Beginning Your Tarot Journey
The Myth of the Crystal Ball
When most people hear the word "tarot," they imagine a fortune teller predicting the future with absolute certainty. Movies and television have painted tarot as a mysterious tool that reveals exactly what will happen next.
The reality is much different.
Tarot is less like a crystal ball and more like a conversation. It offers symbols, stories, and perspectives that help us better understand ourselves, our situations, and the choices before us.
Just as shadow work encourages us to examine the hidden parts of ourselves, tarot invites us to explore our inner world through archetypes, imagery, and intuition.
Before you can begin reading cards, it's important to understand what tarot is, and what it isn't.
Common Misconceptions About Tarot
The first, and probably the most common, misconception about tarot is that it can tell your future. I want to make sure we're on the same page before we keep going. The future is fluid and constantly changing because our choices matter. Tarot cannot predict the future or tell you exactly what's going to happen tomorrow or whether he's going to dump you or not.
Tarot can help reveal patterns, energies, and perspectives. Think of it as a mirror rather than a prophecy.
The second biggest misconception, in my opinion, is that you need to be psychic. This is probably one of the biggest fears for beginners; it certainly was for me. Just like anything else you want to get good at, you have to practice. Tarot is about interpreting and recognizing symbols.
Observation and intuition grow over time.
The last misconception I want to discuss is that tarot is dark or dangerous. As I said before, tarot reflects the human experience: all the joy, grief, growth, love, and transformation that comes with it. The harder cards often indicate lessons and opportunities for growth.
Tarot works best when approached with curiosity rather than fear.
Choosing Your First Tarot Deck
There are a couple of different types of tarot decks. The most common is the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. This is the traditional deck most people recognize. It has clear symbolism, and in my personal opinion, the original artwork is beautiful.
I highly recommend starting with a deck that uses traditional imagery. Most modern decks are based on the Rider-Waite-Smith structure, making it easier to learn from books, courses, and other resources.
There are a TON of learning resources out there. Here are a few that I recommend:
Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards by Michelle Tea
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack
The Ultimate Guide to Tarot by Liz Dean
Finding a deck that speaks to you is important. Every deck is different, and every deck reads differently. I personally like to look at the artwork first. If the symbolism makes sense to you or resonates with you, then it's a deck that could work well for you; your connection to the deck matters.
My first deck was The Dragon Tarot. I chose it because, well... dragons. I love dragons, and when I started my tarot journey, I felt they would resonate with me very strongly.
A common myth around starting tarot is that your first deck must be gifted. This puts a lot of would-be tarot readers off, but buying your own deck is perfectly acceptable. Who knows, you may end up with enough decks that you can gift one to an aspiring reader someday.
There is nothing in tarot's history that suggests your first deck must be gifted. What's important is choosing a deck you'll actually use.
Ask yourself:
Do I enjoy the artwork?
Can I easily identify with the imagery?
Does this deck make me want to pick it up and learn?
Building a Relationship with Your Cards
Tarot is a language, and just like any other language, you can't expect to become fluent overnight. It has to be learned through regular interaction.
One easy way to connect with your deck is through daily card pulls. Draw a card each morning and ask open-ended questions such as:
What energy should I be aware of today?
What lesson can I learn today?
Another way is to interpret the cards through the artwork. I highly recommend doing this before ever reaching for the guidebook.
What catches your attention when you first flip the card over? Is it a color, the way a figure is standing, or a symbol that stands out to you? What do you feel when you first see the card? What emotions arise, and what energy does the card hold for you?
While traditional meanings are important, personal associations are equally valuable. Over time, your relationship with certain cards becomes unique. If you were to hand your deck to another reader, chances are they would interpret the cards differently.
The goal isn't simply to memorize meanings; it's to develop familiarity.
Why Every Tarot Reader Should Keep a Journal
Let's be real, memorizing all 78 cards right off the bat is CRAZY! Unfortunately, this is exactly what many beginner tarot readers try to do.
I highly recommend keeping a tarot journal. This could be as simple as designating a special notebook for daily card pulls, or you could download my Seeker's Tarot Journal.
Your journal will act as a record of your readings and interpretations that you can revisit later.
When I started my tarot journey, I chose to write rather than record or type my entries. Writing allows our brains to slow down and truly absorb and reflect on the meanings of the cards.
If you're using a notebook, include details such as:
What was your question?
What cards appeared?
What was your initial impression?
How did the reading relate to real-life events?
When you revisit these entries later, you'll begin to see patterns emerge. Repeating cards become noticeable, and your personal understanding of the cards deepens.
In my last two posts, I talked about shadow work. Tarot is a wonderful tool to use alongside shadow work because it often reveals recurring fears, beliefs, habits, and emotional patterns that might otherwise remain hidden.
Revisiting your journal can help you identify those patterns more clearly.
Learning Meanings vs. Trusting Your Intuition
As mentioned earlier, many beginner tarot readers believe they must memorize all 78 cards perfectly before they can begin reading. That simply isn't true.
I've been reading tarot for many years, and I still occasionally reach for a guidebook to refresh my memory.
More often than not, though, I look at the card first and pay attention to how it makes me feel. Traditional meanings provide structure, consistency, and a shared symbolic language.
This is where intuition comes into play.
Imagine drawing the Three of Swords. A guidebook will likely say "heartbreak," but the image itself might make you think of difficult truths that need to be spoken.
Both interpretations may be relevant.
Tarot is a blend of traditional meanings and intuition. Think of it like art: card meanings are the techniques, while intuition is the creativity that brings those techniques to life.
The strongest readings combine both knowledge and instinct.
Tarot as a Tool for Self-Discovery
Tarot's greatest strength isn't predicting the future—it's helping us understand ourselves.
Tarot can reveal hidden motivations, emotional blind spots, recurring patterns, and possible paths forward.
It acts as a mirror for our inner world, and when we read for others, it can serve as a mirror for them as well.
This realization is what truly unlocked tarot for me. Once I stopped seeing it as a way to tell the future and started using it as a tool for guidance, it became much easier to interpret the cards for both myself and others.
In The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, Robert Place describes tarot as a symbolic journey filled with archetypal imagery and deeper philosophical meaning. Rather than simply telling us what will happen, the cards invite us to explore our own personal journeys.
Similarly, in Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards, Michelle Tea emphasizes self-reflection and personal growth, presenting tarot as accessible even to people who don't view it as a supernatural practice.
Just as shadow work asks, "What am I avoiding?" tarot asks, "What am I not seeing?"
Both invite us into a deeper relationship with ourselves.
Begin Where You Are
In short, tarot will meet you where you are.
You don't need psychic abilities to read tarot. You don't need to memorize all 78 cards. Your first deck doesn't need to be gifted to you, nor does it need to be the perfect deck.
You only need curiosity and a willingness to listen.
Tarot is not a machine that spits out answers. It is a conversation, a dialogue between symbols, intuition, and experience.
The more time you spend with the cards, the more they begin to speak in a language that is uniquely your own.
Suggested Reading
The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination by Robert M. Place
Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards by Michelle Tea
Learn Tarot – Choosing Your First Deck