Have a hard time reading Tarot for yourself? Want to learn how to go trust your own intuition? This technique will help with both!
INTRO
Tarot cards are a great tool for getting intuitive messages. Their rich history combined with the myriad of beautiful artful decks make it an ideal tool for giving intuitive psychic readings. But sometimes Tarot card readers tell me they struggle with doing readings for themselves or with learning to go beyond the traditional meanings of the cards and find deeper intuitive insight. And it can sometimes be a challenge to read for yourself because it is difficult to separate your thoughts and feelings from your intuition.
The following technique is an excellent way to get accurate readings for yourself, learn to develop & trust your intuitive abilities, and to enhance your experience with Tarot. It works because you are going to get the answer before you consciously even know the question! (Note, I was partially inspired to create this technique by expanding on concepts in the book “Practical Intuition” by Laura Day which I highly recommend).
Try the technique with these three simple steps and you might be amazed at how accurately you can give yourself a psychic Tarot reading!
STEP 1 – MAKE YOUR QUESTIONS
The first step in this process is to create a list of questions or subjects about which you might want intuitive information. You will re-use this list for a number of weeks or months, so take some time to create or add to your list until you have at least 14 items on it. There is a reason that will become clear later as to why 14 is the magic number, but don’t read ahead until you’ve made your list.
These are your questions and subjects so the only rule is to phrase questions so they are not simply “yes” or “no” questions. Here is an example of some good questions:
1. What should I know about my love life?
2. What holds me back in my career right now?
3. Where should I travel this year?
4. What is most important for me to focus on this week?
5. What should I know about my health?
6. How should I approach my relationship with _____?
7. What is one thing I will encounter today that I should be aware of?
8. What should I know about my life’s purpose?
9. When is the best time to take some time off work?
10. How does ______ see me right now?
11. What can I focus on now to become happier?
12. Why can’t I seem to find the right romantic partner?
13. What lesson do I need to remember to not repeat past mistakes?
14. How can I best be of service to others?
Feel free to use some of these if they resonate with you, or choose your own. But ideally do not read ahead until you have listed 14 questions. It is important to number them, too, although the order is unimportant.
STEP 2 – INTUITIVE IMPRESSIONS
You may be wondering in this step what this all has to do with Tarot, but I promise we’ll get back that later! For now, you’re just going to do a fun exercise to tap into your intuition. Don’t worry if you feel like you are not intuitive enough. Everyone has intuitive ability but if you are unsure, just play along even if you feel like you are just using your imagination.
Get into whatever relaxed state you would normally get into to do a Tarot reading. For many, this would be after meditating or just creating a relaxing atmosphere with deep breathing, lighting candles, etc. Calm your mind. (Hint – I have some great tips for doing this if you are not used to it). Close your eyes. Take as many deep breaths as you need to feel relaxed and open. This may be just a few breaths or it may take several minutes. Whatever feels right to you in the moment. Trust that you’ll know when you are ready.
As you continue to feel more calm with each breath, begin to see what images (or sounds) pop into your head. If you are not used to this, your first instinct will likely be to dismiss whatever you see as stupid or just your imagination. Don’t do that!!! Maybe you’ll initially see just a shape or a color. Or something that seems crazy or nonsensical like a monkey with a chainsaw or a person being shot from a slingshot. That’s ok, just treat this as a game and allow yourself to see whatever comes without judgment.
If you see only a color or shape, try to gently ask for some details. Maybe that yellow color reminds you of a duck. Or that triangle is really a pyramid. The key is to trust yourself and allow whatever comes to come without trying to explain it, interpret it, or dismiss it.
If you are really stuck or too intimidated to “see” or “hear” anything in your head, instead of waiting for images to appear open your eyes and look out a window or into the room. Allow yourself to focus on something. What are you drawn to most? Maybe your eyes are drawn to a tree. Just allow yourself to be drawn deeply into whatever catches your eye. Maybe it is remarkable that the tree top is almost a perfect circle. Or that the branches look like they’ve been cut too short. Or that it stands out as being unique among the trees around it.
