Can anyone offer tips on reading Tarot cards?

I just got some new Tarot cards yesterday and I've been reading the instruction booklet and trying to learn the meanings of the different cards but it's confusing to know exactly how to apply the cards to the particular question you're trying to ask.

Has anyone here ever tried them? If so were they accurate?

reply to post by MissInformation


I have used them, and for me they are very accurate.

I have several decks, but I use only one, and for me that is the big secret. You have to sometimes go through several different decks before you find one that really speaks to you with its imagery.

If you just have a regular Rider Waite deck (which lots of people start with) I would start by just memorizing the suits, cups, pentacles, wands, swords, and what those refer to. Then I would go on the numbers, and what they represent. Then I would memorize the Major Arcana. Then I would start with simple three card pulls so that I had less to integrate.

Then I would go for a new deck if the imagery on the deck I had didnt really "add" anything to the normal card meanings in terms of subtle clues and nuances.

I hope that was helpful and not too "duh" obvious.

If you just want to do a reading right away, (if you bought the deck because you have a specific problem and you need an answer before you learn the whole deck) just do a simple draw, like a three card draw. Shuffle, cut, deal three, center card first this will represent you, then to the left of center, this card will be the situation, third card right of center, this will be what can benefit or harm the situation. Then use your booklet and starting with the center card find the meaning, think about it, then go left, then right. Then at the end ask yourself "how do these three work together within my question?"

I have found them to be rather interesting. In my experience I have had hit or miss results with divining using a Tarot deck.

The interesting thing about the Tarot cards is the history, many people believe that Tarot decks are the last remnants of the book of Thoth. and the original was either destroyed in the great library at Alexandreta or perhaps buried beneath the front paws of the Sphinx.

Illusionsaregrander is correct in the usage, the cards should be personal to you, the best decks are ones that the user has created themselves and panted themselves. It goes along with the adage that the more you put into it the more you will get out of it.

Several online sources on the meanings of the deck, the usage, and interpretation are on the net, Which one is true is beyond me, I rarely consult the cards in order to have questions answered.

[edit on 7/20/2008 by whatukno]

Yes thanks that's helpful . You're right I am starting with the original Waite deck (that's all I was able to find at the moment) but eventually I'd like to get one of those fancier ones, there's so many nice ones out here. Starting off with memorizing the cards is a good idea and I'm also a terrible shuffler . I guess the thing to do is to just keep practicing.

I don't do tarrot i do runestones but i offer you this advice:
Don't do it if you don't can't deal what the cards say. My great geandmother read the then mayors cards, pulled the death card, and he died soon after.

Co-icidence or not, that kind of thing messes with your head.

I've never seen 'death' in the stones but I've got 2 births right, one of the births a pregnancy test failed to get correct on the first try.



[edit on 20-7-2008 by jprophet420]

When I started reading cards I bought a 'Starter Deck' at a chain store called Hastings. It has words on both ends of the card that give the meaning. When I would give readings I would focus on those words and then let the devine whatever give me the words to say. I was always very accurate. I never memorized the cards or anything.

Here is a link to the cards that I bought...

Starter Tarot Deck

Edited to add link.


[edit on 7/20/2008 by stellawayten]

Thanks for all your replies. I'll respond to them later since it's late and I gotta go to bed. I'm gonna try a reading first before bed and see how that goes .

I've used Tarot and Runes as well. I liked the Runes for personal questions and the Tarot for questions about others. I'm not exactly sure why except that the Runes are more personal ideas and concepts along the lines of growth. I had one Tarot set that I didn't like. It didn't have a good feeling. I don't use those anymore, but didn't throw them away either. I may have just not liked the answers.

For anyone interested in science related to the subject, the psychologist Carl Jung did a lot of research on things like astrology and tarot and pretty much came to the conclusion that there is something universal behind them in that they are subject to what he called "synchronicities" (that's a key word to his research, look it up), where archetypal patterns seem to manifest in a coincidental way through universal symbols and can do so through a myriad of possibilities, including what some people would refer to as "omens," and during alignments of planets which correspond to the same relevant archetypes. These are not seen as causes, but as also being subject to the same kind of cosmic order, which is thought to manifest in various relating ways and extend from the macrocosm, to our world, to the microcosm, etc., affecting everything in a comparable way. There is a famous quote: "Everything breathes together."

Jung suggested that this kind of form of symbolic "intelligence" is inherent to the universe that we generally think of as mechanical and stupid, that related events and symbols tend to occur simultaneously by their own nature, and have a relationship with the subjective viewer that apparently depends on the subject's emotional energy and awareness. For example, he did a study on ESP that showed subjects were more accurate in guessing cards remotely when the tests had just begun and the subjects were more excited by the novelty of the experience, and then became less accurate as the tests went on and became less emotionally exciting. He also had subjects that were able to guess the cards remotely with an accuracy of up to 25 out of 25 cards guessed correctly, and other cases that were statistically extremely improbable. To Jung, the mechanism that allowed these people to access the information despite not physically being there, is related to (if not the exact same as) the mechanism that's responsible for experiencing synchronicities and seemingly coincidental events of related symbolic nature, and these events symbolically reflect the general context of the universe at that time by the way symbols are embedded into it (the "synchronicities"). This is theoretically the idea behind Tarot, as the cards represent certain universal archetypes that are intentionally caused to manifest (influenced by the reader's emotional state) but through seeming chance.

Jung was a friend of Einstein's and actually started developing these theories after discussions with Einstein that made him start thinking of space-time as a variable that can be manipulated, or at least experienced in dramatically different ways by different people in different states of mind, resulting in effects on an individual's consciousness that allow them access to information not typically seen as possible, by "collapsing" space-time towards a single point of unity where all information takes up the same space.

There's some crazy stuff out there and most people just don't know it. Jung's "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle" is a good starting point.

reply to post by bsbray11


Excellent post bsbray11, I had not heard of those specific results but I am a fan of Jung and his work generally.

However, if some one wants to use the cards for divination Carl Jung is probably a bit obscure to start with. The guides published with the cards are pretty useless, as is Waite's own text-book (too obscure!).

I strongly recommend a book called '78 Degrees of Wisdom' by Rachel Pollack. It's a top selling title and should be easy to find. The author gives thoughtful insights into the meanings of the cards and also introduces the reader to personal development and meditation using the cards. The book is based on Rider-Waite but can be applied to any deck (especially RW).

One more thing, if you're using RW avoid books by Crowley, or based on his deck of Thoth. The symbolism and approach is so different cross referencing is very difficult. Fortunately RW is so popular it forms the basis for most popular tarot books.

Originally posted by jprophet420
I don't do tarrot i do runestones but i offer you this advice:
Don't do it if you don't can't deal what the cards say. My great geandmother read the then mayors cards, pulled the death card, and he died soon after.

Odd, considering the Death card doesn't mean death, it means change. *shrug*

Originally posted by ElusiveGoddess
One more thing, if you're using RW avoid books by Crowley, or based on his deck of Thoth. The symbolism and approach is so different cross referencing is very difficult. Fortunately RW is so popular it forms the basis for most popular tarot books.

I'll second this. The Thoth deck is very pretty, but the cards do have different names, meanings & interpretations and it can muck things up quite a bit if you try to switch between the two.

Personally, though I own a handful of decks, I prefer the Rider-Waite deck. All the symbology in the art works for the meanings I've come to learn.

As far as books, Bill Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot always came through for me. (Currently out of print, but available used on Amazon for a couple of bucks.)

brsbray great post, I never knew much about Jung or that he was friends with Einstien but I'll read more on that. Runes are something I'm gonna look more into as well, I never really thought about doing those. I'll also check out that sight "78 degrees of wisdom".

I've used the tarot for years now, and I'd also like to recommend Pollack's '78 Degrees of Wisdom'. It's a great book.

There are literally hundreds of decks out now, and it might take you a bit before one 'clicks' with you. You can find sample card graphics at Aeclectic along with reviews, and at Tarotgarden where you can also buy decks online. If you get bitten by the tarot bug you'll have a few decks in no time.

If you're just starting out I'd also recommend using the Celtic Cross Spread. It's been my experience that the spread gives good results for beginners.

Since there was some talk about Jung, there is a great deck created by Robert Wang using Jungian symbols. You can find that here.

Personally, I use the Thoth deck and I find it to be incredibly accurate, although I do use a few different decks depending on circumstances.

reply to post by bsbray11

That was really a fantastic post. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to explain that aspect of it to us. I, for one, really appreciate it and I am going to look into that piece of Jungs you recommend.

Edit to add;

This is my favorite deck, but the same cautions that apply to the Thoth deck apply to this one. It uses different symbology and names for the cards and when you are starting out it may not be the deck for you. (unless you are particularly draw to the philosophy of the east)

www.osho.com...

Further edit to add;

I just found that website for the picture of the deck, but I went back to look at it more and there is a neat little feature to the right hand side of the picture of the cards that lets you do little readings for free if anyone is interested.

[edit on 21-7-2008 by Illusionsaregrander]

I'll add my voice to those recommending Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom and add that I found Mary Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals to be really helpful not only in learning how to interpret upside-down cards but in developing my feel for relationships between cards.

As far as practical tips for beginners, I'd strongly recommend keeping a record of your readings, watching to see which cards come up frequently. I also chose one card each day in the beginning to learn about, which worked for me.

I hope you get a lot out of your experience with the Tarot. I've used them at various times through my life and always found it to be a powerful tool in focusing my mind on the context of whatever question I bring to the deck.

Originally posted by jprophet420
I don't do tarrot i do runestones but i offer you this advice:
Don't do it if you don't can't deal what the cards say. My great geandmother read the then mayors cards, pulled the death card, and he died soon after.

Co-icidence or not, that kind of thing messes with your head.

I've never seen 'death' in the stones but I've got 2 births right, one of the births a pregnancy test failed to get correct on the first try.

[edit on 20-7-2008 by jprophet420]

For the record, the death card NEVER represents physical death. It merely represents the death of a situation, emotional conflict, etc.

Originally posted by MissInformation
Yes thanks that's helpful

. You're right I am starting with the original Waite deck (that's all I was able to find at the moment) but eventually I'd like to get one of those fancier ones, there's so many nice ones out here. Starting off with memorizing the cards is a good idea and I'm also a terrible shuffler

. I guess the thing to do is to just keep practicing.

I'm a terrible shuffler, too. So I do it the two year old way: lay them all down and move them around until they look shuffled.

Of course, when you are ready to give someone else a reading, make them shuffle. (my apologies if someone mentioned that already)

I have been a professional Tarot card reader, professional astrologer, and rune reader. Bsbray's summary of Jung's findings pretty much sums up my experiences and findings:

Originally posted by bsbray11
Carl Jung did a lot of research on things like astrology and tarot and pretty much came to the conclusion that there is something universal behind them in that they are subject to what he called "synchronicities" (that's a key word to his research, look it up), where archetypal patterns seem to manifest in a coincidental way through universal symbols and can do so through a myriad of possibilities, including what some people would refer to as "omens," and during alignments of planets which correspond to the same relevant archetypes.

With readings for the future, you are simply selecting a set of synchronicities. You can accept them or modify them or reject them. They are, however, a very useful tool for thinking "outside the box."

Contrary to the standard belief among readers, both my daughter and I read for ourselves as well as for others.

There's some crazy stuff out there and most people just don't know it. Jung's "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle" is a good starting point.

Many thanks for the reference! I'll go look that one up.

Originally posted by Alora
For the record, the death card NEVER represents physical death. It merely represents the death of a situation, emotional conflict, etc.

When reading for the public, I always took the Death and the Devil cards out of the Major Arcana. Unless the person you're reading knows what they really signify, it can freak people out to have one of those cards show up in a reading.

There are other cards that can represent those concepts without causing the client to get hysterical.

(...of course, I *was* doing my readings at a commercial haunted house, which is not the most soothing of atmospheres to do a reading.)