Reading the Tarot


The art of reading the Tarot is one part, knowing the individual cards. This is usually achieved by memorization. There are 78 Cards in a complete Tarot deck.

Another part is seeing a fluid aspect to the cards that begins, moves toward, and ends up at an end result which reveals a cogent pattern. It makes sense. The cards you use, are cards you created with this goal in mind. The spread, the pattern of laying down the cards, could change according to the need of the inquirer, and the kind of answer they are looking to find. By now, you should have read your little booklet several times. Along with a brief description of each card The booklet also gives at least one pattern, and that pattern is the Celtic Cross. This pattern is easy to understand and explain. It has some information from the past, the present, and the near future. It also gives the influences of people and events upon the question or the questioner.

Finally, reading the Tarot is a ritual. This is the most important and least understood part of the reading. Always remember that You are a creator. The reading must be created in such a way, that both you and the person getting the reading must be moved into an altered state of mind. Even if you are doing a reading for yourself, make it magickal.

The following diagram illustrates the sequence I use when I use the Celtic cross. It differs a little from the standard shown in most Tarot books. More accurately mine should be called a Celtic circle because I lay the cards down in a circle from card #3 through card #6. This layout was a mistake that I habitualized and it has served me well. Remember, I'm the creator and I don't make mistakes, I make variations.

note: I use the term “magickal for things spiritual, mystical, or anything not mundane or material.

Before you can do a reading, you need to understand what each card symbolizes. The Tarot deck consists of seventy-eight cards. Fifty-six of these cards are the Minor arcanum which are divided into four suits. The suits represent the four elements and they are Pentecals or Coins for Earth, Swords for Air, Wands, Rods, or Sticks for Fire, and Cups, or Cauldrons for Water. Each suit consist of fourteen cards ranging from the Ace to the King.
The other twenty-two cards are numbered from zero to twenty-one. These are called the Major arcanum and each one of these have a special meaning usually defining something more spiritual or magickal. If you read the Major arcanum in sequential order they reveal a path of growth. You can also read just the odd numbered cards or just the even numbered cards and find paths within paths. I'll have more to say about these paths when I write about meditating with the Tarot.



The beginning ritual is how you bring yourself and the person for whom you are reading, into an altered state of mind. You may modify this ritual in anyway you wish, but somethings have proven to be very helpful; Spread out the Tarot cloth onto a hard surface. Whether it is the trunk of a car, the lawn, or a table, the clothe provides a barrier between the cards and the surface the reading is done on. If you can safely place a candle on the Tarot cloth, do so, and place it to one side. This sets apart a special place where all your readings should take place. The clothe sanctifies the cards. The candle connects us through symbol to the light which shall cast away the darkness.

Pick up the deck and hold them close to your nose. Smell the deck. Do this before each reading to draw you into a Tarot mind set. The subdued scents left on your deck from when you created your deck will bring forth a familiarity with the deck.

Shuffle the deck. There is no special way to mix up the cards. Any true attempt to change the cards from place to place will do just fine.

I also offer the cards to the person getting the reading so that they feel more connected to how the cards ended up where they did. Tell them what I just told you. Any true attempt...

Before they finish shuffling, tell them to put the cards down upon the clothe with their left hand. If they fail to put them down correctly, have them repeat shuffling the cards then have them cut the cards into three piles with their left hand. From this point on, you may only touch the cards with your left hand. If you want the questioner to touch the cards or move a card tell them to do so with their left hand. There is a true connection on many levels which demonstrate that the left hand reveals the heart and the dark side of our psyche. Dark meaning hidden in the darkness or a little light goes a long way.

With your left hand only, collect the three piles of cards ( no special order is recomeneded, just remember that how you do it once is how you should do it always), then place them on the cloth, so that the bottom of the deck points to the edge of the Tarot cloth
closest to you, the reader, and the top of the deck points to the edge of the cloth closest to the questioner. One by one, turn the cards from the deck so that they turn sideways, and not top to bottom. The top of the card must stay on top.

Read the cards. I like to say something about each card as I turn them. You understand the interpretation of the card needs all the input you can give. You see the card, and you hear the briefe statement you made, And you say the inofrmation so it is a triple reinforcment by doing this.After you have placed all ten cards, now connect the individaul bits of info to a understandable revelation of the cards into a THEN, SO NOW, AND WILL COME. scenerio. Explain the affects of key people shown in the reading and why people do what they do.

.when your finished reading the cards snuff out the candle and carefully put the cards away.

Whenever you can. Do your readings in the same manner every time you do a reading. Whether the reading is for someone you know and they can be more relaxed around you, or the reading is for a stranger,Always do your readings the exact same way. Evan if the reading is for you. Believe it or not it always is about you, you are all three, and you deserve the your best effort.