How to read tarot cards: a step-by-step guide for beginners

What you need to start reading tarot

You need a deck, a quiet spot and a notebook. The best deck for beginners is the Rider–Waite deck (also called Rider–Waite–Smith). It was drawn by the artist Pamela Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite and first published in 1909. Its great advantage for a beginner is that every one of the 78 cards shows a scene: people, objects, a landscape. Even before you know a card’s meaning, you can see what is happening and work from there. Most tarot books and websites, including our tarot card meanings, are written for this deck.

A few things that often hold people back aren’t actually necessary:

• Your first deck doesn’t have to be a gift. It’s a lovely tradition, but a deck you buy for yourself works just as well.
• You don’t need to be psychic. Reading tarot is about images and attention, not a special gift.
• You can read for yourself. In fact it’s easier: nobody knows the context of your question better than you.
• Rituals are optional. A candle, a cloth or “cleansing” the deck can help you settle, but they don’t change what the cards say.

How a tarot deck is organised

The deck has two parts. The Major Arcana are 22 cards running from the Fool (number 0) to the World (21). They speak of big themes and turning points: choices, changes and lessons that stay with you. When a spread is full of Major Arcana cards, the situation probably matters more than it seems.

The Minor Arcana are 56 cards in four suits of 14: an Ace, cards Two to Ten, and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King). The suit tells you which area of life a card is about:

Numbers add a shade of meaning. An Ace is a seed, the start of a theme. Twos are about choice or partnership, Threes about first results, Fours about stability and Fives about difficulty or conflict. From there the story moves towards the Ten, the completion of a cycle. Court cards usually describe people or ways of behaving: the Page learns, the Knight acts, the Queen understands from within, the King takes charge. These hints don’t replace card meanings, but they help you read even an unfamiliar card.

How to read tarot cards, step by step

1. Choose your moment

Set aside 15–20 minutes when nobody will interrupt you. Put your phone away, place the deck in front of you and take a few slow breaths. The aim is simple: stop rushing and think about your question rather than your to-do list.

2. Ask a clear question

The question shapes the whole reading. Open questions about yourself work best: “What do I need to understand about…”, “How can I best handle…”, “What can I lean on if…”. “Will we end up together?” turns the reading into a guessing game, while “What would help us understand each other?” gives the cards room. There’s much more on this in our guide to tarot questions to ask.

3. Shuffle the deck

Shuffle in whatever way feels comfortable (there’s a section on shuffling methods below). Keep going until it feels like enough; there’s no correct number of shuffles.

4. Cut the deck and lay out the cards

Traditionally the deck is cut with the left hand into two or three piles, which are then stacked in a new order. Then you either take cards from the top or fan the deck out and draw the number you need. Place each card in its position according to the spread, and turn them over one at a time rather than all at once.

5. Read each card in its position

Look at the picture first: who is there, what they’re doing, what mood the scene has. Then read the meaning and try it against the position. The same card says different things as “the past” and as “advice”: in the first case it explains where things started, in the second it suggests a step.

6. Turn the cards into a story

A spread isn’t a list of separate answers. Look at the cards together: which suit dominates, whether there are Major Arcana cards, whether numbers repeat, which way the figures are facing. Then try to sum it up in one sentence: “Before, there was…; now there is…; so next…”. If the sentence comes together, you’ve read the spread.

7. Write it down

Note the date, your question, the cards and your first thoughts. Come back to the entry a week or two later: what turned out to be true, and what do you now see differently? A tarot journal is the fastest teacher there is: meanings learned from your own readings stick far better than meanings learned from a book.

How to shuffle tarot cards

There’s no single right way to shuffle tarot cards. Choose the method that suits your hands and your deck. Tarot cards are larger than playing cards, so some methods are easier than others.

• Overhand shuffle. Hold the deck in one hand and drop small packets of cards into the other, again and again. It’s gentle on the cards and easy even with a large deck.
• Pile or “wash” shuffle. Spread the cards face down on the table and mix them with both palms, like washing them, then gather them back into a pile. It’s the gentlest method and the best way to create reversed cards.
• Riffle shuffle. Splitting the deck in two and riffling the halves together mixes the cards well, but bending them wears the deck out quickly. If you riffle, do it gently and without the “bridge”.

