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♠️♦️How to Divine Using Playing Cards ♥️♣️
♥️HEARTS♥️
♥️Ace: home or close environment. Could represent a visit, travel or a change of address.
♥️King: an influencial man, someone who has the power or ability to do something good for the querent. Money, wealth, success in love.
♥️Queen: A trusted woman. Someone knowledgeable and faithful. One who always plays fair. Trust, honesty, friendship.
♥️Jack: A good friend to the querent, someone close, a cousin or confidant, someone they have known for a long time. Friendship, relationships (usually family-related), and gathering or celebration.
♥️10: A good card: means good luck, can counteract bad cards around it.
♥️9: Harmony, prosperity. Also known as ‘the Wish Card’. If surrounded by bad cards, these can represent obstacles that need to be dealt with in order to get the fulfillment of the wish.
♥️8: An event, a celebration, a party/wedding ..etc. Some sort of ceremony that is already in the works, or is being planned.
♥️7: A card of disappointent. Usually indicates a partner or other person failing to keep their promises. If this card comes up when dealing with some sort of plan, expect that the other person will back out.
♥️6: Warning card. Someone may try to take advantage of the querent. Also, the querent is being used by a close friend or partner.
♥️5: Indecisiveness: The querent’s inability to make up his/her mind on a subject. A tendency to make and break plans with others.
♥️4: The bachelor/old maid card. This card represent someone who is too fussy in their selection of a partner. Someone who, by their picky nature, is destined to remain alone.
♥️3: An unwise decision, made in haste and without proper background information.
♥️2: Success, often beyond the querent’s expectations. If bad cards surround, there may be delays in reaching the goal.
♣️CLUBS♣️
♣️Ace: Indicates wealth, fame, and having many friends or acquaintances. Also feeling well known and being able to receive certain perks due to good looks or social status.
♣️King: Represents a very good friend. A lifelong companion, someone who can be trusted and counted on during times of need and sorrow.
♣️Queen: Represents a wife or girlfriend in long term relationship for a man. For a woman, represents a sister or good friend, someone who shares a lot of knowledge about the querent.
♣️Jack: Represents a good friend, one who uses a lot of flattery, but only to make the other person feel better. Someone who is good at cheering the querent up.
♣️10 :A card of happiness and good fortune. Can also represent a long and fun-filled journey.
♣️9: Trouble: Represents arguments with good friends. A loss of a relationship, a dispute that will remain unresolved.
♣️8: A sense of desperation. An urgent need for money.
♣️7: A card of good luck, if other favorable cards are around. Success if there is not interference from the opposite sex.
♣️6: A partnership card. Success based on mutual goals and friendship.
♣️5: A marriage card, or the beginning of a long standing alliance.
♣️4: A danger card, showing misfortune or failure. Supposed friends getting in the way, or turning against the querent.
♣️3: A sign of a second marriage or even a third. Or an engagement with someone, then a marriage with another, after a friendly separation.
♣️2: Bad luck. Being let down by those around. Opposition from friends and family. Do not count on others.
♦️DIAMONDS♦️
♦️Ace: an important message. A letter or package/gift arriving, the contents of which are very important.
♦️King: A bitter rival, a dangerous competitor, for women it can mean an abusive man or a deceitful lover.
♦️Queen: A flirtatious woman, one who will interfere in plans. Gossipy, very attractive to males..able to get away with things and interfere in situations.
♦️Jack: A bringer of bad news. A selfish person. Not dangerous to male querents, but problems for a female one.
♦️10: Money. Money being the driving force of a journey or partnership. Greed.
♦️9: Adventure: A move in the hopes of advancement.
♦️8: Country life, travel and marriage late in life. The querent’s life is too hectic at the moment..a need to settle down and get away..but being unable to do so at the present time.
♦️7: Bad luck on an enterprise or idea. A man who is unreliable, a gambler or drinker.
♦️6: An early marriage, but an unhappy one..and one not destined to last. A second marriage would also be unhappy.
♦️5: Prosperity, long enduring friendship. Pride in family. Success with children.
♦️4: Quarrels: Forgotten or neglected friends and family. Situations that have been brewing and now come to a head.
♦️3: A card of disputes and quarrels. Lawsuits, legal actions. A sign of separation or divorce.
♦️2: A serious love affair, resulting in a marriage or interfering with one depending on surrounding cards.
♠️SPADES♠️
♠️Ace: Bad news, loss of someone close, possible death to someone near, or an illness, miscarriage, etc.
♠️King: A man who will cause problems in marriage or relationships. One who will get in the middle, divide and conquer..and then destroy.
