I first bought myself tarot cards on an impulse after my Tiktok feed became exclusively intuition checks and tarot card readings. Learning to give accurate readings definitely took some time and learning. I am by no means an expert reading tarot; I would still consider myself a beginner. However, I wanted to share some tips on how to get started because that was the hardest part for me.
Starting to read tarot can be very daunting. There are 78 cards in the deck, all with individual meanings. Being able to understand what the card is getting at by itself, along with the context of your life and the other cards in the spread is a skill you will have to develop over time. It takes lots of practice, research and patience with yourself.
My first recommendation is to start a tarot journal. I think this was the most essential step in starting to have accurate readings for myself. I started off with taking notes on the differences between major and minor arcana and the difference between court cards. Each of the minor arcana suits and all of the numbers used with the suits have individual meanings. By taking the time to understand the different meanings of the different types of cards, it helped me more intuitively interpret cards, rather than relying on books or the internet to interpret the cards for me. I highly recommend Biddy Tarot to start learning more about the meanings of different cards because the content feels very accessible for a beginner. After taking notes on all the basics of tarot cards, I began using my notes to give myself a daily tarot card reading. I did this for about a month so I was able to interact with lots of different cards. After picking I would enter the card, whether it was reversed and my interpretation of the card in my journal. I also included a very rough sketch of the card in my journal. I found sketching the card helped me analyze the artwork in the card and the meaning it held.
When doing my daily tarot card readings, each morning after I woke up I would put on some psychic meditation music and spend some time meditating with the cards and focusing my energy on the tarot cards. In my mind, I focused on asking the tarot cards what insights they could give me for the day. Then, when I felt ready, I would continue to focus on the cards and shuffle them. I would stop shuffling whenever felt right and spread the cards out in front of me. Then, I would allow my intuition to guide me towards the card I needed to pick for that day. I noticed that closing my eyes and hovering my hands over the cards help me become more in tune with my intuition. I found that being very purposeful in my tarot card readings and trying to tune out the rest of the world was very helpful as I was getting started.
In my experience, I have learned that a good understanding of the cards and the different meanings, as well as developing your intuition is key to a successful tarot reading. If you are struggling to get started with tarot card readings, I encourage you to work on these two things! They have made a huge difference for me. I went from getting cards that made no sense to me, to give myself and friends disturbingly accurate readings.