Tarot Talk & Technique

When another tarot reader reads for you, do you usually add new meanings to the reading? For example, I will mention a personal experience: I ordered a New Year's reading for myself with a professional tarot reader - I prefer to have someone else read for me, on certain occasions, so that I am not biased - In the predictions for my health, he mentioned the Justice card and interpreted it beautifully. When reflecting on this card, I remembered that, within my tarot studies, Justice (with its scales that measure everything) can indicate the prediction of exams, such as blood counts, etc. In this case, I received the printed reading, without any dialogue with the reader.…

Does tarot have anything to do with anything that is "new age"? I was unsure of what the term "new age" actually meant, so I Googled it and this is what I came up with... New Age. noun. 1. : a way of thinking arising in late 20th century Western society and adapted from a variety of ancient and modern cultures that emphasizes beliefs (as reincarnation) outside the mainstream and that advances alternative approaches to spirituality, right living, and health. _______________________________________ What is your thinking just how the tarot fits into all things that are new age? What do you think the general public's percep…

I hope this is the right forum for this question. For 2025 I have started doing daily reads for myself and wanted to dive deeper into Mary Greer's work. I calculated my Soul and Personality card to discover I don't have Hidden Factor card, but a Teacher card. In her explanation, I don't follow. I am a 19,10,1 in her constellation chart. If I understand correctly this means I don't have a shadow, but a life lesson to focus on. However, in doing some research I see the Teacher and Hidden Factor terminology used interchangeably. I was hoping for additional reading to better understand the distinction. I found this quote interesting about 19, 10, 1: "In this pattern, you co…

I took some time off of my decks and they've been packed away until recently. Now that I have them out, I've been going through them, just counting and basically checking that all is well. I noticed a few of my decks have "hardened" into a brick and kinda feels tacky when trying to separate them. Is this normal? Only a few, most are great, even duplicates of the hardened ones are great. Weird.

I am aware that Aleister Crowley created his own deck Thoth, but just how was it inspired by the RWS deck? I know that this is sort of a broad question, but are there similarities between the Thoth & the RWS deck? Whatever you want to share I am all ears.

I used to use a fancy cloth that I got from eBay to do my readings on. But my primary way of mixing the cards is riffle shuffling the cards, however I noticed that the cloth would move around on the tabletop when I did that. So, I switched to a jewelers' display pad, but I found the pad wasn't thick enough or big enough to do the layout on. Then I found the perfect solution - The Magicians close-up pad. It makes riffle shuffling easier and they come in different sizes. I have two of them, a red one 11 X 16 which is perfect for my monthly coffee shop gig in which I do three card spreads. And my big pad which I do my regular layout of the…

I found this quote last night by Dr. Wayne Dyer ~ "You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality." On the table of The Magician's card are the wand (passion), cup (emotions), sword (thoughts) & pentacle (the physical realm). My uneducated mind tells me yes, The Magician card points to that we are the creators of our reality and even being so the very 1st card of the Major Arcana. But I really don't know. Or is the above quote just another example of new age gaslighting? Or is there something to it. Can our thoughts create things? Is this what the tarot…

In the Reading for Those in the Public Eye thread I mentioned that I had to reframe questions like "Does Johnny love me?" so I am not invading one's privacy. I took this advice from a couple of tarot books (I won't name the writers of the books here), and it seems that a few of the experienced readers who are members of this forum said, well one said they would lose 50% of their clients if they didn't take those questions and another reader said they take those questions because it would be nice to have food & electricity in one's home lol. Everything I know about Tarot comes from books that I have read. I would be interested in th…

Happy New Year everyone! My question is do you believe it's okay to do a reading for someone who is in the public eye like a politician or a celebrity...even though they don't know you? I guess what I am trying to say is that I've always avoided questions that have always invaded other people's privacy...questions like "Does Johnny love me?" I would always reframe those type of questions for the sitter. Would I be out of line to do a YouTube video on a political figure (a three-card spread like Issue/Action/Outcome), even if I don't know the person? The person in question here is Elon Musk. He is the richest guy in the worl…

What are your Tarot / divination related resolutions / plans/ studies/ activities for the next year? Have you got any plans or areas of interest you want to work towards? Goals? Reading changes?

I've always wondered whether whether the person getting a Tarot reading asks their central query aloud or whether the Tarot reader has to intuit what the querent wants from the reading. I've read quite a few guides but this aspect has never been covered in detail. I'm obviously a beginner and would be fascinated to hear member's views 🙂

Do you reshuffle and pull new cards? Flip the reversed cards upright? Do you apply some larger meaning to the spread (for instance, I've heard it said that when all cards are reversed it signifies an internal conflict on the part of the querent, or that it means somebody is moving)? Other?

