Hello, hello,
How are you doing?
This blog post is for any young student of tarot who seeks to improve their tarot reading skills. Who desires just a little more confidence and understanding of what the duck is going on when they pull some strange cards.
Today, I’m going to give you a bunch of tips to boost your tarot reading technique.
Before we dive in, please note that I also made this post in a video. If you're more in the mood to watch rather than read, you can view it right here:
Tip number 1: think about what you’re doing
It’s very tempting with tarot to just start pulling a bunch of cards until one seems to make sense.
It’s very tempting to just use the first spread you tumble upon.
But according to a nationwide study conducted by the Department of Divination and Good-luck Charms, the cause of confusing tarot reading is estimated to be 90% of the time due to a lack of reflection from the reader on what they are doing.
The thing with tarot is that any of the 78 tarot cards must make sense if you pull it.
So before shuffling your cards for a reading, take a minute to consider whether any card would make sense for your specific question.
And in order for any of the 78 cards to make sense for your question, 4 things are important:
1. The meaning of all the cards must be clear and precise for you,
yet also flexible and broad.
For example, the suit of Cup cannot only mean romantic love, if the question you’re asking isn’t concerned at all about love.
That’s a very common problem if you read older and more traditional tarot books. Or even many modern ones.
Every meaning of a card must be able to adapt itself to a wide variety of contexts.
That could be one of the reasons why you struggle to feel confident in your readings: the meaning of the card just cannot make sense with the question, because it is too narrow.
2. The meaning of all the cards must be neutral at its core
You’ve probably heard this many times, but here you go again, “there are no bad cards in the tarot.”
And I will add, there are no good cards either.
There are no inherently good or bad cards. The world of tarot is super egalitarian.
It’s the question and the context that will modify the core neutral meaning of the card to something more positive or negative.
The question or the spread is what will tell you if the meaning of the card must be seen as a solution or a problem.
That might be another reason why you struggle with your readings: your question is something fairly positive, such as, “what gift is the new year bringing me?”
And you pull a card which has for you a rather bad meaning.
For example, if I read from the tarot book She is Sitting in the Night by Oliver Pickle, the Five of Pentacles is “insecurity and introversion due to stress.”
While the Two of Cups is, “abundance, joy (…) generosity.”
Well, which of the two cards makes more sense in answer to the question, “what gift is the new year bringing me?”
This kind of clash between the question being positive and the card’s meaning negative, or vice-versa, the question being rather negative and the card’s meaning positive, can sometimes make perfect sense.
But most of the time you end up squeezing and contorting the meaning of the card in order to make it fit.
And a tarot reading shouldn’t feel like that.
3. The spread must work well with your reading style
Here’s a drastic example to illustrate my point:
Don’t pick a spread with a question like, “on what day will I move out of my flat?” If you don’t have a clue about how to read tarot to find precise future dates.
Each question in a spread must speak to you.
You must understand fully what is meant by the question, and you must already have an idea of how it would make sense. Well, maybe not fully fully, but pretty well.
If the meaning of each tarot card is relatively clear to you, yet too often when you pull a card you just don’t see how it relates to your question, chances are that your style of questions doesn’t fit your style of reading.
So either you need to readjust the meaning of your tarot cards, or you need to find questions that truly speak to you.
This can be small differences.
For instance, some readers thrive on short tarot spreads, like the timeless three card spread: current situation / struggle / advice
While others give the most beautiful tarot readings when they have a bit more structure and meat to work with.
Those readers love big spreads with more detailed questions where the context of the problem is specified.
An easy way to find out what kind of questions you will work well with is to reflect on the kind of advice you give to your friends.
If you tend to give practical advice and solutions, you will probably read well a grounded and practical spread.
If you give emotional support, find a spread that pushes you to explore your intuition, emotions and awareness.
The more a spread resonates with your personality and speaks to the things that are your jam, the more you’ll find the spread easy to read.
A good idea is to test a variety of spreads and note the ones where you felt the most confident, where the reading felt good and natural, and see if there are any common threads among those spreads.
