your first tarot reading

Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-suggested steps for your very first tarot reading
-a basic framework for single-card readings
-simple questions to ask your deck
-tips for booking your first tarot reading with a professional
-advice for trying out new techniques with your cards

Shuffling videos:
Learn from a pro how to shuffle tarot with Ethony
How to shuffle large cards if you have small hands with Free Spirit
How to gently shuffle tarot cards with TarotOracle

For more on Meg, check out 3amtarot.com, and order your copy of Finding the Fool through Bookshop.org or your favorite local bookstore.

Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website.

Love what you’re hearing? Support the pod with a one-time donation or recurring subscription, and get the chance to submit topics for future episodes! 

Transcript

Meg: 0:12

My name is Meg Jones Wall and you're listening to Card Talk, a mini podcast for tarot basics and evergreen insights. I'm glad you're here. In today's episode, we are going to be talking about your first tarot reading. In previous episodes, we've talked about picking out your first tarot deck as well as spending some time getting to know it, and so I imagine that you are right now pumped to try out your first tarot reading with your deck. Or and this is probably a slightly more realistic scenario you just pulled the cards out of the box. You just got your hands on the deck. You really want to jump headfirst into your first reading. I've got your back and I totally understand it. In this episode, we are going to talk through your very first tarot reading, which is going to be a single card reading rather than some complicated multi-card reading or reading using a specific spread. I also am going to offer you some tips on how to book your first tarot reading. If you are someone that is interested in tarot or intrigued by tarot, but you're less interested in purchasing a deck or doing a reading for yourself, we're going to talk through what to think through before your first reading, as well as tips for how to find the best reader for you.

Meg: 1:19

Single card tarot readings are often recommended most to brand new tarot readers or beginning tarot readers, and for good reason. They're often really simple and clear and there's not necessarily a lot of room for error beyond the interpretation that you're going to have for the cards. It's less overwhelming than a big reading and it really helps you dive deep on one card at a time, which is also just great for learning comprehension and building a practice. Single card readings help to develop those reading muscles and can also help you build a habit. But I do want to stress here that while single card readings, especially for tarot beginners, are referred to as a card a day practice, you don't have to read tarot every single day. Especially when you're starting out, it can take time to start to fall into the rhythm of reading your cards every single day. So just please hear me If you don't read the cards every day, it's completely fine, and that's not just true for newbies, that's true for people at every level of experience when it comes to the tarot. You do not have to read the cards every single day to be a tarot reader. I also just want to emphasize here, before we get into kind of the nuts and bolts of how to do this reading is that having a strong single card practice is actually phenomenal for readers of every level. So you don't have to think about this as just a newbie practice or a beginner's only kind of practice.

Meg: 2:34

I do single card readings for myself all the time still, because sometimes it's just the most nourishing, joyful practice that I can give to myself. Remember that tarot can be whatever you want it to be, and that includes a tool that just gives you a few minutes to breathe and check into yourself. Every tarot reading doesn't have to be this like massive, soul searching, transformative experience. Sometimes you just need the cards to tell you that, like, you're okay and you're doing a good job and you're going to make it, and those readings are just as special and powerful. So don't minimize the power of a single card reading or think that it's something that you need to try to outgrow. Single card readings are great, all right, I am now going to talk you through the basic steps of how to do your first single card reading, and I want to be really clear here that these are just my suggestions and this is just my basic protocol. You get to do whatever you want. This is in no way a be-all and end-all way to read tarot or the only way that one can read tarot, but if you're getting started, this can kind of give you a basic framework that you can start with and then you can make adjustments as you go, based on what feels good and what works for you.

Meg: 3:41

Personally. At the top of a reading, before I even start digging through my cards, I like to take a minute to decide what you want the reading to be about, and this can mean a specific topic or a really nuanced question, but, especially for your first reading, you might find that it's more helpful to find a more general question that just gives you a chance to start a conversation with your cards. Some of my favorite questions to ask the tarot when I don't have a really specific question or that I think are really great for beginners, are questions like what do I need to know right now, or what's something that I should be paying attention to, or what do you want to talk about today? As in asking the cards themselves, what do you want to talk about today? Lastly, I think it can be really fun to ask what's a card that you think I might find interesting, and let the deck just offer you a card to work with which is less about divination, but can be a more approachable or accessible place to start if you're feeling a little intimidated about your first reading.

Meg: 4:41

Once you've clarified a question and you have in your mind what you want to read about, the next step is mixing the cards together, or shuffling the cards together. Now, there are so many different styles of shuffling and a lot of them are kind of hard to explain verbally. So, rather than stumbling over my words and trying to explain to you different ways to shuffle the cards, I will just say that whatever way you like to shuffle cards is going to be completely fine. You can do riffle shuffles or overhand shuffles. You can put the cards down on a flat surface and mix them up, like when you're playing Go Fish. You can do really anything that's going to work for you and your own particular style, as well as your mobility.

Meg: 5:21

I will also drop in the show notes a couple of YouTube videos in case you want a visual demonstration of different methods for shuffling. I also just want to remind you that if this is your first reading or if you're working with a brand new tarot deck. You want to shuffle these cards really well because they're going to be organized numerologically. I also just want to acknowledge that tarot cards are often bigger than playing cards, so your first shuffles might feel kind of clumsy or awkward, and that is completely normal. I have smaller hands and I still find myself sometimes shuffling in a really sloppy way or cards flying everywhere or getting stuck halfway through the riffle. It's completely fine. You will over time develop more comfort. Your fingers will learn how to stretch to accommodate the size of the cards or you will just develop a shuffling style that works really well for you and the particular card stock and card size that you're working for. So don't be self-conscious if those early shuffles feel a little intense or weird. Now, while you're shuffling and mixing the cards together, think about the question that you're bringing to the cards. Some people like to literally ask the question out loud of the cards while they're mixing them together, while others just hold that question in their minds. And you can do either or both. It's really just a matter of what's most comfortable for you.

Meg: 6:34

Now, the transition from shuffling the deck to drawing a card from the deck is different for everyone. Some people like to take a few minutes to breathe with the cards. Some people like to cut the deck and then stack it back together. Some people like to shuffle for the same number of times before they draw a card, whereas others might just shuffle until the cards feel ready. This is really kind of just an intuitive choice and again, it's something that you will develop over time as you go. So what I like to do is I shuffle the cards until they feel ready I don't count the number of times or always shuffle in the same way and then I cut the deck into three piles before combining them back together. And then I like to put my hands on top of the deck and just take a couple of breaths in and out and just kind of allow myself to step into the reading space. It's just a kind of nice reminder to myself to ground into the space, to clear my mind of any errant thoughts or anxieties and just really be present with the cards.

Meg: 7:33

Some people only read cards that pop out of the deck while shuffling and then others are going to shuffle for a little while and then intentionally choose a card or like draw a card from the top of the deck or the bottom of the deck or even the middle of the deck. If you like to mix your cards on a surface, like you're playing go fish, you can pluck a card just randomly out of the pool. Other people like to hold the deck together and then run it along the top of the surface to form a long line of cards and then pull one out. That way, the sky really is the limit here. So, again, I just want to encourage you to do what feels good for you and to, if you're getting started, to try out different techniques along the way. Experimentation is going to be the name of the game with this, as over time, you will develop a style that feels really natural and comfortable for you.

Meg: 8:19

Now that you have decided what you want the reading to be about, you have mixed the cards and asked the cards your question and then drawn a card as an answer to that question. The only thing left to do is read the card. Obviously, this is easier said than done, and that's why there are so many different books and resources and podcasts and different things that you can use to help you develop your understanding of what the cards are saying and what they're offering and what the different cards mean. But really the reading part of the process is where you bring your own experience and intuition and understanding of the cards into play, and that's really what we're going to be talking about now is how to read that card. There are a lot of different things that can be seen in your tarot cards, and so what I want to do here is not walk you through every single possible way to start reading the card, but it's instead because this is your first reading, or an early reading in your practice offer you some different things that you can look to as you have pulled that first card and are staring at it, perhaps in excitement, or perhaps in nervousness or anticipation.

Meg: 9:19

The first thing you want to do is identify what the card is and, depending on your familiarity with tarot, sometimes that might take a few minutes. That's completely fine. Once you've identified it, start to ask yourself what do you see in the card? What is being depicted? What is the literal image on the face of the card? Look at movements, look at colors, look at textures and really think about what the card is communicating with the visual language of its imagery.

Meg: 9:45

Another thing you can do, especially if you're a little bit more familiar with the structure of the deck is to consider where this card fits within the context of the tarot itself. Is it a major arcana card or is it a minor arcana card? Is it one of the numbered pips or is it a court card? Is this a card that lives at the beginning of a cycle or sequence, or is this a card that lives in the middle or even at the end? What does this card bring to the table? How does it serve the story that it lives within? What moment is it capturing?

