Think of the ‘numbers’ of the cards and each of these will have characteristics in common. The Ace cards for instance bring a special strength to a reading, suggesting new beginnings or something that is about to come to fruition. Two is the number of escalation and union. Two also represents the opposites in life: love and hate, light and dark, yin and yang. Consider the associations of the other numbers in the tarot.

Notice the patterns and links within the tarot itself. Each card, for instance is associated with an element. Cards associated with the Fire element (the suit of Wands) are active, full of energy and are linked with action and movement. These cards relate to career, ambition and drive. Cards associated with the Air element (the suit of Swords) are lively in an intellectual way, they relate to communication, conflict and rivalry. Cards associated with the Water element (the suit of Cups) represent emotions, love, friendship and creativity. Cards associated with the Earth element (the suit of Pentacles) speak of practical issues, finance, stability, health and home.

There are many similar patterns you will discover for yourself as you become more familiar with the cards.

As well as having a good idea of the meaning of each card, you will eventually find yourself starting to interpret the spread intuitively. The more familiar you get with tarot cards and doing a reading, the more you will use your natural intuition as to what the cards are saying.

You might spend time meditating on each card. Note the images you see in your mind and any feelings, colours, symbols or numbers that come to you as you meditate on each card and keep these in a journal.

The more confident you become, the more you will realize that your intuitive response to some cards won’t always correspond with their ‘basic’ meanings. As you develop your psychic side, you will start seeing so much more in the spread than those keywords you first learned to associate with each card. Never feel your intuition should not be trusted. As your skill increases you will grow more confident about trusting your sixth sense when reading the tarot.

There are numerous layouts to choose from when reading the tarot and after some experimentation, you will probably prefer one or two that seem to work best for you. Some spreads involve only three cards perhaps representing past, present and future. Others can be incredibly complicated, involving a lot of reshuffling and even using another pack of cards. Some tarot readers use reversed card meanings, others don’t. Go with what works for you.

Tarot can be great fun, a fabulous spiritual journey and incredibly insightful. As with everything you try to learn, practice will lead to more confidence and help you become more skilful. It will also be much easier to learn if you can enjoy the experience.