THE LIBRARY
Guides to the craft of reading tarot.
From the first shuffle to the Celtic Cross: how the 78 cards are built, how to lay and read a spread, and how to ask a question the cards can answer. The full Library, with every card and the deeper guides, lives in the iPhone app.
Foundations
- GUIDEHow to read tarot cardsHow to read tarot cards, step by step: shaping a question, shuffling, laying a spread, reading each card in its place, and learning all 78 without rote memory.Read
- GUIDEThe 78 cards: Major and Minor ArcanaA tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. What each group means, every Major card in a line, and how to weigh them in a spread.Read
- GUIDEThe four suits of tarotThe four tarot suits are Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. What each suit means, its element, its gift and shadow, and how the suits meet in a spread.Read
- GUIDENumbers in tarotTarot numerology in plain terms: what each number from Ace to Ten tends to mean across the four suits, how numbers link Minors to Majors, and repeated numbers.Read
- GUIDEReading reversed cardsA card that lands upside down is rarely the opposite of its upright meaning. Four questions to put to a reversal, and how to choose between the answers.Read
- GUIDETarot glossaryA tarot glossary of 61 terms, from querent and significator to elemental dignities and the Celtic Cross, each defined plainly in a sentence or two.Read
- GUIDERider-Waite-Smith, Thoth and MarseilleRider-Waite-Smith, Thoth and Marseille tarot compared: how the three great decks differ in imagery, pip cards, numbering and names, and which to learn first.Read
- GUIDEA short history of tarotThe history of tarot, from a fifteenth-century Italian card game to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of 1909, with the myths of Egyptian origin set gently aside.Read
- GUIDETarot and oracle cardsTarot vs oracle cards: tarot has a fixed 78-card structure shared across decks, while each oracle deck sets its own. How they differ, and when to use which.Read
- GUIDECartomancy: reading with other cardsCartomancy is divination with cards. How playing cards, Lenormand, Kipper and Sibilla decks are read, how their suits map to tarot, and how each differs.Read
- GUIDELenormand cardsLenormand cards are a 36-card deck read in combinations. The meaning of all 36 cards, where the deck came from, and how Lenormand differs from tarot.Read
Spreads
- GUIDETarot spreads: how to choose oneTarot spreads give each card a role. How positions work, how to match a spread’s size to your question, and the one- to ten-card spreads worth knowing.Read
- GUIDEThe one-card drawA one-card tarot pull asks one question of one card. How to frame a daily tarot draw, read a single card without context, and meet a hard card in the morning.Read
- GUIDEThe two-card spreadThe two-card tarot spread reads cause and effect: the heart of the matter, then its obstacle or what follows. How to choose the second card’s role before you draw.Read
- GUIDEThree-card tarot spreadsThe three-card tarot spread in three versions: past, present, future; the story in three acts; mind, body, spirit. Positions, an example, reading the line.Read
- GUIDEThe story in three actsThe three-act tarot spread reads a situation as a story: how it began, where it turns, how it may resolve. Why Act II is drawn first, and how to read the arc.Read
- GUIDEThe mind, body, spirit spreadThe mind body spirit tarot spread reads your thoughts, your actions and your spiritual guidance in three cards. Its positions, an example, and what it is not for.Read
- GUIDEThe four-card spreadThe four-card tarot spread lays one card across the present to name the obstacle. Its four positions, how to lay it, a worked example and how to read the pairs.Read
- GUIDEThe Simple CrossThe Simple Cross is a five-card tarot spread: the heart of the matter with roots, past, aspirations and outcome around it. How to lay it, read it and an example.Read
- GUIDEThe Dyadic CrossThe Dyadic Cross is a six-card tarot spread that looks at the present in depth. Its positions, how to lay it, an example and when to choose it over other crosses.Read
- GUIDEThe Celtic CrossThe Celtic Cross tarot spread has ten positions: a cross of six cards and a staff of four. How to lay it, what each position asks, and how to read it as a whole.Read
- GUIDEA full moon tarot spreadA six-card full moon tarot spread for the height of the lunar month: what has come to fullness and to light, what to give thanks for, release and carry on.Read
- GUIDEA new moon tarot spreadA five-card new moon tarot spread for the start of the lunar month: where you stand, the intention to plant, what it needs, what may block it and the first step.Read
The practice
- GUIDEHow to ask tarot a questionThe best tarot questions to ask are open, about you and within your power. Five principles, before-and-after rewrites and example questions by theme.Read
- GUIDEYes or no tarotYes or no tarot can lean one way, but a bare verdict wastes most of a reading. The common methods, which cards lean yes or no, and what to ask instead.Read
- GUIDETarot for love and relationshipsLove tarot describes the dynamics of a relationship and your part in it, not another person’s mind. Good love questions, the key cards and a simple love spread.Read
- GUIDETarot for a decisionTarot does not decide for you, but a decision spread shows what each option asks of you. How to frame the question, read two paths side by side and weigh them.Read
- GUIDETarot card combinationsTarot card combinations are read through what two cards share or oppose. Four quick checks and 30 notable pairs, from the Lovers and the Tower to Death and the Star.Read
- GUIDEHow to shuffle tarot cardsHow to shuffle tarot cards five ways (overhand, riffle, wash, piles and Hindu), with the pros and cons of each, how reversals arise, and how to draw.Read
- GUIDEKeeping a tarot journalA tarot journal is the fastest way to learn the cards. What to record after each reading, a simple template, and how to review your entries month by month.Read
- GUIDEReading tarot for yourselfYes, you can read tarot for yourself, and most readers learn that way. The real difficulty is bias. Five practical guards, and when you are too close to read.Read
- GUIDEHow to cleanse a tarot deckHow to cleanse tarot cards, simply and without superstition. Seven methods, from sorting the deck to a spoken intention, and when readers choose to use them.Read
- GUIDEWhen the same card keeps appearingWhen the same tarot card keeps appearing, it often marks a theme you have not yet addressed. How to read a recurring card, and what to ask it next.Read
- GUIDETarot birth cardsYour tarot birth card comes from simple arithmetic on your date of birth. How to find yours, with worked examples, and what each Major Arcana pair can mean.Read
- ARTICLEWhy we recommend reading with your own cardsThe app can draw for you, but a reading begins in the hands. On the bond with a deck, knowing when to stop shuffling, and what the physical spread gives that a screen cannot.Read
- ARTICLEWhy draw a tarot card every dayA tarot card of the day is the quickest way to learn the deck: read it in the morning, check it at night, and let the gap correct your sense of each card.Read
Perspectives
- ARTICLEDoes tarot work?Does tarot work? As prediction, there is no evidence it does. As a structured tool for reflection, many find it valuable. An honest account of why.Read
- ARTICLEWhat an AI tarot reading should beAn AI tarot reading should read the connections between your cards and show its reasoning, not flatter or predict. Seven tests to apply to any app.Read
AT THE TABLE
Read the guides here. Read the cards with the companion.
Shuffle your own deck or let the app draw, and the reading shows how the cards speak to each other, and why.
Looking for a single card? All 78 cards of the Gilded Garden have their own page.