You'll be Able to Read Tarot by the End of This Post

(Well… not fluently. But you’ll have a solid place to start!)

I’m so tired of seeing tarot books promise that you’ll “learn to read tarot by the end of it", only to hand you pages and pages of card meanings.

Because here’s the truth: You won’t learn to read tarot by memorising every card.

Reading tarot isn’t an exam, so you can stop revising for it like one.

Tarot is a skill, not a test. And like any skill, it’s learned through curiosity and building understanding over time.

At its core, reading tarot comes down to three key steps:

1. Understanding the story in the card

2. Understanding the shape of the spread

3. Understanding how it all applies to your life

This post focuses solely on how to read the cards themselves, even if you have zero prior knowledge. No memorisation required.

Let’s begin.

1. Understanding the Story of the Card

Every tarot card is drawn the way it is for a reason. Nothing is accidental. Every colour, object, figure, and expression is there to tell part of a story. Which is why detailed decks are so helpful when learning! If you're stuck, you can read my blog post on finding your first deck

When you read tarot, you’re essentially describing a scene. Ask yourself:

• What’s happening here?

• What led this character to this moment?

• What might happen next?

You can do this out loud or through journalling. As you describe what you see, start thinking about what you intuitively understand about the objects, people, and atmosphere in the card. What is the deeper lesson here?

Reading tarot isn't more complicated than this!

As you develop your knowledge of the cards, it will help you understand these elements in greater detail. I highly recommend you start learning the stories of each suit, and the meaning behind the elements.

This includes: the meaning of suit objects in the Minor Arcana (i.e. Pentacles, Swords etc.), the elements in the Minor Arcana, the story arc of the Minor Arcana, The Fool's Journey & the personalities of the Court Cards.

2. Understanding the Shape of your Spread

A tarot spread isn’t just “Past, Present, Future”.

A spread is a shape which gives context to each card.

Think of each card as a puzzle piece. The spread shows you how those pieces fit together to create a fuller picture of what’s going on.

This is why I gently encourage moving away from one-card pulls. They often don’t give enough information to work with and this will impact your learning.

Let’s break down this simple 3 card spread shape.

• The top card represents the current situation, and what you're going through

• The two cards beneath show underlying influences affecting that situation.

• The lefthand card could mean past influence, whereas the righthand card could mean future influence. Play around with what feels right.

Now compare that to a vertical three-card spread:

• The middle card is the situation.

• The top card may represent an external influence.

• The bottom card an internal one.

This is where tarot becomes dynamic. A card doesn’t change its core meaning, but its role shifts depending on where it appears. The Hermit in the centre might suggest a need for introspection. As an underlying influence, it may point to a quieter, subconscious withdrawal driving your choices.

There’s no single “right” interpretation here. The key is to play, explore, and notice what makes sense together.

If you’d like more support with spread shapes, I’ve created a free guide you can explore.

3. Understanding the Context

Applying your spread to your life is about looking for clues and looking for what resonates. And static interpretations can't tell you how a card applies to your life!

To begin, as you're looking at the story of each card, ask yourself:

• What feels familiar?

• What reflects what I’m experiencing right now?

• What doesn’t resonate and can be left aside?

Next, we're going to look for clues in your spread. Tarot communicates in patterns and repetitions, so pay particular attention to:

• Repeating suits

• Repeating numbers

• Similar imagery or symbols

• “Stalker cards” that show up again and again

Think about the particular meaning of that repetition and play close attention to how that's showing up in your life right now. This is a key piece of the context.

An example here is Temperance & Judgement. They’re both from the Major Arcana, which are the big soul life lessons we’re here to learn. So the cards are telling me I’m going through a lot. Another repetition between these two in my deck are the wings, which could be an encouragement towards freedom and taking flight.

My next step would be to think about my own current experiences, and where this may be showing up.

If at any point you feel stuck, take your research to one of these repeating elements. It could be the suit, a number or an element.

Final thoughts about how to read tarot

Ok, so a caveat is that you won’t be able to read tarot fluently right now!

But you do have the building blocks of a complete practice. One that encourages you to use your intuition first and build your knowledge second.

Be playful and mindful with your cards, and don’t expect yourself to get it straight away. Pull a spread, look at each card individually for clues and put the pieces together in a way that makes sense to what you’re going through in your life right now. 

You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to start. Play around and see what resonates and what doesn’t. 

And if you’d like help with your tarot practice, this is exactly what I teach!

I have workshops available in Sheffield and 1:1 tarot courses available online or in person.