Or not. The choice is yours.

There are three main approaches to the Opening of the Key that I’ll be referring to in this tutorial series; Crowley’s approach, Regardie’s Golden Dawn and Paul Hughes-Barlow’s variation. Both Crowley and the Golden Dawn make use of a Significator, whilst Paul Hughes-Barlow does not.

Israel Regardie, in his book called the Golden Dawn, deviates somewhat from Book-T. When I use the term Golden Dawn, I’m referring to Regardie’s book on the Golden Dawn, not Book-T. Interestingly, Crowley follows Book-T exactly.

Choosing whether or not to use a Significator is a critical decision. It will determine what steps you follow for the rest of the first “operation”.

Use a Significator and you will be using a Crowley or Golden Dawn version. Don’t use a Significator and you will be using Paul Hughes-Barlow’s version.

But before you can make an informed choice, you’ll need some additional information.

Why are they important to both Crowley and Regardie’s Golden Dawn?

Significators play a vital role in telling you what the client’s question is and what card to start Card Counting from.

To make things clearer, here are the steps involved (without any detail):

1. Select a Significator.
2. Shuffle and cut the deck into four piles (I’ll explain how in the next post).
3. Know that each of the four piles represents an area of the client’s life.
4. Find out what pile the Significator is in.
5. That pile represents the client’s question.

The last point is particularly important. Both Crowley and Regardie start the reading without knowing what the question is.

So, you select a Significator to represent the client, put the Significator back in the deck and shuffle. The next step is to cut the deck into four piles and then find the pile that contains the Significator. The pile that contains the Significator represents an area of the client’s life. This allows you to make a quick prediction on what general topic their question involves.

I’ll be covering what the four piles represent in the next post. But it is important to understand at this early stage that for both Crowley and Regrdie, the Significator plays an active role in the Opening of the Key.

How do I select a Significator?

You have two obvious choices. You can chose the Golden Dawn way, or the Crowley way.

Regardie’s, “The Golden Dawn” says to use the physical description of the client, whereas Crowley says to use their character.

Crowley’s method

1. The Significator.

Choose a card to represent the Querent, using your knowledge or judgement of his character rather than dwelling on his physical characteristics

— The Book of Thoth, page 249

The Golden Dawn’s method

Before commencing the Divination, one of the sixteen court cards should be selected to represent the significator of the enquirer, and should answer as nearly to his description.
Wands generally – very fair-haired and red-haired persons with fair complexion.
Cups generally – moderately fair persons.
Swords generally – dark persons.
Pentacles generally – very dark persons.
Kings – Generally men.
Queens – Generally woman.
Princes (Knights) – Generally young men.
Princesses (Knaves) – Generally young women.

- From The Golden Dawn: An Account of the Teachings, Rites and Ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn (Llewellyn’s Golden Dawn series), page 567

What if you have never seen them before or don’t know their character?

On this point Crowley is silent, but The Golden Dawn offers this suggestion:

If the Diviner be performing the Divination for a person at a distance and of whose general description he is ignorant, he can select the significator by cutting the pack, and taking one of the court cards of that suit, cut to represent him of course earnestly thinking of the person at the time.

p. 567

Not everyone will be comfortable with this approach. If not, you could always use a different method.

For instance, select a Significator based on their date of birth (Astrology) or use any Tarot card, not just Court cards. I know the Golden Dawn insists on using a Court card but it might suit your particular situation to use a minor or major card.

Yeah, but Doug, I hate Significators

Then don’t use them.

In the next post I’ll cover what the consequences of that decision are, but they’re neither good nor bad. It just means that you need some other device to select one of the four piles to read from – and which card to start counting from.

Conclusion

Decide what you want to do. Do you want to use a Significator? If so, do you want to use Crowely’s way or the Golden Dawn’s way? If not, don’t. Paul Hughes-Barlow doesn’t and it’s effective.

When it comes to working with a Tarot spread, you have to be comfortable with it. And that means adaption. A Tarot spread is not rigid. It’s dynamic and a confident Tarot reader will adapt a spread to suit their style. If a Tarot spread is so rigid that it can’t adapt it becomes a hinderance.

There is nothing sacred about any Tarot spread. They are just Tarot spreads. I mentioned in the introduction that most Tarot readers have their own version of the Celtic Cross. The Opening of the Key is no different. Each person who uses the Opening of the Key will have their own version.