4. The last super important ingredient for a more confident and fluent tarot reading is to trust your intuition!
I know, I know, this is easier said than done.
But the thing is, there will be situations where the meaning of the card simply won’t make sense.
Or it will make sense, but you’ll have that feeling that that’s not really what the card is talking about.
If that’s the case, listen to that voice.
If it feels right, share it with the person you’re reading for.
Because in the end, each tarot reader has their own reading style and card interpretations. There isn’t one correct way to read a card.
For me, tarot is a lovely way to explore and understand where we are right now. For other readers, tarot is all about predicting the future.
So the most important thing isn’t to have the ultimate card definition, but to bring forward questions that are right, useful and important for you.
Back to Tip Number 1: think about what you’re doing
Okay, so my tarot lessons can be pretty messy.
My number 1 tip was, “think about what you’re doing.”
And then under this category, I gave 4 further tips for more confident readings:
1. the meaning of your cards must be precise yet broad
2. the core meaning of the 78 cards must be neutral
3. your spread must match your style of reading
4. listen to your intuition
Now I would like to expand this “think about what you’re doing” statement.
What I mean by “think about what you’re doing” is that the clearer you are about what your goal is when using tarot, the clearer your readings will be.
My last tip for you is: don’t only think about what you’re doing.
Define what you are doing.
Why are you using the tarot? What’s the aim? What does a good reading mean to you?
For example, one common issue with beginner tarot readers is that there is that pressure to be kind of psychic.
To guess something right.
If you are very intuitive, or even have a psychic gift that you want to use with tarot, that’s awesome, go for it.
But for the vast majority of us, our intuition doesn’t work like that.
We cannot pull a bunch of cards and ta-da know everything about the love life of the person you’re reading for just based on those cards.
That belief that we have to guess things right can be very paralyzing during a reading.
But the thing is, you don’t have to be that kind of tarot reader.
Like I said before, for me, a good tarot reading is when I’ve had some time and space to allow my emotions and intuition to speak.
When I was able to reflect on what I want. When I could re-frame the situation I am in.
When I got a little more perspective. A deeper understanding of myself.
When I was able to re-evaluate what’s available for me.
And also when I could bring a good dose of magic, compassion and fun.
Because it is truly magical and kind of funny to be able to use the tarot to navigate life more safely and courageously!
So according to my definition of a good tarot reading, if you are giving me a reading, I don’t care at all whether the interpretation of the cards you are using are correct or not, whether you hit spot on my current struggles or not.
I care that you are using the cards as anchor points to bring new questions and ideas to me.
In a way that doesn’t feel judgmental or too prescriptive.
I want the cards to give me some food-for-thought and context I wouldn’t have thought of.
And whether you’re relying on the little white book or your intuition to do that, I don’t give a duck.
And that’s why I know that every tarot beginner, even if that’s the very first time their picking the cards, can do an amazing reading.
But that might not be the case for you if your definition of a good tarot reading is different
Most tarot beginners don’t take the time to define what is a good reading for them.
And that’s why most of the time when tarot beginners give a tarot reading, things are very confusing for them.
Because they don’t even know what they’re looking for.
And that’s why there is also that feeling that they’re not making any progress. Because there isn’t a standard that allow them to judge whether their reading was good or not.
And that’s why tarot beginners are super vulnerable to the feedback of the person they’re reading for, because this person becomes the only standard to judge whether their reading is good or not.
But the truth is, maybe your reading was awesome.
But just not the kind of reading that person was looking for.
So, yes, fellow tarot lover, think about what means a good reading for you.
My final extra bonus tip is: get many tarot readings from many different reader
That will help you understand what you like in a reading, and it will show you the variety of readings styles that exist.
Annnnd great transition, but I offer tarot readings.
So if my definition of a good tarot reading resonates with you, and you want a good dose of magic, of compassion and curiosity in your life, you can book a reading right here.
As a farewell gift, here's a summary of the 7 tips covered in this post ♪
Alright, I’ll see you soon.
Stay wise and enjoy pulling cards.
Jin the Wizard
Thunder and Coffee