs wrong
12. Hanged Man – sacrifice, time out, service
13. Death – an ending; transformation may follow
14. Temperance – Balance, moderation, tempering, protection
15. Devil – base motivations, executive power, addiction
16. Tower – impact, destruction
17. Star – hope, guidance, direction, good fortune, new beginning
18. Moon – illusion, unseen, deception; sometimes regular cycles
19. Sun – Success, joy, powerful
20. Judgment – renewal, new phase, making a decision
21. World – complete, ending, the matter at hand, distant travel
Minor Arcana
Wands: fire – hot and dry – active – creative, power – south – summer – noon
Cups: water – cold and moist – passive – emotions – west – fall – evening
Sword: air – hot and moist – active – thoughts, conflict, problems – east – spring – morning
Pentacles (coins): earth – cold and dry – material things – north – winter – night
Aces: Beginnings, elemental seed, root of element
W – start of creative endeavor; sexual energy
C – start of something emotional; love, happiness, grace
S – forceful action, battle or defense
P – start of business endeavor; blockage; something material
Two: duality, partnership or conflict
W – Dominion, power over someone or something
C – friendship, partnership, relationship, love (a gentle one)
S – truce
P – juggling, balancing
Three: Foundation, creation
W – demesne, established strength, action
C – celebration, party
S – separation
P – work, expertise (especially professional)
Four: Stability
W – marriage, house or apartment, joy
C – boredom, jaded, drunk
S – rest, illness
P – keep things to self, greed, hold onto
Five: Change, imbalance
W – strife
C – Loss, sorrow, disappointment
S – Defeat, gossip
P – Material trouble, lackin g
Six: Harmony, rebalance
W – Victory
C – the past, nostalgia
S – short travel, science, moving on
P – generosity, giving, exchange
Seven: Testing
W – Defense, courage, strength
C – Confusion, too many option, addiction, delusion
S – Theft, deceptive, sneaky, hidden
P – Patience, fruits of labor, waiting
Eight: Success, accomplishment
W – Speed, progress, soon, haste, internet
C – leaving something behind
S – trapped, bound, able to escape but unwilling
P – apprentice, working hard, factory, skillful
Nine: Completion
W – Strength
C – “wish card;” content, heart’s desire,
S – nightmares, despair, cruelty, suffering
P – material gain, success, having everything one needs
Ten: Past the end of a cycle (ready for new, or too much)
W – Burden
C – Happiness, family, joy
S – Ruin, defeat, back troubles
P – Wealth, “wall street card”, lots of stuff
(Court Cards to be added next)
3 comments
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December 23, 2014 at 3:22 pm
Nova
Love your keywords. I find it so interesting to see how others view the cards. I have a question about Temperance being associated with protection. I’ve never seen that connotation before–could you elaborate?
December 27, 2014 at 9:33 pm
Jason
Hi Nova,
Thanks for the comment. I’d almost forgotten I started noting basic tarot card meanings here. I’m glad to know that somebody enjoyed reading them.
The Temperance association is something I adopted from Josephine McCarthy. Temperance is one of those cards that always seemed a little bland to me, and which didn’t seem to appear often in my readings, so I’d usually trot out some uninspired talk of moderation and balance. (Some people would say that means it shows a lesson I have yet to learn!) I was happy to find something that lets me see this card in a different — and arguably more useful — light.
The protective aspects is because the card shows a strong angelic figure who is capable of providing protection when asked. There is also a sense of being tempered, the way a freshly forged sword is tempered by being dipped in water to cool it down and harden the metal. Thus the card may indicate being tempered: becoming stronger through a forging process. This strength is also a form of protection.
I hope that makes some sense.
May 25, 2017 at 11:56 am
Connie
Hi Jason, I’m really loving this article. Will you be finishing the court cards?