The purpose of this Tutorial series is to keep things practical. I want you to be able to use the Opening of the Key, adapt it and be effective with it. To do that you need to understand your options and choose the right approach for you.

The Opening of the Key Tutorial Series

1. Introduction
2. How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity
• What Everyone Ought to Know About Doing Great Tarot Readings
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations
• Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations

The Opening of the Key is a Tarot spread. A great Tarot spread. There are 5 separate stages and each stage is called an ‘operation’. The first operation describes current events, whilst 2, 3 and 4 incrementally represent the future. Stage 5 is the outcome.

It was designed by the Golden Dawn.

It takes between 2-3 hours to complete a reading, and you’ll do so with accuracy, insight and understanding.

What makes this spread so attractive is the amount of information it provides. It tells a multi-layered story where each separate thread can be followed from the beginning to the end.

The Opening of Key was used by the Golden Dawn to predict ordinary, everyday events.

This form is especially applicable to Divination concerning the ordinary material events of daily life.

And to reinforce that …

… the “Opening of the Key,” which, as has been before said, is especially applicable to the daily events of life.

- from The Golden Dawn: An Account of the Teachings, Rites and Ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn (Llewellyn’s Golden Dawn series)

In other words, it’s good for divining the future.

There is also a spiritual component to this spread; a formal ritualised type. If you are not into the whole ritual thing, don’t worry about it. The Opening of the Key does not rely on ritual to make it work.

The ritual used is for practicing Golden Dawn magicians. Doing the ritual only makes sense, and would be effective, if you’re a practising Golden Dawn magician.

And then there is the spirituality that comes from working with the Opening of the Key. This kind of spirituality is experiential. You’ll discover that part of the spread on your own.

The techniques required

The Opening of the Key is essentially a non-positional spread. Not that it doesn’t have positions, it does. But they are abstract and unlike the standard positional meanings of past, present and future.

It’s best to get used to thinking of this spread as linear in nature.

The main techniques that are used are card counting, card pairing and Elemental Dignities. That’s it.

I remember someone saying that card pairing and Elemental Dignities are old techniques. Older than the Golden Dawn. If anyone knows more about the history of these techniques, I’d love to hear about them.

The point is, these techniques are useful no matter what spread you use.

Background information required

A lot. Particularly when reading from stage 2 to 5. A knowledge of Kabbalah, Astrology and the Tree of Life is needed to make the most out of those “operations”.

Perhaps one of the most important pieces of information you’ll need before you begin is this: there are different versions of the Opening of the Key.

Regardie, in the book called ‘The Golden Dawn’, describes one version. Crowley’s The Book of Thoth has another and Paul Hughes-Barlow has a separate, specialised form. Each one of these versions is valid. Each one of these versions works.

My approach will be to reference all three styles during this tutorial series. And when I have to make a choice between using one method over another, I’ll do my best to explain why I’ve chosen it.

Why are there different versions of the Opening of the Key?

The same reason there are different versions of the Celtic Cross spread. Most Tarot bloggers and authors have their own variations. There is now no longer the standard version. Just versions. The people that use them, adapt them. This is no different with the Opening of the Key. Crowley is different from Regardie is different from Paul Hughes-Barlow.

The rule of thumb is, “if it works for you, use it.”

What this tutorial series aims to do

To focus on the practical, not the theoretical.

I don’t want to get caught up in the trap of making this tutorial series larger than it needs to be. When I need to introduce theoretical information, I will be doing so in order to help you understand the techniques better.

If you have a specific area of the Opening of the Key that you would like me to cover, let me know in the comments.

The Opening of the Key Tutorial Series

1. Introduction
2. How to select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key

• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations
• Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations
• The Kabbalah: What does the word mean? An exploration

“What am I doing wrong?” I whispered to the Tarot cards.

A part of me wanted to grab my coat, say goodbye to the client, and abandon reading Tarot cards forever.

And yet, there I was, battling through my own inner-doubt to name a date. Somewhere in that Tarot spread was an answer, and I was going to find it.

Up until that point, I’d never really known how to apply the astrological associations to a Tarot reading. Sure, I had successes, but never consistent successes and I never did manage to battle my self-doubts with that particular reading. I left defeated, but awoke the next morning with two singular ideas.

My mind had been working on the problem as I slept and, it worked. I’m going to share it with you.

