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- Tarot Tip: Beyond "What It Means"
- Wald's Words of Wisdom
- Product Spotlight: Tarot Class Recordings
- Upcoming Events
This month you came from:Canada, Colombia, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States!
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Today marks the 31st Anniversary of our founding The Tarot School! I'm not going to say that it seems like yesterday because it doesn't. We've done and learned so much over the last 3+ decades. We are still doing and learning new things, and feel fortunate to share them with you.
After the first time we completed teaching all the cards in the deck, we made a decision that we would not simply repeat the same classes year after year. There are so many ways to approach the study of tarot that, even after all this time, we haven't had to do that. It's not that we never repeat information or techniques, but even when we do, it's with a new perspective.
A change in perspective can be very grand. But even a small shift can make a big difference.
One of our foundational exercises, both in our classes and the correspondence course, is called Close Examination. That's where you examine everything in a card in minute detail. There's so much going on, even in the simplest pictures, it's easy to miss something. My favorite variation of this exercise is to find something you've never noticed before. Even after spending decades looking at the cards, I'm still finding things I've overlooked.
This happened in our recent class on the Knight of Cups. (We use the Universal Waite Deck). If you were there, you may remember how absolutely stunned I was not to have ever noticed the red saddle blanket peeking out from beneath the knight's armored leg. When I looked really carefully, I could see the swath of red wasn't the lining of his tunic or a part of the saddle. It was precisely placed over the horse and under the armor.
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Aside from the delight of seeing something unexpected after all this time, this new detail gives me information I can use in a reading. Protection of some sort might be an issue, or the querent may be letting their passion or anger show –– just a little. Or, it could be a simple reminder to grab a blanket when it's cold. If your attention were drawn to a blanket, what associations might you make?
When you consider the multitude of details you can see in each card, the amount of information your intuition can work with is staggering! (This is in addition to anything else you know about a card.) But you can't use it if you don't see it.
So next time you pull a card, grab your magnifying glass and discover what you never noticed before.
And one more thing...
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We have a tradition of giving you a gift on our birthday. It occurred to me that since I was just telling you about my delightful discovery in the Knight of Cups class, it was a natural choice.
You can watch the replay
at:
https://tarotschool.com/salon/260119_Symbols-Knight-Cups.mp4
And download the notes here:
https://tarotschool.com/salon/260119_Symbols-Knight-Cups-ScreenShares.pdf
We are grateful for all of you, whether you have just discovered us or have shared our journey for the past 31 years. Thank you!
Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter with other Tarot Enthusiasts!
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Beyond “What It Means”:
By Cheryl Ryder, Albuquerque Tarot Tribe, Dec 31, 2025
Many tarot readers are trained to memorize keywords as meanings:
This card means
loss.
That card means success.
Another means grief, betrayal, or victory.
While these traditional meanings once served an important purpose, they often create a subtle problem in modern readings. Fixed meanings tend to close conversations, like a period at the end of a sentence. Issues, by contrast, keep the conversations open and available for further discussion.
When Meanings Become Conclusions
When a tarot card is taught using keywords as fixed meanings, the card can be presented as a verdict:
“This card means betrayal.”
“This card means grief.”
Even when spoken gently, meanings often carry finality. The reader knows; the querent receives. The conversation ends.
But most people don’t come to tarot for conclusions.
They come for clarity, perspective, and understanding within the complexity of lived experience.
Why Issues Work Differently
The Tarot School’s use of Upside and Downside Issues© shifts tarot into a more humane and ethical mode of reading. An issue is not a verdict—it’s a situation in play.
Instead of saying, “This card means X,” an issue invites questions such as:
- “What tends to arise here for people?”
- “How do responses differ when needs are supported or constrained?”
- “What feels familiar—and what doesn’t?”
Issues don’t define the person.
They describe conditions and responses.
Upside and Downside Issues
- Upside Issues describe how people often respond when their important needs are supported.
- Downside Issues describe what can happen when those needs are constrained or unmet.
Neither labels the querent.
Both normalize human responses to circumstances.
Here is an Example:
QUEEN OF SWORDS
Waite’s Keywords/Meanings from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot:
Upright: Widowhood; female sadness and embarrassment; absence; sterility; mourning; privation; separation.”
Reversed: “Malice; bigotry; artifice; prudery; bale; deceit, a bad woman, with ill-will towards the Querent. .”
