How to Read Tarot Cards
Assuming you haven’t done a tarot reading before or are unfamiliar with how to read new spreads, I’m going to give you a quick and dirty resource for how to read tarot. If you’re just starting out with tarot, you might want to grab Kitchen Table Tarot, available at all fine booksellers and written by yours truly, to help you with the meanings of the card. I included a short description of each card at the end of the book as a reminder, but it would be helpful to have a reference book on hand.
Step 1
It’s helpful to have a question in your mind but not necessary. I find that if I don’t have a question, I get kind of a general overview of my life. Those are nice, but sometimes you get to the end of a general reading and say, “Well, yeah. No kidding. Is that it?” If you want something more specific, you need a question or at least an idea. For example, “Am I going to die alone and my cats will gnaw on my face, probably starting with my eyes?” That’s fair. I’ve actually given this reading before … a few times. Let’s go with it.
Step 2
Decide which spread you’re going to use. The spread doesn’t really matter, what matters is that you believe that the cards in those exact spaces mean an exact thing. We’ll use a three-card spread for the cat-eating-your-face question. We’ll decide that the first card will mean the past, the middle card will represent the present, and the third card will represent the possibly faceless future.
Step 3
After you have your question and your spread, shuffle the cards. There is nothing mystical about this. It gives you something to do with your hands and is relaxing, and somehow (not magical at all, I swear) the cards end up in the perfect position to answer your question with a high degree of accuracy that borders on spooky. If you want to cut the cards after you shuffle, by all means, do the thing.
Step 4
Lay the first three cards down in the three positions we decided on before. If they come up reversed, but you don’t read inversions, flip them right-side up. It’s really okay.
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Step 5
Next, flip to the appendix and find the handy-dandy list of card descriptions I wrote for you. If you find that your idea of the card differs from mine, let’s go with yours, okay? It’s your reading, not mine.
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Card 1 (Past): Three of Swords
Ouch. Pain. Like, searing, heart-falling-out pain. The thing about pain this severe is that it’s purifying. That’s literally the only good thing about this card. Sometimes you have to feel all the pain before it will go away. Remember that holding pain inside can cut you to pieces. Releasing it, even if only to yourself in a journal, is one of the most amazing things you can do. If you don’t want those words lying around, write them down and burn them.
What this means is that in the past, you got your heart broken, and the pain of that broken heart has prompted the question at hand. You might think that you’re over it, but it’s still here, squatting in the corner of your brain like a toad. (Nice visual, eh?)
Card 2 (Present): The Four of Cups
Don’t settle. Don’t pout either, but make sure that this is what you really want. Fussy and ripe for hissy fits and eye rolling. Apathy is easy to ignore. Don’t wanna. Don’t want to change, don’t want to take my medicine, whatever that medicine may be. You have to look deeper than the apathy. Why don’t you want to change? You know these behaviors make you sad, and yet you won’t put them down. Consider the why of holding on to the listlessness and figure out how that’s paying off for you. There’s a payoff for “meh.” Whether it’s the reward of not failing (you can’t fail if you don’t try) or the reward of being comfortable, decide if it’s worth being stuck.
Since you got your heart broken, you’ve been pouting a bit. This is okay, really, but it doesn’t really serve you after a few weeks. If you truly don’t want to die alone but you’re still tender from the earlier breakup, you have to do some work to get yourself ready to meet people again. If you need counseling, get it. Meds? Get those, too. Exercise? Awesome. Whatever medicine you need that will help you get your balance back is the right thing. Lying on your couch watching Agents of SHIELD while checking the same three apps over and over and over on your phone is not the right thing.
Card 3 (Future): Two of Cups
You have support in the relationship that’s most prominent in your life. Allow this person to help you find the right way. Equal partnership. Respect. Esteem. No one is lacking here. No one is wondering. This love is enough. This relationship—with work, friend, sweetheart, whatever—is enough. And you can feel it.
Oh, hey! There is someone in this card with you! Looks like you’re not dying alone after all, and your life won’t end like it’s a terrifying Polish fairy tale. (Have you ever read those? Jesus.) You have assurance now that you are going to find a person, but if you look to your present activities, you can see that it’s not going to happen from the couch. Start the path toward “okay” and then make a list of what you absolutely have to have in a relationship.
For example, the person must be good to their family, know the name of the cleaning staff at their office, like Doctor Who, not make balls of their socks and then throw them in the wash so they never get really clean or really dry, not ask you for money, like petting your hair, and get along with your cat. Then date, and if the person on the other side of the table isn’t this person? That’s not your person. Keep looking. You’ll find them.
Step 6
Now that the reading is over, do not give yourself another reading with the same question asked a different way. You’re not fooling anyone, and after a bit, the cards will start messing with you. I tried this with a question once (it was probably this one), and after the third time, I got the Ten of Swords (destruction), the Tower (destruction), and the Lovers reversed (Thelma & Louise–level drama). Point taken, tarot. You didn’t have to be a jerk about it.
Step 7
For the element readings, there will be two or three cards that answer the same question. For example, if you’re doing the earth reading and the cards for “What gets in your way?” are the Queen of Swords reversed and the Moon, the two things that get in your way are your cranky mother and your anxiety. Once you identify the things, you can work on a plan to release some of that power those two things have on you.
Step 8
The most important part of the reading occurs afterward. You actually have to do the thing. You have to make a plan to get off the couch and seriously should feed your cat just in case. You have to take action to get the results that you want, because wishing and getting are two different things. Fix the idea in your head, then move on to real life.