Lesson 4, about 7 minutes
Read a card, keep a record
A tarot reading can begin with careful looking. Give the image time to say something more particular than the first keyword you remember.
Why this practice?
Our method separates the image, your associations, and a possible action. It helps prevent a card from becoming an unquestionable verdict about a person. The prompts are our own reflective exercises, not historical divinatory meanings.
The tradition
Use a physical deck you own alongside the 78-card reference here. Read the account for that particular deck: Book T describes an earlier design; The Book of Thoth discusses Harris’s later paintings. The reading journal accepts any deck and any spread.
Sources
Book T · Equinox I.8 (1912), printed p. 204, concluding note on the trumps ↗
The order and named correspondences come from the cited edition. The exercises, explanations and reflection questions are our own.
Step 1 of 4
Ask an open question
Try: “What deserves my attention in this situation?” Keep the question about your own observation and choices.
Why this step? A question about another person’s hidden thoughts invites certainty that the card cannot establish.
All steps on one page
Ask an open question
Try: “What deserves my attention in this situation?” Keep the question about your own observation and choices.
Look before interpreting
Choose or draw one card. List three visible details before consulting a meaning. In the text explorer, begin with the title and correspondence instead.
Offer two readings
Write one interpretation and one alternative. Include a way in which the card might not fit the situation.
Return later
Record the card, deck, question, and interpretation. Return after an ordinary interval and add a follow-up without rewriting the original.