Hello, How do you bring Tarot into concrete life ? Or do you use it mainly for "(self-)investigation" ? I came to Tarot by way of Rachel Pollack. I have loved the depths it showed but... In a more mundane aspect, I don't want it. I don't need to get more inside myself, I don't need to know more about my hidden feelings etc (I'm simplifying, and at the risk of sounding smug : I don't need to explore myself. Or others, for that matter). The thing is, it seems every book I come across is about that : exploration, soul dive, hidden stuff. I love it to explore certain things, yes. But how do I disentangle myself from that approach to…

Hi ! What's your best advice to read Tarot cards. Thank you very much 💜 ✨️

I definitely have spirits manifesting applicable things as I do spreads, but, is that what Tarot is? Just your spirituality communicating with you? Or, is there a greater phenomenon behind the results of the cards?

I have a beautiful deck with classic illustrations. I’ve had them for a while now and I finally felt like I had the heart to get involved with the practice. Although I always thought they were cool. My deck came with a card interpretation booklet, which is nice to practice with, but I still don’t know where to start. How do I use these? I was hoping that someone would take the time to write out a beginner’s guide about how to use Tarot cards. I mean, with step by step instructions. I thought it made sense to have something like this on here, is there one already and I missed it?

When I work, I always give the querent a choice of asking me a question or just keeping the question to themselves. But I do ask them if they have a question in mind or not. This past Monday I did a reading for a lady in her mid-50s, and I knew she had a question in mind, but I didn't know what the question was. So, the reading starts. I start talking about the meanings of the cards, and we are conversing back & forth...and then it just hits me, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HER QUESTION IS. I don't remember if it was just the vibe, I got off her. Or if it was something that she said, but I knew this woman's question. So, I basically formulat…

I personally do because of life experience in general (age 60 to 76). I also know that getting a tarot reading is VERY popular among the younger generation (Gen X & Millennials) The reason I ask you all the question is because I once had a tarot reading done for me by a younger type of reader (face to face), and frankly I wasn't very impressed. And this was very recent. What are your thoughts, opinions & ideas.

I'm enough of a novice that I mostly stick to one-card readings, but I realize this limits what the cards can tell me. However, when I pull multi-card spreads, I often struggle to assemble them into a cogent narrative the way more experienced readers do. It's partly that I still often have to reach for a reference book to remind myself of card meanings, but it's also that I'm often unclear on how the cards influence each other and thus alter each other's meanings. (Hopefully I'm explaining that clearly.) Does anyone have tips for strengthening my skills there?

Is it the first-time sitter? Is it the very experienced person that has had many readings before? Is it the sitter who is "with it". Is it someone who has a common type of question i.e. love, career & money etc. Is it someone who has a very difficult question to address? Is it someone who is skeptical about tarot readings? Is it someone who has been to a fortune teller i.e. a Gypsie House? Is it doing couples readings? Is it a sitter who is very young or old? You get the idea. What is your favorite kind of sitter? And why? My favorite is when I don't know somebody's question and I know …

Is the tarot a predetermined oracle or does one believe they have a free will? I've heard both points of view and I am not sure what to believe. Do you tell your sitter that the future is set in stone? What are your thoughts on this? Simple question. Just curious?

I have a friend who knows that I read the tarot. She asked me and told me that she is considering having me doing a reading for her regarding her wanting to quit smoking. I told her that I don't know what kind of cards will come up in a reading and that I am not sure what I'll say to her situation when I do see the cards on the layout. If you were in my shoes, and did a reading for this lady, just how would you go about framing the reading or what sort of advice would you give her using the cards to empower her to have the ability to stop smoking? Or what would be your approach here? Thanks for reading this.

I did a reading on my partner who has been awful to me. I asked if he would be ok if we split because we’re currently in a limbo. This is what I got for him… 10 of pentacles The tower 7 of cups The Devil 5 of swords 9 of wands Not in that exact order. Thank you so much!

I feel like the majority of users in the r/tarot subreddit take an oddly hard-line stance that tarot can only be used for self-reflection, that it's impossible to read predictively, or sometimes that it's possible but unethical (as in cases where people are attempting to read for third parties who aren't present). I find their doubt beginning to rub off on me, so I'm curious whether this forum's members have any different perspectives to share. In particular, I'd love to hear about any especially noteworthy or on-target predictive readings you've received.

When you get the vibe that the spread you've pulled are too good to be true, how do you know it isn't just your own wishful thinking influencing the cards? A few times recently, I've pulled cards to gain insight into a couple different aspects of my life that haven't been going so well, and suits like the Six of Wands or the Sun have turned up in relation to the outcomes with surrounding cards to support more positive interpretations. I know every suit can be ill-aspected and no card is unambiguously positive, but still I'm left confused. Should I trust that something better is coming my way? Or chalk these readings up to my hope for a better outcome helping c…