How to Give Yourself a Tarot Reading?

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Tarot is an amazing tool for self-exploration and personal development.

Using tarot cards on yourself is a great way to grow as a person and develop your skills as a reader. In addition to this, you also strengthen your intuition by further familiarizing yourself with the cards by seeing how they relate back to your personal life.

The task of interpreting a message for yourself may seem a bit daunting, but it becomes surprisingly simple and even fun, once you get the hang of it. So, can and how do I give myself a Tarot reading?

The key to doing a tarot reading on yourself is to be specific about what it is you want to know. Having a specific question in mind is helpful. Approach the cards with a clear head and objective eyes. Detach from the outcome and allow the energy to flow freely.

The best way to get better at reading on yourself is to practice. Find out what tricks will work best for you, to ensure you’re getting solid insight from the cards by reading some of the methods and spread suggestions we have below.

Before we delve into doing readings on yourself, I wanted to point out the Related Articles section at the bottom of this post. I’ve assembled a collection of articled that you will find interesting. Please check them out!

Table of Contents

Are you allowed to do a reading on yourself?

YES! You can give yourself a reading. A common misconception is that tarot readers should not conduct readings on themselves, and this couldn’t be further from the truth. It is important to remember that when using tarot on yourself you are both reader and querent.

And because of this, you need to try your best to avoid jumping to conclusions when pulling the cards. Pick a layout for your spread and put the pieces together once the full scene is set.

One of the main reasons others out there may advise against reading on yourself is because it can difficult to get objective answers when you are emotionally invested in the outcome.

Just remember that it is entirely possible to approach a tarot reading for yourself in a neutral state and below are some ways to effectively prepare.

Clear Your Head

Avoid trying to read for yourself, or anyone for that matter if you’re feeling overly emotional. Being emotionally invested in a situation is not a bad thing and the advice here is not to suppress those feelings.

Simply put, just hold off until you are feeling calm and relaxed enough to avoid a clouded perception.

Cleanse Your Space

Make sure you cleanse your area and deck with any method of your choosing. Some use sage while others find shuffling or knocking the deck on a surface to be just as effective.

Either way, you want to remove any residual energies from your area.

Determine Your Question

Having a specific question in mind will be very beneficial especially considering that the cards may be interpreted differently as the question changes.

Writing it down may help so that you have a reference point for later.

Select a Spread

Once you have identified the question, assigning the cards specific roles will help ensure you get a clear answer. You can even create your own to better fit with the question that you have.

Give your cards a role and a set meaning because the interpretation can change depending on the card’s placement. (See Below for suggested Spreads)

Remember to use your intuition. The spreads can be great for clarity but if a certain card feels like it should be in a certain place, go with that. See where it takes you.

Have Fun

Tarot is a guide, not the end all be all. Use it to stay on track or find your direction and enjoy the process. Pulling cards that you don’t like or getting an answer you aren’t satisfied with is fine.

Energy is changeable and you have full creative control over your reality. Have fun with this and become a stronger reader in the process.

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What if You’re a beginner?

You can still read for yourself even as a tarot beginner. This can be a great way to assess the accuracy of your readings. Keeping a dated journal of your spreads that you can look back on can be a great self-resource.

You can also take note of certain patterns you notice in your life and how they correspond with specific cards.

Getting to know a deck by using it on yourself first will make you an amazingly accurate reader. By implementing this you’ll be able to offer additional insight to future querents if you ever decide to read for others.

Even starting with simple one card pulls for overall energies of your day is a good way to start. You can pull a card at the beginning of the day, but it may be better to wait until the end of the day so that this is more of a reflective activity.

Pulling at the start of your day could lead to you seeking specific energies that relate to the card you pulled that morning, instead of allowing things to flow naturally.

Pulling at the end of the night is a bit more beneficial because you can take some time to look back at the day for examples of the card and how it relates.

Three Tarot Card Spread Ideas

What do I need to know right now?

What do you need to know right now

Opportunities, Advice, or Challenges

Potential outcome

Past Present Future

(Past)
Past thoughts, energies, and emotions
Possible lessons
Past energies or events

(Present)
Current thoughts, energies, and emotions
Needed messages
obstacles, or opportunities

(Future)
Potential outcomes based on current energies

Personality Insight

Who you think you are

Who others think you are

Who you really are

Relationship Advice

Your Feelings

Their Feelings

Advice

How to ensure the reading is accurate

The accuracy of a reading is entirely dependent on the interpretation. The same set of cards can relay several different messages, the interpretation is influenced by the current energies you bring to the table, therefore approaching the reading in a calm and grounded state is essential.

A helpful tip to avoid skewing your results is to pull the cards first and keep them face down. Once you have selected the cards and placed them in their assigned place, flip them over to see what you’re working with.

This process can help you avoid selecting the cards from a place of bias.

Can You Get Clear Yes or No Answers?

You can use regular playing cards to get yes or no answer to your questions. If you are using a deck of playing cards, red cards mean yes, and black cards mean no.

When getting started with this method, feel free to ask a couple of test questions. Follow the same steps as you would when performing a normal reading.

Sit down relax and practice mindfulness then begin to shuffle.

Ask your question: Is my name x? Red card. Is this my address? Red card. Am I blank years old? Black card. Just get comfortable with the process.

Asking a few test questions will help to strengthen your connection by reaffirming your belief. Eventually, you get into the flow and it can easily turn into a conversation with your guides or ancestors.

Keep in mind that regular playing cards can be used for divination as well, and they have meanings that relate to tarot just without the Major Arcana so you can also receive additional messages if you familiarize yourself with card meanings.

There are a few different methods when it comes to getting the yes or no answer. You can shuffle until a card pops out or until you get a jumper card and take that as your answer.

Another popular method is by majority rules. This is when you shuffle and pull three cards face down. Then you flip them. Whatever color is more prominent is your answer.

This method allows for a bit more variation in the answer because you can interpret pulling 2 red cards and 1 black card as a yes and pulling 3 red cards a strong yes.

Things to keep in mind performing a Tarot reading on yourself

Tarot offers insight into outcomes based on your current energetic state. You have more of a say into your future than the cards do. Avoid asking questions that can put you in a lower vibrational state or anything that infringes upon free will. You’ll have the best luck with open-ended questions.

You can still get a second opinion. If you try and do a reading on yourself and find that you are in fact too invested to clearly get an answer you can ask for someone else’s objective opinion. There are plenty of tarot communities online where readers offer each other free reading exchanges.

You can get a second opinion and potentially make new friends in the process.

The more you practice at this, the better you will get. It’s okay if for the first few attempts you can’t come up with a solid answer. This could be a good time to consider asking other questions related to your struggles.

What’s blocking me from seeing this situation clearly? What am I missing regarding this situation?

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