Alright, let me tell you about this little project I took on – getting into Tarot, but specifically doing it in Spanish. It wasn’t like I woke up one day and just knew Spanish Tarot. It was more of a slow burn idea. I’d been trying to brush up on my Spanish, you know, keep it from getting totally rusty, and I’ve always been kinda curious about Tarot. So, I figured, why not mash ’em together?
Getting Started – Where Do You Even Begin?
First thing was, well, figuring out the basics. I already had a Rider-Waite deck, the standard one. I thought, maybe I can just use this? But then, how do I know what things are called in Spanish? I did a bit of poking around online, looking for Spanish Tarot resources. Not like, buying courses, just seeing what people used, what the words were.
I found out the main stuff pretty quick:
- The Major Arcana are called Arcanos Mayores.
- The Minor Arcana are Arcanos Menores.
- The suits aren’t Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles. They’re Bastos (Wands), Copas (Cups), Espadas (Swords), and Oros (Coins/Pentacles). Makes sense, Oros means gold.
The Learning Curve – Words and Meanings
Okay, knowing the suit names was easy enough. The next step was the cards themselves. The Majors, the Arcanos Mayores, have proper names. Stuff like ‘El Mago’ for The Magician, ‘La Sacerdotisa’ for The High Priestess, ‘El Colgado’ for The Hanged Man. I basically made flashcards, like I was back in school. Wrote the English name on one side, Spanish on the other. Went through them again and again.
Then came the Arcanos Menores. This was tougher. You got the numbers, ‘As’ (Ace), ‘Dos’ (Two), ‘Tres’ (Three)… up to ‘Diez’ (Ten). That part’s logical. But then the court cards: ‘Sota’ (Page), ‘Caballero’ (Knight), ‘Reina’ (Queen), ‘Rey’ (King). So, you’d have like, ‘Sota de Bastos’ (Page of Wands) or ‘Rey de Copas’ (King of Cups).
Just learning the names wasn’t enough, obviously. I had to try and understand the meanings in Spanish. I found some websites, blogs, mostly written by Spanish speakers. Reading their interpretations was the real practice. My Spanish reading isn’t perfect, so I had a dictionary app open constantly. Sometimes the way they described a card felt a little different, a slightly different flavor than the English books I’d skimmed before. That was kinda cool, actually.
Trying it Out – Practice Makes… Well, Progress
After cramming names and meanings for a while, I decided I just had to do it. I started doing simple readings for myself. Just one card pulls, maybe three cards. I’d pull a card, say its name out loud in Spanish – “Okay, salió el Cinco de Espadas” – and then try to explain what I thought it meant, also in Spanish. It felt super awkward at first! Stumbling over words, talking to myself. But hey, gotta practice, right?
It was slow going. Sometimes I’d pull a card and my mind would just go blank on the Spanish word, or I’d only remember the English meaning. I didn’t push it too hard. If I got stuck, I just looked it up or switched back to English for a second to get my bearings.
Where I’m At Now
So, after doing this on and off, I’m definitely not fluent in Spanish Tarot! But I can get by. I know most of the card names now without thinking too hard. I can understand simple interpretations in Spanish if I read them slowly. Doing a reading entirely in Spanish is still a bit of a stretch, especially explaining the nuances.
But it’s been a pretty neat way to practice Spanish. It forces you to use different vocabulary than just ordering food or talking about the weather. Plus, looking at the cards through a slightly different linguistic lens has been interesting. It didn’t magically make me a Tarot expert or fluent in Spanish, but it was a good personal project. Made me use my brain in a different way, you know? And I actually logged my progress, which helps see how far I’ve come, even if it’s just small steps.
