Tarot cards can be intimidating, but they don’t have to be. Your exploration of them can be as deep as you wish, and you’ll likely get something out of it either way.
Some believe the cards are connected to the spiritual realm, while others think they reflect our own subconscious. Others believe they have no supernatural qualities, but the meaning we make of them gives us information that can impact how we see the world. Whether or not you see them as gateways to otherworldly knowledge, tarot cards are — at the very least — tools for reflection and cultivating intuition.
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Perhaps experimenting with tarot cards is the best way to find out how they work for you. To learn more about how to use these centuries-old divination tools, we spoke with tarot reader Daisy Bueno. Here are some tips she gave for beginners.
Get a feel for the cards.
Before using your first tarot deck, Bueno recommends looking at the cards, shuffling them, and if it fits your beliefs, asking your guides for help reading them. This will help to make your first reading and future ones clearer.
Ask a good question.
A good question to ask for a tarot reading is not overly specific. For instance, if you ask “should I move to Miami or stay in California?”, the cards probably won’t tell you much, says Bueno. A better question might be “what will it look like if I go to Miami?” Then, you can do another reading and ask, “what will it look like if I stay in California?” This will give you more information than “yes” or “no” questions.
Start with three cards.
While there are multiple types of tarot spreads that vary in complexity, a simple way to start is by asking a question and then pulling three cards. You can designate in advance what each card will mean — for instance, your past, present, and future — or just keep a situation in your life in mind and treat the cards as if they’re providing three pieces of information about that situation. “You can use it as a complement to understand better which card is saying what,” Bueno explains. “Let’s say you get a sun and a three of cups, and then you don’t understand — and then you get a third card to explain the other two.”
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Look through the booklet.
Most tarot decks have 78 cards. You can look up the meanings of these cards online, but sometimes, the meanings are deck-specific. When you draw a card, you can look at the booklet to learn what it means. But there’s also room for interpretation, and some cards are commonly misinterpreted. For instance, if you get the “death” card, know that death is also rebirth. “The death card is something that everybody is really afraid of, and it’s nothing bad,” says Bueno. “It’s just like the end of something and then the start of something else.”
Plan your actions accordingly.
Tarot cards are not here to give us definitive predictions about the future. They’re here to help us understand what direction we’re headed in so that we can continue or change it. So, don’t use tarot cards to gain certainty about a situation; use them as inspiration to take action.
“The tarot reading is not anything set in stone; it’s just like any other spiritual practice,” says Bueno. “It’s just helping you to get to know yourself better and to understand the things that are happening in our lives. A lot of people expect to know everything and to get the answers they want to get in the tarot reading. But sometimes, it’s not the answer itself it shows to you but something that you need to think about.”
