Tarot is a tool that invites you to take time to intentionally check in with yourself. What’s going on today? What do you want? What are you facing? Taking a few moments to contemplate your day is helpful because self reflection gives you feedback, so you can actively guide your life.

Tarot cards are filled with symbolic imagery that creates associations that your brain connects to your current lived experience. Tarot is meant to be used intuitively. While it can be tempting to refer to the book that came with your deck, the cards are designed to provoke insights through contemplation. Memorizing the “meanings” of each card is not required. Over time, you’ll naturally find your personal interpretation as you build a relationship with the archetypes depicted in the cards.

Picking a card a day, you’ll naturally start noticing that some cards seem to keep coming up more often. Begin by exploring those cards first, asking yourself why these particular cards come up at this time. Everyone has a different learning cadence, but over time, you start to find recurring patterns where a card keeps appearing when you ask about a specific area of your life. Use this as feedback, and you can begin applying tarot wisdom to help guide your decisions within a month or two of daily practice. After using your intuition to interpret a card, it is sometimes helpful to read the book or look online to read how others tend to read a card. But use your intuition first!

Every card in the tarot has both light and shadow energies. It’s interesting how some perceive a card, like Death, to be very affirming and positive while others tend to see a shadow side. It’s a fun practice to test yourself to see the “opposite” energies in each card. The tarot is a helpful way to focus your mind on what you need to know right now, so if you pick a card that appears to be a shadow energy, understand that this is a reminder to “watch out” for drawing that shadow energy into your life. In no way does the tarot “predict” your future. Far from it! By picking a daily card, you are inviting yourself to openly identify your hopes, challenges, and fears. You make decisions to guide your own life. The tarot empowers you to make choices that lead to a more prosperous, joyful life.

Choosing a tarot deck is a very personal decision. You may want to check out card designs online or watch video reviews to get a better sense of how a deck feels. You’ll know when you’ve found a deck that resonates with you because you’ll feel drawn to working with the cards and sense a connection when you pick a card and review the artwork and text.

This is highly subjective. Some people prefer a path of self study. Download and follow our free Study Guides. Try partnering with a friend to study together. Or you can learn about tarot with an online study group. Check out our monthly tarot Meetup group.

Visit your local bookstore to check out tarot decks. Or look online to find reviews of tarot decks, so that you can see the artwork style before you purchase a deck. Some people choose their favorite Major Arcana card and see how THAT card looks in various decks. It’s interesting to look at a wide variety of styles and ask yourself if you prefer color vs. black and white images, drawn vs. photo realistic images, smaller vs. larger decks, or find decks that have specific themes that you love. Once you find a deck you want to work with, some people prefer to pull out the Minor Arcana cards and set them aside, so they can focus on using the 22 Major Arcana cards for awhile. Working with the Major cards only is a fun way to get to know a deck without feeling overwhelmed by shuffling or encountering all 78 cards right away.