An introduction to reading the tarot

How to Improve your Tarot readings

If you’re hoping to learn the tarot and you know a professional tarot reader who is willing to take you through the cards and teach you some simple spreads, this could help you to quickly become familiar with what’s involved in a tarot reading. You might also get several readings done for yourself by different professionals and this will help you see how other tarot readers work. There are a number of techniques to reading the tarot. You may even receive conflicting advice. Let your intuition be your guide and as you progress you will find the right method for you.

Numerous books are on the market that will help introduce you to the tarot. Learning this way means you can go at your own pace, you can practice with the different spreads and keep notes that will go towards helping you see patterns emerging as you learn about the cards. Practice on your family and friends who are happy for you to give them readings. You may notice for instance that one particular card often appears when you’re going through a difficult time at work, or another one when you’re feeling confident and optimistic. Each card will start to have its own meaning for you as you experience how it appears in conjunction with your life and the lives of your friends.

You might also take advantage of online tarot interpretations. There are many free readings that interpret the cards that have been chosen for you and you might consult at least one of these every day as a way to get more familiar with the meanings of the cards.

There are many different tarot decks and you should spend some time looking into what’s available and choose a one you feel drawn to. It could even be you will prefer different decks for different spreads. When you first begin with the tarot, you will no doubt learn key words for each card and reel these of as the cards appear in a spread. This may make a reading sound stilted and scattered as the cards aren’t being read as a ‘whole’ and although some cards have similar meanings and will reinforce each other, some could contradict each other.

There are 78 cards in a standard tarot deck: 22 Major Arcana and four suits of 14 cards each. As you learn the meanings of the cards, you will start to recognize there are easy ways to remember them. For instance the 22 Major Arcana (picture cards) tell a story ‘the Fool’s journey’ and by visualizing the Fool as he meets each of these cards and goes through the experiences associated with them, you will find it easier to recall the significance of the card.

Think of the ‘numbers’ of the cards and each of these will have characteristics in common. The Ace cards for instance bring a special strength to a reading, suggesting new beginnings or something that is about to come to fruition. Two is the number of escalation and union. Two also represents the opposites in life: love and hate, light and dark, yin and yang. Consider the associations of the other numbers in the tarot.

Notice the patterns and links within the tarot itself. Each card, for instance is associated with an element. Cards associated with the Fire element (the suit of Wands) are active, full of energy and are linked with action and movement. These cards relate to career, ambition and drive. Cards associated with the Air element (the suit of Swords) are lively in an intellectual way, they relate to communication, conflict and rivalry. Cards associated with the Water element (the suit of Cups) represent emotions, love, friendship and creativity. Cards associated with the Earth element (the suit of Pentacles) speak of practical issues, finance, stability, health and home.

There are many similar patterns you will discover for yourself as you become more familiar with the cards.

As well as having a good idea of the meaning of each card, you will eventually find yourself starting to interpret the spread intuitively. The more familiar you get with tarot cards and doing a reading, the more you will use your natural intuition as to what the cards are saying.

You might spend time meditating on each card. Note the images you see in your mind and any feelings, colours, symbols or numbers that come to you as you meditate on each card and keep these in a journal.

The more confident you become, the more you will realize that your intuitive response to some cards won’t always correspond with their ‘basic’ meanings. As you develop your psychic side, you will start seeing so much more in the spread than those keywords you first learned to associate with each card. Never feel your intuition should not be trusted. As your skill increases you will grow more confident about trusting your sixth sense when reading the tarot.

There are numerous layouts to choose from when reading the tarot and after some experimentation, you will probably prefer one or two that seem to work best for you. Some spreads involve only three cards perhaps representing past, present and future. Others can be incredibly complicated, involving a lot of reshuffling and even using another pack of cards. Some tarot readers use reversed card meanings, others don’t. Go with what works for you.

Tarot can be great fun, a fabulous spiritual journey and incredibly insightful. As with everything you try to learn, practice will lead to more confidence and help you become more skilful. It will also be much easier to learn if you can enjoy the experience.

(c) Carole Anne. First published Yahoo Voices 2010