A great tip for getting to really know your Tarot cards, whatever deck you use, is to draw them. This is true whether you’re good at drawing or not (however that might be determined). The learning happens either way. It’s about looking at the cards really carefully, not about making fine art.
I’ve been reminded of this lesson lately while redrawing the Cards of the Day for The Tarot Room, as well as while drawing on my newest wooden Tarot box. As is the case whenever I draw images from my decks, I’ve noticed things I had forgotten, or maybe had never noticed in the first place.
It could be a colour that jumps out – like the gray sky in the RWS Ace of Wands, or the fish-scaled shoes worn by the King of Cups. It might be a symbol, like the butterflies on the Queen of Swords’ crown, or the water flowing behind the High Priestess, the Empress, and the Emperor. It could be anything.
There are so many things to notice … and if you’re a practiced reader, you’ve probably considered most, if not all of the symbols, and colours, and key words from your favourite decks. But at least for me, getting ‘beginners’ eyes’ again as I try to etch the card pictures onto a page, always reignites my enthusiasm for the deck I’m drawing, and teaches me something new.
And for beginners … drawing your cards is a fantastic exercise to use to get to know your deck. The whole trick is that it forces you to look. And at least for me, Tarot reading at its core is about reading the stories in the pictures on the cards. The more you carefully look at those pictures, the richer your stories can be.
Give it a try. And if drawing all 78 cards in a deck is too daunting, try just drawing the cards you pull in a reading. Or just one card from a card of the day … or whatever might work for you. But try it. It’s fun.