Tarot card meaning is what gives power to interpretations and predictions; each card represents something in relation to the symbol it pictures. What we often fail to understand is that the overall spread and the card combinations give the full tarot card meanings to define a certain life aspect. In the Rider Waite tarot, there are seventy-eight cards, and the first step beginners have to take is to learn what each of them means. From the Fool to the Queen and the King, the tarot cards can be studied, analyzed and understood depending on the sensible nature of every user.

In time all sorts of changes became manifest in tarot card reading for people who have a more profound knowledge of the Kabbalah or alchemy, the symbols similarity cannot pass unnoticed. Thus, with symbols being added on all sorts of occasions, the decks we have available at present are very complex. It is also common practice to complicate things even further by personalizing the cards and adding other subtle interpretations to the decks. Thus, many amateur philosophers choose to give their personal explanations to certain aspects from alchemy or the Kabbalah.

The tarot card meaning greatly varies depending on the interpretation; thus, a single card receives different explanations based on the location of the card in the spread and the meaning of the other cards in its vicinity. Very often, according to the reader's own common sense and judgment, a tarot card meaning can be discarded as irrelevant for the question that is under discussion. The cards in the Major Arcana insist on a distinct symbolism, while those in the Minor Arcana stand for the traditional alchemical elements. Thus, the pentagrams stand for earth, the wands for fire, the cups for water and the swords for air.

In short, the tarot card meanings gives one a clue about the way he/she goes through the personal journey: is one on the right path or has one strayed away? This tarot card meaning normally results from the spreads in the Major Arcana where life aspects have correspondent cards: the fool stands for the beginning of a journey, the magician shows you the path towards wisdom, the high priestess indicates the level of self-balance, the empress hints at pleasure, wealth and love, while the emperor represents claimed power and authority, and so on and so forth.