How to do a Tarot reading

Ready to do a Tarot reading but aren’t quite sure where to start? This post will go through the steps you can follow for a successful reading.

For anyone new to Tarot, I always suggest reading for yourself first so you can build up your knowledge and confidence. But the steps in this post also apply to reading for other people.

Pick your deck

This step is easy if you only have one deck in your collection. But if you have more than one deck, choose the one you feel most drawn to at the time of the reading. Trust your intuition, if you feel called to use a certain deck, there’s a reason for that. The imagery in that specific deck may show you something that other decks don’t. Or perhaps the guidebook has an interesting interpretation of a card that will help you to see your reading in a new light. Whatever the case, pick the deck that is speaking to you the loudest in that moment.

Cleanse your deck

To cleanse your deck means clearing it from any previous energy that may be stuck to it.

There are many methods of cleansing your deck. Some readers knock on the deck three times. Some readers use crystals. Other readers use sage or incense smoke. You can put your cards in the moonlight or the sunlight to cleanse and charge them. You can meditate and cleanse them with your intention. Choose a method that resonates with you.

If a deck is new to my collection, I will pass every single card through incense smoke to clear out any energy it may have picked up on its journey to me. I’ll also periodically do this if I’ve been using the deck a lot or I haven’t used it in a long time. But the rest of the time, I’ll just fan out the cards in my hand and pass them through incense smoke a few times. I’ll then shuffle the cards and deal them into three piles before shuffling again. That’s my process, find one that works for you.

Prepare yourself and your space

Some people can whip out their cards anywhere and do a reading without any preparation of themselves or their space. Other people may conduct an hour-long ritual before they can get into the right headspace for a reading. The way you prepare to read Tarot for yourself may be different than how you prepare to read for other people. Everyone’s process for connecting to the cards is different.

The preparation process helps you tune into the energies around you and quiet your mind so you can access your intuition. My personal ritual involves lighting incense, calling in my guides through a silent prayer, and, if I’m reading for someone else, concentrating on the energy of the querent while I shuffle. I also have a few crystals nearby to help protect my energy and focus the reading. I always have black tourmaline, selenite and clear quartz around when I read the cards. For a love reading, I’ll usually have a rose quartz on the table. While I read the cards, I like to hold on to my moonstone palm stone because it’s heavy enough to ground me and helps open my upper chakras. Your ritual will develop and change over time so try different things out to find what sticks.

Shuffle the cards

I like to riffle shuffle. Some people prefer hand-over-hand. Other people like to spread their cards all over the table and mix them around. It’s completely up to you.

Before you shuffle, decide whether you intend to read reversals or not. Reversals are cards that appear upside-down in a reading. Reversals give the card a different meaning than if the card appears upright. Some readers swear by reversals. Others don’t feel like they need to use reversals because they know whether a card should have the upright or reversed meaning based on the context of the reading. You may feel like using reversals sometimes and not others. Decide before you shuffle, because you don’t want a whole bunch of upside-down cards to come out if you don’t intend to read reversals.

Select and layout the cards

You can fan out the cards and pick the ones that catch your eye. You can wait for cards to jump out of the deck and select those. You can shuffle until you feel like it’s time to stop and then draw the cards from the top of the pile. A traditional method is to cut the deck into three piles and then put them back together into one pile before drawing from the top. If you are reading for someone else, decide whether you want them to select the cards or whether you want to pull them yourself. Some readers don’t want other people to touch the deck, others don’t mind. Do what feels right to you.

You’ll also need to work out whether you intend to use a Tarot spread or whether you will just pull cards and let them speak to you. A Tarot spread involves assigning positions to each card so that you interpret the card in the context of its position. For example, a past-present-future spread has three cards, one in each of those positions. So the card selected in the past position represents the past influence on the topic of the reading. I almost always use spreads, but try both ways to see what you prefer.

Interpret the cards

This is the hardest part. Look at the cards and see what you notice. Are there a lot of Major Arcana cards? That might indicate a big life lesson on the horizon. If you don’t know the meanings of the cards yet, don’t worry, it will come with time. You can interpret the cards completely intuitively based on the card’s imagery, or you can refer to the deck’s guidebook to help.

Interpret the cards individually and then consider what they mean when they are all together. Start small, a simple three-card spread will give you plenty of information and will help you practice interpreting the cards in relation to each other.

Close the reading

Once I’ve finished a reading, I thank the Universe and my guides for their help before putting my cards away. You don’t need to do this, but having a way to close the reading can help you detach yourself from the energetic space created during the reading.