Write down whatever you see.
STEP 3 – INTERPRET WITH TAROT
Now the fun part. First, realize what you did in Step 2 was receive direct intuitive information without the use of any tools! You just tapped directly into your intuition. And guess what? You just got the answer to one of your questions from Step 1! You may not yet know what it means, but that is where the Tarot cards come into play.
Now, we’re simply going to use two Tarot cards to help you interpret and trust that intuitive information. Go ahead and shuffle the cards and choose two.
The first card you choose will be strictly to get a number that tells you to which question your intuitive impressions from step two pertains. The reason we chose 14 questions is because there are 14 cards in each of the suits in Tarot. The number on this first card will tell you which question the intuitive info you received pertains to. So an Ace means the answer is to your first question, a two is an answer to your question number two, etc. If you get a court card, you can use them as follows: page = 11, knight = 12, queen = 13, king = 14. If you get a Major Arcana card, use its number as well. If you draw one higher than the number 14, you can simply re-draw another card to keep it simple.
The second card you chose will be used to enhance and interpret the intuitive impression. Here is where you’ll bring whatever techniques and knowledge you are familiar with regarding Tarot reading to help you understand and interpret the intuitive impression you received and relate it back to your question. Use your own intuition, or if you’re new to Tarot you can look look up the meaning of the card.
See my example below for putting all the steps together…
EXAMPLE
So I’m going to do this technique for myself right now and show you how it is done.
For Step 1, I’ll just use the sample questions I created above.
For Step 2, the image that I see is a large red ball. I am bouncing it and someone else is catching it and then bouncing it back. This repeats and I do it for others. We are all having a lot of fun. “Having a ball!”. More and more people join in and bounce the ball back to me and sometimes amongst themselves. This feels very good and very positive.
For Step 3, the first card I draw is King of Hearts (Cups). This means my intuitive image was answering my question #14: How can I best be of service to others? The second card I draw is the Ace of Wands and I will use the meaning of that card to pull everything together. So here is how I would interpret it all.
So for me, a big ball represents fun, playfulness, and completeness (circle). I am the one bouncing it and starting the game so it is about me initiating something. The ball is big so it is at least somewhat important to me or to others. The color red to me means passion but also practical and down to earth. And since others are bouncing the ball back playfully which means people are responding to what I am putting out there. And I think the bouncing just means being playful as opposed to throwing directly which would be a bit more intense.
Now I interpret the Ace of Wands in this deck to be about initiating a new creative project or idea about which I am passionate. The message I get here is to not hesitate and to move forward, put it out there.
So bottom line, I believe this sample reading for myself is about, appropriately enough, sharing this technique with all of you! It is something fun, but practical. And I would very much enjoy sharing it with others and getting their feedback. This is definitely a new creative project that would be very fulfilling to me if it caught on and inspired others. Sometimes I tinker with blog posts for weeks or months, but I’m inspired by the Ace of Wands to take action on it now. And it certainly seems like it could fit my question #14 because I could feel like I was being of service to people by helping them learn a playful way to tap into and trust their own intuition!
So I’m trusting my intuition and finishing this blog post today to put it out there so everyone can “have a ball” with this technique!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The reason this tends to work so well for a self-reading is because you don’t know in advance about which question you will receive intuitive answers. That way, you know the intuitive information that comes is pure because your ego is not thinking in advance of an answer you hope (or fear) to see! But your intuitive / subconscious already knows what is coming so you can find it much easier to trust the information you receive from your Higher Self.
I hope you enjoyed this technique. I think you’ll find it is an ideal way to overcome concerns about reading for yourself as well as a fun method to use Tarot to help unlock and trust other intuitive techniques like clairvoyance.
I’d love to hear your feedback (bounce that red ball back my way or to others!) so let me know what you think in the comments below, on Facebook, or Twitter, etc.
With Deepest Gratitude,
~Tim Thomas
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