Merry Meet :)) I know some of you are just beginning to dapple in the art of reading tarot and I thought today might be a good day to go over the suits in a traditional tarot deck.
There are four suits in a tarot deck, Pentacles, Wands, Cups, and Swords. Each suit typically relating to an area of life, I say typically as there are many ways to interpret the tarot. The interpretation below is the way I was taught in the tarot seminars that I took taken from my notes. I hope they will help you as you learn the art of tarot.
If you are working with a traditional deck of cards as opposed to a tarot deck the following list will help you.
Playing Card Correspondence
Pentacles – Diamonds
Wands – Clubs
Cups – Hearts
Swords – Spades
This next list is what I memorized first when learning the tarot, I had it written down on a small piece of paper that I kept with my deck to help me remember the suits as I was learning them.
Wands – Spirit
Cups -Heart
Swords – Mind
Pentacles – Matter
Now I’ll jump into each suit in a little more detail for you.
Wands – Wands give us insight into Spirit. They correspond to the element of Fire and Spring. Just like you would picture a magician’s wand making things happen, wands are the suit that will make things happen in your life as they are the inspiration for life. They encompass your inner vision and your intuition and can give us great insight as to what action is happening in your life. This suit can help to illustrate what you are willing to put your heart and soul into. Wands give you unique insight as to what it is you truly desire in life and where you are in achieving that. They will help you to ignite that passion to go and get that which truly moves your heart and soul. They also lend us the creative imagination and insight that we need to get there.
Cups – Cups represent our heart. They correspond to the Water Element and Summer and the development of feelings. How many of you have ever had a summer love? This suit corresponds to matters of the heart. It will show us information about our relationships both now and in the future. Cups can show us the strengths and weaknesses of these relationships giving us clues on how to fix all things pertaining to the heart. It can show the secrets of our heart shedding insight as to how we really feel. This suit shows what will motivate our heart and can be invaluable to giving us clues to our inner self and truth.
Swords – Swords represent our mind. They correspond to the element Air and Fall. This is probably where my interpretation of the cards starts really differing from others out there. Swords often have a bad rap, and most of the cards I have with this suit don’t show them in a pleasant light, however Swords to me often show the truth. I find whenever there is a situation that needs some honesty put on it, they will come up and let me know. They can show where there is conflict, and I find more often then not this is the suit that tells me where the block is in someone’s life. They represent communication, communication you are receiving and what you are putting out there. Like fall they can also show beginnings of ends so I am ever mindful when I see them based on where they are positioned. They represent our mind and our voice. These are the cards that pertain to what we say, how we say it, what we write, our methods of communications.
Pentacles- Pentacles represent Matter. They correspond to the Earth Element and Winter. Being that they correspond to Earth they are a very grounded suit. They show what you are capable of. This suit shows what you choose to commit your energy to. All the other suits show what motivates you to take action, Pentacles show that action happening. This suit can also correspond to issues with money, work, and your physical health. It’s not just about those physical things that we have, or that we may in the future but it’s also about how other’s will see us because of those items. Think of it as that final stage.
This is just a quick rundown of the basics that I hope some of you may find helpful. The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone when reading cards is learn to read with your intuition. Pick a deck that you absolutely love and when you start doing tarot spreads for yourself look at those pictures. What do you see in them? Rainbows to indicate hope, swords in the back to show betrayal, a ship in the distance representing something that’s coming, how about that castle on the hill to show that happy ever after.
When I started reading I got so caught up in the meanings of the cards that I was extremely frustrated with tarot and questioned my gifts. It was only when my instructor made me put away my notebook of meanings and forced me to read the pictures, (yes forced is accurate lol) that I got it. By pushing me out of my comfort zone and taking away the “rules” I got comfortable with tarot and learned quickly. Once I learned the cards my way, by the pictures and my intuition, now all the meanings make sense to me. I hope this helps!!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jasmeine Moonsong
P.S. The cards above are from the Mystic Dreamer Tarot Deck. It is the first official tarot deck I got, the one I learned on, and is still my favorite to work with today. :))))
P.P.S. Want to book a tarot reading with me? Stop by my shop! :))
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