5 Simple Steps to Reading Tarot More Intuitively

Hi friends!!

If you’ve ever tried your hand at reading tarot (even for yourself) and become frustrated by how much you rely on books or Google, I have the perfect little guide to kickstart your intuition on another path when it comes to reading cards!

I’m super excited to share these tips with you!!

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Put Down Your Tarot Books

I know y’all are gonna be mad at me for this one, but I’m serious! If you continue to rely on books or the internet as a crutch while you’re learning, you’ll never develop connection to and trust in your own intuition.

You don’t have to GET RID of your books, but I’d recommend putting them under your bed (or somewhere annoying to get to) while you’re doing readings, for now.

Read those books, sure, but not when you’re not in the middle of doing a reading!

When you’re reading cards, your focus should be on looking at the card and connecting to the energy of the card itself. Pulling out your book (or your phone to check Biddy Tarot) creates a reliance these resources.

You have to cut the reliance at some point in order to really develop your reading. The sooner the better.

The cards in front of you are beings in their own right – an object, entity, whatever, with its own spiritual energies. How will you ever connect with that if you have your face in a book? It’s like going on a date with someone and staring at their Bumble profile on your phone instead of looking up and engaging with them as they are right in front of you.

Step 2: Throw Fear Out the Window

Afraid of being wrong? Too bad! At the early stage of learning tarot, if you’re too afraid of being ‘wrong’ about what a card means when you journal about how you interpret each card, you’ll continue to cut yourself off from your intuitive skills. I’ve heard from new learners that they’re scared of being wrong even if they’re just reading alone, for themselves on their bed, with no one around to even know what’s going on!

Stop judging yourself. Take the leap and be willing to commit (on paper, in an audio recording, in your head) to a meaning or series of meanings for a card you draw. There are no wrong impressions, only wrong interpretations, and at the early stage of learning how to connect with intuition, we don’t wanna stop the flow of impressions – we’d like to encourage it.

Step 3: Know What Type of Intuitive You Are

We all have different ways of connecting with our intuition.

For some of us we’re really good at ‘hearing’ spirits, others of us see them in our minds eye, and others of us get little tingly feelings on our skin. Tarot is an especially powerful tool for folks who have skill in clairvoyance (clear seeing), claircognizance (clear knowing), and clairsentience (clear feeling).

If you’re clairsentient, see what sensations you receive from the cards, and focus on that as a way of getting to know them. If you tend to receive intuitive messages more through hearing things, as you connect with each card pay attention to what words/sounds you hear in your head.

Do some research on the ‘clairs’ (more on this is in my course!) and see what suits your skillset. It’s best to lean into what you’re good at and the easiest ways for you to connect, rather than stifling your intuition by trying to force yourself to connect to the cards in a way that just doesn’t feel natural for you.

Step 4: Set Up Your Space

Ever tried to concentrate on reading tarot cards in a loud and crowded bar with a million people shouting at each other?

Well, I have! I can now read tarot anywhere in any environment with success, but it wasn’t always that way for me. When I was a beginner at connecting to my intuition with the cards, it really helped me to create a special sacred space in an environment that I knew would help me more easily access my intuition.

For me, this was dim lights, strong incense, candles all around me, often on my bed or somewhere similarly cozy. Maybe with a cup of tea and a heating pad, or a snuggly blanket. I’d put my devices on silent and ask whoever I was living with not to interrupt me for an hour or two.

When I was learning and honing my skills, creating an environment where the whole purpose was to trigger intuitive connection was a huge boon for me in learning to develop my skills.

Now, I can read anywhere, but it wasn’t always that way! If you’re new to intuitive work, see what you can do to minimize distractions, keep yourself focused and relaxed, in a space where you feel most susceptible and open to intuitive messages and connection.

Step 5: Embrace The Flow State

Lean into your intuition and don’t block it.

Intuition is blocked by judgement, fear, anxiety, overthinking.

Let all of that go.

Remember, no one’s watching you.

Learning tarot is something you’re doing for YOU. Let go of any need or desire to be perfect or get it right on the first try. All of that stuff leads to massive tension in the body. Instead, relax, breathe into it, let the messages you receive from your intuition unfurl from your being.

When I was learning, I would write about each card stream of consciousness style in my journal, for as long as I could. I didn’t cross anything out or reread while I was writing. For you, it may feel better to make audio recordings of your interpretations, as records of your tarot journey. Either way, externalize your interpretation somehow, and don’t stop!

If we stay in our head when we learn and don’t record our impressions and messages, it’s easy to get caught in a weird spiral of forgetting and anxiety. Also, if we don’t actually make a record, no one will know if we got the meaning wrong – so throw this fear out the window and lean into some kind of externalizing flow. Make a record.

Tarot is a creative, artistic process in many ways. If we are learning to draw and scribble out our sketch because we hate it and we think it’s bad, it’s an easy way to stop our creative flow and intuition before we even get going.

I hope that helped!

What are your biggest challenges when trying to connect with your intuition?

Let me know how I can support you!