To read tarot cards, start with one question and one card. Look at the image, consult a meaning reference, and consider how a possible theme relates to your circumstances. Then write down your interpretation and choose a small action, if one feels useful.
This guide approaches tarot as a reflective exercise. You will practise explaining a possible meaning while keeping your own knowledge and judgement central. Keep your guidebook open: you can look things up throughout the reading.
What you need before your first reading
Gather a tarot deck, its guidebook if you have one, and somewhere to make a few notes. You can also consult the InnerSigns card meanings library. If you do not have a physical deck, there is an online practice option at the end of this guide.
A standard modern tarot deck contains 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana has four suits: Cups, Swords, Wands and Pentacles, also called Coins. These are useful names to recognise when finding your card in a reference. The V&A’s introduction to tarot cards explains this structure and its suit terminology.
For this first exercise, read your card upright, with its picture the right way up. A reversed card is upside down. Some readers interpret that orientation differently; you can leave those additional meanings for later. Tarot teacher Theresa Reed describes using reversals as a matter of preference.
The worked example below uses Rider–Waite–Smith imagery. If your deck looks different, follow the image and guidebook you actually have.
Read your first tarot card in six steps
1. Ask a question about something you can influence
Choose one ordinary situation and write a question about your approach to it. Give yourself something specific to reflect on.
For example:
- “What could help me begin a creative project I keep putting off?”
- “What could I pay attention to while preparing for this conversation?”
- “How could I approach this unfamiliar task?”
For this exercise, turn a question such as “Will my project succeed?” into one about a choice you can make. Keep questions about other people centred on your own communication and conduct; a card is not evidence of their private thoughts.
Write the question down before drawing. Return to that wording when you interpret the card.
2. Set one position, shuffle and draw
A spread is a layout in which each card position has an assigned role or question. Here, you need just one position: Your focus. You will use the card as a prompt for something to consider in relation to your question.
For a physical deck:
- Hold the cards face down in one hand.
- With your other hand, take small packets from the deck and gather them into a new stack. Repeat a few times, keeping the cards facing the same direction.
- Reassemble the deck and place the top card face down in front of you.
- Turn it over. If the image is upside down, rotate it upright for this exercise.
If handling the deck is awkward, mix the cards face down on a clear table, gather them, and draw one. Use whichever method is comfortable; this exercise does not require a special hand, ritual or shuffle count.
If you are using InnerSigns’ one-card tool, the draw is already prepared when you open it. Reveal the card, then continue with the interpretation steps below.
3. Describe the image before assigning a meaning
Look for one or two details you can describe plainly. What objects are present? What is a figure doing? Where is your attention drawn?
Keep observation and interpretation separate. “A figure stands at a table” describes an image. “I have useful resources available” is an interpretation that would need a connection to your circumstances.
Write one observation before looking up the card. You do not need to decode every colour or symbol. If the picture gives you little to work with, note the card’s name and move to the guidebook.
4. Look up a meaning and bring it back to your question
Find the card’s upright entry in your deck’s guidebook or a suitable reference. Read the explanation, then pick one theme to explore. You do not have to combine every love, career and reversed meaning on the page.
Using a reference alongside your own interpretation is a legitimate way to practise. Reed’s discussion of memorising card meanings makes room for both traditional meanings and context.
Now return to your question. What connection can you explain using something you already know about your situation?
Try this sentence:
One possible theme is ____. In relation to my question, I could consider ____ because ____ is true of my situation.
That final “because” matters. It asks you to explain the connection rather than treating a general keyword as a personalised instruction.
5. Check the interpretation against what you actually know
Read your sentence back and ask:
- Which part comes from the image or reference?
- Which part comes from my own circumstances?
- Have I assumed something I do not know?
For instance, an interpretation about using available resources only fits if those resources are actually available. The card does not establish that fact for you.
If the connection feels forced, return to the reference and reconsider it. You can also write “I do not see a useful connection yet” and stop. Avoid repeatedly drawing until you get an answer you prefer.
A troubling image does not establish that something bad will happen. Keep the reading provisional, and base consequential decisions on the relevant facts and advice.
6. Record one possibility and choose a small action
Make a brief note of your question, card and orientation, observed detail, reference theme, possible connection, and any action you choose.
Keep the action modest and within your control: make a rough sketch, prepare a question, or check a missing piece of information. You can decide that no action is needed.
Once you have written the note, put the card away. You can revisit your interpretation later without needing to settle every uncertainty now.
Hypothetical worked example: The Magician and a delayed project
This is a hypothetical example, not a real draw or prediction.
Imagine someone who wants to start a drawing project. They have paper, pencils and a rough idea, but keep browsing for better materials instead of beginning.
Their question is: “What could help me begin a creative project I keep putting off?” The example card is The Magician, upright, in the position Your focus.
Start with the image and a reference. In A. E. Waite’s description of The Magician, the symbols of the four tarot suits sit on the table before the figure, who adapts them to his purposes.
For this exercise, that description offers a theme to explore: working with what is available. This is a reflective application of the imagery, rather than a fixed instruction that every Magician reading must follow. You can explore the card further in the InnerSigns Magician reference.
Next, connect the theme to the question. The imagined reader already has enough materials to make a first sketch. That is a fact supplied by the scenario; it was not revealed by the card. They could therefore consider whether another round of shopping is necessary before a small first attempt.
Their possible interpretation becomes: “I could begin with the materials I have and find out what I need by making a rough sketch.”
Here is the completed reading note:
- Question: What could help me begin a creative project I keep putting off?
- Card and position: The Magician, upright — Your focus.
- What I notice: Suit symbols are arranged on a table before the figure in the Waite–Smith image.
- Reference theme: Waite describes the figure adapting these objects to his purposes; I am exploring that as using available resources.
- What I know: In this imagined situation, I already have paper, pencils and a rough idea.
- Possible connection: I could try a first sketch before deciding that I need better materials.
- One action: Spend 15 minutes making a rough sketch with what I have.
Fifteen minutes is simply the amount chosen for this example. The reader could choose a smaller attempt.
Notice the limit: this reading does not show that the project will succeed. If the person genuinely lacked essential materials, the interpretation would need reconsidering. The useful part is the connection they can explain between the reference, their circumstances and a choice they can make.
What to practise next
When you want to try again, use the same steps with another card. Keep your reference nearby and focus on explaining one connection clearly. You can explore larger spreads later; there is no need to add more positions to complete this exercise.
If you would like to practise online, try the InnerSigns one-card reading. It draws a random upright card, so your result may differ from this example. You cannot select The Magician on demand. Keep any notes separately: the tool does not save your reading, and refreshing the page loses it.
Finish with one possible interpretation you can explain, and let your own circumstances guide what you do with it.