Meg: 10:15

If you're newer to the tarot, you might not know the answers to that question, and that's completely fine. Instead, you can consider what feeling does it bring? What does it activate within you? What do you feel in your body and your mind and your heart when you look at this card? There are a lot of specific things that you can look to when you're reading a tarot card, including correspondences like numbers, elements, planets, zodiacal signs, herbs, colors, movements or anything else, as well as keywords that might either stem from those correspondences or exist within a particular tarot tradition. You can also consider definitions that might have emerged from your own experience, emotions or reactions that bubble up intuitive ideas that might pop into your mind when you look at the card, as well as things like song lyrics or movements or poetry, smells or tastes or other kinds of embodied experiences. And, of course, if you have tarot books or tarot resources at your disposal, you might also like to flip to this card within your guidebook and see what other tarot creators and writers and teachers have shared about this card, in particular, what they have observed. However, I would encourage you, before you start diving into other resources, to at least take a beat and consider what this card is saying to you in this moment.

Meg: 11:32

How is the card responding to the question that you asked? What might it be giving you in terms of an answer? Understanding what the card is and some basic general meanings of the card is really just the first step. Beyond that, it's really about understanding what the tarot is trying to communicate with you as a response to your question, and that is something that often takes a little bit more practice. But in considering what your question is, really think about it as a conversation.

Meg: 12:01

Think about, if you asked a friend the question that you asked and your friend answered with the general vibe and energy and meanings of the card, what that might look like, for example, if you asked the cards what's something that I should be paying attention to today? And you drew the Ace of Wands, which is a card that often represents a flash of inspiration or a new creative beginning, this might say that you should pay attention to any brainstorming that you do or flashes of excitement or joy or energy that you might feel. If you feel the stirrings of some new creative ambition or passion project or something that feels like it's igniting within you, that could be something to pay attention to as you move through your day. Whereas if you asked a question like what do I need to know today and pulled an archetype like the high priestess, it might indicate that a really big choice is on the horizon or is already coming to you. The high priestess is an archetype that's often associated with listening to what lives within you and really honoring your own experience and magic. So, as something to know today or as something to know right now, this could really indicate that you have an opportunity to be really true to yourself in a specific way and that, if a decision pops up that is important for you to take your time in making, you have a chance to really choose a path forward that is representative of your own values and desires.

Meg: 13:24

Remember that how you read the cards not just how you formulate questions and mix the cards and draw the cards, but also how you interpret them really is up to you. This is the part that takes time and this is the part that so many resources really dig into in a big way Learning to build the routine with your cards, but also understanding which aspects of the cards hold the most meaning for you. Learning to read tarot is really about learning to speak the language of tarot in your own unique way and building a rapport with the cards that allows you to trust the information that comes forward and build a dynamic relationship with the deck that you're holding, so that you can really communicate with one another about what's going on and what you are looking for in terms of support or advice or encouragement. We're going to shift gears now, and I want to just give you a few quick tips on how to get started if you want to book a tarot reading with a professional, especially if it's your first one, I want to just acknowledge here that tarot readings or readings of any kind these tips are not going to be just limited to tarot readings, readings of any kind with spiritual or occult practitioners are often a big investment. So I want to just encourage you to take your time with this process.

Meg: 14:36

I know sometimes, when we decide to treat ourselves to a reading or when we feel like that's going to be something that we really need, there can be this internal rush to go as quickly as possible to just find someone who can help us and book as soon as we possibly can. But take it from me taking the time to really assess a reader and find someone who truly aligns with your needs and preferences is going to make, for a way, better experience for you and for the reader. And before you start digging into specific readers, I would encourage you to take a few moments to consider what it is you want from your reading. What are you craving? What are you looking for? What would your ideal experience be?

Meg: 15:12

Think about if you want support or encouragement, if you're trying to have help making a decision or a choice, if you want advice on a messy situation, if you're feeling stuck or lost and could use some direction, or if you're eager to learn more about an aspect of self or explore your relationship with a particular card, an archetype, a birth card, a deity, a planet or something else. Also, think about what kind of format you best receive information in. There are a lot of different kinds of readings, from everything from like a live reading, where you're literally going to sit down with someone in person, to all sorts of different remote options. You can do digital video calls, phone calls, written readings or recorded readings. So think about which ones feel like the best options for you and which ones would still work versus which ones might be just an absolute. No, like you really want to be able to set yourself up for success here and book the kind of reading that you are going to be able to best absorb and understand. It can also be really helpful, before you dig into individuals, to think about what makes you the most comfortable with a reader.

