How to Read Tarot Cards

How do you read tarot cards?

Reading tarot cards means turning a set of images into an answer to a question: you draw cards into a spread, read each card through its picture, its traditional meaning and its place in the layout, and then read the cards together as one story. A reading does not announce a fixed future. It shows the forces at work in a situation, the direction things are moving in if nothing changes, and where you have room to act. It does not give dates or read another person’s mind; it shows what is moving inside you and around you right now.

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards. The 22 cards of the Major Arcana name the large themes of a life, from the Fool to the World. The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana are split into four suits that describe everyday life: Cups for feelings and relationships, Pentacles for work, money and the material world, Swords for thoughts and conflict, Wands for drive, creativity and ambition. Each suit runs from Ace to Ten and has four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King.

To begin you need a deck (one in the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition is easiest to learn), a quiet quarter of an hour, a question and a notebook. Nothing else is required: no ritual, no special cloth and no gift.

How to read tarot cards step by step

1. Get to know the deck before you read it

Go through the cards one by one and look before reading any meaning. What is the figure doing? Which colours dominate? Is the scene calm or tense? Sort the deck into Majors and four suits, then compare details in the Rider–Waite–Smith images, such as water, the direction of a face and the sky. Keep each card’s particular theme in view rather than assigning one colour or mood to an entire suit. Compare the numbered cards from Ace to Ten too.

Look at the court cards separately. Pages stand for curiosity and first steps, Knights for movement and pursuit, Queens for a mature, inward authority, Kings for outward responsibility. In a reading they can show a person, a trait or the way you approach a situation.

2. Ask an open question

The best questions start with “what”, “how” or “why” and are about your own part in a situation: “What do I need to understand about this conflict at work?”, “How can I move forward in this relationship?”. Questions that ask for a date or for someone else’s secret thoughts give poor readings. If you need a yes or no, see yes or no tarot first.

3. Shuffle and decide on reversals

Shuffle until it feels finished, keeping the question in mind, then cut the deck or simply draw from the top. Decide before you start whether you read reversed cards. If you do, a card that lands upside down shows its theme delayed, turned inward or out of balance, never simply “bad”.

4. Lay out a spread

A spread gives each card a job. Begin with a single card for the day, then move to the Three Card Spread, whose positions are Past, Present and Future. Once that feels natural, try the ten-card Celtic Cross. Lay the cards face down in order and turn them over one at a time, from side to side like the pages of a book.

5. Read each card in three layers

First the image: what do you notice first, and what feeling does it raise? Then the meaning: the card’s traditional theme, which you can look up on its card page while you learn. Then the position: relate the theme to Past when reviewing earlier circumstances, or to an advice position when choosing a step. Combine the three in a sentence: “In Present, I read the Eight of Swords through restriction and fear; I want to distinguish the limits I know about from the assumptions I am making.”

6. Read the cards together

Now look at the whole spread. Is one suit dominant? Many Cups put feelings at the centre; many Swords, worry or a hard conversation. How many Majors are there? Several mean the matter belongs to a bigger chapter. Do the numbers repeat? Do the figures look towards or away from each other? Join the card sentences into a short story with a beginning, a middle and a direction.

7. Sum it up and write it down

End with one sentence connecting the card themes to your question and one concrete step to consider. Record the date, cards and positions. When revisiting the entry, compare your first associations with the traditional meanings and identify a connection you want to study or a detail you now interpret differently.

Example: a three-card reading, step by step

The question: “What do I need to understand about my stalled job search?” The cards: Five of Cups in the past, Eight of Swords in the present, the Star in the future.

Each card. In the Rider–Waite–Smith images, the Five of Cups shows a cloaked figure looking at three spilled cups while two stand behind: disappointment, loss and attention fixed on what is gone. The Eight of Swords shows a bound, blindfolded figure among swords: restriction, limited choices and fear. The Star’s figure pours water beneath a starry sky; its themes are hope, renewal and trust. Keep each theme distinct before relating it to the job-search question.

Together. Two Minors and one Major connect an everyday job-search question with the broader theme of hope. Read the Five of Cups’ disappointment alongside the Eight of Swords’ restriction: which setback is known, which limitation is practical and which assumption adds to the difficulty? In Future, the Star gives hope and renewal as themes for the direction of the reading. Ask how you want to support your next attempt, keeping those themes separate from a promised opening or job offer.

Summary and step. “I want to separate the disappointment of the last rejection from what I know about this application.” Review the CV against one role’s requirements, choose one change within your control and make the application. Keep the job criteria, your experience and the card interpretation as separate notes, so the practical step rests on information as well as reflection.

Common mistakes when reading tarot

• Drawing again for the same question. Complete the first reading and note the card or position you found unclear. Refine that question in writing before drawing again, and distinguish new information in the situation from the answer you hoped to see. Keep the earlier reading available for comparison.
• Labelling cards good or bad. Death concerns ending, loss and transformation; the Tower upheaval, crisis and rupture. Read those meanings directly. Even the Sun invites examination of excessive optimism in context: keep the card’s position and your question beside its theme.
• Reading cards in isolation. A card’s meaning shifts with its neighbours and position. The Lovers beside the Devil is a different story from the Lovers beside the Two of Cups.
• Reading someone else’s mind. A card describes how a relationship looks from where you stand and the dynamic between two people, not what someone secretly thinks.
• Asking the cards for dates. Tarot describes processes and directions, not calendars.
• Reading while overwhelmed. Choose a moment when you can examine the question calmly. Write down what you fear and what you hope for before interpreting, and keep those expectations separate from the card’s traditional themes and position.
• Leaning on the book forever. Look things up while learning, but always look at the image first.

Practice and next steps

Each morning, record one image detail, the card’s traditional theme and your own interpretation separately. In the evening, note both connections with the day and details that did not fit. Compare one suit’s numbered cards each week, then study its court cards. Review the Majors as the narrative sequence known as the Fool’s Journey, keeping the sequence distinct from a timetable for your own life.

When you are ready for a full reading, open Three Card Spread in the Larisa app: write your question, choose three cards from the shuffled deck and read them in Past, Present and Future before you look at the reading. Then compare your own story with it.

From there, continue with the card pages: start with the cards you draw most often, then the ones that confuse you. For questions of love and relationships, a Katina reading offers another language; see the Katina love reading guide. And if a symbol from a dream keeps coming back to you, a dream page such as water shows how the same images speak at night.