Learning to read tarot – What does it take?

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who wasn’t very familiar with the tarot. As she got more intrigued, she asked me: Can anyone learn to read tarot cards?

Everyone capable of absorbing new information can learn to read tarot cards for themselves and for others. Firstly, a person needs to understand what tarot is and how it works. Secondly, the person needs to familiarize themself with Tarot cards and learn how to interpret the card meanings into a coherent story. 

Learning to read the tarot is a fulfilling experience, and it isn’t as hard as many believe. When you start your tarot journey, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information available.

I hope this article will give you an idea of the process needed so that you can have the confidence and faith in yourself to learn. I gathered some of the basics here, and towards the end of the article, I will share how you can get started with learning tarot.

What does it take to learn tarot?

Before we jump into the tarot world, I want to give you a few words of encouragement for all those who doubt if they can learn to read tarot. 

I grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which during my childhood wasn’t really known for the best education system in the world. I learned English only after I got out of school because none of my teacher there didn’t really know themselves how to speak English. 

Leaving high school, I was disappointed about not learning it, so I took it upon myself to learn. Of course, the whole process involved a lot of studying, and I took several English courses with excellent teachers. 

They helped me to achieve a level that I had always wanted. The books and the teachers were important, but the main thing was that I believed in my ability to learn, and I had the motivation to study. 

When it comes to tarot cards, I am a bit of a late bloomer learning them as well. Although my first encounter with Tarot cards was when I was 19 years old, I didn’t learn to read them until I was in my 30’s. 

I always had the interest to learn them, but I found my self continually doubting if and how I could learn them. This was until I realized that I need to apply the same determination to learning tarot as I had used to learn English. 

I am trying to tell you that don’t doubt yourself because everyone can learn to do almost anything if they have the willpower to do so. Whatever it is that you want to learn, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Just go for it. The cognitive abilities of humans are astounding. 

Now that we are all pumped up after my little pep talk let’s take a look at what tarot is, how it works, and how it is used. 

What is the point of a tarot reading?

When I went to my first Tarot reading, I still remember being a bit hesitant but, at the same time, excited. 10 tarot cards were laid in front of me to a mysterious looking formation, which I later learned was a spread called the Celtic cross. 

But a few minutes earlier, my Tarot reader had explained what tarot is and what the reading is all about. I later understood that this was an essential part of his reading ritual. It removed some of my misconceptions about tarot and cleared the confusion around my expectations. 

When I started my journey as a Tarot reader, I adopted this same process to my reading rituals. It is a great way to build a connection between the reader and the person receiving the reading. 

To start, he told me that most people have the expectation that Tarot cards are supposed to say to them their future. This is a common misconception that I shared as well before. 

In reality, Tarot cards aid us to access our intuition and find our own inner wisdom. The cards allow us to take a spectator seat to our lives and give us a chance to observe it from different perspectives. The tarot cards don’t tell us anything new. In fact, they simply expose things that we already know within.  

Each of the tarot cards holds a spiritual lesson that we can adopt into our lives. When one of the cards is drawn in front of you, it can bring clarity to an issue that we are unable to or reluctant to recognize at that time.  

Even if you wouldn’t decide to become a Tarot reader, Tarot cards can be useful for self-development, making decisions, or setting goals. Learning to read tarot cards give us excellent tools for solving typical questions in our lives. 

How does Tarot reading work?

Now that we all understand what Tarot reading is about let’s look at how tarot reading works. The first thing to know is that there are two different types of tarot readings: 

• Question readings – focuses on a specific question on a person’s mind who is receiving the reading.
• Open readings – focus on more significant aspects of the person’s life than a particular problem area or a question.

The next thing is where I don’t want you to get overwhelmed. The tarot deck includes 78 cards, each with unique imagery and meanings behind each card. Don’t feel worried that you should learn them from the get-go. You can start to practice tarot reading before you know all the meanings. Studying them little by little will build your knowledge in the long run. 

