Tips for beginners to mysticality

How to read tarot cards for yourself and others

By Tania Arora, Staff Writer

Have you ever been to a psychic? I have been a few times. And what honestly attracted me most—more than seeking answers to questions—was the aura and vibe of the room. I might sound like a high-school kid here, but it is just so cool.

Tarot card reading can be seen as both an art and a science. The way different decks are designed with various images and their significance is an art to be adored. Each card has a meaning behind it that can be related to life and also used to find instant answers to our personal questions. Our queries are the situations and the cards are multiple theories waiting to be proposed in solving problems. 

You may find many psychics around you because the art does not require any degree. YouTube is filled with tarot card videos. The intuitive part is more important than the knowledge of the cards. Learning tarot is just like learning to do anything else. To some it comes naturally, and others apply science and learning to understand. If you are interested in reading but cannot afford to pay for a psychic or just haven’t started yet, the following are tips for you. 

1) Feel free to make mistakes

While you start to learn and apply tarot, never be scared to make mistakes. For some reason, the art of tarot reading is expected to be flawless by society. Every time we get a reading done or do one ourselves, we expect it to be 100 percent true.

There is just so much pressure to be right, yet reading tarot—like any other art—may or may not be right. If a doctor can misdiagnose someone, a teacher can teach the wrong information, or a newspaper can publish wrongful information, so too can readings turn out to be untrue. After all, we are all only human.

2) Less is more

Just as in an essay where a good point can be made with a few words, a good tarot reading can be done with few cards. You might not necessarily need a bunch of different decks to predict the situation. 

3) Read for yourself

A lot of people would advise against this, but reading for yourself makes sense to me since you know more about your personal situation and emotions. You clearly understand yourself so you can clearly understand the meaning of the cards.

 There is nothing rigid about “accuracy” in tarot, whatever you interpret is how you are actually feeling about it. What the cards mean according to books is not as meaningful as the emotions that naturally surface. To read tarot, one must have their own unique perspective that they can identify cards with.

4) Make example sentences

You can treat every tarot card with a word. Every card has a different meaning in various situations: the definition for an isolated card will differ entirely when it comes up in a pile. You may use the same words but identify the different meanings each time.

5) Trust yourself

Needless to say, but I’ll do it anyways—if you cannot trust yourself, no one else can either. If you doubt your own readings, they will never turn out to be relatable.

When you read, just keep all your doubts and inhibitions on the side, focus on the card you pull out. Carefully observe and speak what you feel when you see the card.  Reading tarot cannot be learned in a day or two. It takes time, practice, and complete devotion. Each card has a different message to it. Keep your thoughts open and words mindful. 

Reading tarot cannot be learned in a day or two. It takes time, practice, and complete devotion. Each card has a different message to it. Keep your thoughts open and words mindful.