Tarot Basics with Claire
8-week online course 

No prior tarot experience necessary: everyone welcome! Your instructor, Claire de la Varre, has been reading tarot for over 40 years, including professionally. Attendees will receive recordings of all classes.

If you already have your own tarot pack feel free to use it - if not, I recommend the Radiant Rider Waite pack, which is the one I will be using for the course.

​

Feb 28: Lesson 1 – Overview of Tarot

Theme: What Tarot is (and isn’t)

• Brief history of tarot (cards as symbolic language, not fortune-telling)

• Structure of the deck: Major Arcana vs Minor Arcana

• How tarot works psychologically: archetypes, projection, intuition - an access point for potentially therapeutic or healing work.

• Choosing and looking after your deck

• Addressing common fears and misconceptions.

• Practice: How to shuffle, one-card daily draw (no “wrong answers”)

 

March 7: Lesson 2 – The Major Arcana: The Hero’s Journey

Theme: Archetypes and life stages

• The Major Arcana as a map of human experience: card meanings are not entirely fixed - your  interpretation and your (or your client's) reaction to the imagery are important.

• The Fool’s Journey (0–21) as psychological and spiritual development

• Key archetypes (Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Tower, Death, etc.)

• How Major cards differ from Minor cards in readings

• Practice: Personal life-stage reflection using 3 Major cards

 

March 14: Lesson 3 – Minor Arcana Overview

Theme: Everyday life and lived experience

• The Minor Arcana as daily reality

• Overview of the four suits and their elements

  • Wands – Fire – energy, creativity, purpose

  • Cups – Water – emotions, relationships

  • Swords – Air – thoughts, communication, conflict, pain

  • Pentacles – Earth – work, body, money, stability

• Numbers 1–10 as developmental stages

• Overview of Court cards

• Practice: 7-card Manifestation Spread

 

March 21: Lesson 4 – Suits in Depth

• Wands: drive, ambition, growth, action

• Cups: feelings, attachment, intimacy, emotions, the unconscious

• Swords: thought patterns, communication, truth, illness, conflict

• Pentacles: work, health, money, embodiment, security, tangible things

• Practice: Problem-solving spread using Swords and Pentacles

 

March 28: Lesson 5 – Court Cards

Theme: People, roles, and personality patterns

• Pages, Knights, Queens, Kings as stages of mastery

• Courts as:

  • People

  • Aspects of self

  • Energetic roles or responses

• How courts change meaning by suit

• Practice: “Who am I?” personality spread

 

April 11: Lesson 6 – Reversals

Theme: Using reversed cards in readings

• Upright vs reversed meanings

• Reversals as blocked, internal, or distorted energy

• Why use reversed meanings

• How stress shows up across suits

• Practice: Reversed card Celtic Cross

 

April 18: Lesson 7 – Celtic Cross and Relationship Spreads

Theme: Practical and versatile readings

• Celtic Cross is one of the most widely used tarot spreads

• Relationship reading

• Make your own spread

• Practice: Celtic Cross for yourself​

 

April 25: Lesson 8 – Intuition & Integration

Theme: Putting the cards together

• How to ask good questions

• Context, metaphorical, archetypal, and literal meanings

• Storytelling across multiple cards

• Extracting the correct meanings

• Reading intentionally and confidently

• Trusting intuition vs memorization

• Reading for self vs others

• Boundaries, consent, and ethical considerations (health, legal, financial questions)

• Developing a personal reading style