One of the first things to know about the tarot deck is that it is made of two entities. The other is a set of 22 Major Arcana cards. They describe the different life lessons that a person must go through to find his wholeness. 

The remaining 56 cards are called the Minor Arcana. They represent more daily aspects of life. These cards give us insight into how our present situation affects us and what action we need to take to realize our current goals. 

Each tarot reader has its unique rituals and interpretations on the cards, so each reading is different as well. But in general, a tarot reading starts off by shuffling the cards to a random order by the person giving the reading. 

Now depending on what type of reading is about to play out, question, or an open reading, the person receiving the reading should think of:

• Question reading: What they want to ask the tarot cards?
• Open reading: Areas that they would like to seek guidance to.

After the person receiving the reading feels that the cards have been shuffled adequately, the actual reading may begin. 

The cards are typically drawn in front of the person receiving the reading in a so-called tarot spread. The idea of the spread is that each position where the cards are placed has a meaning. For example, a simple three-card spread could have: 

1. Past
2. Present
3. Future

There is an endless amount of different spreads, and you can even make them yourself if you want to. The reader usually chooses the type of spread that they are comfortable with. 

During the reading, the tarot reader interprets the cards from the spread and turns the interpretation into a coherent story. This allows the person receiving the reading to observe their situation through the cards. 

At best, the reading gives the receiver insight into their past, current, and future events based on their current path. The tarot reading empowers the receiver to find their intuition, which can bring clarity to solving everyday problems in their lives. 

How to start learning tarot?

Now that we have down the tarot basics let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to get started on your tarot journey. These simple steps won’t make you a tarot expert, but they will enable you to begin doing tarot readings for yourself and your friends. Trust me, it is not as hard as it may seem. 

1. Step – Choose a Tarot deck
2. Step – Familiarize yourself with the cards
3. Step – Learn a simple tarot spread
4. Step – Trust your intuition and practice

Step 1. Choose a Tarot deck

Before you can start learning tarot, you will need to get yourself a deck of cards. You may already have one, or you might need to go out and buy one. It is fine to use an old or used deck, don’t worry about it now. There are even free printable ones, but I would choose to use a decent deck with clear images and symbols because you will be needing your intuition from the start.

Step 2. Familiarize yourself with the cards

The next step is to familiarize yourself with the cards. As I already mentioned, you don’t need to learn them by heart in the beginning. Just take a look at each card and their image and use your intuition to see what the symbolism is telling you. You can look up a few keywords for each card to get an idea of the meaning for that card. 

To make it even more comfortable, you can choose a part of the deck, as the Major Arcana, and familiarize yourself with them first. I recommend you try to use your intuition as much as possible to interpret the cards’ meaning to yourself. 

An effective way to help you memorize the card is to attach someone you know to the card. You already know the person and how they are, so it makes it easier to draw them from your memory as they are already there. 

Step 3. Learn a simple tarot spread. 

There is plenty of tarot spreads to use, and some of them are gorgeous and impressive. However, most of those spreads are overwhelming for a beginner, so I recommend starting off with something simple like a three-card tarot spread. You can make up what the positions mean, but here are a few examples you can try : 

The Classic

1. Past
2. Present
3. Future

For Love

1. Your Feelings
2. Their Feelings
3. Your future together

For job

1. Background
2. Problem
3. Advice

You can make up your own spreads as you go, and the internet is full of simple spreads to use. 

Step 4. Trust your intuition and practice

In my opinion, this is the most important step – trust your intuition and practice regularly. Don’t worry if it doesn’t your intuition isn’t working naturally in the start. That’s likely because you haven’t consciously used it before. 

But like in many things, practice makes perfect. So remember to practice and study tarot reading regularly. Consistency will take you forward like a slow but unstoppable train. If you keep feeding it fuel, you will get from beginner to an intermediate reader in no time. 

I hope this article has helped you get convinced that you can learn to read tarot cards. Personally, I’ve always had a liking for learning new things that interest me. I believe that anyone with the mental capabilities to absorb information can learn almost anything. It may take time, but if you have a passion for something, you will learn it.