Esther Tishman at Mindful Tarot developed the #DROPM78 tarot study a few years ago. However, it always runs at the end of the calendar year; not a good time for me to participate. So this year I’m going rogue with the timeline and doing the challenge with a couple of friends. Here is our structure. My mother and I are using the Dame Fortune’s Wheel deck, but you could use any deck you want to get to know. Feel free to join in and leave a comment so I can share in your discoveries!
Big thanks again to @TaprouteTarot for inspiration to do this challenge with Dame Fortune’s Wheel. Check out her responses to the challenge, starting here.
Dates: January 1 – March 19, 2026
To prepare: Before the first day, organize the chosen deck in this order: Pentacles (Coins), Wands, Cups, Swords; within each suit the order is Ace-10, then the courts. After the suit cards, the triumphs (majors).
You might also want to set aside a special notebook or designate space in your daily journal for reflections and notes.
We start with the Ace of Pentacles and go in order above, one card per day. Every day, write down answers to each of these prompts:
1. Definition – You can derive this from your prior tarot knowledge and experience, from the guidebook, from a general “learn the tarot” resource you have and like, from the internet, etc. I’ll be using Paul Huson’s Dame Fortune’s Wheel Tarot: A Pictorial Key.
Write down the definition and one thought or observation about that. (This is confusing because…this reminds me of…I can see this reflected in the image because… etc.)
2. Detail – One detail in the card you happen to notice. What catches your eye today? (It could be an object, texture, color, anything.) What about that caught your eye, what does it make you think of?
3. Day – Find the meaning of the card in your day. How is this day (as a whole, or maybe one small aspect of it) like the card of the day? How does the card illuminate the day and/or what does the day teach you about the possible interpretation of the card?
4. Discovery (optional) – Use a familiar “calibrating deck” to discover some difference or commonality with the target deck. Personally, I’m going to use the RWS to compare with Dame Fortune’s Wheel, since it’s familiar and I’ve always been curious how closely Waite matched his definitions to Etteilla’s for the minors. I’ll be reading Waite’s Pictorial Key for comparison.
Esther goes into more detail in this video with an example using the 6 of Pentacles. I found this one helpful to understand what the point of the challenge is and how to think about the prompts. Additional explanations of this challenge are available in her DROPM78 playlist.
For daily timing, it feels like at least part of this will be best to do in the afternoon or evening so we have time to reflect on the day and how it relates to the card. If you wanted to break it up you could do prompts 1 and 2 in the morning and 3 & 4 (optional) later on, or do it all at once in the afternoon or evening (or switch it up depending on your schedule). For accountability, text your buddy in the evening each day with a brief summary of the prompts.
Example: Ace of Pentacles – Definition: new resource. Detail: The garden arbor. Day: Found a coin on the sidewalk. OR Ace of Pentacles – Definition: tangible possibility. Detail: The glow around the hand. Day: Worked on a grant proposal.
Are you joining us for this challenge, or have you done it in the past? Let me know what you think of it as a study method.
