Joy’s Quickie, DIY 5-Minute Guide to Reading Tarot

Fastest Way to Read Tarot Cards for Yourself

This is my absolute fastest way of reading the cards for yourself without looking up tarot card “meanings” in the book. These are not shortcuts or cheats. Instead, these are some of the most essential techniques experienced tarot card readers use when interpreting a specific tarot card in the context of a specific question. It is ALWAYS more important to discover your answers in the imagery of the card than to sloppily cut and paste standard meanings onto your very personal situation. Read Joy’s Quickie DIY 5-Minute Guide To Reading Tarot for these most basic tips and discover the fastest way to read tarot cards for yourself!

Exercise 1: The Visual Cue Method of Reading Tarot

BOTTOM LINE: Ask a question and choose a card. Let your eyes sweep over the image until one visual detail stands out for you. How does this visual cue answer your question?

Step-By-Step Instructions for the Visual Cue Method

1. Ask a question. Don’t have one? Try, “How will learning to read tarot benefit me?” Or consult my post, Fifteen Questions To Ask When You Don’t Have A Question.
2. Mix the cards up. Cut the deck and select the top card, or fan the deck out on the table and choose one card.
3. Look closely at the card. With a curious mind, contemplate the image you see. Notice the details. Let you mind wander across the card until one particular detail catches your eye. What is it? Why does it stand out to you? What purpose does it serve in the image? What personal meaning does this visual detail have for you?
4. Hold the visual cue in your mind at the same time as you think about your question. How does the visual cue answer your question?

Exercise 2: Compare and Contrast Method of Reading Tarot

BOTTOM LINE: Ask a question and pull two cards. Note the similarities and differences between the cards. What is the most striking similarity? How does this address your question? What is the most striking difference? How does this address your question?

Step-By-Step Instruction for the Contrast and Compare Method

1. Ask a question. Don’t have one? This time try, “What should I focus on today?”
2. Mix the cards up. Cut the deck and select the top card and bottom card, or fan the deck out on the table and choose two cards. Consult my post on How To Shuffle Tarot Cards for more information.
3. Examine and contemplate these two cards. Note similarities and differences between them. Observe details that pop out at you. Feel the general emotional mood of the cards. Compare and contrast the characters, actions, directions, environments, details, colors, shapes, moods, and anything that catches your eye. Pick at least one similarity and one difference that stand out the most to you.
4. Consider your chosen similarity and difference in relationship to your question. What does the similarity say to answer your question? How does the difference answer your question?

Exercise 3: Tell Stories About Your Life

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t do readings. Instead, use the cards to tell stories. Think of something that happened yesterday and use your 3-5 cards to describe it.

Step-By-Step Instructions for the Tell Stories About Your Life Method

1. Pick a significant happening (as significant as you can get for an ordinary day) Maybe your cat got out. Perhaps you had a piano lesson but hadn’t practiced. Possibly you cooked dinner from scratch, or bumped into an old friend (or enemy), or found a great deal. Something distinguished yesterday from the day before.
2. Write down what happened in a few short sentences. This is your story.
3. Break up the story into 3-5 key events.
4. Look through your deck, and focusing on the images, choose the card that best reminds you of each event.

This technique is perfect for the brand-new beginner for several important reasons. First, right off the bat you start looking through your deck at the cards rather than shuffling them face down. This helps you familiarize yourself with the card images.

Second, you’re in charge of the process and that makes you confident. There’s no way to be wrong. You get to tell your story your way.

Most importantly, you assign the meaning to the cards. When you assign the meaning to the card by seeing the card image as part of a story, you will discover a number of benefits. First, you will easily remember what that card means to you. Also, the card will represent something in real life, not some abstract concept. Finally, you are teaching the cards how to speak to you. Then when you lay out a tarot spread, all you have to do is listen!

This technique is also posted as How to Learn Tarot.

Ready for the Next Step? Try My Quick Start Tarot Kit

Joy’s Quickie DIY 5-Minute Guide To Reading Tarot Downloadable Handout

Three Easy Tips for Reading Cards Without the Book Video

In this recording of a live workshop, I share some of my favorite super-easy, newbie-friendly tips for reading cards. If you are brand-new to tarot, want to get a fresh perspective, or are looking to hone in on finding meaning in the image on the card, these tricks bring you quickly to quality answers.

Watch the video for lots of tips and examples not in the handout!