When my students ask me how to memorize Tarot Cards, they usually start by mentioning how overwhelming the task feels.
Make no mistake:
If you’re a beginner, learning 78 unique cards can feel daunting. There’s probably something wrong with you if don’t doubt yourself…
At least a little.
But the good news is that the complexity of the cards can actually help you remember their intricate details.
Including multiple reading and divination systems that use a variety of interpretations.
As someone who temporarily feels daunted by huge learning tasks myself – but completes them anyway – on this page, I’ll teach you how to do the same.
To help my students and out of my own personal interest, I’ve leaned into the complexity and memorized a great deal about the Tarot.
And in this tutorial I will share what has helped myself and my students the most.
Ready?
Let’s dive in!
How to Memorize Tarot Cards: The Most Effective Techniques
As we go through this list of memory techniques, I will give you examples of how they work by referencing specific cards.
The core technique I recommend is called the Memory Palace technique and it is very important for this kind of memorization.
Basically, the technique works by developing a familiar location into an imaginary space. You place associations throughout the location and as you move around, these associations remind you of information.
I’ll get into the technique more fully in a moment. For now, I want to suggest that in some ways, a Tarot deck is already something like a journey through a location.
If you know Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s The Way of the Tarot, you might be familiar with the way he and his co-author, Marianne Costa, explain the relationship between the cards.
Especially when it comes to the 22 Major Arcana, the cards describe a kind of archetypal journey through a structured space that the cards describe.
This spatial aspect of the cards will prove useful as a mnemonic tool, so please keep it in mind throughout this tutorial.
Step One: Develop a Tarot-Specific Memory Palace for the Major Arcana
The Memory Palace technique has been used for memorizing cards for a long time. It is sometimes called the journey method or the method of loci,
If you’re already skilled with memorizing standard playing cards, you might need only one Memory Palace.
Most of us, however, even the world’s most skilled memory athletes, will need more than one.
This video tutorial contains the steps to follow, along with a written list below.
To get started:
- Identify several familiar locations (your home, workplace, a favorite walking route, bookshops, etc.)
- Assign stations along the way (start with 22 for the Major Arcana in one Memory Palace)
- Practice mentally walking forward and backward through the Memory Palace
- Eliminate any stations that give you pause
I strongly recommend that you draw your first Memory Palaces. This simple step will help you avoid errors later.
For example, some learners try to develop Memory Palaces purely mentally. Although this activity can provide great brain exercise and develop your skills with mental imagery, at this point, focus on learning to use this mnemonic strategy thoroughly.
Here’s an example Memory Palace drawing based on a familiar location one of my students developed:
As you can see, this Memory Palace has 22 stations for the Major Arcana of the Tarot.
Although your own Memory Palace will look different because it’s based on a location you’re familiar with, you now have a solid Memory Palace example to work from.
Step Two: Assign Cards To Your Stations
The next step is to associate your cards to the stations in your Memory Palace. For example:
- The Fool in your bedroom
- The Magician in a hallway
- The High Priestess on the staircase, etc.
If you’re brand new to the Major Arcana, start by memorizing the names of the cards only. I’ll teach you how to add numbers later.
In other words, you will create an association that helps you remember that The Fool is the first card in the deck. You will place this card on the first station.
If you prefer, you can have your first station numbered as 0 to fit with the fool, but this step should be unnecessary.
Exactly how you forge the connection is up to you. It’s just essential that you establish all of the cards in a Memory Palace.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to come back to them to remember the lists of information about them you need to succeed.
Step Three: Elaborate Each Card
Merely placing the cards on various stations won’t be enough.
You need to elaborate each card using mnemonic images.
These are striking associations that remind you of the target information.
For example, you can imagine the character in The Fool card fighting over a donut on the first station of your Memory Palace.
Why fight over a donut?
Because a donut looks like a zero, which will help you remember the number of this card.
This battle, or whatever strange imagery you place to forge the association needs to take place very clearly on the first station of your Memory Palace.
From there, you just repeat the process moving from station to station until you have completed all 22 Major Arcana cards.
Then, in a separate Memory Palaces, you start the process again for all of the Minor Arcana cards.
Step Four: Use Stories
I’ve just taught you the basics of crafting a memorable image. My description of Jack Sparrow battling The Fool over a donut combines principles of mnemonic imagery with the story method.
But Jack Sparrow might not strike you as a fool archetype in quite the same way. You might never have heard of him or seen a single Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
That’s fine.
The point is to understand the theory of how these techniques work, which the science of active recall explains thoroughly.
To create stories easily, you just need to think about what kind of action or conflict might take place between the image on the card and a person or object with which you’re already familiar.
You can prompt yourself easily to find ideas and story ideas by using either the pegword method or a Memory Wheel.
Here’s another quick example that uses the story method and the pegword method at the same time:
In this case, The Tower is the sixteenth card.
To remember this fact, you could use the alphabetical pegword method to link guitarist Pete Townsend with the sixteenth station in a Memory Palace.
In this image, his arm looks a bit like the number 1, and his guitar resembles the number 6. And the name Townsend and Tower both start with “tow.”
For the story element, you can imagine him performing one of his epic guitar smashing routines against the tower pictured in the card.
The more striking and dynamic you make the story, the more likely you’ll remember it.
Step Five: Review Your Associations
Before adding additional details or the cards of the Minor Arcana, it’s important to revisit each card.
The specific process we know from over a hundred years of memory science is called spaced repetition.
In fact, the process is much older. Peter of Ravenna was using it in the 15th century based on lessons he found in books like the Rhetorica ad Herennium from 90 BCE.
