any tips on memorizing the cards?

I solved that problem by not reading for other people! Hehehe. I don't use the tarot to 'predict the future' anyway, since all futures are only probabilities. I use them to help me see deeper into the present. Here is my favorite website for the tarot... the 'Basic Tarot Story' that they tell there has really helped me with the individual card meanings: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/ Tarot Meanings

The learnings of the tarot is a very personal thing. I would suggest that while you are learning you should keep your cards with you always so that they stay in your energy field. I also would focus on one card a week and see all that it could mean, try each day to focus on a different sector of what it might mean - or a different feeling that you get about it. Let it talk to you like a story in your head - let the card tell you what it is meant to mean for you. Open up your intuition and rely on that in your readings. Also remember that each reading is a story that you must purvey to your querent in a way that they are ready to accept - sometimes you must be soft and gentle other times you must be firm and direct. Fit yourself to the mood of the querent - match the way they feel with you. I don't believe that learning from books is important - it is not a 'game of memory'. Enjoy your gift and remember to say thank you everyday for the messages that you receive and the clientelle that come to you. Remember this is part of your enfoldment and all about helping others. [u][i][b] Reading tarot is a craft[/b][/i][/u] - make it beautiful.

im still quite new with tarot reading and i am not ashamed to say that i still need to improve my memory of the cards. i use the marseilles deck which is not so visually stimulating as the other decks like the rider-waite and the robin wood. i do carry a small book around even though it may seem stupid. sometimes i have a card or two which make me go blank for a while and i sometimes take a peek in the book for a keyword...all else follows... i've read somewhere that it helps if you contemplate on one card a day and put it under your pillow when you fall asleep. then when you wake up, write down in a journal whatever insights or things you can remember about the card or if you had any dreams pertaining to it. i haven't followed that tip though. what i did was study each card and mentally attached keywords to each of them and every spare time i got, i review on the card meanings and read other tarot-related books.