Learning the Cards - Tricks and Trends pt. 1
Listen, we’re all thinking it: 78 cards is a lot of cards. How does a reader memorize them all? Well the first answer is the boring, annoying one. Practice! We spend time and energy and thought on the cards, developing relationships until our instinct and wisdom recognizes each like a message from an old friend. However, that’s boring and annoying.
When learning things, my brain likes tips and tricks. It likes to see things as systems with interlocking parts and movements. It groups things and graphs and draws lines. The more internal currents of logic it can lay over something, the better it will keep that information around. Yes, I have spent time (and will spend more) deepening my understanding, but there are places to start that will orient the cards into kinder, smaller chunks. After all, it’s easier to remember all the fives are jerks, then differentiate their jerkiness.
We’ll start from the beginning. A very good place to start.
Aces - Raw potential
Aces are the first bloom of a suit. Have you ever heard of the elemental planes in D&D? It’s something like that. They are a landscape of pure energy growing in all directions and reaching in all directions…it’s a bit formless, but it’s full of potential and promise. And Ace indicates a wellspring to tap into that should not be ignored. It also signals that whatever comes of it may not be the most organized in nature, at least not at first. And limiting it is rarely the correct move.
For instance, the Ace of Wands will often signify an abundance of confidence or a shot of inspiration to just create something. The Ace of Swords ushers in a space of clarity of thought and ambition.
When you draw an Ace, remember the attributes of the suit it represents and imagine the first, formless rush of that energy. It’ll help as you learn the further nuances.
Fives are Jerks
I hate to say it, but not everything is sunshine and roses in Tarot draws. In that vein, Fives are never good news. I’d call them something worse than jerks, but I’m trying to keep to three or fewer expletives per 5k words.
In my deck, the Five of Swords shows the image of a heart and lungs, wrapped in thorns, with five swords skewering them from multiple directions. It paints about as unpleasant a picture as its meaning, signalling deception and destructive over-ambition that can injure yourself and those around you. As for the five of cups, its image of cups spilling their contents on the ground is a sign of deep loss and grief.
Fives are painful, mean jerks. But sometimes the world is like that, and the deck will ever speak to Truth. When interpreting a Five, consider the negative traits associated with the suit and how they might intersect with conflict and pain.
Tens - Completion, but also Mixed Bags
While the Court Cards are a part of the Minor Arcana, Tens mark the end of the non-personified sequence. They carry the energies of completion and the end of cycles. While some, like the Ten of Coins, are promising and hopeful, others might have a mix of the good and the difficult. And then there’s the Ten of Swords, which swings all the way back to pain–which seems to be a suitable end to the fraught journey of the double-edged sword.
Tens are not so clean as Aces and Fives in interpretation, but consider them an endpoint all the same. They are a mature energy that has taken a long journey to get to this point. They are the culmination of previous efforts and decisions, be that success or burnout. This can be widely varied in interpretation, but it’s an anchor point to draw from as you inform them with the context of the rest of a draw.