Learning Tarot can feel frustrating at times, but with these essential Tarot tips and techniques, you’ll have the best chance at learning to read Tarot with ease.
One of the biggest reasons people fail to learn how to read Tarot cards is that they try and reach the finish line before they’ve even left the start line. Tarot is a journey and an exploration of the self as much as it is a skill. Find out how you can ensure success when learning to learn to use this amazing tool.
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Choose The Right Tarot Deck
My first tarot tip is to find a tarot deck that you feel connected to. It could be a deck that you love the theme of or maybe you really connect with the imagery.
For many, a great starting point is the Rider Waite Tarot deck, because this is the deck that most guidebooks and courses will use to teach beginners. There are loads of different versions of this deck, so there are plenty of options to choose from!
I always encourage my Foundational Tarot students to get a Rider Waite deck to start with because if you can read with this deck, it makes it 100 times easier to read other more contemporary Tarot decks.
The most important part of choosing your first tarot deck though is making sure you love it. I have a pretty sizeable collection now and there are decks that I thought I’d love that I barely use and decks I bought as a novelty and absolutely adore.
If you can buy your decks in person that’s amazing, but there’s no harm in buying decks online. Just make sure they’re genuine as there are a lot of fakes on places like Ebay and Etsy.
Choose your preferred form of learning
The biggest mistake I made the very first time I was trying to learn Tarot, was not paying attention to the method of learning that came most natural to me. I am a very visual learner, meaning that I learn best by watching something be done or by visually being talked through something such as in the form of presentations.
I don’t learn well through just reading. I struggle to follow written instructions, so trying to learn how to read Tarot from just a guidebook proved to be a no go. I wasted a lot of time on trying to learn from just books and because I struggled so much I started to believe that Tarot reading just wasn’t something I was meant to learn. It turns out it was just that I was trying to learn the wrong way for my brain.
If you’re not sure how you learn best, I suggest looking at something called VARK. This is an acronym for all the different versions of learning. V for visual, A for auditory, R for reading and writing and K for kinaesthetic. There’s a great quiz you can do on the Arden University website here to help you figure this out.
Once you know what type of learner you are, you can then look for ways to learn Tarot that best suit you. For example, if you’re a kinaesthetic learner you’ll learn best through practice and actually doing the skill, learning as you go. So, looking for practice spreads and doing daily card pulls to learn the meanings of the cards will be perfect for you.
To help you even more, here are some suggestions on how you might learn tarot based on your preferred learning:
Visual – Watch YouTube readings or Tarot readers offering collective readers on Instagram. Choose a tarot course that teaches via video and visual prompts such as the Foundational Tarot Course.
Auditory – Explore Tarot podcasts such as Tarot For The Wild Soul or the Energetic Tarot Podcast. There are also a few teachers out there that offer audio lessons that would also be great for you.
Reading & Writing – Books, Guides and Workbooks are your best friend. I have a Major Arcana Workbook that is a perfect first step into learning Tarot which you can find here.
Kinaesthetic – You’ll learn best by actually practicing and pulling cards rather than writing down or trying to memorise meanings. A great way to do this is searching for Tarot spreads on places like Pinterest and putting them into practice. Make sure you have your deck’s guidebook to hand to help you.
Ignore the preconception that you need to be psychic
It’s like a deeply rooted preconception that Tarot cards can predict the future but I believe that’s not possible. Why? Because that would mean the future is set in stone, which then takes away your free will.
Trying to live up to this reputation is one of the reasons many people either don’t start to read tarot or give up. They feel like they have to have a ‘gift’ or that they have to be psychic in order to be a ‘genuine’ tarot reader. You do not.
Tarot cards illustrate the subconscious. They reflect back to us what is really happening and can cut though any conscious blocks we unknowingly place in the way. There’s no need to have psychic powers or be able to converse with spirit guides. All human beings are wired into the collective unconscious whether we know it or not and that means anybody and everybody can learn to read tarot.
This also means there’s less pressure to get things ‘right’. What comes to you is what is meant to come to you. Even when reading for others. If you simply interpret the cards, the subconscious fills in the blanks and creates the meaning of a reading.
Start building and trusting your intuition
I couldn’t offer tarot tips without touching on intuition. It’s something we all have and it’s also something that we can work to strengthen over time. The reason we use our intuition in tarot reading is because it is the purest line we have to the unbiased truth.
As we move through life we are moulded by our experiences. We see the world through the lens of the hopes and fears we have in the moment, so our intuition is our one true source to cut through the noise and get to the truth.
