How to Read Tarot Cards For Beginners

I have been reading tarot cards for the past 30 years and when people ask me for advice on how to get started, I tell them to not overthink it and just dive in. It can be overwhelming when first starting out because you don’t know which cards to get or what books to read, so you get stuck before you’ve even tried. There are several different tarot deck “systems”: Rider Waite, Thoth, and Lenormand to name a few. I find the Rider Waite system the easiest for beginners because the card illustrations match the card meanings. When picking a deck, choose one that comes with a guide book/pamphlet that has card meanings.It would also be a good idea to pick a tarot deck that has the names of cards written on the deck, as well as a keyword of what the card means. Pick one with illustrations that speak to you and have literal depictions of the card definitions. For example, the 3 of cups traditionally means friendship so a deck depicting 3 people holding hands will help you remember that’s what the card means.

There are a total of 78 cards in a tarot deck with 22 of them being classified of Major Arcana. Then there are 4 court cards for each suite(page,knight,queen,king). There are 11 “pips” cards for each suite as well(Ace through 10). The four suits traditionally are pentacles, swords,cups, and wands. Each suit represents one of the 4 elements. Swords is air, pentacles is earth, cups is water, wands is fire.

I advise people who are just starting out to have a tarot journal where you do daily one card pulls and write the traditional definition of the card drawn, as well as what you think the card is telling you for the day.

As far as tarot spreads, I recommend you stick to the 3 card spreads. Past, present, future is a good one to do consistently. When people are first starting out, I’ve seen them try to do large complicated spreads like a 10 card Celtic spread. It’s much better to start with 2 or 3 card readings until you get used to the cards and know how they relay the messages to you.

Another mistake beginner tarot readers make is they feel they need to buy alot of things to be a “real tarot reader”. In reality, all you need is a tarot deck and a notebook. There are plenty of free websites that have the card meanings if you don’t want to purchase a book. My blog also has posts of several card meanings as well, so be sure to check those out.The Empress is my favorite card so you can start there if you like!

In closing, remember that noone is born knowing everything. Learning anything new takes time so don’t expect to be a professional tarot reader overnight. Everyday you will get better and learn more about the cards and yourself. Learning tarot is a way to get in touch with your inner feelings and subconscious mind. Good Luck on your tarot journey and never stop learning.

“Tarot is an instrument that reveals the hidden things of the world and makes sense out of the visible ones”.

~Wald Amberstone

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