My two-part Tarot Hack series (to be published tomorrow and the day after) is a system for new readers to quickly ‘hack’ the core structure of the tarot and how that gives the divinatory and meditative muscle and accuracy to readings for self or others.
Most people when first looking at learning tarot find the 78 cards with their different meanings a bit overwhelming (I know I did). Unlike many other oracle decks which have key words on the cards and/or are designed for a more intuitive read, the tarot has a very specific structure and logic to its system.
In my opinion that’s its greatest divinatory strength. The system, when understood, makes sense in terms of a soul’s life journey (Major Arcana) and day to day aspirations, blessings and challenges across the four suits (Cups/emotion; Wands/ambition, energy and creativity; Pentacles/material issues and Swords/the mind/intellectual matters). Understanding what energies appear in a reading across these parameters helps you know what is likely to happen next if the querent does not consciously change course. It gives the reading a form of probability calculus allied with the freedom to choose for the querent as a foundation for, rather than replacement to, your intuition and spiritual guidance.
That’s the simple genius of the tarot compared to most other systems. But it’s also what makes learning it a bit more complicated because just jumping in intuitively may lead to inaccuracy. Conversely, knowing the narratives and general meanings can then unlock the intuition even further for a heightened reading and perspective.
So it’s worth the work of learning the system, but how do we make that easier? If you’re like me you really don’t want to have to read the manual to do something. I’m a bit impatient at times ( read for that a lot impatient LOL) so I understand the frustration of new readers just wanting to get into it but constantly needing to go back to the ‘little white book’ for card interpretations.
I’ve put together the 2 part Tarot Hack series to make that easier. It relies on the very human, hard wired tendency to tell and remember stories – showing the narratives of the Major and Minor Arcana to give you the system structure without having to go check the book every few minutes. It reflects guidance I got from experienced readers decades ago, so I’m trying to pay it forward by passing this on.
The Tarot Hack series at this website will be in two more posts over the next couple of days and will cover:
- Major Arcana Narrative Hack
- Minor Arcana Narrative Hack
I hope you find these helpful if you’re a new reader to the tarot world. If you do and you’d like me to expand more on the system including how to read in combinations quickly and various tarot spreads let me know in the comments.
Iota Serpentis Tarot 