21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card: Step 2: Description

~ “Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers ‘Please will you do the job for me’” ~

- C.S. Lewis

How many of us have been guilty of ‘projecting’ with the Tarot? It’s alright, we all are, Including me! It’s a normal human function really because at the end of the day, we human beings tend to always link everything with our personal perspective. When we describe anything, be it a beautiful sunset, or a moonlit beach, a supermodel on the cover of a magazine, or a child playing in a sand pit; we always tend to use adjectives to enhance our description to bring a certain depth to it and enhance it with a hint of emotion.

However, it’s important for us to understand that when we do this with the Tarot, we’re giving our own personal perceptions of the image, which may help when reading on a therapeutic level, but at times completely rob us from having an unbiased view of the card itself. If we begin reading a card based solely on our own projections, we tend to miss out on so many details.

In Step 1, when I had first seen the 6 of Swords, I was immediately reminded of a scene from the musical Phantom of the Opera by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is a classic example of ‘projecting’ onto a card the minute we see it. Now if I keep holding onto this, it would just hamper my ability to read with the card, because every time this card will appear in a reading, in the back of my head I will be singing, ‘Music of the Night’, which most of the time would be irrelevant to the reading (unless of course the seeker is Christine Daae and she wants to know more about her ‘Angel of Music’).

Thus, the second step in our journey has to do with ‘Description’. Here we simply describe the card, literally and objectively, with no meanings or interpretation whatsoever!  According to Mary K. Greer, “When a card’s landscape is precisely described, it opens a doorway into a world suffused with sensory experiences.” Doing so allows us to view a card from a fresh perspective without any assumptions or preconceived notions, as well as, enables us to discover things that escaped our attention before, which may end up being all the more relevant to our understanding of the card.

So keeping aside all my personal bias and musical theater references, let’s begin Step 2 by describing our cards as objectively and impartially as we can, giving every detail possible.

6 of Swords - Legacy of the Divine Tarot

Two people are standing on a boat/vessel that appears to be made of wood with intricate carvings. The woman stands in front, wearing sapphire color robes. Her arm is bare, but is adorned with bracelets around her forearm and bicep. She wears a golden tiara, and her  brown hair, though thick and long, are loosely tied with what appear to be golden beads.

The other figure wears a dark robe with a hood that covers their face, making it all the more difficult to decipher whether it is a man or a woman. Both it’s hands are on the steering rod, from which a chain dangles. Behind this figure is a golden/yellow light orb that though bright, makes it all the more hard to decipher the figure’s gender.

Above them, three swords dangle, suspended with metallic chains. One is right in front of the woman, and one right behind the second figure. The third being the largest of them, dangles in the middle. All three swords have a circular jewel embedded within, which has the purple-ish color of amethyst. Behind the three swords are two chandeliers which hold candles. Behind the middle sword, a bright white light glows.

In the water below, there are three more swords. The one in the middle is closest to the boat, while the other two are spaced further away. The one on the left of the card seems to have a jewel similar to the ones above (we can’t see clearly with the other two swords because that particular area is covered by the water).

The water below is full of ripples, distorting the reflection of the boat, while the walls of the area they are in seem to have carvings of a similar nature on each and everyone of them. Beyond the boat, there seems to be an archway, but due to the darkness we cannot see what’s on the other side clearly.

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Okay, so that was a little hard for me at first. Primarily because the card is got such a vibe of ‘mystery’ and such a ‘haunting feel’ that just evoked so many emotions within. However, applying a lil bit of Capricornian discipline, I did my best to describe the card as objectively as I possibly could. However, in the process, I got to discover so many aspects of the card. An important one being the second figure’s gender being questionable as nothing in the card made it clear whether it was a man or a woman. Another being an archway beyond the boat. I never saw that before as I was so fixated on the card being a scene from Phantom of the Opera.

Now to make things more interesting, the second part of the exercise asks us to take the role of one of the figures in the card, and repeat the entire description in the ‘first person’. This way, not only can we improve our ability to ‘describe’, but we can use our imagination and put ourselves in the place of one of the characters in the card. For purposes of convenience (yeah right!) I shall be the woman in front of the boat…

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I am standing on a boat/vessel that appears to be made of wood with intricate carvings. My robes are of various shades of sapphire, while my bare arms are adorned with gold bracelet around my forearm and bicep, while a golden tiara rests upon my brown hair that’s loosely tied with gold beads.

Behind me is another person. I can’t make out if it’s a man or a woman due to their robe and the hood covering their head. The bright gold/yellow orb-light makes it all the more difficult for me to see. But I can see their hand is on the steering rod which has chains wrapped and dangling from it.

Above us, three swords dangle, suspended with metallic chains. One is right in front of me, and the other right behind the person behind me. The third being the largest of them, dangles in the middle. All three swords have a circular jewel embedded within, which has the purple-ish color of amethyst. Behind the three swords are two chandeliers which hold candles. Behind the middle sword, a bright white light glows.

In the water below, there are three more swords. The one in the middle is closest to the boat, while the other two are spaced further away. The one furthest away from me seems to have a jewel similar to the ones above (I can’t see clearly with the other two swords because that particular area is covered by the water).

The water below is full of ripples, distorting the reflection of the boat, while the walls of the area we are in seem to have carvings of a similar nature on each and everyone of them. Beyond the boat, there seems to be an archway, but due to the darkness I cannot see what’s on the other side clearly.

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Wow, describing the card from the point of view of the woman was a whole different trip altogether. Not only did it help me improve upon my objective description skills, but during the entire time, I could truly visualize myself as the woman in the card as I typed it all. What an amazing way to connect with the card!

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This exercise was taken from Mary K Greer’s fantastic book, ‘21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card‘.

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