An Introduction to the Tarot Deck

I have been fascinated by the tarot as long as I can remember. As a child my mother had a Rider-Waite deck and even as young as 8 or 9 years old, I remember spending hour after hour shuffling through those cards, looking at the colorful images, wondering what they meant and making up my own stories about the pictures portrayed in each card. I wish now that I had taken the time to learn the cards when I was much younger, but I saw them as whimsical fantasy and my mother never really took them seriously.

I love the diversity of tarot in how each deck is different. Symbolism in each card being similar yet portrayed in different ways. I currently own 3 decks and am always looking to pick up new ones. I have been using Sharman-Caselli Tarot deck to learn. The images are an update to the Rider-Waite (RW) deck so it's easy to use any basic tarot guide to learn since most guides are based on the RW deck. I also own the The Arthurian Legend Tarot which I picked up at a used book store. Beautiful but difficult for a beginner. Recently I acquired a set of Deviant Moon Tarot, interesting images that are a complete 180 from the RW.

For the purpose of keeping things simple, I'm only going to post images from the Sharman-Caselli deck. I think trying to learn more than one deck at a time will be overly complicated and confusing.

One of the things I like to do before sitting down with my deck is to do a brief meditation. Just something to clear the mind, cleanse ones energy, and find a connection to the cards. An extensive meditation session isn't necessary, just a quick five minutes or so does the trick.

Before starting with individual cards I think it's important to talk about the deck as a whole. Each deck generally contains 78 cards divided into two suits. Major arcana (trump cards) and Minor arcana (suit cards).

Major arcana is a set of 22 cards, and most commonly contain the following:

• I - The Fool
• II - The Magician
• III - The High Priestess
• IV - The Empress
• V - The Emperor
• VI - The Hierophant
• VII - The Lovers
• VIII - The Chariot
• IX - Justice
• X - The Hermit
• XI - Wheel of Fortune
• XII - Strength / Fortitude
• XIII - The Hanged Man
• VIX - Death
• XV - The Devil
• XVI - The Tower
• XVII - The Star
• XVIII - The Moon
• XIX - The Sun
• XX - Judgement
• XXI - The World

The Minor arcana is broken into 4 suits of 14 cards

• Pentacles (sometimes seen as Coins, Shields, or Diamonds) - Cards Ace through King
• Wands (sometimes seen as Staves, Rods, Spears, or Clubs) - Cards Ace through King
• Cups (sometimes seen as Hearts) - Cards Ace through King
• Swords (sometimes seen as Spades) - Cards Ace through King

So what do these cards mean? As with most things in the occult there is always symbology involved, a deeper meaning to what is seen on the surface.

Fire - Wands - Intuition

The suit of wands represent the element of fire. Fire is the energy that is called intuition. It is the spark of creativity, the feeling of inspiration, the ability to make sense out of passing thought. Fire is an active, masculine and life-giving power. It requires the other elements of earth, water, and air to keep it balanced and to give it form. Let's look at the suit of Wands. I've chosen the Ace of Wands to reference.



Here we see prominence in the colors. Reds, golds, yellows and orange all symbolize the element of fire. Other symbols to look for in the fire suits: Salamanders and flames.

Water - Cups - Feeling

The suit of wands represents the element of water. Water is the feelings and emotions that are constantly shifting. In cups the water refers mainly to personal relationships and the personal life, it deals with experiences and realities that are emotional and sometimes illogical and volatile. Just as unconstrained fire can burn out of control, so can unconstrained water rise up and drown that which is valuable within.

In the suit of cups you will see watery blues and pale pinks that represent the calmness and serenity of water. Other elements to look for in the water suit: Streams, rivers, fountains, fish, mermaids.


You may also notice the hands in each picture. Where the hand holding the wand is a strong, masculine hand, you will notice the hand holding the cup is more delicate and feminine. This also denotes the difference in masculine/femininity in the suits.

Air - Swords - Intellect

The suit of swords is connected with strife and difficulty. The element of air seek out truth and logic. The cutting edge represents the thought process and cuts through illusion and deception, even when it can have a painful outcome. We use thought to clarify our minds and sort through emotions. When confused we need the sharp edge of the sword to cut through to the truth.



You will see ice blues, greys, and pale mauves in this suit. Not to be confused with the colors of the cups suit. You will also see birds, butterflies and cloud formations.

Earth - Pentacles - Sensation

The earth is the base from which we grow. It's a symbol of our bodies, being, and physical needs. A pentacle symbol, the five pointed star is symbolic of the earthy magic that is found everyday in our bodies, in nature and our world.

Symbols you will see in the pentacles suit: small animals as well as flowers and fruit. Colors of greens and browns are prominent.

I believe this is a good bit of information to start with. Study each of the suits and become familiar with the images and what they associate with. Look for the fire symbology in the wands, see the masculine fire, the reds, yellows and oranges. Remember this symbolizes the creative spark and intuition. Study how cups shows the flow of emotion and the colors of pales blues and pinks and feminine influence are prominent in these cards, etc.

Next post we will look at symbolism in the cards. Rivers, buildings, clouds, etc.


Some information in this post provided from The New Complete Book of Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke