Tarot Practice FAQs

Choose a short example that supplies the question, cards and position meanings. Recreate its layout, then read the explanation one step at a time. Beside each conclusion, identify what the writer used: a pictured detail, a guidebook meaning, the position, or information already given about the situation. If a conclusion depends on information the example never supplies, mark that gap. Next, explain one card in your own words without looking at the model answer. This is a suggested way to study how a reading is constructed. You are learning the reasoning, rather than turning someone else’s wording into a script for future readings.

Related: The details needed to understand a spread.

Yes, if you preserve the information the method needs. For a spread based on named positions, sketch a small numbered map and place the cards in numbered rows that fit your surface. Keep each position’s meaning beside its number, and preserve any upright or reversed orientation. Use the map when comparing cards from different rows. If the method depends on physical relationships, such as which figures face one another, rearranging it may remove that feature. Choose a smaller spread or a larger surface instead. This is a practical adaptation, so keep the original diagram and its position meanings available.

No. Published approaches include reading a reversal as an opposite, a blocked expression or an inward experience; some guidebooks give it a separate meaning. Choose an approach before the reading and apply it consistently. Ask how that interpretation fits the question and position rather than treating an upside-down card as automatic bad news. A reversal is not evidence that something harmful will happen.

Related guide: Tarot card meanings library.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: What Are Tarot Reversals? (Llewellyn, 2013).

Choose the reading’s orientation before dealing. You might read cards as they face you, or arrange them for the other person and use that viewpoint consistently. Explain your choice so both of you understand it. Turning a card around to show its artwork does not require changing the interpretation you recorded. Sitting side by side can make the layout easier to follow.

Related guide: Beginner tarot guide.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: What Are Tarot Reversals? (Llewellyn, 2013).

Both are used in published reading methods. Start with the question and position: a court card in an advice position can prompt you to consider an approach or quality, while a relationship-focused position may invite reflection on a role someone plays. Do not identify a real person from a card alone. Its pictured age or gender does not have to match yours or anyone else’s.

Related guide: Minor Arcana guide.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: A Guide to the Court Cards (Llewellyn, 2021) · Marchetti Tarot companion-book excerpt (U.S. Games Systems).

Read the position as part of the question. A usually helpful theme might be unavailable, overemphasised or difficult to put into practice. For example, a card you associate with rest could prompt you to examine postponing a task when it appears as an obstacle. This is one possible reading, not a fixed rule. Check the actual situation before settling on an interpretation.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Positive Cards in Negative Positions (Llewellyn, 2012).

A clarifier is an extra card drawn to explore a specific uncertainty in the original reading. First name exactly what is unclear and reread the question, position and guidebook entry. As a learning boundary, you could allow one clarifier, then stop and leave unresolved points in your notes. More cards do not guarantee more clarity, and a clarifier should not become a way to keep drawing until you like the answer.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Tarot: Reading for Yourself (Llewellyn, 2013).

A significator is a card chosen to stand for the person or subject of a reading. Waite’s published Celtic Cross instructions use one, but it is a feature of that method rather than something you must add to every spread. If your chosen layout uses a significator, follow its instructions. You can choose by a relevant quality or topic without matching a card’s appearance to someone’s age or gender.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: A. E. Waite: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, section 7 (1910) · Marchetti Tarot companion-book excerpt (U.S. Games Systems).

Teachers use different versions of the layout. Joan Bunning, for example, explicitly notes variations in positions three to six, while Waite’s published instructions give their own sequence. Pick one complete diagram and its explanations before dealing. Record that version with your reading, and avoid mixing numbers from one guide with meanings from another halfway through. A different diagram does not by itself mean either reading was done incorrectly.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Joan Bunning: The Celtic Cross (Learning the Tarot) · A. E. Waite: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, section 7 (1910).

Write down the subject first, then divide it into a few different questions. Give each position one clear job and remove positions that ask essentially the same thing. For learning a new craft, you might use “What resource can I use?”, “What difficulty should I prepare for?” and “What small step can I try?”. Set these prompts before drawing and revise the design for a future reading if it feels repetitive.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part II: Spreads (Llewellyn, 2009).

Give each deck a clear role before you draw. For example, use tarot to explore a situation and one oracle card as a separate journalling prompt about a possible response. Read the oracle through its own guidebook rather than assuming tarot suit or number meanings apply. Keep the number of cards manageable. Agreement between two decks can be interesting to reflect on, but it does not prove a prediction is true.

Related guide: Beginner tarot guide.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Oh, Those Enchanting Oracles! (Llewellyn, 2008).

Yes. Free-form reading without fixed position meanings is a documented approach. Choose that method before you draw, keep a clear question and start with only a few cards. Look for connections between their images or themes instead of silently labelling them past, present and future afterwards. If the result feels too open-ended, a structured spread may help you focus next time. Neither approach guarantees a more accurate reading.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part II: Spreads (Llewellyn, 2009).

No. Try giving each card a short meaning in the context of your question, then examine how those ideas connect. They might describe a resource and its use, a shared theme or two stages of a story. Practise with pairs before larger groups, and explain the connection in your own words. Published combination methods do not require one universal dictionary covering every possible pair.

Related guide: Tarot card meanings library.

Further reading: Josephine Ellershaw: Preparing to Read Tarot Card Combinations (Llewellyn, 2023).

Yes. Working with just the Major Arcana is a documented option for study and readings. Decide on that smaller set before drawing and choose a simple reflective prompt. You can explore broad themes without using the suits or court cards, then bring the rest of the deck back when you want to practise those. A majors-only reading is not inherently more important, powerful or accurate.

Related guide: Major Arcana guide.

Further reading: M. M. Meleen: Major Arcana-only decks and how to use them (Tabula Mundi Tarot, 2014).

Authors may emphasise different symbols, traditions or ways of reading, even when discussing the same card. Check which deck and method each book uses, then compare the reasoning rather than searching for a single official definition. You can keep both interpretations as study notes and explain which you use in a particular reading. Avoid choosing whichever description gives the answer you were hoping to hear.

Related guide: Tarot card meanings library.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: How to Read Tarot (Llewellyn, 2010).

Use a study exercise instead of inventing a prediction. Choose a familiar everyday event or a fictional scene, then deliberately select cards that could illustrate it. Write down the image or theme that made each card fit, and consider an alternative. This builds familiarity and storytelling skills without repeatedly checking your own decisions or reading about somebody else’s private life. Looking up meanings is part of learning.

Related guide: Tarot card meanings library.

Further reading: T. Susan Chang: Backwards Tarot (Llewellyn, 2018) · Josephine Ellershaw: Preparing to Read Tarot Card Combinations (Llewellyn, 2023).

No. A small selection of cards will often leave out a suit, so its absence is not proof that something is wrong or that another person lacks particular feelings. Some reading methods notice suit patterns as an extra layer of interpretation. If you use that approach, treat the pattern as a question to explore alongside the cards actually drawn and the real situation, rather than a verdict.

Related guide: Minor Arcana guide.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: How to Read Tarot Card Combinations (Llewellyn, 2023).

You can begin with the images, the question and the meanings in your deck’s guidebook. Astrology, number symbolism and other correspondences can add further layers if you choose to study them. Learn the approach used by a particular author or deck rather than mixing charts without checking their assumptions. These are interpretive connections within a system, not facts that every reader must use in every reading.

Related guide: Beginner tarot guide.

Further reading: T. Susan Chang: Backwards Tarot (Llewellyn, 2018) · Barbara Moore: How to Read Tarot (Llewellyn, 2010).

Use it as a possible story to examine, not an established fact about the future. Ask which assumptions the interpretation depends on, what choices are yours and what information you still need. Some published spreads explicitly frame the future as a possibility and emphasise personal choice. You can also name a position “a possibility to consider” before drawing. The card does not remove your freedom to decide or the need to check real-world facts.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Christine Jette: Beltane Tarot Spread excerpt (Llewellyn, 2008).

Share the exact question, deck name and creator, the cards in order, each position’s meaning and whether you used reversals. Add your own tentative interpretation and identify the part you find unclear. A clear photograph can help, but remove identifying details and do not share another person’s private story without permission. If posting in a community, check its current rules before sharing.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: r/tarot: Spread Posts and Interpretation Help Guidelines.

Repeated cards can occur through chance; a repeat does not prove that you are being sent an instruction. When cards go back into a shuffled deck between readings, the same card is available to be drawn again. Keep a record of every draw, including the unremarkable ones, before deciding how often something appears. Check your handling method too. You can use a recurring image as a study prompt, but interpret each appearance in its own question and position rather than assuming it carries one fixed warning.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: OpenStax: Independent and Mutually Exclusive Events · NIST: Bias, Confirmation.

No. Reading the bottom card is an optional technique. Barbara Moore describes one version used to explore an underlying aspect of the question. Other readers give it different jobs, so decide whether you will use it and what it means before you begin. You could treat it as an extra reflection prompt, such as something you have overlooked. It does not override the spread or establish that a hidden fact is true. Leaving it unread is a valid choice.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Tarot Techniques (2010).

No single yes-or-no list is shared by every tarot method. Some published approaches count card categories; others interpret the imagery in the context of the question. That is why two guides can label the same card differently. If studying a yes-or-no technique, record its source and rules before drawing rather than choosing a label afterwards. For reflection, you might instead ask, “What should I consider about this choice?” Treat any yes-or-no result as an interpretation, not a verified fact or permission to act.

Related guide: Tarot spread tutorials.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: A Useful Yes/No Spread (2014) · Jack Chanek: How to Answer Yes-or-No Tarot Questions (2022).

Use a keyword as a starting point, then connect it to something visible in the card and to the question being asked. Some teaching decks print keywords beside the artwork to encourage this connection. Try writing one sentence that explains it rather than reciting a list. Keep room for context: a word such as “rest” might prompt different reflections in a work question and a friendship question. Keywords are reminders, not a complete reading.

As a study exercise, lay out the four cards with the same number and compare their scenes, actions and guidebook entries. Note one similarity and one important difference. You could then lay out one suit from Ace to Ten to examine its changing imagery; Donald Tyson describes this within-suit sequence exercise. The same-number comparison is a suggested extension. A shared number does not make four cards interchangeable, and any overall number meaning remains a study aid within your chosen system.

Choose a visible motif, such as a bridge, mountain or flower, and find the cards in your deck that contain it. Describe how it is used in each scene before assigning a meaning. Check the deck creator’s explanation where available, then label your own associations separately. A repeated image may connect themes without carrying an identical message everywhere. This is a close-looking exercise, so you do not need to shuffle, ask a personal question or turn the results into a prediction.

The Fool’s Journey is a storytelling approach that imagines the Fool encountering the themes of the other Major Arcana. You can use it as a memory aid: lay out the cards and write a short account of what the traveller might learn at each stage. Keep your story beside the deck’s own explanations. It is an interpretive teaching framework, not proof that everybody must pass through the same life stages or that the cards prescribe your personal future.

Try a simple skills check: can you recognise the suits, explain an image, follow a spread and distinguish your own idea from the guidebook? Revisit a few dated practice notes and look for clearer explanations and fewer unsupported assumptions. Choose one difficult skill to practise next. This is a suggested learning exercise, not a test of predictive ability. You do not need to count apparent predictions as successes or read for strangers before you feel ready.

Read the deck’s instructions before choosing a section. A guide may separate a card’s general theme from messages for relationships, prosperity or reversed cards. These labels belong to that particular deck: a “protection” section, for example, may be its author’s name for a reversal, not evidence of danger. Match the section to your question and the method you chose before drawing. If you consult another section, record why rather than switching simply to get an answer you prefer.

No. Read an imperative as language to consider, not an instruction that outranks your judgement or boundaries. You might turn “forgive” into “What would help me move forward?” without contacting anyone or excusing harm. “Take a risk” does not establish that an action is safe. You can reject a message that does not fit. Keep decisions about relationships, safety, treatment and money grounded in relevant facts and qualified help where needed.

A video addressed to a large audience has not established facts about your situation or another person’s feelings. A broad description can feel personal because it fits many lives. If something interests you, turn it into a question for your own reflection and check any real-world claim independently. You do not need to wait for an ex, accuse someone or change a plan because a video said so. Feeling that a message resonates is different from evidence that it applies.

Try this peer-study format: choose a fictional or low-stakes question and agree a small spread. Let each person make notes before hearing the others, then take turns explaining the image or guidebook passage behind an interpretation. Compare possibilities instead of voting for a supposedly gifted reader. Everyone should be free to pass, and nobody needs to disclose private experiences. Published group-practice examples support learning together; this particular format is a suggestion for keeping the discussion respectful and focused.

Pause and say that you need a moment. Describe one thing you can actually see, check the spread position and look up the card if that helps. You do not have to invent an impressive interpretation to keep the session moving. If it still feels unclear, record that uncertainty and finish or take a break. For practice, begin with a smaller spread next time. Being honest about a limit is more useful than presenting a guess as certainty.

Accept the feedback without insisting that the person is in denial or will discover you were right later. Explain the image or association you used, then ask whether they want to explore another interpretation or leave the reading there. Do not keep reframing a claim until it becomes impossible to disagree with. A useful practice note is what you assumed and how you could ask a clearer question next time, rather than how you might defend the original answer.

You can ask whether the reader is comfortable working with a broad topic or a private question. Agree what context they will have and recognise that less information can leave more room for vague interpretations. You do not need to provide names, intimate details or documents simply to make a reading seem valid. If the format does not suit either person, choose a general reflective exercise or decline. Hidden details should not turn the reading into a test of supernatural access.

Agree the question and positions first, then let one person shuffle and draw. Say each card’s name, position and orientation aloud; on video, check that glare or a mirrored image is not confusing the layout. The other person can follow with notes or matching cards from their own deck. Reader-only shuffling is a documented method, so touching the same pack is not required for this reflective exercise. Ask separately before recording the call or saving personal details.

No. Drawing an Ace does not establish that an opportunity has already become a result. Joan Bunning teaches Aces through the idea of potential associated with their suit, including an opportunity that still needs attention. For reflection, distinguish “something I could develop” from “something already achieved”. An Ace of Pentacles might prompt a practical first step without establishing that money or a job is coming. Check the card’s position and your actual circumstances; symbolism about beginnings does not verify an offer, relationship or outcome.

Try a grid with one row per suit and one column per rank, using the ranks printed in your deck. Joan Bunning’s approach treats each court as a combination of those two features. Use your chosen guide to note what stays similar across one rank, then what changes with the suit. Compare two neighbouring cards and explain the difference in a sentence. This is a study layout, not a personality test or ranking of people.

No. Sideways placement is part of that layout, so it does not by itself settle how reversals are handled. The Tarot School describes the crossing card as neither specifically upright nor reversed and reads its role through the question. Follow the instructions for the version you chose. If your own method preserves the orientation in which the card was drawn, record that before turning it sideways. Do not decide afterwards that a difficult-looking card must count as reversed.

You can deal in the chosen sequence and then examine useful groups or pairs. Joan Bunning’s Celtic Cross method, for example, brings related positions together instead of only giving ten isolated explanations in numerical order. Keep each card attached to its original position while you do this. A useful summary might connect a resource with the difficulty it could help you consider. Reading in a different order is not permission to swap positions or rewrite their questions after seeing the cards.

They are a method of interpreting how cards’ assigned elements interact. In Benebell Wen’s teaching, for example, Wands correspond to Fire, Cups to Water, Swords to Air and Pentacles to Earth; combinations may be described as strengthening, weakening or neutral. These are rules within a symbolic system, not measured forces. Learn one complete method, including its treatment of Major Arcana, before using it. You can also read without this layer, and an “ill-dignified” card is not a verdict about someone’s worth.

Some methods use it as a visual connection. Benebell Wen’s examples notice figures looking towards other cards when choosing relationships to explore. You could ask what the pictured figure seems to approach, watch or turn away from, while keeping the question and spread positions in view. Describe this as an interpretive choice. A figure facing away does not prove rejection, concealment or another person’s intention, and a different deck’s composition may not support the same observation.

Try a balanced reflection layout: give each option the same prompts, such as a resource to consider, a difficulty to investigate and a practical next step. Write the options and prompts before drawing, and keep the number of cards equal. Add factual information beside each interpretation, including anything still unknown. Do not declare the option with the prettier cards the winner. The exercise can expose questions worth checking; the decision still depends on your responsibilities, preferences and real-world evidence.

In Waite’s Celtic Cross, keep it out: place it face up, then shuffle the remaining cards. Follow your chosen method; decide before drawing.

A past position is an invitation to reflect on what you already know, not a way to verify an unknown event. Keep remembered facts separate from the story suggested by the card. If an image brings up a possibility, label it as a possibility rather than filling a gap in your memory. Do not use a spread to establish a secret relationship, wrongdoing or another person’s private history. Check factual questions through appropriate evidence and conversations, and leave uncertainty unresolved when the facts are unavailable.

You can pause or stop if the imagery is upsetting. Drawing an alarming card does not establish that someone will die, that a disaster is coming or that you are a bad person. Published interpretations can be symbolic: Joan Bunning, for example, discusses Death through endings and transition. You do not need to turn the card into a cheerful promise either. Consider whether a gentle reflective question would be useful, or simply put the deck away. You do not need another reading, ritual or purchase because you drew it.

It is an optional familiarisation spread that asks about using a deck, often through personifying it. Little Red Tarot publishes one example. You can instead frame your own prompts around your learning: which imagery draws your attention, what you find difficult and what you want to study next. Read the answers as your reflections on the cards, rather than proof that the deck has a personality or has accepted or rejected you. Looking through the artwork and guidebook is also a complete way to begin.

Yes, if you deliberately choose that format before drawing. The Tarot School describes both Majors-only readings and an exercise using only the 56 Minor Arcana, including the court cards. Choose a small spread and record which cards were available. This can help you concentrate on a part of the deck you are learning. Do not interpret the absence of the excluded cards as a message: they could not have appeared. Restore the complete deck before returning to a full-deck method.

