Tarot cheat sheet
Suits:
Staves/Wands (Fire): Ancestor to Clubs. will, passion, power, male. ambition, creativity, career. Something you have to do, you cannot resist it.
1: South/Summer. New energy and passion.
2: Choosing where to focus one's passion and energy.
3: Progress. Effort is rewarded and should be proud.
4: Establishment. Solid foundation.
5: Competition and power struggle. Inner doubts and fears.
6: Victory. The victor and his admirers/friends are both thrilled.
7: Under siege, on the defensive, having to stand one's ground or lose footing.
8: Fearless motion. Being able to immediately charge and make a change.
9: The staircase. The end is near, but it's tiring to continue on.
10: What was fought for is gained, along with all the burdens that go with it. There is little creative or driving energy, but goals have been accomplished.
Cups (Water): ancestor to Hearts. emotion, romance, female. emotional extremes, depression or bliss. Feelings you surrender and sink into. Psychic powers, visions, illusions.
1: West/Fall. New love or inspiration.
2: Finding someone who knows you and you them, love or friendship.
3: Overflowing love and joy, celebration.
4: Stagnation leading to dissatisfaction and boredom. Indulging as a means of escaping mundanity.
5: Obsessing over what is lost, ignoring what still remains. Spilled milk.
6: Nostalgia. One single golden moment of balance, recovered equilibrium.
7: Indecision. Card of illusions and deceptions. A hasty decision equals doom as not all choices are as good as they first seem.
8: Escape into the unknown. Leaving behind all that is familiar to forge a new path.
9: The Wish. A gift is granted.
10: Permanent joy or love. A family is gained.
Swords (Air): ancestor to Spades. sinister, violent, intellectual, clever. Brilliant thoughts as well as nightmares.
1: East/Spring. New challenges, new beginnings.
2: Knowledge of how to compromise temporarily, a small solace.
3: The solace is over, and hurt is upon you. At least the battle is over.
4: Mental and emotional stress, but stillness used to heal from it. Rest.
5: An impossible battle. Have to concede or lose even more.
6: Leaving old troubles behind and finding a solution through an ally.
7: Thievery. Something is going to be stolen. Caution is needed. Be equally sneaky.
8: Fear of moving but fear of staying. Action is needed but requires courage or things will get worse.
9: Problems with perception. Seeing one's problems as much bigger than they really are.
10: Ten Swords in a man's back. Things are as bad as they seem, everything has gone wrong, but at least it's over.
Coins/Pentacles (Earth): ancestor to Diamonds. physical, wealth, health, growth. Luck, that which is solid or real.
1: North/Winter. New luck or money.
2: The ability to juggle responsibility for some time.
3: Crafting something that earns. With little, money and admiration are gained.
4: The miser. The earnings from 3 are held tight for fear of losing them.
5: Loss of material things, a setback. A temporary hard time.
6: Unbalance is resolved by giving. Charity benefits the giver and taker.
7: Reward is on the way, but things out out of your control. Just be patient.
8: Apprentice's card. Starting over and learning, but also mistakes and hard work.
9: What was once out of reach is now feasible thanks to increased wealth or resources.
10: Pinnacle of prosperity. Material wealth that is not fleeting.
Major Arcana
0: The Fool: New beginnings. A lot of potential for both greatness and total failure.
1: The Magician: Male power of creation. Bringing something into being by pure willpower. The smooth talker, a revealer of potential. A Magician is charismatic and clever.
2: The High Priestess: Knowledge, both instinctual and arcane. Brings aid in decision making, but also stands for hidden secrets. A High Priestess is intuitive and solitary.
3: The Empress: Maternal gifts. Offers patience to let things grow and mature. Can give Earthly gifts but also withhold them in anger. An Empress is a mother hen, worrying and doting.
4: The Emperor: Aggressive power and foundation. Offers enthusiasm and energy, but is also rash and controlling. May love rule or may feel trapped by duties. An Emperor is a ruler who must or has learned responsibility.
5: The Hierophant: Wisdom. Offers pragmatic thinking and is down to earth. Creates harmony in crisis, but is also stubborn. A Hierophant is a teacher and very practical but set in their ways.
6: The Lovers: A crossroads. Something that is hard to resist and results in having to make an important decision. A sense of completion. Represents a need to follow instincts.
7: The Chariot: Conflict and eventual victory. Motion that must be controlled to achieve. Opposing wants and needs are unified. Loyalty, faith, and conviction.
8: Strength: Willpower. Control of oneself will lead to control of others. Raw inner strength. Courage to continue in adversity and eventually succeed.
9: The Hermit: Introspection. A desire for peace and solitude to analyze. The Hermit is wise and enlightened. A Hermit is impatient with people and anti-social, but wise and wandering.
10: The Wheel of Fortune: Good fortune. A sudden windfall, movement, change, evolution. Represents what is unexpected, usually good.
11: Justice: Objective balance. Presents consequences for unwise behaviors. Demands concession and sacrifice, but always fairly and for the better.
12: The Hanged Man: Suspension and meditation. Through voluntary vulnerability, things will become clear, a sudden epiphany.
13: Death: Transformation. Something is lost on the way to renewal. It is darkest before the dawn, but the dawn is coming soon.
14: Temperance: Merging opposites. Things that seem too different to be blended are found to be reconcilable. Card of alchemy and unity.
15: The Devil: Pleasure and inhibition. Can be passion and power or self-inflicted slavery. Represents both an addict or one who reaches out and achieves his goals. Noted to be the only card not about balance: the Devil urges extremity, for good or ill.
16: The Tower: Absolute truth. Brings a shock and paradigm shift. Falsehoods suddenly and violently tumble down. It's painful, but it lifts the veil to reveal how things really are.
17: The Star: A guiding light. Unexpected help and clarity of vision. Above all else, hope. Looking away from the present to the future.
18: The Moon: Madness and beauty. Dealing with sleep, so also with dreams and nightmares. Great insight is on the way. Very magical.
19: The Sun: Order and discovery. Intellect, glory, triumph. Represents a time where everything is just good.
20: Judgement: Facing one's past and accepting it. A healing card, representing resurrection. Leaving something behind and heading to something totally new.
21: The World: A completed cycle. The end is in sight and celebration is to come. 'As the Hanged Man saw infinitely inward, the [World] sees infinitely outward.'
Originally posted at DW. Comment here or there. DW comments: