The oldest surviving tarot cards, hand-painted for the Visconti-Sforza family in 15th-century Milan, predate the French occult revival by over 300 years—yet their imagery echoes myths far older. The Chariot card recalls the sun god Helios crossing the sky in Homer's Iliad (Book 8, line 46), while the Hanged Man evokes Odin's self-sacrifice on Yggdrasil as recorded in the Hávamál (stanza 138). These cards are not mere fortune-telling tools; they are a visual lexicon of archetypes that span cultures from Greek to Norse to Egyptian. If you've ever felt intimidated by the 78-card deck, you are not alone. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck, first published in 1909 by William Rider & Son, remains the most accessible entry point, with its 78 cards divided into 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. This guide offers 11 specific exercises designed for 2025, each grounded in both practical technique and mythological resonance. You will learn to read cards not by memorising rigid meanings, but by recognising the stories they tell—stories that have been told for millennia.
Preparing Your Tarot Practice: Deck Selection and Sacred Space
Before you attempt a single spread, choose a deck that speaks to you. The Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, with its 78 cards illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith under Arthur Edward Waite's direction, is the gold standard for beginners—its scenes are narrative-rich and widely documented. A 2023 survey by the American Tarot Association found that 68% of new readers start with the RWS deck. Alternatively, the Thoth deck, created by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943, offers deeper astrological and Qabalistic correspondences but requires more study. For a mythological angle, consider the “Mythic Tarot” by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke (1986), which maps each card to a Greek myth: the Fool becomes Persephone, the Magician becomes Hermes. Whichever deck you choose, cleanse it physically and energetically. Pass each card through incense smoke—frankincense or sandalwood works well—or leave the deck under moonlight for a full lunar cycle. The 29.5-day cycle of the Moon, from new to dark, mirrors the Fool's journey through the Major Arcana. Set aside a dedicated space: a small table with a black or purple cloth, a single candle, and a notebook. This is your temenos, a sacred enclosure akin to the Greek temenos of a temple, where the mundane world recedes.
Exercise 1 & 2: The One-Card Daily Draw and the Three-Card Spread
The one-card daily draw is the simplest exercise, yet it builds the habit of daily engagement. Each morning, shuffle the deck while holding a question—”What energy should I carry today?” or “What theme will emerge?”—and draw a single card. Record the card's name, its imagery, and your immediate impression in a journal. Do not consult a guidebook for the first 30 seconds. Let your intuition speak. The Fool, for example, might suggest a leap of faith; in the Odyssey (Book 9), Odysseus's leap from Polyphemus's cave mirrors this reckless trust. After 30 days of daily draws, you will have a personal lexicon of 30 cards, each tied to a specific date and mood. This exercise trains pattern recognition: you will notice that the Three of Swords appears on days of conflict, or the Ten of Pentacles on days of family connection.
The three-card spread expands this into narrative. Draw three cards and assign them positions: Past, Present, Future. Alternatively, use Mind, Body, Spirit, or Situation, Obstacle, Advice. For a mythological frame, map them to the three Norns of Norse myth—Urðr (past), Verðandi (present), and Skuld (future)—as described in the Völuspá (stanza 20). A typical reading might yield: Past (Six of Wands—public victory), Present (The Hanged Man—suspension), Future (Ace of Cups—new emotion). Read them as a story: a victory that now feels stagnant, leading to an emotional renewal. Practice this spread daily for two weeks. You will find that the same card in different positions shifts its meaning—the Hanged Man as Past suggests a sacrifice already made, while as Future it warns of an upcoming pause. This positional nuance is the bedrock of all complex spreads.
Exercise 3 & 4: Card of the Week Journaling and Elemental Associations
Weekly journaling deepens your relationship with a single card. Each Sunday, draw one card that will serve as your theme for the week. Write a full page about it: describe the colours, the figures, the symbols. For the Rider-Waite-Smith Star, for instance, note the naked woman kneeling at a pool, the eight-pointed star above her, the single star behind it. Research its mythological roots: the Star is often linked to Astraea, the virgin goddess of justice who fled Earth during the Iron Age, as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 1, lines 149-150). Throughout the week, look for synchronicities—moments when the card's energy appears in your life. Did you feel a surge of hope on Tuesday? Did you pour water with mindful intention on Thursday? Record these observations. By week's end, you will have a lived understanding of the card that no book can teach.
