You may already have chosen your tarot deck, and are enjoying it.  Even if you have, I am sure you’ll pick up many pointers here, so continue to read or listen.

    First, let’s talk about choosing your deck.  A traditional deck has 78 cards in it, so stick with that.  If you want to read with fewer cards, choose to read with just the minor arcana (56 cards) or the major arcana (22 cards). Together, they comprise the traditional 78 card deck.  You can also read with a regular playing card deck of 52 cards and apply the traditional tarot card meanings to them, minus the four Pages.  When you do that you are essentially reading the minor arcana - hearts are cups,  spades are swords, clubs are wands and  diamonds are pentacles.

    Most traditional decks have pictures loosely based upon the Rider Waite deck, which was carefully researched in an attempt to regain the universal meanings of the first tarot decks, whose origins are lost in time and only open to conjecture nowadays.  When y...

When I teach tarot, inevitably my students ask, what if I want to use the cards to read for myself? 

     As with all divination tools, using the tarot to answer questions or even do complete readings on yourself is a touchy subject.

     The reason for this is simple.  Most of the time when you want to know about something that’s going on in your life, it’s because it’s emotionally important to you.  And there’s the problem.  As soon as your emotions become involved you tend to interpret the cards in a way that either gives you what you want, or if you are really fearful, expands your fears. 

     The best time to do a reading on yourself therefore, is when you’ve got nothing important going on in your life, so you’re able to be objective, just as you would be when reading for another person.

     But of course, that’s not what you really want.  You want the cards to give you answers when you need them.  That means, your emotions are involved.

     I generally caution my beginning s...

Thank you for your interest in Tarot and for tuning in to my Tarot Tips!  You are beginning a journey into the World of Tarot that will bring you joy every step of the way.      I have been reading the Tarot for over forty years and still learn new things about and from it every day.  The Tarot is, to me, the story of your life, and perhaps, if you are a pro, your client’s life.  The Tarot is incredibly simple, yet unbelievably complex.  It is whatever you need it to be.  Over time, you may come to realize, as I have, that it has a life of its own.

Here’s your Tarot Tip #1

Did you know that you don’t have to be psychic to read the Tarot cards? It certainly helps to be psychic, and it’s true that over time reading the Tarot will open and help you to develop your psychic abilities, but it’s not necessary to be psychic to read them.

Try this.  Buy yourself a fully illustrated 78-card Tarot Deck.  I use the Rider-Waite deck, but any fully illustrated 78-card deck you are attracted to wi...