Your intuition will feel unique to you. There’s nobody that can say ‘this is what intuition feels like’ because it depends on the individual. For me, my intuition feels like a pull deep in my gut. Like someone dropping a penny in a well, it’s very physical. For some though, their intuition may come in the form of a voice in their head, or maybe just an intense ‘knowing’. More often though it can appear as a combination, which is why tapping into your intuition is not as easy as it sounds.
A good way to start identifying what your intuition feels like is by taking action on instinct. Start small, we don’t want you burning all your bridges without any logical reasoning. try going for a walk and instead of planning your route, choose directions based on where you feel you ‘want’ to go. Try and pinpoint where that feeling appears within your body or mind and look out for feelings in that area as you progress.
Once you know where to find your intuition, it then becomes about trusting that intuition to guide you. Another task easier said than done.
The good news is, learning tarot reading or even working with Oracle cards, are great ways to strengthen and build trust in your intuition. The more you do card pulls or readings and work on trusting your interpretations, the more you’ll be able to trust your intuition in your daily life.
Some other ways to start trusting your intuition are to keep a journal. At the end of each day – or even in the moment using the notes app on your phone – write down how you followed your intuition and where it lead you.
The more you can build a record of your intuitions guidance and the outcomes, the more you build tangible evidence that your intuition is in your corner.
Learn about the history of the Tarot and how it has been used in the past
One of the reasons I make sure to teach a bit of tarot history in my beginner tarot course is because it’s important to understand where the tarot originally came from. The more you know about something’s history, the more you understand why it takes the form it does in the present.
With tarot cards, it’s important to understand all the different evolutions it has moved through and how it has become the tool for introspection that it is today. It also means you understand the symbolism and meanings of the cards much more deeply, which helps with your learning and interpretations.
It’s also important so that you can understand where the myths and legends of the tarot. You can see where the taboos and misunderstandings come from as you trace the cards journey all the way from the 14th century to the 21st century.
Remember when I spoke about the Rider Waite tarot deck in the first half of this article? Well that deck in particular pulls various elements from the history of the tarot cards. There’s not only christianised iconography in forms like The Devil and the archangels, but there’s also astrological symbolism taken from some of the very first iterations of the tarot or Tarocchi as it used to be known.
In my opinion, if you want to learn how to read tarot, you need to be open to learning about its history as well.
Don't try and read too many cards too soon
Ah yes, a tarot tip I could have really used at the start of my own journey. Trying to read too many cards right when you’re just starting out is a recipe for disaster. I like it to trying to eat an entire chocolate cake Matilda style in one sitting. You can only consume so much, especially when you’re first starting out.
I always encourage my tarot students to take the course slow. There’s no rush to master tarot and if I’m being honest, I don’t think you ever stop being a student of the tarot. I’m still learning new ways to read the cards and interpret combinations I thought I had pinned down.
If you try and learn all 78 meanings in one sitting, your brain will give up. A human brain can only process and retain a set amount of information all at once, so taking your time and learning 2-3 cards at a time is your best chance of really becoming a seasoned tarot reader. Yes it takes more time, but slow and steady definitely wins this race.
Another reason to take things slow and not try and learn or read too many cards all at once, is because it will cause frustration, which will then make you more likely to throw in the towel.
There were a good three or more times before I finally learned to read tarot that I had tried and failed. I tried to learn all the cards in ones sitting or memorise the meanings from a book and the more I tried to study, the more frustrated I became and then eventually gave up.
It was only after doing an online video course where the tutor specifically stated that you should only do one lesson a day and even better, a week, that I started to make progress. The truth of the matter is, you are more likely to succeed if you take things slow and see progress, then if you try and cut corners or race to the end and continuously get frustrated with yourself.
Practice as much as possible
Practice makes perfect. The tarot tip non of you want to hear but it’s true. How can you ever master a skill if you don’t practice? Especially a skill like tarot reading. It’s imperative that no matter if you’re learning through a course or just winging it with your favourite guidebook, if you don’t make time to actually practice readings then you’re not putting what you’ve learned into practice and it’s wasted.
Start small. Do one card pulls for yourself each day and try and interpret the card within the context of what might happen that day or what has happened if you do it at the end of the day. Build it up slowly until you’re doing basic past, present and future spreads regularly.
If you want to read for others then enlist the help of your friends and family, or seek out willing strangers online to give free readings to. The more you do these readings the more confident you’ll be and the more you’ll be able to really trust that intuition we were just talking about.
