Tarot Talk & Technique

I've been studying Tarot for about a year now and I've just now started to use reversals more often in my readings. I definitely see how they add more depth to a reading. I'm using Benebell Wen's WIND mneumonic (weakened energy, inverted meaning, negative effect, delay), which I find works pretty well. Just curious as to when more experienced readers felt comfortable using reversals consistently. Did you use them right from the beginning?

When you first begin your tarot journey, do you memorize card meanings? If you do memorize card meanings, what are some tips you can give me as to how to memorize the meanings of the more difficult cards. The Court Cards. The Aces, etc.

As the title says, asking for a friend who is writing something of importance. Is Major Arcana primarily the only one used in common tarot discussion? Or is, "Minor Arcana" of equal reference and importance? I have always used it for the suites.

Hey all, I’ve been reflecting lately on how the Major Arcana can be read as a symbolic journey — not just a sequence of cards, but a narrative arc. The Fool’s Journey is often described this way: a soul’s evolution through encounters, from innocence to wisdom. Personally, I like to tell the story in three phases: Awakening — where the Fool leaps into life and begins forming identity through will, desire, and structure (Cards 0–VII: The Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot) Surrender — where the Fool turns inward, confronting emotion, solitude, and transformation (Cards VIII–XIV: St…

What do you think about real faces of living or dead people on the cards? Does it bother you or do you not care?

Somewhere was a post with the question what people wished they had known when they started reading tarot (I went looking and couldn't find it here so it might not have been on this forum). Someone responded that not including reversals in their reading takes half of the vocabulary away from the tarot that the cards could use to convey their message. This hit some chord inside me and when I sat down with my cards today, I decided to include reversals. So I thoroughly shuffled my cards without any consideration to which way around they would end up in the final pile. And then in my reading ALL cards were reversed! Including the card on the bottom of the p…

is there a proper way to end the reading?. what i do is picturing the flow of energy getting cut and reordering the cards mayor to minors. but i always have the doubt if im getting hung up on the enerfy flow i opened for the reading... i hope im explaining myself well lol i just want to be sure im done with the reading and i move on to something else for the day.

I've been reading Tarot at a novice level for years, and only consult the cards when I have a concern that I simply cannot find the clarity to navigate on my own. I would like to really jump in at this point and develop a relationship with my cards... Study them, learn their nuances, develop an intuitive connection with them. This may seem silly, but I feel a bit wary about doing too many readings as I'm learning. It's as if I'm afraid of watering down the magic of them, or somehow taking the wisdom for granted. Has anyone ever felt this way? I would imagine that a devoted student would spend quite some time doing their own readings in order to begin to know e…

I was curious if folks have experienced "energy shifts" when you have added or removed a tarot deck from your home/use, and how you handled it. Have you experienced shifts in the overall space, or with your other decks? (I'm a newer reader--is this question too woo? It's something I've been thinking about, and feel it's better for me now to be intentional about what I add or take away as I've felt the differences when I did things without care, e.g. adding or removing decks.)

Ive been doing practice readings for people, and Ive run into the conundrum of trying to strike a balance between answering the querents question and answering them according to my intuition, specifically in the context of when they ask about how someone theyre no contact with thinks of them/feels about them. Ive run across this a couple times, where someone asked me this, and the cards read, to me, like the person they were asking about had moved on and it was time for them to do the same, and some of the clarifying cards I pulled seemed to suggest the same to me. Maybe my perspective as someone who is going into social work has influenced me an…

The youtube tarot readings mostly seem to be done by the each horoscopic signs, 12 signs in total. Some readers do monthly, and some weekly and sometimes with the bonus reading for each different signs. But there are 12 signs in total, and there are billions of people living in the world. How does one sign reading cover the whole people of the sign in the reading? Surely there can be billions of people sharing the same horoscopic sign, and would the reading cover all the people under the same sign? Does it make sense? Are there any principles or theories that the horoscope sign based tarot readings work for all the people under the same sign? …

both personally and professionally, I lean a on spread a lot. I'm big on them. If a scheduled client does not usually ask questions with tarot, they just want sign posts on how to move forward, how would you conduct that reading? usually in the past, at public events for example, I simply say, "let's see what turns up in the cards" and do my 2 or 3 card spread regardless. Or a simplified variant. But, in the case of an appointment, it has me wondering if I could be more effective with another approach. thoughts?

I’ve recently been studying Melanie Marquis’ Spellcaster’s Tarot and find it interesting that she corresponds the Earth element with health, but not the Water element. Ancient oracle sites, particularly temples dedicated to the healing gods Asclepius and Amphiaraus, were invariably associated with water, typically as a life-force representation of healing. Other tarot masters have likewise associated the Water element with healing (Tracy Porter to cite just one example). Kind of struck my curiosity cord to inquire how others associate health and healing in the tarotsphere?