Meg: 16:14

Do you want to work with someone that shares an aspect of your own identity, like race or culture or sexual identity? Do you want to work with someone that has similar values or ethics or political leanings or even just personality traits, and are any of those things deal breakers? For example, I don't need all of the people I read with to be queer and gender nonconforming and disabled like I am, but I do prefer to know that we share values, that we might share similar ideologies or believe in similar things. For me, that's just a safety thing. It makes it easier for me to really be present in the reading and not be worried about this person judging me or saying something that might hurt my feelings. Also, do you want to work with someone who specifically focuses on tarot, or do you like a blend of modalities or a blend of tools? Do you want someone who definitely possesses some kind of psychic gifts, or is that not important to you? Each of these things is going to bring a different flavor to the reading, so just take some time and think about what you'd like.

Meg: 17:08

Once you've really clarified what it is you want, start by looking to tarot readers whose work writing classes, books, podcasts or any other things that they're putting out into the world you enjoy. That's a really helpful way to immediately understand who someone is and what they're about. And what they're about. Check out their website, see if they're open for readings and, if not, keep looking around. That could be someone that you might want to bookmark for later. But don't DM or message readers and beg them to take you. If they're not accepting readings right now. You can look at where that reader hangs out and look at who they're in relationship with, who they talk with, who they recommend, and that could give you a place to go as well.

Meg: 17:51

Once you've found a couple of readers that you think could be a good fit and that are also open for readings, do a deeper dive on those different readers. Explore their websites, check out their social media presence and see what communities they're a part of. See what their deal is and again, you want to take your time with this part you really do want to find someone that you're excited about working with. Look at their general reading philosophies, as well as their policies around bookings, and make sure all of that works for you. Also, check out their social media and digital presences. See who they talk to, see how they handle themselves, see what they're into, how they speak and, again, just their general vibe.

Meg: 18:18

Social media is only ever a part of someone's puzzle, and so just because they're really sarcastic on their online presence, like I am, doesn't mean that that's how they're going to be in readings. But social media can at least give you a sense of how that person might feel in a reading and you can make sure that you like the way that they talk and just like the general feeling that you have from the things that they share online. If all of that looks good, then take a look at the services that they offer and see if any of them are a good fit in terms of both subject matter and delivery method. And I want to just encourage you here if you aren't sure which of their services might be best for you, if a couple different readings look really cool and you can't decide look to see what their preferred method of communication is, if they like email, if they like DMs, etc. And then reach out to them and just ask.

Meg: 19:02

This doesn't have to be a long message. You don't need to give them your life story. Usually just a couple sentences are fine, but most readers are going to be very happy to help you figure out which of their services is the best fit. I know that this might sound like a lot of overkill, but truly it really is worth taking the time to find a reader that you are excited to work with, who offers something that you can't wait to receive and that is going to give you the kind of support that you want. And a good reader is going to tell you how to prepare for the reading, what to bring and how to take care of yourself through it.

Meg: 19:32

All right, I know this has been a bit of a long episode, but I always like to wrap up with a tip or a trick. So I just want to say that, as you're starting out with your readings, I think it can often feel like you have to try to figure out the right way to ask questions, to have to try to figure out the right way to ask questions, to shuffle, to draw a card and to read, and so let me just be a voice in your ear reminding you that there is no right way. There's just the way that works for you. Try out different styles of questions, try out different methods for shuffling and pulling, and try out different techniques like reversals, clarifying cards or multi-card readings. I will have episodes on all of these things down the line. As you are experimenting and testing out different things, make sure you acknowledge to yourself which new thing or technique you're going to try before you start the reading.

Meg: 20:15

Be deliberate and methodical about this. You don't want to just be shuffling and then decide you're going to read jumpers this time, because a card that you like jumps out, or decide that you're going to read reversals because a card that scares you came out reversed. You really want to be thoughtful about this and do it in a way that is going to help you build a practice as well as trust yourself in your readings and again, eventually these techniques are going to become as natural and as easeful as anything else that you do and care about on a regular basis. That's all I have for you, but, as always, thank you so much for spending this time with me, and I will be back soon with more Card Talk. Card Talk is committed to staying ad free for everyone, which is possible thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. To pledge your monthly support or make a one-time donation, click the link in the show notes. You can also find episode transcripts, more about me and additional tarot resources through my website, 3amtarotcom. See you next time.