Traditional decks (like the classic Rider-Waite deck) have 78 cards, all with unique meanings, and when you pull a card, the idea is that it has a message for you and your inquiry. As tarot expert and astrologer Bess Matassa, Ph.D., explains to mbg, tarot is really about tuning inward, more than searching for answers outside yourself. She likens tarot readings to having a conversation with a less conscious part of yourself or even a conversation you would have with someone you trust. From there, Matassa says, you start to set the stage for the kind of conversation you’re available to have with your deck in that moment emotionally. “And this starts way before you even take out the deck. This starts with connecting to self in terms of what it is you actually feel you need in this moment,” she notes, adding to ask yourself what kind of conversation you need and are available for. And once you take out your deck, she recommends being clear with the deck about what it is you’re looking for. “We take out the deck and say, ‘OK, I’m available for you to tell it to me really, really straight,’ or, ‘Right now I’m feeling like I need a little bit more nuance and a little bit more softness and sweetness,’” she explains. Of course, there may be times within a reading when a yes-no question feels pertinent to ask, and you can make that call yourself. But as Matassa explains, “I don’t really think that tarot is a yes-no proposition. And when we tighten around those kinds of inquiries, the tarot tightens too—it wants to give us a more expansive mode of wayfinding.” So, she notes, think of the reading as “more of a dialogue than a call-and-response.” Try to keep questions open-ended so you can really dip into the nuances, imagery, and emotions evoked by the cards you pull. Sometimes beginning a reading is as simple as explaining to your deck what’s going on and asking for thoughts on your situation, Matassa says. (Again, the same way you would converse with a friend.) You can absolutely have spreads or questions prepared but, she adds, it can be beneficial to let follow-up questions naturally arise as you keep pulling cards too.
