After years of visiting a Tarot reader, I started telling myself “I need to learn Tarot”. Not knowing where to start I was thinking: “Can I learn tarot on my own?”
Tarot cards and Tarot reading can be learned with self study. There are a lot of books, communities and material available that allow a person interested in Tarot to study independently on their own. Studying independently is a good way to get started in the basics of Tarot.
Studying independently is a great way to get started in Tarot, but you will most likely soon come across subjects where you need some guidance. In this article I want to give you some tips that could save you tons of time to become a Tarot reader. In the end I have also added some tips for those that have already gotten a hang of Tarot but are struggling to get forward.
Learning Tarot on your own
So you have decided to become a Tarot reader. This is wonderful news! I am excited to be one of the first to welcome you to the wonderful world of Tarot. I hope you will find the little cards as useful as I have.
A deck of Tarot cards can have a magnifying effect on us. At least for me that is true.
Because you are reading this article I assume you were searching ways to learn Tarot independently or if it is even possible to do it on your own. The good news is, you came to the right place.
I decided to compile some tips that I had to learn the hard way. These tips are a compilation of those eureka moments I had when I was learning Tarot. I want to help you get started using Tarot for yourself as soon as possible.
Choose a simple deck
Now obviously this is the first thing you will need to be able to do Tarot readings. One of the mistakes that I made in the beginning was that I chose a deck that was for more advanced readers.
One of the reasons I made this mistake was because I had seen my experienced Tarot reader use this deck. It had such beautiful pictures that I immediately was drawn to it.
While it is important to feel a connection with the cards, sometimes too much too early can be a bad thing. I had chosen a deck that was really difficult to interpret.
So for you to get a kick start into Tarot reading, my advice to you is that you choose a deck that is easy to interpret. Choose a deck with simple imagery and clear symbolism. That is the reason most people choose to go with the classic Rider Tarot Deck.
There are no rules
Now that you have a deck you can start learning Tarot. But before you do, just remember this one rule: There is no one correct way to read tarot.
Don’t go down the rabbit hole and try to find the answer to everything before you start learning.
Firstly this will not be fun at all and you will end up exhausting yourself. Secondly, you won’t learn much as there is contradicting information everywhere.
Just keep it simple and do what feels good for you.
Don’t exhaust yourself with the card meanings
One of the biggest mistakes is to start your learning process by studying the card meanings believing that the meanings are set in stone. You don’t have to know the exact meaning of the card because there is no exact meaning.
The card meanings you will find on most of the sites are just one interpretation of the cards. They are great study resources but read them at your own pace and emphasize on what is your interpretation of the cards. As you get more familiar with the cards you can add depth to your own meanings from those resources.
The main thing here is to get you reading from day one so you won’t even have time to read all 78 meanings. And not to mention there is reversed as well!
Picture tells you more than a thousand words
Now that you know that you don’t have to know. (Gosh! that sounded like Biggie Smalls song Juicy… And if you don’t know know you know… )
Anyways, now that you know, you can start pulling the cards. Practise by looking at the images. If you have chosen a simple deck the card illustrations tell you so much already. With the help of a keyword cheat sheet you can easily get the hang of it and start memorizing the card meanings by using them.
Also don’t get swept away by reading all about the different Tarot spreads. You can just begin by using a single card to tell you insight to your questions.
Trust your intuition and start using Tarot
If you have ever learned a new forgein language you probably know that the moment you start using the language your learning speeds up like a rocket. That is why going to an environment where you are forced to use that language is so powerful.
It is incredible what the difference is compared to studying the grammar and vocabulary from a book. When you start using the language it works like a catalyst and activates parts of your brain that make you learn so much faster.
So keep pulling those cards and let your intuition do the boring work for you. Learn to trust it. Tarot at its essence is about finding your inner wisdom so learn to activate it and trust it from the start.
Talk about Tarot to people you meet
Even though you would be studying Tarot by yourself, it is almost essential to share with other people what you are doing.
In the beginning I was a bit nervous to tell my friends that I was into Tarot, but oh boy, was I surprised when I learned that almost everyone was so positive about it.
Many of my friends told me about their Tarot experiences and how they wanted to learn more. Some of them turned out to be readers themselves. One of the most satisfying experiences along my Tarot journey have been the moments when I have gotten into deep discussions about Tarot with my friends.
When you have gotten the hang of it
I wanted to add a few tips that are for those that already have gotten started. They are useful for those who are completely new to Tarot but it is not something that you will need from the beginning. These tips are some of the realizations or aha moments that I have had along the way.
Understand the Fool’s journey
Tarot cards are full of esoteric details that start to make sense little by little. One of the most useful nuggets of information to help me learn the Major Arcana cards more in depth, was the dividation of the Fool’s journey into different stages.
The Fool’s journey is divided into stages.
- The Beginning – This is where the Fool stands
- The material plane – People with various levels of power and how they are using it
- The mental plane – Characteristics of beliefs and transformation of perspectives
- The spiritual plane – Challenges and rewards the soul needs to become full
On the Material Plane or sometimes the conscious plane the Fool encounters people with different levels of power and sees how they use them.
The mental or subconscious plane teaches the Fool about beliefs and different perspectives. Here the Fool learns who he really is.
On the spiritual plane or superconscious plane he learns about spirituality. All of life’s karmic lessons so he can get closer to completion.
Understand the basics of Numerology and the Classic Elements
Even though Numbers are not the main focus of a Tarot reading, the numbers tell a story of their own in Tarot. They can display areas of improvement and they give structure to the story.
The same applies to the classic elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Understanding them and knowing which suit each element represents helps you understand the characteristics of that suit.
When you put them together you can get an idea of the meaning of each card in the Minor Arcana.
Reversed Cards are not as hard as they seem
I feared the Reversed cards in the beginning. It can be very exhausting to know that after learning 78 card meanings I should learn 78 more. I went immediately no no no… I will never start using them.
But after learning some useful methods to interpret Reversed cards I really fell in love with them. They give so much more information and depth to the readings. I wrote a whole article about them here.
Please check it out if you have doubts about Reversed cards. I am telling you, they are not as hard as they seem.