A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot Cards (2024)

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The last few years have dealt us a pretty brutal hand to put it lightly. In times marked by uncertainty, many people (including you perhaps?) turn to things like tarot in an attempt to glean insights and guidance — which, by the way, is not a bad idea. Juan Francisco, a psychic medium based in New York who’s been practicing for three years, believes that we all have the ability to be psychic, and tarot is a means of expressing that intuition. “Tarot is one of many different types of tools that you can use to tap into your intuitive side,” he says. “I think the cards, because of their symbolism, speak to a lot of the themes that have come up in just being a human and the life’s journey.”

Though tarot cards have taken on a mystical meaning in the cultural imagination, they’ve been around in a less spiritual sense since at least the mid-15th century. Originally a part of the Northern Italian game Tarocchini, the cards began spreading around Europe at the onset of the Italian Wars. It wasn’t until the 18th century that tarot was used for divination purposes. Antoine Court and Jean-Baptiste Alliette are credited with popularizing tarot readings in Paris in the 1780s. While spirituality has ebbed and flowed in the Zeitgeist, Francisco has an idea of why the cards have such staying power. “Between the artistry of the images and the themes that they present, I think that’s why it’s so attractive,” he says.

Below, Francisco helps us break down everything you need to know before your first reading.

Where do I start?

First, you’ll need a tarot deck. The most ubiquitous collection is the Rider-Waite deck, drawn by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909. Since the cards’ meanings are highly recognizable and generally intuitive, many people recommend the Rider-Waite deck for beginners. Francisco seconds that the Rider-Waite deck is excellent for novices, but also recommends the Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle, Mystic Mondays Tarot by Grace Duong, and Ethereal Visions Illuminated Tarot Deck by Matt Hughes. What’s most important is picking a deck with imagery that interests you and with symbolism you can interpret. You’re the one who’ll be using them, so they should fit your personality and style.

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Many decks, including Rider-Waite, come with a guide to walk you through the cards’ meanings. Still, sometimes the standard guides — which are usually pretty concise — may confuse newcomers. If you’re interested in purchasing an additional, more in-depth guidebook Francisco recommends you skim copies to find what resonates. He cites The Ultimate Guide to the Rider Waite Tarot by Johannes Fiebig & Evelin Bürger, Guided Tarot for Seamless Readings by Stefanie Caponi, and Illuminated: A Journal for Your Tarot Practice by Caitlin Keegan as some of his favorite guides.

According to some, your first deck should be given to you as a gift — a superstition that decrees the deck needs to choose you, not the other way around. But Francisco urges those interested in tarot to ignore the lore and buy cards for themselves if they want to begin practicing. “I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with purchasing your own deck because it just shows your interest and your excitement,” he says. “I don’t think you have to wait until somebody gives something to you for you to know you’re meant for it.”

What do the different types of tarot cards mean?

While each deck may vary in style, all have some commonalities. Every tarot deck consists of 78 cards. Twenty-two of those will be Major Arcana cards, which represent major life themes. The Major Arcana cards begin with 0, The Fool, and end with 21, The World. Here’s a quick breakdown of the Major Arcana with a few associations:

Francisco warns not to be freaked out if you pull some Major Arcana cards, like The Devil and Death, which get a bad rap. Like all cards, their meanings are malleable to the situation and the other cards in the reading. For example, pulling the Death card in a reading does not literally signify that someone will die, but rather that a chapter of life may be coming to a close and a new beginning lies just around the corner.

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The remaining 56 cards are called the Minor Arcana, which may provide a more day-to-day focus, rather than a lifelong arc. “The way I read the Minor Arcana, they go through really specific subthemes of those larger themes,” Francisco says. Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits — wands, swords, pentacles, and cups — which correspond to the elements. Here’s Fransciso’s handy breakdown:

How do I prepare a tarot deck for a reading?

Much of this is up to the deck’s owner and what feels right to them, but there are a few practices common to most tarot readings. Before each reading, you should “clear” your deck in order to cleanse your cards of the previous reading’s energy. Francisco likes to clear his deck with white sage, which he encourages people to buy directly from Indigenous sellers. “I really recommend that folks purchase their white sage from a Native American business. I think it’s important to give back to the culture that has given us this spiritual tool,” he says. When saging his deck (also called smudging), Francisco likes to set an intention and says a prayer to ask for guidance in his reading. Then, when he feels grounded, he begins the reading.

If you’re reading yourself, focus on a question or intention as you shuffle the cards. If you’re reading cards for another person, you’ll want to ask them to give you a question or prompt what they’re curious about, and hold that question in mind while you shuffle the deck — clearing the cards from prior inquiries and readings. Examples of questions might include: “When will I find love?” “Am I on the right career path?” “How do I end my writer’s block?” (Yes or no questions are fine, as are more complex queries. Nothing is too out there for the cards!) Readers take different approaches to shuffling. Francisco generally shuffles between 5 and 12 times but lets his intuition guide him.

You will then cut the deck or ask your sitter to do so if you wish, again focusing on the reading’s central question. Some readers also allow sitters to pick their own cards. Either way, you’ll then pull as many cards as you need for your spread, arranging them between you and the querent — or just in front of you, if you’re reading for yourself.

How do I read tarot cards?

There are scores of spreads, but a great beginning spread is the three-card spread. Usually, the first card pulled represents the past, the second represents the present, and the third represents the future. How those timelines are interpreted depends on the reading and the question being asked — for example, “future” might mean tomorrow or it might mean ten years from now.

Francisco also suggests the Celtic Cross, a more nuanced ten-card spread with six cards forming the shape of a cross and the additional four along the right side. The Celtic Cross encourages sitters to address a challenge by taking the past, present, and future into account. More nuanced than simpler spreads, the ten-card spread considers external factors, hopes and fears, the subconscious, advice, and draws the best possible outcome. While it may look daunting, he likes that each card’s placement in the spread has a specific meaning, making it a little easier to interpret. “It kind of did the work for me because each slot meant something for the card,” he says.

Another common use for tarot cards is a daily card reading, wherein a single card is pulled from the top of the shuffled deck and used as a reminder or a guideline for the day ahead. For novices and seasoned readers alike, this is a great way to tap into intuition and to become familiar with the cards.

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What if the tarot card I pull is upside-down?

There is a common understanding that pulling an upside-down card reverses its meaning or even indicates bad luck. Francisco, however, likes to give it a bit more nuance: “I personally think it means there’s a different way to look at that meaning or different way to look at that situation,” he says. He gives the example of the Wheel of Fortune card, which signifies abundance. The reversal does not necessarily mean losing money, but perhaps that the querent isn’t open to receiving the abundance that awaits them. “I think it’s really helpful to read cards in reverse,” Francisco says. “But I would recommend not seeing it as an upside-down card means bad luck.”

How do I learn more?

If you’re looking to advance to the next level of tarot reading, there are a number of books you can buy and classes (online and off) you can take to sharpen your interpretation skills. Francisco has a podcast, Third Eye Sight. Jessica Dore, a popular tarot reader and author of Tarot for Change, periodically offers online courses. Little Red Tarot also offers an eight-week course on a sliding scale. Biddy Tarot has a wealth of resources, from free guides to certification programs. There are also many free lessons available on YouTube, like those by spiritual advisers Mystic Rainn and John Ballantrae, who has a very soothing accent.

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