In this episode of Dear Tarot, I’m giving you a peek behind the curtains…
My goal is to show you just how easy it is to start reading tarot, giving you clear pointers for structuring a reading from beginning to end.
I outline how to create a card spread tailored to the question, and then I walk you through accessing insights from the cards, one by one.
I’d recommend listening to the audio first, and then check out the how-to below!
This episode’s question comes from Curious in Queens, who writes:
I’m taking a four-week class (meets for two hours on Saturdays) in October. This class will deal with intuitive healing, mediumship, etc. How will it help to change my life and me? Thanks.
Here’s the reading:
Now, let’s see how it’s done. First, create the spread:
To start, you need to draw cards, of course, but which spread should you use?
As I read over the question, I saw an intuitive picture of stairsteps leading from the beginning of the four-week class to the end, so it made sense to represent this with four cards.
For your readings, invite your intuition to visualize the question in any way that makes sense to you.
Typically, questions can be broken into chunks, and you can use a card or group of cards to represent each chunk.
In your reading, you might be comparing Option A versus Option B, and each can be represented by a card or group of cards.
Or perhaps you want to know how to bring about a desired outcome, such as finding a satisfying relationship or career.
You might parse this into where you are now, where you want to be, and what will help you get there. Each of those chunks can then be represented by a card or group of cards.
In my instant-access course, Learn Tarot Fast, I cover in more detail how to intuitively develop spreads on the spot in response to any tarot question.
Once you have the spread, it’s time to start reading:
I like to begin by briefly looking at all of the cards as a whole. I don’t worry about specific meanings yet; I simply allow my intuition a moment to get the lay of the land.
This is when I noticed the parallels between the first and last card, and the resulting insight about instincts and animal nature provided structure for the rest of the reading.
It’s totally fine if you don’t come up with anything at this stage; sometimes I draw a blank, too. In that case, simply proceed to the first card.
Moving from card to card:
As I work through the spread, I like to interpret one card at a time. This prevents my intuition from getting overwhelmed and locking up–not a fun place to be.
Focusing just on the first card, start by describing what you see on a literal level, as I do in the audio above. Don’t worry yet about what the images mean.
This gets the gears flowing and gives your intuition time to warm up.
For instance, in the audio, I note that there’s a figure on a fantastical-looking “horse” who’s spearing a creature on the ground. This is simply a description of what I’m seeing.
Next, invite your intuition to translate these literal observations into symbolic meaning.
In practice, this usually happens quite naturally. Your intuition is already absorbing information as you describe what you see and connecting that to useful insights.
You can hear this in the reading when I shift from describing the figure and the animal to outlining how this relates to the querent’s childhood programming.
To drill down even further, I allowed my intuition to draw my attention to a specific aspect of the card: the facial expressions on the girl and the creature.
In looking at their expressions more closely, I immediately felt that the girl didn’t want to be spearing the creature, hence the emotionally checked-out expression on her face, and the creature felt betrayed.
These observations allowed my intuition to naturally supply information about how the querent’s childhood programming is affecting them and how that will show up in the first week of their class.
Contrast this to mentally scrambling to remember conventional card “meanings,” which can take us out of our intuition and into our intellect, making it harder to tap into an intuitive flow state and leading to less relevant, cookie-cutter readings.
From here, move onto the next card and repeat the process of describing what you see on a literal level first, giving your intuition time to connect those observations to intuitive meanings.
Wrapping up the reading:
After I’ve read each card individually, I generally have a good sense of how the spread, as a whole, fits together. In the audio, this is where I share the insight that the cards illustrate a four-step process of manifestation.
Again, if you work through the cards one by one as I’ve done here, you’ll very likely be in a flow state where you’re not having to break your brain coming up with this information.
By giving your intuition something to work with (i.e. first describing what you see on a literal level), you create stepping stones through the reading that naturally lead you from one card to the next.
Contrast this to taking in all of the cards at once and telling your intuition, “Okay, GO! Gimme something amazing!” It’s no wonder our intuition freezes up under this pressure!
The magic of layering:
I call this method Intuitive Layering, because it allows you to progressively build intuitive messages over the course of the reading.
What’s great about this method is it keeps you from getting overwhelmed, and it prevents your clients from feeling like they’re being blasted by a firehose.
It allows you to deliver information in a way that’s much easier to absorb, which increases the chance that your clients will put into practice what they’ve learned.
And this, in turn, is what allows your clients to feel like their time with you is time well spent, because the readings are fueling tangible changes in their day-to-day lives.
Keep refining your tarot skills:
In Learn Tarot Fast, I show you how to easily break down any card into easy-to-digest chunks that your intuition will readily translate into meaningful guidance.
Throughout the course, we’ll work together on practice cards until the process feels easy peasy.
This method works for major or minor arcana, court cards, reversed or upright…even oracle cards!
By the end of the course, you’ll feel confident in accessing relevant, useful insights for yourself or your clients.