♠️Queen: A cruel woman, one who interferes. For women, a betrayal by a good friend. For men, a woman who will use them for their own gain.
♠️Jack: A person who hangs around and gets in the way. Not a bad person, but a lazy person. One who will get in the way of progress. Takes and takes, but does not give back anything.
♠️10: A very unlucky card. If near a good card, it can cancel it out. If found with bad cards, makes them twice as bad.
♠️9: The worst card of all: Illness, loss of money, or misery. Even among the best of cards. Defeat, lack of success:
♠️8: False friends, traitors, someone who will betray. Most of the trouble can be avoided if caught early on. Examine all relationships closely.
♠️7: Sorrow and quarrels. Avoid arguments with friends. Let them “win” for now.
♠️6: Much planning but little result. Hard work, without much profit. Discouragements.
♠️5: Success in business or love, after much time and hard work.
♠️4: Minor misfortune: A short illness, a temporary setback.
♠️3: Unhappiness: Misfortune in love or marriage. A loss of pride and hope. Do not dwell, move on in life.
♠️2: A complete and forced change. Sudden change of location, relationship or a death. Bound to make a big difference in the coming months.
GENERALLY: ♥️HEARTS: Emotional, symbols of pain and suffering.
♣️CLUBS: Friends, relationships.
♦️DIAMONDS: Difficulties, money problems.
♠️SPADES: Warnings.
TAROT TIPS for Beginners
There’s a lot of tip posts out there but I thought I’d just post a few of my own. These work if you’re just getting started or just thinking about getting started.
Finding the deck for you
IT IS NOT BAD LUCK TO BUY YOUR OWN DECK! Please, it’s alright, and it doesn’t have to be new either. Take your time, shop online and/or offline at local book stores or metaphysical shops, find the deck that really calls to you and buy it. DO NOT steal a deck. I shouldn’t have to tell you that it’s immoral (especially when it comes to taking from shops that are probably struggling to stay afloat) but it’s also illegal. If you still feel weary of buying your own deck, have a supportive friend or family member buy it for you.
Shop around for your deck, there are lots of places to look. I could provide you links but honestly, google is your friend.
Don’t feel pressured to get a standard Rider-Waite over a stylized one. Get whatever speaks to you. Tarot is very visual, and so if the visuals on the cards don’t speak to you, you’ll have a harder time reading the cards. A standard RW deck will fit more book definitions and imagery, but by no means is it the deck you *have* to start off with.
So you have a deck, now what?
First thing you’re going to want to do is charge and cleanse your deck. What do I mean by charge? To charge is to attune the deck to your personal energy. You can do this many different ways:
Leave the deck under your bed/pillow for a few nights (I have never done this, sounds uncomfortable, but w/e floats your boat.)
Leave it on your altar with some personal items/crystals/trinkets for a night or two.
Wrap it in a cloth or place it in a bag or box of your choosing, maybe add some personal items or touches and leave it there for a little while, maybe carry it in your purse or bag, whatever feels right.
Once it’s charged/attune you’ll be ready to give it some good shuffles and start reading. If you bought it used or you think it might have been handled a lot before you got it, you’ll want to cleanse it. Cleansing is great before you charge it to get rid of any lingering energies or in-between readings to keep it fresh. You can do this a few different ways:
For a light cleanse pass the cards through some incense smoke. Lot of people ask, which kind of incense? And honestly, I’m sure there are people that will tell you a certain one is better than another, but I just use whatever I feel like using.
For a medium cleanse use the incense and then leave the deck out (on your altar or dresser for example) with some quarts crystal on top of it. Quarts is great for absorbing negative energies.
For a heavy duty cleanse (and keep in mind, I’ve only had to do this once), use the incense, then place the deck on a plate or flat surface with the quartz on top. Then put a salt circle around the deck (around the edges of the plate, try not to get too much on your cards since salt may damage them.) How long you leave it there is up to you. You might want to give it another pass through incense afterwords and re-attune it to your energy again.
All charged and ready to go, what now?
START READING. Shuffle cut and deal, my witches. It’s as simple as that. If you want to read the booklet that came with your deck (most do, but not all) then go for it. (If it didn’t include a booklet, you can easily find the information online for free.) You might find some test spreads in that book. By all means, try them out! But don’t feel trapped by using spreads–free styling is good too!
Read for yourself and anyone that will let you. Do a morning reading to see what your day will be like, or ask any question you feel like. Do readings for your friends and family! Practice practice practice!
Don’t be afraid of getting it “wrong”! Even people (like me) who have been reading Tarot for years get stumped on the meanings of the cards sometimes or misread the message they were trying to send. It’s okay!