*Tried and Tested Tarot Tip: When I was first learning I was really reluctant to do readings for people, so instead, I’d choose my favourite movie/TV characters and do imaginary readings for them. It worked wonders and helped me build my confidence.
Identify patterns in the visuals, meanings and structure of the tarot
Like I mentioned earlier when talking about the history of the tarot cards, there are a lot of symbols, meanings and iconography locked within the meanings of the cards. Often, you’ll see these things carried across different decks, so no matter what the imagery or style of the illustration, you’ll be able to recognise something.
Some popular imagery are symbols like astrological signs or planetary signs. In the Rider Waite tarot deck in particular you’ll see a lot of Christian symbology such as angels, the devil, Adam and Eve and judgement day. However there’s also other religions locked within the symbology such as Judaism and Egyptian beliefs – a mix of both of these can be see in the High Priestess card with her headdress reflective of the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Torah grasped within her hand.
As well as more spiritual symbolism, in modern tarot reading we also see a lot of influence from the Scientific world, specifically psychology and Carl Jung’s theories. We see this most often in the structure of the Major arcana and how it puts us into contact with Jung’s archetypes.
The main things to be aware of are; the presence of cycles such as the cycle in the major arcana moving from The Fool to The World and then back to The Fool, symbols such as the four elemental elements, animals and structures, numerology and astrology.
Don't try and 'prove yourself' to others
It’s unavoidable that you’ll at some point come across the sceptics that just want to test you or catch you out. But, if you’ve followed my previous tarot tips about not trying to be ‘psychic’ and concentrating on your intuitive interpretations, you’ll have nothing to worry about.
But, it doesn’t mean that you won’t come across the feeling of needing to ‘prove yourself’ to others. Of course, if you’re reading for the public you want to give them the best service possible, but as a tarot reader your job is to interpret the cards. you’re not there to tell someone what they want to hear or make up stories to seem like a mystical fortune teller. We are channels for the vulnerable truth and so we can’t get distracted by the expectations of others.
One of the things I love about encouraging people to build a tarot practice that feels authentic to them and one that they can use for themselves, is that you are free to ignore what other people may think of you. You don’t have to worry if someone hears something they like because you are reading for yourself, so there’s no expectations to compete with from external sources.
If someone doesn’t believe in tarot, nothing you do or say will sway them. It’s also not your responsibility to convert people into believers, you’re a lover of tarot, not a missionary. If someone wants you to ‘prove’ that you can read the cards, what they’re actually asking for is for you to prove that you can tell the future, and we know that’s not what we’re about.
Explore the ways other tarot readers read the cards
I fully credit my current Tarot practice to readers like Melinda Lee Holm and Lindsey Mack. Listening to their podcasts, watching them do readings on Instagram and lives fully formed me as a tarot reader.
It’s the same thing when you buy different tarot decks. The author will always offer up meanings for the cards that are uniquely theirs, which helps you to gain a whole new perspective on meanings you though you already knew.
Getting readings from other readers is also a great practice, because it gives you first hand experience of someone else’s techniques and approach. Absorbing these things you can vastly improve your own interpretations and continue to get better and better at your readings.
It also helps to get readings from others purely because it can be tricky to really get to the heart of something on your own!
Start a tarot journal
My number one tarot tip above all others is to start a tarot journal.
There is nothing better for someone who is starting to learn tarot then to write down their findings when they work with the cards. I do a little series over on my paid Substack where I go through my old tarot journal and breakdown how I would read the cards now compared to how I read them when I wrote the entry. I’ve learned so much from doing that, even as a professional reader who has been reading tarot for years now.
Journaling with your cards also allows you more space and time to explore the interpretations that come up for you. Those intuitive pulls you you feel, those feelings you get when you see a certain card, in your tarot journal you can make a note of all of it.
If you’re not already familiar with tarot journaling, you’ll be pleased to hear that I have a completely free workshop on it. It takes around 30-45 minutes to complete and shows you how to start a tarot journal from scratch, offering tasks you can get stuck into straight away.
So that’s it! That’s all the essential tarot tips I think you need to really get the best start with learning how to read the tarot.
If you’d like to find out more about my beginner Tarot course, you can do so here.
Or, if you’re still not sure if Tarot is the right tool for you why not give my free tarot taster workshop a go? It’s a 2-part self-led video workshop that gives you an amazing introduction to learning tarot and what you can expect if you choose to take a course.
You can also find a quick and easy quiz here, to help you decide if tarot is the right tool for you and your needs. So much to explore! I hope you enjoy.