Elemental associations are the skeleton of tarot. The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, each tied to an element: Wands to Fire, Cups to Water, Swords to Air, Pentacles to Earth. These correspond to the four classical elements as codified by Empedocles in the 5th century BCE, and later refined by Aristotle in On Generation and Corruption (Book 2, chapter 3). Create a simple reference chart: Fire (Wands)—action, passion, creativity; Water (Cups)—emotion, intuition, relationships; Air (Swords)—thought, conflict, truth; Earth (Pentacles)—materiality, work, health. When you draw a card, note its suit first. The Two of Wands, for example, is Fire in its dual aspect—planning and decision. The Two of Cups is Water in union—partnership and attraction. Practice by sorting the 56 Minor Arcana cards into four piles by suit, then within each pile, arrange them from Ace to Ten. Notice how the numbers progress: the Ace is the seed, the Ten is the culmination. This structural understanding will make any spread more legible.
Exercise 5: Mythological Archetype Mapping
This exercise is the heart of the mythical approach. Take each Major Arcana card and map it to a mythological figure from at least two different cultures. Create a table in your journal. For The Magician: Hermes (Greek), Thoth (Egyptian), Odin (Norse). For The High Priestess: Hecate (Greek), Isis (Egyptian), Frigg (Norse). For The Empress: Demeter (Greek), Hathor (Egyptian), Freyja (Norse). For The Emperor: Zeus (Greek), Ra (Egyptian), Odin (Norse—again, but in his role as All-Father). For The Hierophant: Chiron (Greek), Ptah (Egyptian), Mimir (Norse). For The Lovers: Paris and Helen (Greek), Isis and Osiris (Egyptian), Freyr and Gerðr (Norse). For The Chariot: Helios (Greek), Apollo (Roman), the sun chariot in the Rigveda (1.50). For Strength: Heracles (Greek), Samson (Hebrew Bible), Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon). For The Hermit: Odin wandering (Norse), the Cynic philosopher Diogenes (Greek), the sage in the Upanishads. For The Wheel of Fortune: Tyche (Greek), the Norns (Norse), the goddess Fortuna (Roman). For Justice: Themis (Greek), Ma'at (Egyptian), Forseti (Norse). For The Hanged Man: Odin on Yggdrasil (Norse), Prometheus chained (Greek), the self-sacrifice of King Śibi in the Mahabharata (3.131). For Death: Hades (Greek), Anubis (Egyptian), Hel (Norse). For Temperance: Iris (Greek), the goddess Harmonia (Greek), the alchemical union of opposites. For The Devil: Pan (Greek), Set (Egyptian), Loki (Norse). For The Tower: the Tower of Babel (Hebrew Bible), the fall of Troy (Homer's Iliad), the destruction of the world tree in Ragnarök (Norse). For The Star: Astraea (Greek), the Pleiades (Greek), the star goddess Nuit (Egyptian). For The Moon: Hecate (Greek), Selene (Greek), the wolf Hati chasing the moon (Norse). For The Sun: Apollo (Greek), Ra (Egyptian), Surya (Hindu). For Judgement: Osiris judging the dead (Egyptian), the Last Judgement (Christian), the resurrection of Baldr (Norse). For The World: Gaia (Greek), the cosmic egg (Hindu), the world serpent Jörmungandr (Norse).
When you draw a card, ask yourself: which myth is this card retelling? If you draw The Hanged Man, do not just think “sacrifice.” Think of Odin hanging for nine nights on Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear, to gain the runes. That specificity transforms the reading. This exercise takes time—work through one card per day for 22 days. By the end, the Major Arcana will feel like a pantheon of familiar deities, not a list of abstract concepts.
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