How to read the future with tarot?

Once you have settled comfortably in a quiet room, go ahead with the card draw. To do this, first choose a question you want to ask the tarot.

Clear your mind of everything around you and start shuffling the cards. Cut the deck in two and look at the cut. Those two cards already give you a first indication regarding your question.

Once the cards have been shuffled and the cut made, gather the deck and spread the cards out in front of you, face down. 

You now have the option of working with whichever spread you wish. Many spreads are available on the internet or in specialised tarot books. You can also invent your own spread. It is important that each card drawn has its own « theme » in relation to the question asked. 

The most commonly used spread is the cross spread.

The cross spread in tarot

To carry out the cross spread, select 5 cards and lay them out in a cross.

• Card 1 represents the current state of the situation in relation to your question
• Card 2 represents the blockages
• Card 3 represents outside help, the path to follow
• Card 4 represents the outcome
• Card 5 represents the synthesis

There is also a variant in which the 5^th card is not drawn directly but calculated from the first 4 cards, by adding up the values of each one. However, this method is limited since it does not offer the possibility of drawing every arcanum.

Once the cards have been drawn, move on to interpreting each arcanum.

To do this, use the tarot meanings available online. You can take into account the orientation of the card (upright/reversed) for greater accuracy. Position 2 (blockages) will then always take the negative meaning of the card.

To help you in your practice, you can write down the keywords of each card’s meanings in a notebook and start drawing the cards using only the major arcana.