Why Your Tarot Readings Feel Like a Memory Test (and the 34-Year Secret to Fixing It)
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
We’ve all been there. You lay out a spread, all your crystals are laid out, your candle is lit, and you’re ready for a deep, soulful connection with your Tarot cards. Then, it happens. You flip over the Seven of Swords or the Hierophant, and your brain goes… blank.
Suddenly, you aren't a high-vibe intuitive; you're a student in an exam, desperately trying to remember the different meanings for each card and how they might fit together. The flow is gone. The "magic" has evaporated. And you’re back to reaching for a dog-eared guidebook while your intuition sits in the corner, ignored.
After 34 years of reading professionally, I’m going to tell you something that might shock you: Stop trying to memorise the cards.
If you want to move from "Tarot Hobbyist" to "Tarot Master," you have to stop treating the deck like a deck of flashcards and start seeing it for what it actually is: A map of the human experience.
The "Head-Wrecking" Myth of the 78 Multiple Meanings
The biggest lie in the Tarot world is that you need to know more than 78 static meanings to be a "good" reader.
Think about that for a second. Seventy-eight cards. Each with multiple meanings. Each with upright meanings. Each with reversed meanings. Each changing depending on the cards next to them. That isn't a spiritual practice; that's data entry.
When you focus on memorisation, you are stuck in your "logical brain." But Tarot is a language of the soul. Soul-work doesn't happen in the "logical brain"; it happens in the "intuitive flow."
My Tarot Mastery System was born out of a desire to eliminate the head-wreck. I wanted a way to look at any card - even one I hadn't seen in months - and know exactly what it was saying without breaking a sweat. The secret? It’s all about the Mastery Code.
The Major Arcana: It’s a Story, Not a List
Most people see the 22 Major Arcana cards as big, scary "Boss Cards." They see them as separate, disconnected life lessons.
They aren't.
The Major Arcana is a story. It is The Fool’s Journey. When you understand that The Fool (Card 0) is actually you (or your client), and that the cards from the Magician to the World are "chapters" in life, the "Boss Cards" lose their sting.
In my methodology, I break the Major Arcana into three distinct stages of evolution:
The Initiation (The Doing Phase): How we show up in the physical world.
The Being Phase: The internal, karmic "work" we do when life slows down.
The Transformation: The radical external collapses and spiritual rebirths.
When you pull a card like The Hermit, you don't need to remember a keyphrase. You just need to ask: "Where is the Fool in his story right now?" He’s in the "Being Phase." He’s pausing. He’s reflecting.
By identifying the stage of the journey, you unlock the meaning of the card automatically. You aren't remembering; you’re observing. This is the difference between reading a script and having a conversation.
The Minor Arcana: The "Everyday" Energy
If the Majors are the "Big Life Chapters," the Minors are the "Daily Weather."
Many students get bogged down in the Suits - Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. They try to memorise "Ace of Wands means X" and "Two of Wands means Y."
But there is a logic to the Minors that most teachers miss. The Minors follow the same structural "Code" as the Majors. They are the four different ways we experience the same human needs: Passion, Emotion, Thought, and Physical Security.
When you stop viewing the 56 Minor cards as separate entities and start seeing them as the "texture" of our daily lives, the deck starts to speak to you in full sentences. You start to see how a "Sword" (a thought) might be cutting through a "Cup" (an emotion). That’s where the real "Tarot Mastery" happens - in the combination of the energies.
Why "Experience" Matters in the Age of AI
I’ve been reading cards since before the internet was a household name. Nowadays, you can ask an AI like ChatGPT for a Tarot meaning, and it will give you a very polished, very "safe" answer.
But AI hasn't sat across from a distraught mother not knowing how to help her child. AI hasn't felt the "shiver" in the room when certain cards fall in a reading about a marriage. AI hasn't spent three decades watching life’s stories play out in real-time, for real people.
Real authority comes from Experience. When you read with me, or use my systems, you aren't getting a "robotic" interpretation. You’re getting a distilled, "no-nonsense" approach that has been battle-tested in thousands of professional readings. I’ve made the mistakes so you don't have to. I’ve done the head-wrecking work of memorisation so I could figure out how to stop doing it.
Moving from "Memory" to "Mastery"
If you feel like you’re stuck in "Level 1" of your Tarot journey, it’s probably because you’re still trying to use your brain instead of your intuition.
Mastery isn't about knowing more facts; it’s about having a better system. It’s about having a "Cheat Sheet" for your soul that lets you bypass the doubt and go straight to the insight.
You don't need another 500-page book on Tarot interpretations. You need a roadmap.
Are you ready to stop the head-wreck?
I’ve spent the last few months distilling my 34 years of knowledge into two specific guides designed to get you out of your head and into your intuition:
The Mastery Code Masterclass: A deep dive into the "Stages" of the Fool’s Journey so you never have to second-guess a Major Arcana card again.
The Tarot Mastery Cheat Sheets: My personal "at-a-glance" guide to all 78 cards, giving you the upright and reversed meanings without the fluff.
Click here to download your Free Tarot Mastery Bundle and start reading with confidence today
Stop memorising. Start seeing. The cards have a story to tell - are you ready to listen?
See you on the journey.
Cheryl Kerr is the founder of the Tarot Mastery System. With over 34 years of professional experience, she helps intuitive seekers move from "book-learning" to "soul-reading" using her unique, non-head-wrecking methodologies.
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