It’s all about perception

Knowing what Tarot cards to select is a question of perception.

The idea goes something like this:

Our perception of the world around us is not a true depiction of what is actually there. We perceive, to a large extent, what we expect to perceive. Our expectations — and therefore our perceptions — are biased by three factors:

1. The past: our experience
2. The present: the current context
3. The future: our goals

1. Perception biased by experience

Have a look at the young woman below.

Did you see her?

Now what if I told you that the picture above is of an old woman? If you look again, you’ll be able to see her.

Notice how expectations bias perception? Initially I asked you to look at an image of a young woman — that is what you expected to see. But imagine if I initially asked you to look at an image of an old woman? Do you see how expectations bias perception?

And perception makes or breaks a Tarot reading. If you look for very specific information in your Tarot spread, you run the risk of being blind to other interpretations.

Implications for Tarot and Astrology

Reinterpretation

Recognise that there is always another way to interpret exactly the same Tarot cards. When using a positional based Tarot spread that has an outcome position, avoid the trap of expecting to use that card to predict when the event will happen.

2. Perception biased by current context

The current context, in terms of selecting cards to predict when events will happen, is a largely visual process.

To understand this visual process better, let’s use reading (as in books, not Tarot cards) as an example. For instance, the word in which a letter appears may influence how we interpret that word.

Similarly, our overall comprehension of a sentence can influence what words we see in it. For example the same word can be interpreted differently depending on the surrounding words.

I’ve focused on visual perception, but all five senses do contribute to perception bias. For instance:

• what we hear can bias what we see and vice versa
• what we see can bias what we feel; what we smell etc.

Recognizing a letter, a word, a face, or any object includes neural activity stimulated by the context. This context includes objects, events and even reactivated memories of previous objects and events.

Implications for Tarot and Astrology

Be in the moment

What I hope to show with this article is how perception is greatly influenced by past experience, context and goals. These three factors are responsible for an inaccurate interpretation of experience. Now, we are all subject to these limitations, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t break free from these limitations.

When doing a Tarot reading, remain in the moment; remain open to different interpretations; remain open to a dramatic change of Tarot reading style (do not let a past victory blind you to only one interpretation).

3. Perception biased by goals

Our perception is also influenced by our goals and plans for the future. Specifically, our goals filter our perceptions; things unrelated to our goals tend to be filtered out preconsciously, never registering in our conscious minds.

For example, some people I know, when doing a Tarot reading, scan the information quickly and superficially looking for a yes/no answer.

Although this is usually only a beginners mistake, it is worth pointing out that goal driven behavior adversely influences your ability to interpret a Tarot reading — particularly because you’re looking for something specific (such as astrological information to determine when an event will happen).

It’s not that they ignore the information unrelated to their goal, they don’t even see it.

To illustrate what I mean, briefly look at the image below and try and spot the sledge hammer.

Did you find it? Now, without looking back at the image, can you say whether there is a pair of scissors too?

Implications for Tarot and Astrology

Be childlike

The filtering of perception by our goals is particularly true of adults, who tend to be more focused on goals than children are. Children are more stimulus driven: their perception is less filtered by their goals. This makes children less biased as observers.

For instance, send an adult to go into your kitchen and look inside a drawer for a pair of scissors. When the person returns, ask whether another specific item was in the drawer. Most adults won’t be able to answer you. Next, send a child to complete the same task and (providing they don’t get distracted by all the cool stuff) when they return with the scissors ask them if another specific item is in the drawer. Most of the time a child will be able to provide additional information.

The implications are to be childlike with the next Tarot reading you do. Be less goal focused and more child like. Imagine you’re that kid who is being distracted by all the awesome stuff in the drawer.

Conclusion

This article covered a lot of basic information on perception that could easily have been written as a Tarot 101 guide. However, when using astrological associations with Tarot, it’s important to remember the implications that our perceptions have on our ability to provide objective Tarot readings.

Here is a list of things to remember:

• Influencing where we look: Perception is active, not passive. We constantly use our five senses to actively sample things in our environment that are most relevant to what we are doing or about to do. If we are doing a Tarot reading, remember that our past experiences, context and goals will largely determine what we perceive. By being mindful of this we can free ourselves into a more objective state of mind.
• Reinterpretation: A great Tarot reader always reinterprets the same cards within a Tarot spread. There are countless ways to perceive exactly the same Tarot cards and countless stories can be created from these. In my experience, these seemingly disjointed stories have an enormous capacity to register with the client. Just because we don’t understand them doesn’t make them any less relevant. Remember, childlike behaviour often avoids the pitfalls of a goal focused approach to reading Tarot.

