How to Solve Tarot Cards

Choose one card each day. You can choose a card simply to familiarize yourself with the deck or to predict the coming day.

• To familiarize yourself with the deck. Pick a card at random and watch for a while. Write down your first impressions and intuitive thoughts. Record these in some ink in a diary or notebook. Use a different color of ink to add information you find about the card from other sources (books, forum groups, friends). After a few days, review what you wrote and add a comment in third ink. ^[4]
• Daily commentary. Pick a random card in the morning when you wake up. Look at the card for a moment. Note its color and how you feel about the card. Pay attention to the overall mood of the card and the feeling it gives. Observe the figures in the card – what they are doing, sitting or standing, who they remind you of, and how you feel about them. Focus on symbols and what you associate with them. Record your thoughts in a journal – you can review them later as a means of learning and to track your progress. ^[5]

Study the combinations of cards. It is important for beginners to see the Tarot not only as 78 individual cards but as a system of rules and interactions. Studying the combinations of cards will help you grasp this concept. Draw two cards from the deck and place them face up next to each other. Now look at the images, locations or events in the combination of the two cards. You can also use more than 2 cards or an entire spread. The goal here is to learn the cards in a combination for deeper understanding and increased confidence when it’s time to read the cards.

Arrange the constellations. Tarot constellations are made up of all cards with the same number (from 1 to 9). For example, the Tarot constellation for the number 4 would include the number 4 cards of each suit, the Emperor (the number 4 card) and the Death card (the number 13 card but reduced to the number 4 (1+3=4) ^[6]

• Place all the cards of a constellation in front of you and ask yourself a few questions like, how do you feel about each card, what appeals to you, what about the cards makes you dislike, upset , or anxiety, in what ways are they similar and different, and what symbols they seem to share. Repeat this exercise with each set of all 9 numbers and record your impressions in a diary.
• Understanding the energy of each card will make it easier for you to interpret when there are many cards with the same number appearing at the same time. Instead of focusing on the meaning of each individual card, you can focus on the energy they combine with each other. ^[7]

Play a game of solutions. Review all the cards and draw the cards that you find the most difficult to solve. Take the time to feel the cards to get to the bottom of the impressions they leave on you. Then go through the deck again and draw one or more cards that you think provide solutions to the difficult cards.

• This game will really help you develop a skill that you can use when reading. When a difficult card appears in a reading and you want to help the reader solve the problem, you can suggest another card that can solve the difficult card. ^[8]

Tell a story. A Tarot reading is a story you tell your fortune teller. It is an attempt to articulate the impact of the past, understand current circumstances, and make predictions about the most likely future. The future you predict is not immutable and not bound to happen; It’s important to remember that there are no obvious and absolute outcomes.

Get familiar with spreads. “Spreading the cards” is simply displaying the cards. A Tarot spread is an arrangement of cards in a certain pattern. This type of arrangement is central to the interpretation. In addition, each position of the Tarot card in a spread has a certain meaning. Your commentary will be based on the arrangement and placement of the cards in a defined topic. For example, many spreads include positions that represent the past, present, and future. In addition, the spreads also include positions representing inner feelings, specific challenges, external factors and the like. ^[9] There are hundreds of spreads you can try, and experienced Tarot readers can create their own. Experiment with different spreads, especially trying to choose those that stimulate your imagination and intuition. It’s important to figure out what works best for you; Many Tarot readers create spreads that they think work best for them.

Start with a three-card spread. The three-card spread is great for answering uncomplicated questions, focusing on simplicity, and for beginners to learn reading. Predetermine the map, arrange the cards and use the knowledge you have just learned about the meanings and combinations of the cards to tell the story.

• Some diagrams to interpret a situation are: past/present/future, current situation/obstacles/advice, where you stand/what you aspire to/how to achieve that and what will help you/what hinders you/what potential do you still have hidden.
• Some diagrams for interpreting relationships are: you/other/relationship, opportunity/challenge/outcome, what brings you together/what pulls you apart/you what to look out for and what you want from the relationship/where your relationship is going.
• Some diagrams for explaining the inner life are: mind/body/spirit, physical state/emotional state/mental state, you/your current path/potential path function/stop/start/resume. ^[10]

Separate the cards. To begin a 21-card spread, you need to separate the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana.

Spread the post. Shuffle each deck, channel, and place the cards in a row, three-card horizontal and seven-card vertical, with an extra card on the side. This spread will use all the cards in the Major Arcana and leave some cards in the Minor Arcana. Arrange the remaining cards into a pile.

Write down your feelings. List the cards you have just dealt. Choose the best word to describe each card and write it next to it.

Look at the drawings on the cards. What do they remind you of? Identify the story pattern as if you were looking at an illustrated book and trying to guess the story. Patterns can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or leaf-to-leaf. The card placed next to it represents the most important element of the situation.

Ask questions. Ask yourself what situations in your life or that of a fortune-teller are referred to by the cards.

Consider other possibilities. Look for story patterns that represent other possibilities for the outcome you initially perceived, possibilities that could have made the situation better or worse.

Review your answers. Consider your solutions to each card. How do they fit into the stories you just told?

Summarize all the steps. Combine what you learned from the steps above into a commentary. You may be surprised to find that your solution is much more accurate when you follow the instructions of the deck.

• Remember that if there is a point that seems to have a different meaning than what is in the book, use that meaning. Trusting your intuition is the right way to read Tarot cards and is something you will naturally do as you get more experienced. Listen to the advice of the cards.

Store the deck properly. Tarot cards can be contaminated with bad energy and affect your interpretation. You should store the deck in a black canvas bag or in a wooden Taror card case. You can add gems or herbs to increase psychic power.

Decide who can touch the cards. Allowing or disallowing the divinator to touch the cards is a personal choice. Some readers encourage this – they often ask the reader to shuffle the cards as a way to channel energy into the cards. Some other readers want no other source of energy than their own energy to flow into the deck.