Follow your gut. Your intuition is what will help you read the cards way better than just memorizing the meanings you found in a book or online. It takes time to trust that gut feeling though, so don’t be hard on yourself if you struggle in the beginning.
Record your readings! Be sure to include what you asked, what deck you used, what the book says it meant, and what you think it means. It’s great to go back (sometime later) and see how you were right or if the cards meant something else.
Take it one card at a time. Tarot has a lot of cards, each card is full of dozens of meanings and interpretation. It’s daunting at first, so start slow, one card at a time. You could pull a card daily to study, or just go in order. While you study traditional/book meanings, make sure to leave room in your notes for your own thoughts and feelings about each card. There is no right or wrong way to read a card.
Having trouble narrowing down the meaning of the card? I see a lot of beginners struggle with this part, and I don’t blame them. There are a few things that will help you narrow it down. First is what was the context of your question? How can it apply to the situation you were inquiring about can help narrow it down. Taking into consideration the cards around it may also help (assuming you pulled more. If you didn’t, some people pull a clarifying card, which is another card to help narrow down the answer.) If all that still has you stumped, write it down and come back to it later, it may come to you.
Patience is a virtue. Time is your friend in tarot, especially when it comes to growing, understanding, and learning. There will come a time when you need to step away from Tarot, and that’s okay. Give yourself time to understand it, and know that as soon as you think you’ve “got it figured out”, the cards will always come back to surprise you.
I hope these tips helped. Like I said, there are a lot of great tip posts out there that go into more detail. A search through the #tarot tag should help! Best wishes! <3
Polishing Up a Reading
This is how I personally do readings when I’m being fancy. I’m not saying your way is wrong.
INTRODUCE yourself. “Hi, nice to meet you! Thank you for letting me read for you today!”
DISCLAIM if you need to do this in order to feel comfortable. “Just as a reminder, this reading, as with all readings, should be taken in context of your personal experiences and with a grain of salt.”
RESTATE their question, especially if you had to slightly alter the wording to fit your method of divination. “I am reading for the question, ‘what will my love life be like next month?‘”
INTRODUCE your reading. “Today I drew for you three cards…” “Today I cast these fives stones…” etc.
NARRATE your interpretations. “The Lovers card means you will have a healthy and fruitful romantic life in the upcoming month!”
DESCRIBE what about your tools helped draw you to this interpretation. This adds an extra layer of depth to any reading. “I was especially drawn to how the Lovers are holding hands, with a dove over them.” “I noted the close proximity of the Fehu rune to the Isa rune, which…”
SUPPORT your reading with the holy trinity: Intuition, Appearance, and Book Knowledge. Allow your intuition to flow forth and unite your spread in to a coherent narrative. Read the spread as it lies before you. Research extra textbook meanings to ensure nothing is missed.
SUMMARIZE your entire spread in to a paragraph. Hit your main points, reiterate the important messages, and give your querent a bite-sized takeaway of the entire reading. I believe summarizing is important even for one card, one rune, etc., spreads.
good questions to ask tarot
in my opinion you can ask the tarot anything, but here are some ideas for those who don’t know where to start
Love/Relationships:
- What kind of partner would be best for me?
- How will I know when I’ve found the right person?
- Is my heart ready for a relationship?
- Is the person I’m interested in right for me?
- Is there anything I need to know about the person I’m interested in/dating?
- Are there any red flags in my relationships that I’m oblivious to?
- Is the person I love deceiving me in some way?
- What purpose does this relationship serve in my life?
- How can I build more emotional intimacy between me and my partner?
- How can I attract love into my life?
- What’s the biggest obstacle in my relationships?
- What stops me from getting emotionally vulnerable with my loved ones?
- How can I be more sensitive to my loved ones needs?
Career/Life Path
- How can I become more open to understanding my life’s purpose?
- What would be the result of pursuing the career I have in mind?
- What should I do to figure out which career path is meant for me?
- What obstacles do I need to overcome in order to achieve my goals?
- Are the goals I’m working toward right for me?
- What can I do right now to better align me with my life’s purpose?
- How can I unlock my hidden talents?
- What skills do I possess that I can utilize to get closer to my goals?
- What’s the best strategy to advance in my career path?
Feeling Stuck/Depressed/Anxious
- What is the root of my emotional turmoil?
- Why am I still carrying this emotional baggage?
- How can I let go of emotional burdens stopping me from being my best self?
- What is the reason that I feel stuck and directionless right now?
- Where can I find my next new adventure?
