How to Read Tarot Cards: A Beginner's Guide

A tarot deck looks like a lot to learn: 78 cards, each with its own picture, name and meaning, and each able to land upside down. The good news is that the deck is built on a simple pattern. Once you see the pattern, you stop memorising and start reading.

This guide takes you from opening the deck to reading your first spread.

What is in a tarot deck

Every standard tarot deck has 78 cards in two groups.

The Major Arcana (22 cards). These are the named cards: The Fool, The Magician, The Lovers, Death, The Star and so on, numbered 0 to 21. They stand for the large themes of a life: beginnings, choices, endings, hope. When a Major Arcana card appears, the matter is usually important to you.

The Minor Arcana (56 cards). These cover everyday life and are split into four suits of 14 cards, much like playing cards: Ace to Ten, then Page, Knight, Queen and King.

Learn the four suits first

Each suit has an element and a part of life it speaks about. Learn these four lines and you already understand the mood of 56 cards.

• Wands (Fire): energy, ambition, work you are passionate about, getting things started.
• Cups (Water): feelings, love, friendship, family, intuition.
• Swords (Air): thoughts, decisions, truth, conflict, worry.
• Pentacles (Earth): money, work, health, home, things you can touch.

So a spread full of Cups is about feelings, whatever the question said. A spread full of Swords means the matter is living in your head.

Then learn the numbers

The numbered cards follow the same story in every suit:

• Ace: a new beginning, a seed.
• Two: a choice, a partnership, balance.
• Three: first growth, working with others.
• Four: stability, rest, a pause.
• Five: conflict, loss, a test.
• Six: recovery, help, moving on.
• Seven: reflection, patience, standing your ground.
• Eight: movement, effort, mastery.
• Nine: near completion, standing alone.
• Ten: the end of a cycle, the full weight of the suit.

Now combine the two. The Ace of Cups is a beginning (Ace) in feelings (Cups): new love or an open heart. The Five of Pentacles is a test (Five) in money and security (Pentacles): a lean season. You can work out most of the deck this way before reading a single guidebook.

The court cards are people or ways of behaving. Pages are students and messengers, Knights are action, Queens hold the suit's quality inwardly, and Kings direct it outwardly.

How to ask a good question

The question shapes the whole reading. Closed questions ("Will I get the job?") leave the cards little to say. Open questions give them room:

• "What should I focus on before my interview?"
• "What am I not seeing about this relationship?"
• "What would help me decide between these two offers?"

Keep the question about yourself and something you can act on. Ask one thing at a time.

If you really do want a quick yes or no, a single card can give you a lean. Our yes or no tarot does exactly that.

Your first spread: three cards

Shuffle while holding the question in mind. There is no correct way to shuffle; stop when it feels right. Then lay three cards in a row, left to right.

The classic reading of the three positions is past, present, future. Two other useful versions:

• Situation, obstacle, advice
• You, the other person, the relationship

Turn the cards over one at a time and, before you look anything up, say out loud what you see in the picture. Who is in it? Are they arriving or leaving, holding on or letting go? Your first reaction is often the most useful part of the reading.

Read the cards as one story

Beginners often read three cards as three unrelated statements. The skill is in joining them.

Say you ask about a stalled project and draw the Eight of Swords, the Ace of Wands and The Chariot. Read left to right, the story is: you have felt trapped by your own doubts (Eight of Swords), a fresh spark of energy is here now (Ace of Wands), and if you take hold of it, the way forward is determined, steady progress (The Chariot). Three cards, one sentence.

Look for patterns too:

• Many Major Arcana: a significant chapter, not a passing mood.
• One suit repeating: that part of life is the real subject.
• The same number repeating: several Fives mean a testing time; several Aces mean new starts everywhere.

What about reversed cards?

A card that lands upside down is called reversed. It shows the same theme turned inward, delayed, blocked or overdone. It is not a "bad" version of the card.

Many beginners read upright only for the first few weeks, and that is fine. When you are ready, our guide to reversed tarot cards explains four simple ways to read them.

Common beginner mistakes

• Drawing again because you disliked the answer. The first draw is the reading. Sit with it.
• Asking the same question every day. Give a situation time to change before you ask again.
• Fearing the dramatic cards. Death is about endings and change, almost never about dying. See what the "scary" cards really mean.
• Treating the cards as orders. Tarot offers a view of a situation. What you do with it is your choice.

Practise without a deck

You don't need to own a deck to begin. Our free six-card reading shuffles and draws for you in your browser, explains each position, and links every card to its full meaning. It is a good way to see how cards in different positions are read together. When a card puzzles you, look it up in the guide to all 78 cards.

A last word: tarot is a mirror for your own thinking, used for reflection and enjoyment. It cannot predict the future, and it is no replacement for medical, legal or financial advice. Read with curiosity, and keep the big decisions in your own hands.