What To Expect From a Tarot Reading
There are a wide range of tarot readers out there and, therefore, a wide range of experiences you may have if you get a reading. Though I can’t speak to every experience, I have had my fair share of readings (and certainly performed enough in my day) to give you a sense of what to expect.
If you are considering getting your first reading, congratulations! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Tarot is such a great way to work through thoughts and feelings, to feel seen and understood, to examine possibilities and help make decisions for your future. But before all that good stuff comes a little bit of bureaucracy.
THE BORING PART
Most professional readers have a website or some way to book their services. Look out for a code of ethics or terms and conditions before booking so you know what to expect and what a reader will and will not read about. The majority of professional readers I know require payment up front and many have a cancellation fee within a certain period before the scheduled reading.
THE FUN PART
Now for the fun part. Every reader conducts their readings slightly differently. Some start with a meditation or some deep breathing or an invocation. Some jump right in pulling cards with nary more than a word from their client. Others like to have a long chat about what is going on in the client’s life so that they can craft the perfect question to yield the most fruitful reading. Ideally, the reader will tell you how they plan to proceed but, if they don’t, feel free to ask! It is your reading after all.
Some readers spend the entire session talking, others will mostly use the cards as a springboard for asking the client questions, guiding them toward their own discoveries. Many readers do some combination of the two. Some readers will go card-by-card, explaining the meaning and how it relates to the question. Other readers simply answer the question and provide details but rarely, if ever, refer to specific cards. Again, many readers use some combination of these two approaches. If you have a strong preference as to what kind of reading you would like, it might be helpful to read testimonials or see what the reader has to say about their reading style on their site. Again, don’t be afraid to ask a reader about their style: if you don’t want to talk or share much during your reading and the reader’s style is almost entirely question-based, they may not be the right reader for you. Much like with any professional you work with, it’s important to find the right fit.
MY PROCESS
Here is a bit about my process and reading style. Before I read for a client, I do a little “energetic setup;” a short grounding and centering meditation and a silent invocation. I like to light a candle and use certain sprays and oils I reserve only for readings. When working with a client, I like to get some background information at the start of the reading before I pull cards. This helps me understand what we’re asking the cards and yield helpful and specific answers. Once I have the question or topic clear in my mind, I shuffle the cards and silently repeat the question to myself. When I feel like the cards are well-shuffled, I draw and place the cards and look them over for a minute or two so that I can fully understand the story I’m seeing before I start relaying it to the client. From there, I say what I see, often asking the client follow-up questions along the way as we delve into the messages of the cards. At the end of the reading, I generally summarize the main points and open the floor for any additional questions about that particular reading. If this sounds like your kind of reading, awesome! If not, take heart: the right reader is out there for you. I promise.
What is Tarot and How Does It Work?
Tarot is the story of the human experience told in pictures and symbols. What sets tarot apart from other oracle decks is its structure. (This is why I love tarot so much; it is a system.) A tarot deck is composed of 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards. The Minor Arcana is further divided into the Pips (4 suits numbered Ace through 10) and the Courts (generally a Page, Knight, Queen, and King for each suit). Each card depicts and archetype (Major Arcana), situation (Minor Arcana Pips), or personality type (Minor Arcana Court Cards).
While traditionally, tarot was used for fortune-telling, modern tarot is more of a psychological tool, helping us gain deep insight into ourselves by acting as a mirror to our thoughts, feelings, and subconscious mind. It offers us a way to connect with our intuition and the deep well of knowledge that we all carry within us. It also connects us to the collective unconscious and to the energies around us. In that sense, we can gaze into a possible future by looking at the trajectory of our current actions. And if we don’t like what we see, we can do something to change it.
I don’t think anyone truly knows how tarot works just as I don’t think anyone truly knows what happens after we die or why we’re here at all. I think it’s possible that tarot works as a conduit for spirit (whatever that may be), that spirit uses the cards to communicate messages that the reader will understand. I think it’s possible that tarot functions much like a Rorschach test, that we project our subconscious thoughts and feelings onto the cards thereby allowing us to visually see what is going on deep within us. I think it’s possible that tarot works because we are pattern-seeking creatures and these universal, archetypal images trigger the pattern-seeking part of our analytical minds. I think it is possible tarot works because when we take time and space to sit with ourselves and our deepest and most heartfelt questions, we give our bodies and minds the time and space to find the truest answers. Much like how some astrologers believe the planets don’t affect us so much as that they move in patterns that mirror smaller patterns in our lives, I think it’s possible that tarot cards are like fractals. Everything is energy and the cards could reflect greater energetic patterns playing out in and around us. I suspect tarot works because of some combination of all of these things. What I find most important though, is that whatever the reason, the cards do work and in profound ways.