Does anyone have tricks on how to remember the cards and their meanings?

Maybe there is something in the picture, or a symbol that helps you to remember the card and meaning. Hope someone can help.

Thanks everyone

Well...

I haven't memorized stuff for all my cards yet. But I find it easiest to remember cards I feel drawn to. I also like finding things within the pictures that help me remember certain things. Just let the cards take you in and tell their story. See how meanings fit. =] It's easier said than done, however. But whenever I draw a blank and I'm not getting a lot by looking into the cards, I check my book. I've been reading for almost a year and find that practice is truly the key to remembering the meanings. =] Good luck!

I write, write and write!! I used and still use multiple decks, and their LWBs and look carefully at the cards, each one individually. I write the key words down in a tarot journal, and read and re-read the cards and my words.
Then I let intuition take over.
Good luck!

My two cents: Keep a journal -- do a spread every day (perhaps a 3 card daily spread) and write down cards, meanings, and your interpretation. Doesn't have to be fancy or lengthy, just some quick notes and impressions. Don't worry about reversals for now.

After a month or so, you'll have written about -- and THOUGHT about -- most of the cards. You'll begin to see cues in the card pictures (and that's why I like RWS and clones) and the card meanings. Soon enough, you'll find yourself thinking deeper about what the "vignette" on the card is suggesting ("So he's smiling -- but WHY?" "This persona has everything -- but is he satisfied?", "They're trapped -- but the ropes are really loosely tied, so they could get away if they tried.", etc)

I found myself spending a little "daydreaming" time where I would have a conversation with the characters in the card -- asking them how they felt and why. Soon enough, the characters and settings on the card will become very familiar.

The nice thing about learning the cards this way is that it gives you the tools you need to go a little further ("If the two cards feel certain ways individually, then how will they react when I put them together? What will change?").

Afgter a while and a lot of usage you get it. But until then, why not scry into each image? Look at it, look at the colours, figures, shapes. Allow yourself to acknowledge the emotions you feel not only about the action of the cards but even how they're drawn. the meanings you'll eventually come up with may not be Tradition-Standard, but if you;re consistent with them, they'll ork for you. Also, if a card or cards in a given spread stumps you, scry into it, keeping in mind your thoughts concerning the cards around it.

Keyword

Keyword method is the one proven to be the fastest and easiest. You connect a keyword to the majors first. 1-10 should be keywords you can connect to the minors as well.

Works like this: Magician is "Make" and High Priestess is "choose." Those are their "keywords."

You connect the Magician to the Aces, the HPS to the "2's", etc. Number to number on up to the Wheel of Fortune at 10.
Cups = Emotions
Wands = passions/philosophy
Swords = words/intellect
Pents = money/health,

Hence Ace/Cups is "Make emotions." And 2/Wands is "Choose passions."

Thus, you have a way of memorizing 50 cards right off the bat. The rest of the majors and the courts get their own particular keywords. Note, however, that this method is a "trick" and is only good for getting you past that first hurdle of familiarizing yourself with the cards. It won't help you to really understand or read the cards.

trick

i tackle one random card every evening, that way i don't give myself too much information at a time. i have a tarot journal, and each card has it's own page.
i pick the card, look up the divinitory meanings in my books, figure out what makes sense to me, then write down keywords that i will remember and equate with the card. every few days i give myself a "review session" where i kinda quiz myself on all the cards i've worked on so far. if i have forgotten a meaning, i look it up in my journal, recite it, and usually won't forget it again. it helps reciting the meanings out loud too, when i go over each card, i pretend i am reading it for someone.

Time. There really isn't a quick and easy method. While keywords do grant a quick and easy level of understanding the cards it also does box you into groupings that may be hard to escape later.

Just shuffle the cards, draw three and look up their meanings, then synthesize them together. Place them back in the deck and repeat.

The more times you get the cards, the more the meaning will speak to you. You'll find that you need the LWB less and less and can instinctively recall each one as you want it to be. Godspeed!

I give the cards names, that reflect their meaning in a narrow way.
The images are an aid to memory anyway. The Art of Memory...
http://www.wendtroot.com/spoetry/folder6/ng621.html
So I use word play- sometimes location-sometimes proverbs.
Empress
Excellent Mother Provides Reproductive Embraces Seriously Sexy

or the Visconti Empress: Mother of Millions

Mother Nature/Mother Earth or Lady NPH (Nuturing/Prosperity/Healing

Name them names that appeal to you and your sense of humour- so it becomes your second nature when you look at the card.

I can still see the Hermit after all these years as a "Seriously seeking Herman"

~Rosanne

Thanks for this good tips.