I'd like to start a light-hearted thread for our past tarot readings for simple questions where the result predicted by the card already happened and we found it funny that the given card represented it. I find that with very specific questions pertaining to specific situations, the cards tend to give almost literal answers, visible in the drawings. My idea here is that we 1) quote the question that we posed, 2) give context (detailed, preferably), and perhaps a hint, 3) show the card that we pulled 4) and then others guess what actually happened, based on the card. Let me start. Context: It is Thursday early afternoon. I am supposed to …

I read recently that vision is the quickest of our five physical senses, but even so it takes 13 milliseconds (13/1000 of a second) for light hitting our retina to be processed by our occipital lobe. This means that, technically (and I’m being very technical here), we are never experiencing the actual present, only the past, at least 13 ms in the past. I’ve always known the future is unreal, it is only a mental construct, an imaginary concept, an ever-changing unveiling, but it came as a surprise to learn that the present is also not as real as I thought, at least according to that 13 ms difference. Which makes the past, perhaps ironically, the only aspect of time that…

A serious personal story: About 25 years ago, I read tarot for a man on the cusp of homelessness, Outside a cafe. Complete stranger. While I was just beginning to slowly charge for my services, he saw me studying my Thoth, sat down across from me, and simply said, "please." Agitated and dirty, gaunt and exhausted, I saw the despondency on his face as I had him take three deep breaths, felt his suffering as I shuffled. He and his girlfriend were being evicted in three days time. I pulled just one card, and began to speak about the definition as I understood from my books. I completely missed the mark, as I yet did not yet understand the full process of interplay…

Searching through the forum, over the years we have had posts about members reversals techniques, but can't find a thread about shuffling. So if you use reversed cards in your readings..... How do you shuffle them in your practice? How do you decide how many to have in the deck? This the place for all reversed shuffling methods and techniques 🙂 There is a guide to shuffling techniques generally, here - https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/topic/15717-shuffling-techniques/

Hi, I'm new here! Before this I know about tarot from a digital tarot app back then in 2017 or 2018, iirc. Back then I was so sceptical but now I started to learn tarot again and so obsessed! I wonder is there anyone here using a digital tarot deck? If you are, then do you feel any difference between physical and digital tarot on the reading result? I understand that the experience will ofc different because the digital card is, uh, cannot be touched. But a digital deck is handy and practical. What would you think?

This is something I have been thinking about recently and a subject for the more spiritual /astrology following/ Moon cycle following readers. Traditionally there is a belief you shouldn't do readings when the Moon is Void of Course. In traditional astrology, it's advisable to not start something new, try to get factual information or communication or divine. It's a window to prepare but not do, because the Moon is in an energetically weak position. Will explain the concept first - The Moon takes 29.5 days to go through all the signs in her (pretty fast) cycle and she spends 2.5 days on average in each sign. Some people follow these cycles in their lives…

I agree with this and many readers choose to never read reversals. It is not necessary, however, it does mean that each card has to be considered as though it may not be the positive meaning. For example, the 2C, that instant attraction from across the room, could also be meeting someone that intrigues, but is not truly out for your best interest, may be a physical attraction, may be a great friend, or someone that causes inner or outer turmoil, could be a constant irritant, or aversion. Seeing the reversed card is a clue that this meeting, this new connection, may be challanged. This thread is a poll about reading reversals and many share insights why they do one or the …

Last night I realized I only had 77 cards in my RWS deck instead of 78. I went through all my cards and figured out the four of cups is missing. i have no idea when I lost the card. I looked for it in places I thought it could be, but I couldn’t find it. What should I do? This is the main deck I use for readings. It’s an old friend, and I certainly don’t want to get rid of it. Should i purchase an identical deck and just replace the missing card? This is so terrible. I don’t know what to do.

Because the future is uncertain, I read that tarot cannot really foretell the future. Rather, it tells you about the present. Is this true?

How many hours do you think you spent with your tarot decks a day / week?

Hello, I got the chariot, the queen of coins, the emperor, 3 coins, and strength for how someone feels for me after saying happy birthday after we stopped taking after an argument 2 months ago. He replied thank you. And we kept it like that since. Any comments on it’s interpretation?

I've just bought several decks and also got velvet bags to store them in, which has me thinking about the best ways to store my decks when not in use. Obviously, out of direct sunlight and not near heaters and so on, but I wondered how others store their decks when not in use. Do you have a special rite or ritual when putting the cards away or taking them out? Do you have a special box or cloth you wrap them in? Do you display them somehow? (Daniel, if this is in the wrong spot, please move to the right one, thanks!)