In Comparison to Waite’s list, let’s look at The Tarot School’s Upside and Downside Issues for the Queen of Swords:
Upside Issues:
• Organized, independent, self-reliant
• Intelligent, educated, experienced
• Personal knowledge of pain, loss and sorrow lead to sympathy and understanding
• Even-handed, clear-headed, problem solver and diplomat
• No favors owed, all debts paid, no strings attached
Downside Issues:
• Distant and distrustful
• Blunt and tactless
• Sharp-tongued and sarcastic
• Critical and unsympathetic
• Socially intimidating and sexually unapproachable
Looking at the card through the perspective of Issues opens the door for questions of “Why” and “How so?” and “How come?”, which can lead to wider and deeper conversations that provide clues about the underlying wisdom that the Suit of Swords ultimately represents.
Tarot Images Don’t Actually Project Thought and Emotions
Many tarot images feature remarkably neutral expressions, yet readers frequently assign emotions that aren’t visibly present. This isn’t a mistake—it’s how human meaning-making works. We all do this unconsciously; it is an inevitable feature of being human.
When we treat our responses as the card’s meaning, we risk mistaking projection for truth. When we treat them as issues the card raises, projection becomes valuable information rather than authority.
A Shift in the Reader’s Role
When tarot is taught as meanings, the reader becomes an oracle.
When tarot is taught as issues, the reader becomes a facilitator of inquiry.
The question shifts
from:
“What does this card mean?” to:
“What is being asked of you here—and how are you responding?”
In Closing
Meanings tend to converge toward conclusions.
Issues orbit a center, allowing ongoing engagement.
Tarot works best not as a dictionary, but as a living conversation—one that keeps agency, curiosity, and choice exactly where they belong: with the person doing the looking.
About Cheryl Ryder:
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60-years of tarot use and study, a tarot workshop developer and the leader of the Albuquerque Tarot Tribe Meetup Group for the past 12 years. Cheryl has grown the group from 150 members to over 1200 using innovative and interactive teaching methods.
You all know her: a 10-year Readers Studio veteran, 7 years of Coordinating the Tarot Ambassador Team, occasional First-Timer Initiator, Merchant Faire Vendor, and last year, in 2024, the Facilitator of the Sunday morning Tarot Incubator Discussions.
Cheryl’s ongoing programs and discussion groups on the Albuquerque Tarot Tribe’s platform (open to anyone interested in tarot globally) continue to inspire people to expand and deepen their learning of tarot and their worlds.
https://www.meetup.com/the-albuquerque-tarot-meetup-group/
To submit a question to be answered in a future issue of Tarot Tips, send us an email at tarot@tarotschool.com
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Wald's Words of Wisdom
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DID YOU KNOW....?
When you register for a Tarot Salon, you will automatically receive the video recording of the class, whether you can attend in person or not. We have quite a few students who learn entirely through the recordings due to time conflicts or other reasons.
Since we started offering classes on Zoom during the pandemic, we have taught over 200 classes. That's a lot of tarot! Video replays are available for all of them and many include .pdf notes.
With such a wide range of topics, you're sure to find some that are just what you're looking for. You may also discover a class that opens a door you didn’t know you were ready to walk through.
Discounted recordings of past classes are available by request. Just send us a list (or try one out for size) and we'll take care of you!
To see the current catalog, CLICK HERE
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Tarot Crossword
We're trying out a new feature! (Click the image to enlarge and print it out.)
Please send us an email and let us know if you'd like to see more of these in future issues. Thanks!
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Esoteric Insights
THE LIGHT OF INTUITION
By Wald Amberstone
The psychological function of Wands is said to be intuition, knowing without knowing how you know, the inner teaching. We have said that the quality of that inner knowledge is the divine quality of certainty. We could say, without being wrong, that the only knowledge bequeathed to us by Wands, by fire, by intuition, is certainty. It is certainty that is breathed into us in the beginning, igniting us into light and setting us on the complex path of karma. And it is to certainty, pure and simple, that we are drawn to return.
The search for wisdom is the search for certainty. The yearning for wisdom sets our feet on the path of endless questioning and self-inquiry. This path, beset with doubts and loss of faith, is lit by the lamp known as intuition.
The light in the lamp of intuition is observed by the mind, the servant which thinks it’s the master and which has its own, much brighter light. It is only when the obscure light of intuition can be seen through the mind’s brilliance that the path of return can be followed. Then the mind becomes simplicity’s proper servant, and like a good servant, it aids and protects its master. The light of the mind may hasten the journey or retard it, and that depends upon how deeply it can bring itself to bow to the simplicity it serves.