- Why does _________ bother me so much?
- What can I focus on to clear my mind of what’s weighing me down?
- What action do I need to take to be more emotionally balanced?
- How can I find what makes me happy?
Relationship Troubles or Break-ups
- What is the root of the problems in my relationship?
- When did these problems start to cause conflict?
- Should I try to stay and work things out or should I just move on?
- Is my relationship causing more harm than good?
- I know this relationship is bad for me but I don’t know how to leave. What should I do?
- What purpose did this relationship and its ending serve in my life?
- What was I able to learn from this experience?
- How can I ease my mind and let go of my grief?
- Why did this break-up have to happen?
Spirituality
- How can I become more aligned with my spirituality?
- What purpose does spirituality serve in my life?
- What does my higher power look/feel like?
- What does the universe want me to know right now?
- How can I open myself up to receive messages from the universe and/or my higher power?
- How can I gain more awareness of my subconscious mind?
- What’s blocking my intuition?
- How can I become more in tune with the universe’s vibrations?
- How can I find my spiritual purpose in my life?
- What action can I take to strengthen my spirituality?
You!
- What’s something unique about who I am?
- How can I gain more awareness of my identity?
- What best describes my personality?
- What is a trait that others can see in me that I’m oblivious to?
- What kind of hidden talents do I possess?
- How can I unlock my true passion?
- How can I be more confident in my self-expression?
- What’s a good way to learn to express my true emotions?
- Where do you see me in the future?
- What do I still carry with me from the past?
What Makes a Reading Good?
Alternate title: How Can I Be Confident My Readings Don’t Suck?
This is mostly written with tarot in mind, but I think the sentiment can apply to any type of in-depth divination or metaphysical readings. Here’s some things to look for in readings, and if you are charging a set price for your own readings, things to demand from yourself.
The information provided in a reading should be…
Relevant to the querents’ needs. If somebody comes to you asking about a specific question or topic, the reading should be designed to reflect that. This may mean using a different spread or focusing on details of meaning more relevant to the question than the traditional baseline meaning. (Example, if a querent is asking about money and I’m picking up signs of a new romantic relationship coming soon, it shouldn’t turn into a love reading. Rather, how might entering a new relationship affect ones’ finances?)
Abundant. Anybody can go online and find a random tarot card picker with a general description or some key words. If you’re providing a compensated service, your interpretation should have more meat than that. Allow yourself to explain your thought process or speculate on a deeper meaning, instead of regurgitating key words. After all, that speculation and personal insight is what they’re paying you for, otherwise they’d just find the bot! (For reference, I’m trying to give each of these points about the same amount of depth I would want to see in a really good tarot reading for each card.)
Nuanced. A lot of us are afraid to get into the details and specifics of an answer because we’re afraid of being wrong, so we just stick to being vague. Throw that out the window. Right now. Being specific HELPS your reading be more accurate, believable, and helpful, because if we’re too conservative with our details it gives the querent nothing to grab onto. Go for the specifics, the details, the things that make the querent say, “okay, I know exactly what that’s talking about.” (Example, what sounds better: “There’s conflict in the future” or “There’s conflict here, my gut says probably butting heads with an authority figure you’ve known for a while. Neither of you is right or wrong, but you’ll just keep wasting your time if you don’t compromise.”)
Understandable. Keep in mind that most of your querents will probably not practice the service you’re providing, or if they do they may just be beginners. Don’t shroud your reading in convoluted, arcane talk. If you can, explain some of how you’re getting the answers you getting. That doesn’t mean divulging secrets to your practice, but something like, “These runes are so close together, which to me means they’re working together, and the synthesis of their meanings could mean X.” Really helps a querent feel involved and more confident in your skills as their interpreter.
Applicable. Give the querent knowledge they can walk away with. If you’re doing all of the above steps this is probably happening anyway, but it’s important to keep in mind. You should always be able to answer the question: “What is the best next step for the querent to achieve their goals, once they leave this reading?” What can they do right now to develop themselves, prepare for success, repair that relationship, etc? Do they have a game plan? Basically, they should be able to take the insight you have provided them with and apply it to their life in a productive way.
I hope this helps some people assess their own readings, and gives new diviners a better idea of what they should be going for! Did I forget anything important? Let me know your thoughts!
Compilation of the two card spreads I have posted so far!
core / context
do / don’t
worst case scenario / best case scenario
short term / long term
want / need
change / remain
Clicking the links will take you to the individual posts for more details about each spread 💙
⠀⠀⠀⋆ 𓉸ྀི ۪ dark coquette dividers ⁺ by cg1rl