Here’s how it works once you have all 22 Major Arcana cards in a Memory Palace:
- Revisit each card in the Memory Palace by journeying forward
- Revisit each card backward
- Start at the middle and recall each to the beginning
- Return to the middle and recall each to the end
- Skip the stations by recalling first the odd cards and then the even cards
This process will challenge. But we know from plenty of research that it’s the challenge that helps memories form faster.
Once you have the Major Arcana firmly in mind, repeat the process with the Minor Arcana.
With those cards, you may find that you don’t need the Memory Palace technique at all given how closely these cards resemble a standard playing deck.
I suggest you go through the motions anyway, however. It will help with holistically learning both the cards and strengthening your memory skills.
Step Six: Use the Cards Themselves to Add Detail
Remember when I said that the complexity of the cards will help you learn them?
One reason why is that the cards themselves tell you a great deal about their meaning.
You can follow an interpretive model like Jodorowksy’s. Or you can free associate on your own.
Most people will want to base their interpretations on a format, and that’s where memorizing the meanings comes into play.
In effect, you can treat each card as a Memory Palace unto itself. You will do this by dividing the card into a series of stations.
To get started, I suggest you keep it simple by dividing each card into:
- Top
- Middle
- Bottom
This gives you three stations for a simple journey. If you want to divide the card into quarters, that will work too, but I have generally succeeded best when using the rule of threes.
The drawback of using individual cards as miniature Memory Palaces is that you can only fit in a few facts at a time.
But thanks to spaced repetition, you can later come back and add more.
When you’re willing to follow the principle that less is more, you’ll learn faster. The knowledge will remain more secure in long-term memory as a result of patient thoroughness too.
Overcoming Common Challenges
Although the benefits of the Tarot for psychological explanations are relatively clear to researchers who have reviewed the literature, some people still feel daunted.
Here’s how to make progress despite the obstacles we all face when learning large topics.
Break It Down
People often overwhelm themselves by taking on too much.
One or two cards at a time is more than enough, provided you make consistent progress.
And it can be useful to know that “less is more” is not a cliche. There is a scientifically valid memory strategy called chunking that shows us how much more effective it is to break large learning goals down into smaller units.
Exactly how you will break the tasks down is a personal decision. But with the Tarot, a strong path is in front of you:
The cards are numbered, so you can literally start with the first one. Then keep going until you’ve completed them all.
That said, there is an argument in learning science for variety. It’s called the interleaving principle. I suggest learning it along with chunking so you avoid “topic exhaustion.”
Explore Other Options
The Memory Palace technique and the associated mnemonic strategies you’ve just learned tend to be the best option for most people.
However, you can also explore:
- Spaced repetition software like Anki
- Flashcards
- Zettelkasten
- Leitner boxes
All of those techniques share similarities with what you’ve learned today.
But they can help you enjoy greater variety. Although I prefer Memory Palaces, I sometimes use those alternatives myself to keep things fresh and reap the benefits of interleaving.
Complete Visualization Exercises
Some learners struggle with the creative aspects of memory techniques.
They’re actually more combinatory than creative, but it can help to work your way through visualization exercises developed for memorization purposes.
Even if you have aphantasia and can’t see pictures in your mind, going through the motions with image streaming and related activities will prove useful.
Missing the Broader Context
My teaching focuses on how to get things memorized.
Sometimes that comes at the cost of focusing on the broader world of reading strategies and study habits.
As I often tell my students, content may be king, but context is God.
In other words, if you want to know how to learn each Tarot card quickly, this is important:
Make sure that as you memorize the Tarot cards you also read various Tarot systems and traditions.
Embedding your memorization activities in the broader field of knowledge is important because it stimulates context dependent memory. The more context you have, the faster you’ll learn and the more you’ll remember.
Sketch The Cards & Your Interpretations
It’s tempting to turn the art of memory into a purely mental activity.
In fact, you want to incorporate writing and drawing about what you’re learning as often as possible.
You don’t have to be an artist. My own sketches are absolutely horrible from an artistic perspective.
But even simple sketches like the one you see above have helped me memorize information so much faster.
This step again gets the active recall principle into action, but also involves the body.
You also engage reflective thinking, which stimulates both memory and comprehension.
Tips For Long-Term Retention
To make sure that you retain what you’ve learned about the Tarot cards for the rest of your life, your task is simple and fun.
- Practice recalling the cards often by giving readings to yourself and others
- Keep ample notes in a journal
- Engage with a variety of Tarot communities
- Continue reading about the Tarot and memorizing more possible interpretations
- Think often about the Tarot cards as you go about your daily life
- Use the Tarot as part of a variety of concentration meditations
- Connect the Tarot with other disciplines, such as scripture and horoscopes
- Tell stories that incorporate the Tarot
- Add new Tarot decks over time to widen your range and exercise your visual memory
By pursuing activities like these, you’ll not only maintain your Tarot knowledge, but deepen it over time.
Get Started Memorizing the Tarot Today
As you’ve seen, there are powerful learning tools that are perfectly suited to memorizing each and every card.
Just treat the learning journey as a marathon, not a race.
If you’d like more help, register now for my free memory improvement course:
It gives you tutorial videos and worksheets that help you develop your first Memory Palaces.
And rest assured that you’re not alone.
I study the Tarot myself and have delighted in helping countless students do the same through the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.
Remember, each card is a key to unlocking your intuition and wisdom. They connect us with the collective human experience through symbolic insights.
Accept the challenge of learning each one now and soon you will carry around one of life’s greatest companions on your way into the future.