To introduce reversed cards, turn part of the deck through 180 degrees while you shuffle, or use the wash method. If you’d rather not read reversals yet, keep all the cards upright. When you feel the deck is mixed enough, stop, cut it, and lay out your spread.

The best tarot spreads for beginners

Start with short spreads that have few positions and an obvious meaning for each. Once they feel familiar, move on to more detailed ones.

You’ll find every layout, with its positions and examples, among our tarot spreads.

How to interpret cards before you know the meanings

You don’t need to learn 78 meanings before your first reading, and memorised keywords can even get in the way of seeing the card. Try reading in three steps.

1. Describe the picture. What’s happening on the card? On the Five of Cups, for example, a figure in a black cloak stares at three spilled cups while two full ones stand behind them. You don’t need a guide to see that this is about loss — and about the fact that not everything is lost.
2. Add the suit and the number. Cups are feelings, five is difficulty. So this is an emotional matter rather than, say, a money one.
3. Check the meaning and keep what resonates with your situation. Not every line of a description fits every question, so take what matters.

A word about the “scary” cards. Death almost never means literal death: it’s a card about one chapter ending and space opening up for something new. The Tower is a sudden shake-up that shows what was built on shaky ground. A frightening picture isn’t a reason to panic; it’s an invitation to look honestly at change.

Reversed cards are optional for beginners: keep the whole deck upright at first. Once you’re comfortable, read a reversed card as the same theme, only weakened, delayed or turned inwards, rather than as its “bad” opposite.

Sample three-card tarot reading

The question: “What do I need to understand about a job that no longer makes me happy?” The spread: past, present, future.

• Past: Four of Cups. A young man sits under a tree with his arms folded and doesn’t notice the cup being offered to him. For a long time everything seemed to be in place, but the joy was missing and offers went unnoticed.
• Present: Eight of Cups. A traveller walks away from a neat stack of cups. A decision is ripening: you no longer want to hold on to the familiar; you want meaning.
• Future: Ace of Pentacles. A hand from a cloud offers a golden coin: a tangible chance to start something real.

Together the cards tell a story: tiredness has been building for a while, now you’re ready to let go of what no longer fulfils you, and ahead lies a practical opportunity that you need to take hold of. The reading doesn’t say “quit tomorrow”. It suggests it’s time to look out for new opportunities and not to miss them, as the figure in the Four of Cups did.

Common beginner mistakes

• Redrawing until you get the answer you want. A new spread doesn’t cancel the first one; it only adds doubt. If an answer unsettles you, write it down and come back to the question later.
• Asking about other people’s thoughts and choices. The cards reflect your view of the situation; they can’t open someone else’s mind. Ask about your own part and your own steps.
• Trying to learn every meaning at once. One card a day beats one table at the weekend.
• Starting with complicated spreads. Ten positions are easy to get lost in. Three cards you understand are worth more than a Celtic Cross you can’t read.
• Reading in a panic. If you’re laying out cards ten times a day, they’re no longer helping; they’re feeding anxiety. Take a break and talk to someone you trust.
• Taking cards literally. Death isn’t death, the Tower isn’t a disaster, and the Sun isn’t a guarantee of success. A card is an image, not a forecast.

How to learn tarot faster: a one-month plan

Regular practice matters more than long sessions. Ten to fifteen minutes a day is enough.

1. Week 1: the Major Arcana. Each morning draw one card from the 22 Major Arcana; in the evening note where its theme showed up during the day.
2. Week 2: the suits. Add the Minor Arcana and notice which suit comes up most. Compare what you see with the suits table above.
3. Week 3: court cards and numbers. Notice who in your life the Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings remind you of, and how a theme develops from Ace to Ten.
4. Week 4: three-card spreads. Do a spread every few days on real questions and write down a joined-up story rather than separate meanings.

If you don’t have a deck yet, you can practise online: our card of the day gives you one card with a hint every day. And if you’ve laid out a spread with your own deck, you can enter it on our tarot reading interpretation page and compare your reading with the meaning of each card in its position.

Frequently asked questions