Tarot can be, and most often is, a tangled thicket that obscures the path the mind must follow. But everywhere in tarot, in every card and in all its uses, the light of intuition shines dim and strong, and tempts and prods us to find our wisdom, our hidden certainty.
About the author:
A dedicated an innovative teacher, one of the founders of The Tarot School, Wald Amberstone has been working with tarot since 1959, and with symbols, play and magic even longer than that. He prefers the private paths to the public thoroughfares of his craft, and enjoys the company of fellow travelers when he can get it.
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Mind Your Own Business
WORTH THE PRICE?
What can help – or hurt – your tarot business
By Patti Woods
I saw a post on Threads the other day where someone asked why restaurants are constantly closing but psychic shops seem to stay around forever.
“There’s no overhead,” someone commented.
To a large degree, that’s true. As a professional tarot reader, you truly can get by simply with a deck of cards. You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment, professional degrees or even your own brick-and-mortar space. Honestly, it’s probably one of the easiest careers to break into from an initial investment standpoint.
Having
said that, though, there are certain things that can make your job as a tarot professional easier. It got me to wondering what types of things people have found helpful and what things were a complete waste. I asked about it in a networking group I belong to.
On the helpful list were things like:
• Google Workspace, to help keep things organized
• Calendly, for booking appointments
• A bookkeeper
• Tea (“When I had a brick and mortar, we offered free herbal tea along with some other free offerings that invited people to come inside and sit and visit any time we were open. We became the hangout spot and everyone who hung out also become customers.”)
• Relationship building (“I have developed a supportive network of other women healers who have my back.”)
I’ll add:
• Business cards. Even in this digital/AI age, people still look at business cards. You can tack them on bulletin boards and include them in letters, gift baskets,
etc.
• Canva. To me, it’s so worth the monthly $15 or so to have access to all sorts of graphic-building tools.
• Email platform. I send emails through my web host. Once you get above a certain number of email addresses, it will cost a fee. I pay around $30 a month, but the return on investment makes it so worthwhile.
• My website and a decent laptop. I couldn’t run a business without these.
And then there are the things that were a waste. These included:
• Pricey business coaching
• Hiring the wrong PR firm
• Google ads
• Selling retail items in addition to readings
I’ll add:
• Some courses and coaching that proved unnecessary.
• I’m on the fence about
registering a trademark. It feels useless now, but may prove to be valuable in the future.
In the entrepreneurial world, they say you need to spend money to make money. Tarot reading is one of the few businesses where you can really get by without a huge financial investment, but of course there are things that can increase visibility and attract clients.
What would you add to these lists? I’d love to hear your comments.
About Patti:
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Patti Woods is a writer and tarot reader with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. Having served as an editor for both newspapers and magazines, she transitioned into freelance writing, contributing hundreds of articles to major publications such as The Boston Globe, Business Insider, Wine Spectator, Parade Magazine, The Week, Christian Science Monitor, Vegetarian Times, and Health, among many others.
In addition to her writing career, Patti is the founder of Mind, Body & Tarot, a business featured in Business Insider, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, Fodor's Travel, and more.
She is also the author of Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, published by Arcadia/The History Press, and has contributed to several anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Learn more about her services and offerings at www.pattiwoods.com.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boozytarot
IG: boozy_tarot
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Upcoming Events: 
Tarot Salon on Zoom!
7:00 – 9:00 pm EST
Our popular Monday night classes are held over Zoom so you can attend no matter where you live.
Classes are recorded and all levels of experience are welcome!
FEBRUARY 2026:
2 - Symbols of the Queen of Cups (+ Anniversary Celebration!)
9 - Symbols of the King of Cups
16 - NO CLASS (Presidents Day)
23 - 21st Century Tarot (+ Ruth Ann's birthday celebration!)
Get on the notification list to see what we'll be teaching each week.
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Readings with Ruth Ann
Running The Tarot School with Wald keeps me pretty busy, but I still love giving readings! My specialty is using your Birth Cards
and Elemental Array (techniques Wald and I have developed) in conjunction with random draws to give you an extremely personalized and powerful reading.
If you are familiar with the Tree of Life, you may request a Birth Cards Synastry Reading. I will compare your Birth Cards with those of one or two others to give you a deeper understanding of your relationship with them.
I excel at giving Readings for Readers so if you're always giving readings to others, let me help you with some self-care for a change!
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