I am honored to feature Cassandra Santori from Tarot Underground this week. She is here to teach us to lean intuitively into the tarot to build a stronger connection with the cards.

I’ve got a job for you. I’ve got 78 items on this list and I need you to go to the store and get them all for me.

But there’s one catch.

You need to memorize the list.

Can you do it?

No?

Okay, let’s try a different approach.

I’m making a 3-course meal starting with French Onion Soup, then roast turkey gravy with green beans and mashed potatoes, and finishing with Italian cream cake.

I need you to go get the ingredients for me from the store.

How well do you think you’d do even without looking at recipes before going to the store?

Better, huh?

So given the above analogy, would you rather learn Tarot by memorizing 78 definitions or by working from a set of knowledge and experiences you already have?

Since most of us can barely remember our own phone number, I think working from something we already know would be the choice for most.

​And, since Tarot is an intuitive art, would it not make sense to start with intuition?

Get out your Tarot journal or some paper and pencil.

Choose 5-8 cards you want to work with. You can use any criteria you wish or draw the cards at random.

Set a timer for 15 minutes

​Go through the cards once at a time and write down any or all of the following:

So right now you may be protesting, saying, “Wait a minute, this isn’t really what the cards mean is it?”

Newsflash, a certified set of Tarot definitions does not exist. There are no true or right Tarot definitions. There is no Tarot Police. The cards mean what you as the reader say they mean.

The origins of Tarot are somewhat shrouded in mystery, however, we can confirm that the cards were used as a set of playing cards for a game. I can’t prove this, but I think it’s safe to assume that cards were not created as a divination tool with a pre-selected set of “definitions”. Therefore, throughout time, and even today, the cards are open to interpretation.

This does not mean that definitions you find with a quick Google search are invalid.

Nor does it mean that there aren’t many layers of symbology within the deck worthy of study.

What I’m suggesting here is that the most expedient way to learn Tarot, is to connect with the cards using your intuition. When you connect using your intuition, you can create a set of correspondences that you can work with immediately.

And maybe best of all, you don’t need to memorize the correspondences. They are delivered to you via your own personal knowing aka your intuition.

Your personal set of correspondences will change and grow over time as your relationship with the cards changes and grows. You may actually throw out certain correspondences and adopt others. Or you will find new ways to conceive of and connect different correspondences within the same card.

Give yourself some credit.

You are an intuitive being and Tarot is your tool. It’s okay to begin at the beginning.

Start by pulling a Tarot card from the deck. What does it mean? You tell me.

-Cassandra the Card Reader

P.S. - your deck does make a difference. Find out how to choose a Tarot card deck.

​Want to learn more about Cassandra's technique and how to get a great start with Tarot? Click below to get started for free.