Frequently asked questions about tarot

When you start out with tarot, you have questions, and they are usually the same ones. Here are the fourteen most common, each answered in a few sentences. You can read them in order or jump straight to the one that is on your mind right now. If you want to go deeper afterwards, the other articles in this series will take you further.

The basics

Can tarot predict the future?

No. Tarot doesn’t show you what will happen, but how you are looking at your situation right now, what you are overlooking and which possibilities lie within you. That sounds like less, but it is worth more: the future depends to a large extent on what you do next, and that is exactly where the cards help. Anyone who promises predictions is selling you a certainty that nobody has.

Do I have to believe in something for tarot to work?

No. You don’t have to believe in fate, in energies or in any doctrine. Tarot works through images that get you thinking, and they do that regardless of your worldview. Only one attitude is useful: being willing to look honestly and to accept uncomfortable answers too. Scepticism is no obstacle here. Some of the best readers are decidedly down-to-earth people.

Does online tarot work just like physical cards?

Yes, with one difference in the hand, not in the result. With physical cards, it is the moment you cut the deck or reach for a card that decides. On tarotlicht.de, it is the moment you stop the reel or tap a card in the circle. The randomness for this is generated directly in your browser, not on a server, and nothing you ask or draw is saved. What you miss out on is shuffling with your own hands. What you gain: the cards are always with you.

What is the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana?

The 22 Major Arcana (The Fool to The World) are the big themes of a life: setting out, trials, loss, transformation, arrival. In a reading, they indicate that something carries weight and can’t be cut short. The 56 Minor Arcana, in four suits, describe the concrete: the situation at work, the conversation, the worry about money. They are the fabric of everyday life in which the big themes show themselves. A good reading needs both.

In practice

How often can I do a reading?

As often as you can still make use of the answer afterwards. A card of the day in the morning, a bigger reading when you have a real question: that is a healthy rhythm. If you do readings several times a day, you are usually no longer looking for insight but for reassurance, and in the long run the cards can’t give you that. A good test: did you write down your last reading and think about it? If not, read the old one first before you do a new one.

Can I ask the same question more than once?

Laying out the same question a second time on the same day gets you nowhere; you are then looking for a more pleasant answer, not a better one. What does make sense is asking again after a few weeks, once something has changed, and comparing the two readings. Just as useful: a follow-up question that builds on the first reading. If you don’t like an answer, write it down and read it again in three days. Often it was exactly right.

What if a “bad” card comes up?

Then look more closely. There are no bad cards, but there are uncomfortable ones: Death, The Tower, the Ten of Swords. They describe farewell, collapse, rock bottom, and you almost always know straight away which area of your life is meant. That isn’t a threat but a naming. Read the whole image: most of these cards already contain the next step in the background, the bright horizon, the rising sun. And ask yourself what in you may be allowed to end.

Can I read for other people?

Yes, with care. Only read for others if they want it themselves and are present. Not behind their backs, not about third parties (“What does my ex feel?”), not on health, legal or money matters. Your task then isn’t to announce answers but to ask questions: what do you see on this card? Where do you recognise that? The other person reads their own spread; you just hold up the mirror. And whatever was discussed stays between the two of you.

What is a card of the day?

A single card that you draw in the morning, with the question: what should I pay attention to today? It is the smallest spread and the best one for learning, because you have the whole day to compare its image with what actually happens. In the evening you look at it again: where did you come across it? Two sentences in your notebook, done. Keep that up for three months and you’ll have learned more than from any book.

Which spread is right for me?

The smallest one that can carry your question. For orientation in the morning, one card. For a theme with a before and an after, three cards. For a choice between two paths, the Decision spread; for a connection, the Relationship spread. The Celtic Cross, with its ten positions, is meant for big, tangled questions and takes practice. The Year Ahead suits a birthday or the turn of the year. You’ll find all eight spreads under Spreads, each with its position questions.

Decks and learning

Does a tarot deck have to be a gift?

No. That is a legend that probably dates from a time when tarot cards were hard to come by and a deck really was usually passed on. Buy the deck that appeals to you and start using it. A relationship with the cards grows through looking at them and using them, not through the way they came to you. If someone gives you one, that’s lovely, but it isn’t a must.

Which deck is good for beginners?

The Waite-Smith tarot of 1909, or one of the many decks built on its images. The reason is practical: it is the classic deck in which all 78 cards show a scene, including the number cards. So you can interpret from the image instead of memorising meanings. Almost all books, courses and websites refer to it. If you can read with it, you’ll later find your way around almost any other deck.

How do I learn the 78 cards?

Not by memorising them. Draw a card every day, look at it before you read anything about it, and in the evening write down in two sentences where you came across it during the day. Alongside that, learn the grid: four elements, ten numbers, four court roles. With that, you can work out the Minor Arcana for yourself. The 22 Major Arcana are best learned as a story, as the Fool’s Journey from 0 to 21. After three months you’ll know most of the deck.

Are reversed cards compulsory?

No. Many experienced readers work without them, because every upright card already contains its shadow side and the position in the spread takes care of the rest. If you’d like to use them, don’t read a reversed card as the opposite but as blocked, excessive or turned inwards. On tarotlicht.de, reversed cards are an option you can switch on before drawing; by default, all cards appear upright. Start without them and expand later.

Still have questions? The card dictionary explains every single card, and if you’d rather get started straight away: draw a card and see what it brings up for you.