How to read tarot

READING

An illustration in the style of a copperplate engraving. Three cards lie face down in a row on a round table while two hands turn the middle one over sideways. Beside them are the rest of the deck, a candle, and an open notebook with a quill.

A tarot reading works like this: you settle on one question, shuffle the cards, draw a few and lay them out in a set pattern, then read each card's meaning together with the meaning of the place where it lies. It is best to begin with the one-card draw. As you grow used to it, you can move on to three cards, then ten.

Before you begin

Settle on one question

Tarot is easier to read for a clear question than for a vague one. Rather than "How will work go?", put into words what you actually want to know, such as "How should I spend this year at my current job?"

Questions framed around action, such as "What should I do?" or "What should I watch out for?", bring the cards' words to life more than questions answered only by yes or no.

Shuffle the cards

Spread the cards face down on the table and mix them slowly with both hands. Keep your question in mind, and when you feel ready, gather them into one pile. Some people split the deck into several piles and stack them again.

Mixing the cards in circles on the table naturally turns some of them upside down, so reversed cards come into the deck.

Draw and lay out

Take cards from the top, or fan the deck out and pick the ones that draw you. Turn each card over sideways, from left to right, without changing its direction. If you flip it top to bottom, you turn it upside down.

Upright and reversed

If a card's picture is the right way up from where you sit, it is "upright"; if it is upside down, it is "reversed."

Upright, the card's meaning comes through directly. Reversed is often thought to mean the opposite, but in most cases it is read as a shifted form of the same force: too much of it, too little, turned inward, or arriving late.

Strength, for example, means "the strength to tame what is wild through gentleness" when upright. Reversed, it is read as a lack of confidence, or the opposite, holding things down by force. It is easier to read if you think of the card as speaking about the same theme in either direction.

Some readers do not use reversals and read every card as upright. That is fine, especially when you are starting out.

Spreads (layouts)

The pattern in which you lay out the cards is called a "spread." Each position has a set meaning, such as "past" or "present," and you read the card's meaning together with the meaning of its position.

The one-card draw

Draw one card and read it as the answer. It is the simplest method and suits short questions such as "A word for me today" or "What matters most in this?"

If you draw one card each morning and compare it with how the day went that evening, the meanings gradually become your own. Drawing a card on this site is a one-card draw.

The three-card spread

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Lay three cards in a row and read them from left to right. Choose the meaning of each position to suit your purpose.

	1	2	3
Time	Past	Present	Future
A problem	Cause	Where things stand	What to do
A relationship	You	The other person	The relationship

The trick is to read the three cards as one story. If the Tower falls in the past, the Star in the present and the Sun in the future, you might read: "After a great collapse, hope returns, and things move toward a bright outcome."

The Celtic Cross

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A long-established layout for looking closely at one matter. It became widely known after Waite, who designed the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, presented it in his guide The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). The cross on the left shows the situation; the column on the right shows you, the people around you and the outcome.

Position	Meaning
1	The situation now, the heart of the matter
2	Laid across card 1: an obstacle, or something that helps
3	Above: the goal, what you are aware of
4	Below: the root of it, what lies beneath awareness
5	Left: the recent past, what is leaving
6	Right: the near future, what is coming
7	Yourself, your own attitude
8	The people around you, your surroundings
9	Your hopes and your fears
10	The final outcome

The names of the positions, and where 3 and 4 or 5 and 6 go, differ slightly from book to book. No one way is correct; once you choose one, keep to it and your readings will become steadier.

Tips for reading

Look at the picture first: before you look up the meaning, notice what you feel from the picture. The figures' expressions, the direction they face, the colors and the weather all give clues.
Look at the whole spread: notice whether one suit or many major arcana appear, and whether upright or reversed cards dominate.
Write it down: note the cards you drew and how you read them. Looking back later deepens your reading.

How to live with readings

Tarot is less a tool for predicting the future than a way of looking at your feelings and your situation from another angle. Even if a card seems unfavorable, it does not decide your future. Let it be a starting point for asking, "So what can I do?"

For important decisions about health, money or the law, do not rely on the cards alone. Please talk to a qualified professional.