Further reading: The Tarot School: Skip the Majors (2021).

Tarot birth cards are Major Arcana cards assigned through a numerological calculation using a date of birth. They are not cards you must draw at a birthday reading. Methods differ: The Tarot School explicitly notes that its calculation can produce different results from other approaches. Check the formula, treatment of multi-digit totals and card numbering before comparing results. Use the themes as optional reflection prompts rather than a fixed description of your identity or destiny. You can follow a published calculation privately without entering your birth date into an online calculator.

Further reading: The Tarot School: Determining Your Birth Cards.

A card does not verify a date. Some tarot methods connect cards with astrological periods; others use a reader’s impressions. These are interpretive approaches, not confirmed appointments or deadlines. If you study one, record its rules before drawing and keep a suggested date separate from facts you can check. For practical reflection, ask what preparation is needed or what information would help you plan. Do not delay an application, conversation or other necessary action while waiting for a date suggested by a reading.

Further reading: The Tarot School: A Matter of Time (2015).

Separate what you can see in the card, what the deck’s guide says and what it reminds you of personally. The Tarot School recommends distinguishing those layers and identifying personal opinions. If a card reminds you of your own breakup, for example, that memory is not evidence that the other person’s relationship is similar. Ask an open question about their experience instead of supplying their story. Keep the focus on their circumstances and let them disagree. If you offer an opinion, name it as yours rather than presenting it as the cards’ authority.

Further reading: The Tarot School: Avoiding Personal Projection (2021) · The Tarot School: Personal Card Associations (2014).

Choose one card and deliberately find its equivalent in two decks, rather than drawing again. Compare the figures, setting, symbols and accompanying explanations. Elinor Greenberg describes this same-card comparison as one way to use several decks in a reading. For a study exercise, write what each version emphasises and which details are absent from the other. Check the mapping carefully if the decks use different systems or titles. Keep each artist’s choices distinct; agreement between the pictures does not independently confirm a prediction.

Further reading: Elinor Greenberg: Using Multiple Decks, Part 2 (2016).

In one form of tarot pathworking, you imaginatively explore a card’s scene rather than deal a spread to answer a question. Leeza Robertson describes taking a pictured figure’s viewpoint and reflecting on the experience afterwards. For a gentle study exercise, choose a comfortable image, notice its setting and imagine what you might hear or see there. Keep the experience brief and stop whenever you wish. Record it as an imaginative response to the artwork, not evidence that you travelled elsewhere or received instructions you must follow. Different teachers use the term differently.

Further reading: Leeza Robertson: Pathworking with the Queen of Pentacles (2017).

Use the cards as creative prompts, with no claim that they reveal real people’s lives. Corrine Kenner’s Tarot for Writers explores using tarot for characters, settings and plots. Here is a simple exercise to try: choose three positions for what a character wants, what complicates the story and what changes next. Draw a card for each and invent connections from the artwork or meanings. You may reject an idea, change the order or choose a different ending. The cards supply starting points; you remain the author.

Further reading: Corrine Kenner: Tarot for Writers (publisher overview).

No. For a simple three-card spread, try shuffling at the start, dealing three cards into the chosen positions and leaving them on the table. Courtney Weber treats shuffling frequency as a reader’s choice and suggests shuffling before laying out a question. If you prefer to mix the remaining deck between positions, you can do that without returning the cards already dealt. Returning a card is a different choice: it makes that card available to appear again. Follow any specific dealing instructions when learning a named method.

Further reading: Courtney Weber: When to Shuffle (2025).

Related: Cutting the deck.

No single cutting ritual is compulsory for every tarot method. Barbara Moore treats whether to cut, which hand to use and how to recombine piles as choices to think through. If you are following a specific method, check its instructions; otherwise choose a comfortable, repeatable approach before drawing. Cutting moves sections of the deck into a different order, so note whether you will then deal from the top or select cards another way. Using a different hand or number of piles does not establish that a reading is spoiled.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: Shuffling (Llewellyn, 2012).

You can use a quick sketch as a study exercise, even if you do not want to create a complete deck. Barbara Moore describes making small tarot artworks in a timed workshop. Try choosing one card, closing the guidebook and drawing an original image for the theme you remember. Afterwards, compare your choices with the card and its explanation: what did you emphasise or leave out? Add a short note rather than judging the drawing’s quality. Keep your interpretation labelled as your own; it need not replace the deck creator’s meaning.

Further reading: Barbara Moore: The Five Minute Tarot (2015).