Learn to read tarot cards

Tarot is a deck of 78 illustrated cards that people use as a way to slow down and think. You draw a few, look at the pictures, and ask what they bring up. It’s a creative, reflective ritual, not a forecast, and it suits a quiet October evening with a candle and a notebook.

What you need

• A tarot deck. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is the classic first one, because its pictures are clear and most guides use it.
• A guidebook, or a free app, to look up what each card means
• A notebook and pen
• A quiet place and about half an hour

Beginner decks cost under $20 in many shops, and secondhand ones are cheaper. Choose one whose pictures you like, because you’ll be looking at them a lot.

How the deck is built

There are 78 cards in two groups.

• Major arcana. 22 cards with names like The Fool, The Lovers, The Moon and The Sun. They show big themes and turning points.
• Minor arcana. 56 cards in four suits: wands, cups, swords and pentacles. Each suit has cards numbered from ace to ten, plus four court cards.

The four suits are often tied to themes: wands to energy and action, cups to feelings, swords to thoughts and pentacles to work and daily life. You don’t need to memorise any of it. Start by learning the major arcana, and look the rest up as they come.

Read the pictures

Before you open the guidebook, look at the card. What’s happening? What colours are there? How does the person in it seem to feel? Tarot is a visual deck, and your first reaction is useful. Then read what the book says and see where the two meet.

If a card feels unfamiliar, don’t worry. The meanings are guides, not rules, and different decks and writers give slightly different readings.

Try a three-card spread

1. Shuffle the deck while you think about a question or situation. Something simple works best: “What do I need to know about this week?”
2. Draw three cards and lay them in a row, left to right.
3. Read them as past, present and future, or as situation, challenge and next step.
4. Look at each card, then read its meaning, then ask how it fits your question.
5. Look at all three together. What story do they make?

Keep your question open rather than a yes or no. “What would help me with this?” gives you more to work with than “Will I get the job?”

Make a quiet space

Clear a small space, put your phone on silent and take a few breaths before you shuffle. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. The point is to give yourself a few unhurried minutes, which is why many people enjoy the ritual part as much as the cards.

Reversed cards

When a card comes out upside down, it’s called reversed. Some readers give reversed cards a different meaning, and some don’t use them at all. As a beginner, you can ignore reversals and turn every card upright.

Keep a tarot journal

This is the most useful habit. After each reading, write down:

• The date and your question
• The cards you drew
• What you noticed and what you think they mean
• How it feels a few days later

Over time you’ll see patterns in how you read and in what you ask. The notebook is the reason tarot is useful as a way of thinking things through.

Treat it as reflection

Tarot doesn’t tell you what will happen. What it does well is give you a prompt and some images to talk to yourself with. If a card makes you think of something you’ve been avoiding, that’s the value. You are the one doing the reading, and you can leave the rest.

If you find a reading unsettling, put the cards away and do something else. Tarot shouldn’t be used to make big decisions about health, money or relationships. For those, talk to a friend or a professional.

Make it a fall evening

Pull your cards on a dark evening with a candle (on a stable surface, away from your notebook) and a warm drink. It pairs well with a ghost story or a quiet night in, and it’s easy to do with a friend: pull a spread for each other’s questions and talk through the pictures.