Guide · One to three minutes
How to use Tarot
A card of the day, yes/no answers and deeper spreads for love, career and money, drawn from a full 78-card deck that you shuffle and choose from yourself.
Open TarotStep by step
- 1
Choose a reading
Card of the day, yes/no and one card are free; the three-card and Celtic Cross spreads go deeper.
- 2
Choose the area of life
Love, career or money shapes how each card is read.
- 3
Hold your question in mind
Write it down if you like. A clear, open question works best.
- 4
Shuffle and pick
Shuffle, then choose your own cards from the spread-out deck. Each card is revealed as you pick it.
What happens behind the scenes
A fair shuffle
The full 78-card Rider–Waite–Smith deck is shuffled with an unbiased method each time, and any card can come up reversed.
Three layers of meaning
Each card is read from its traditional meaning (upright or reversed), its place in the spread (for example past, present or future) and the area of life you chose.
Yes or no
Each card leans yes, no or maybe; the answer shows the card and why it leans that way.
Reading your results and tips
Reading your results
- Read the cards in order, then as a story: what is changing from the first card to the last?
- A reversed card is not bad news. It often shows the same energy turned inward, delayed or blocked.
- Major Arcana cards point to bigger life themes; many of them in one spread means a significant moment.
Tips
- Ask once and reflect, rather than redrawing for the same question.
- The card of the day stays the same all day.
Words to know
- Major ArcanaThe Major Arcana are the 22 named cards of the tarot, numbered 0 to 21 from The Fool to The World. They stand for life’s big themes and turning points, so a reading full of them suggests an important chapter.
- Minor ArcanaThe Minor Arcana are the 56 tarot cards divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit runs from Ace to Ten plus four court cards, and together they describe everyday events, feelings and decisions.
- Reversed cardsA reversed card is a tarot card that appears upside down in a reading. Readers who use reversals take it to show the card’s energy blocked, delayed, turned inward or out of balance, rather than simply its opposite.
- Celtic CrossThe Celtic Cross is a classic ten-card tarot spread: six cards in a cross and four in a column beside it. Made famous by A. E. Waite, it looks at a question in depth, from its roots and challenges to hopes, fears and outcome.
- Three-card spreadThe three-card spread is the most popular short tarot layout: three cards drawn side by side, most often read as Past, Present and Future. It gives a quick, clear story of a question and how it is unfolding.
- Yes or no tarotA yes or no tarot reading draws one card for a clear question and reads it as leaning yes, no or maybe: bright cards lean yes, heavy cards lean no, and a reversed card follows its reversed meaning.