If you’re hoping to learn the tarot and you know a professional tarot reader who is willing to take you through the cards and teach you some simple spreads, this could help you to quickly become familiar with what’s involved in a tarot reading. You might also get several readings done for yourself by different professionals and this will help you see how other tarot readers work. There are a number of techniques to reading the tarot. You may even receive conflicting advice. Let your intuition be your guide and as you progress you will find the right method for you.

Numerous books are on the market that will help introduce you to the tarot. Learning this way means you can go at your own pace, you can practice with the different spreads and keep notes that will go towards helping you see patterns emerging as you learn about the cards. Practice on your family and friends who are happy for you to give them readings. You may notice for instance that one particular card often appears when you’re going through a difficult time at work, or another one when you’re feeling confident and optimistic. Each card will start to have its own meaning for you as you experience how it appears in conjunction with your life and the lives of your friends.

You might also take advantage of online tarot interpretations. There are many free readings that interpret the cards that have been chosen for you and you might consult at least one of these every day as a way to get more familiar with the meanings of the cards.

There are many different tarot decks and you should spend some time looking into what’s available and choose a one you feel drawn to. It could even be you will prefer different decks for different spreads. When you first begin with the tarot, you will no doubt learn key words for each card and reel these of as the cards appear in a spread. This may make a reading sound stilted and scattered as the cards aren’t being read as a ‘whole’ and although some cards have similar meanings and will reinforce each other, some could contradict each other.

There are 78 cards in a standard tarot deck: 22 Major Arcana and four suits of 14 cards each. As you learn the meanings of the cards, you will start to recognize there are easy ways to remember them. For instance the 22 Major Arcana (picture cards) tell a story ‘the Fool’s journey’ and by visualizing the Fool as he meets each of these cards and goes through the experiences associated with them, you will find it easier to recall the significance of the card.

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