How To Read Your Own Tarot Cards When You Haven't A Clue

How To Read Your Own Tarot Cards When You Haven't A Clue

Even as a seasoned Tarot reader, sometimes I just get a spread as I'm reading my own cards where I'm like, "WTF?" So, I wanted to briefly go through my process of reading my own cards when I don't immediately get a hit, or an aha moment! Hopefully some of these will help you.

The cards of the epic spread that left me dumbfounded are the ones above.
I pulled them for the Full Moon Month forecast from Many Moons Volume 1 2018, specifically the Waning Moon portion of March. With the Fool being a hard lesson that might come up, Judgment being the solution, and Death being the thing I needed to release. WTF, Tarot Cards?!

Give your spread time to show up.

Oftentimes, we just need to pull cards and wait a while. This spread was pulled at the Full Moon that happened at the start of the month. I needed to revisit it during the Lunar phase it was referring to. I came back around to it during the Waning Moon phase, connecting it with some circumstances that were transpiring in my life, and it started to make more sense.

Notice your resistance to cards.

My main resistance to these cards was they were all majors, which felt really heavy, and the placements of them in the spread. The Fool as being the hard lesson? Come on, I generally LOVE this card and don't want it to be "challenging". Having to release Death? Come ON, my ego LOVES being in control! The Judgement card nudging me forward into stepping out old constraints—out of the boxes illustrated on the card, and embracing my true freedom. No THANKS! I like my patterns old, and my behaviors subconscious!

I'm being dramatic here, but the reason why I was initially resistant to this spread had to do with my own resistance to needed change, painful transformation and allowing myself and my loved ones to be more vulnerable. With that vulnerability comes the breakthroughs of Judgment and the ego shedding of Death.

So next time you pull a card, and you find yourself feeling stubborn and wanting to toss the cards back into the deck, sit with them. Notice where in your life you may be having any resistance. Try to connect those areas to the messages in the cards.

Process your cards subconsciously.

Whenever I am stuck with a reading for myself, I free write. Free writing is a great exercise to connect with your subconscious, your guides, or your higher self. Personally, it is similar to turning on a faucet of inspiration. This process always helps me tap in to my intuition. I reccomend you try it for ANYTHING, not just Tarot readings!

Come back to the cards and look for patterns.

After gaining perspective with free writing and meditation, I revisit the cards. In this spread, the Fool and Death were deeply connected to one another for me—both of them illustrating fear of the unknown, fear of ego release, and moving forward with trust and faith. Death has been my stalker card ever since my dog died last October, and I felt profoundly that this card showing up in this placement was a final goodbye to the visceral tugging of grief that had visited me daily since her death. It was now time to let her pass on completely into the astral plane: my preoccupation with her had kept parts of her spirit from fully leaving this plane. I also felt through my deep inquiry of Death that drawing this card repeatedly had brought on was coming to an end. It was time for me to integrate this knowledge into my life and writings. I also read the placement of Judgement as emphasizing this as well. In the Major Arcana, it is the card before the World, the very last card. The Fool in the first placement here emphasized this end and also, of course, this beginning.

Incorporate the cards into your waking life.

After this reflection, I had to ask myself:

What behaviors would help me embody the Fool?
How can I further break down my Ego?
What would getting more free LOOK LIKE?

And then I had to go and embody them.

Tarot is all about reflection, yet the magic also lies in action.
I have already found that by shifting my thought patterns, behavior, and the way I respond to certain situations- I am changed. And so it is.

These are just some quick tips, culled from my own life. Of course there's
so much more – but that's better put into a tarot book or course.

More Tarot Resources

If you'd like to book a reading with me, you can do so here.

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Amanda Yates Garcia: One of the smartest witches I know. She blows my mind with her knowledge, Tarot and otherwise, every time I see her.

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There are many, many more readers, I could go on for days...