How to Teach Yourself to Read Tarot Cards

Tarot cards are a form of divination. Divination is the form of fortune telling. There are a few forms of divination, and usually those associated with witchcraft will try to find one form to learn and achieve a high proficiency level.

Reading Tarot cards is not for everyone. It takes dedication and patience. Once you find your Tarot deck you will find that everyone you know will anxiously seek you out for readings regularly. There are times when you will learn to say no.

This article will give you a basic way to work with the cards and learn their meanings and how they relate to the events in your life.

Find a place that you can work without too many distractions. Gather your Tarot deck and shuffle them. You can shuffle them anyway that is comfortable for you. I have a Rider Waite Tarot card deck that is larger then most tarot decks, and it took me a while to find a way to really get them shuffled.  When the deck is too big too hold in your hands and shuffle, you can cut the stack of cards into smaller piles and shuffle them sideways. It can be awkward at first learning to work with the deck that is a bit over sized.

Once shuffled, pull out one card and study the image. You will find yourself focusing on the main image, but look at all the little items on the card. You can find an in-depth meaning by connecting with the complete card. Take as much time as you can to really look deep at the images on the Tarot Card--as many details as possible, until you come to some type of meaning for the card.

Get out your notebook and pen. Start by writing down the date and day and then write the card that you pulled. Then write down what the card means to you. You can label this section as "My Meaning" or something like that. You will write what meaning you sensed about the card and note the printed meaning that comes with the Tarot Cards.

There is no right or wrong in this method of learning, it's all about  learning. It is very hard to read Tarot Cards for yourself because we want to bend the meanings or pull another card. Learning to be honest right from the start will make you one in a few who can read Tarot for themselves. So go ahead and write down what the card means to you and take as much space as you need.

Now mark another section in your notebook and label it "Suggested Meaning." You can now go look up the meaning of the card you had pulled for that day. As you write the description in your notebook, look at the Tarot card again and see if you can relate the definition to the card's images. (Some decks are not put together very well and you may not be able to connect anything. Don't think it is useless and give up trying, just find another Tarot Deck and sell your old one.)

Once you have your description noted, go about your day.

The following day around the same time that you pulled the first card, get out your notebook. Read what you had written describing the card and see how it relates to your day. This process becomes easier the more you do it. You will learn when you pull a certain card, what type of day it could be. You learn the tarot by relating to the images and the results of your own experiences with each card.

Repeat the process for as many weeks or months that it takes until you are comfortable with your Tarot Deck and the meanings of the cards. You will notice different things about your cards as time goes on.