What does all this have to do with Tarot and Astrology?

This article is a reminder for you to be open to different ways of perceiving the same Tarot cards. Avoid being overly goal focused, or concerned with discovering what astrological associations predict when an event will happen.

Allow for multiple interpretations of all the Tarot cards within your spread (including the ones that aren’t there) and, above all, have fun — like the child who thought that a drawer full of stuff was awesome.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• Study Guide To The Beginners Tutorial To Reading Tarot Cards
• How To Communicate With The Client
• How to Approach a Reading
• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity

I couldn’t sleep.

Not that this was unusual — it is the immensity, I believe. The vastness of things. The darkness of dreams. I was preoccupied.

That night I found myself engaged in the most intense concentration of thought. I could sense the interconnection; the oneness of things.

The next day I bought my first Tarot deck. I sought to understand. I looked for patterns.

Over the proceeding years I became obsessed; and no more so than when I was uncovering the patterns behind Tarot and Astrology.

If you want to understand why the Golden Dawn structured Tarot and Astrology the way they did … look for patterns

… and those patterns will help you see the interconnection of things.

I’m going to help you understand this system by showing you the patterns.

The patterns

It was reading Lon Milo Duquette’s Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, that helped me with the last stages of understanding this system. It’s with full credit to Lon that I write this article.

Pattern recognition is the number one way humans interpret experience.

When an interesting experience happens; you note the pattern. When you see the same pattern again, you know what to expect. It’s the same with Tarot readings. The recognition of patterns is what allows you to make predictions. The more patterns you notice, the sharper your predictions will be.

The quickest way for you to understand the structure behind the Golden Dawn’s astrological associations, is if I gradually introduce some specific patterns, and systematically build upon them.

This article will start from the very beginning, with each new pattern building upon the last … until they reveal themselves. This understanding will allow you to use rationality to access your intuition, and predict when events will happen.

In the last article, I said I was going to change the order in which I presented information. Normally I’d explain why something works before suggesting ways to practice. This time I think it’s much more useful to you if I show you how to do it, before I explain it. This article is a continuation of how to use this system — not an explanation.

The first pattern to become aware of is the 12 signs of the zodiac.

There are two basic categories from which all the signs draw their characteristics: elements (triplicity), qualities (quadriplicity).

The Elements

In astrology each of these signs is allocated an Element — Fire, Water, Air and Earth.

The Golden Dawn then assigned that structure to the Minor Arcana like this:

• Wands: Fire signs — Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
• Cups: Water signs — Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.
• Swords: Air signs — Libra, Aquarius, Gemini.
• Disks: Earth signs — Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo.

In astrology, the 12 signs of the zodiac are also categorised according to their qualities, or mode of expression — Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable.

Cardinal signs serve as generators of activity. A good example of this would be to look at the pattern of the seasons. The start of each season is brought in by the Cardinal signs: Aries brings in Spring, Cancer brings in Summer, Libra brings in Autumn and Capricorn brings in Winter.

Fixed signs serve as concentrators of energy (the middle of the season) and Mutable signs serve to transfer energy (the ending of one season and the start of the next).

The Golden Dawn assigned that structure to the Minor Arcana like this:

• Twos, Threes, Fours: Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)
• Fives, Sixes, Sevens: Fixed signs (Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus)
• Eights, Nines, Tens: Mutable signs (Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, Virgo)

Cardinal signs

Fixed signs

Mutable signs

12 signs of the Zodiac in their natural order

Have a look at the table below and see how many repeating patterns you can notice. Pay attention to the elements and qualities of the zodiac and the numbering of the Minor Arcana.

Notice the patterns?

Progression of the small cards through the zodiacal year

The Zodiac and therefore the year, is divided into 360°. Each of the small cards represents 1 decan (period of 10 degrees) of the zodiac, and approximately 10 days of the year. Like before, see how many repeating patterns you can find. Also, notice how each of these patterns builds upon the last.

Assignment of the Planets to the Small cards

An important pattern to become aware of is the placement of the Planets. Starting at Leo, the planets are assigned in the following repeating order:

1. Saturn
2. Jupiter
3. Mars
4. Sun
5. Venus
6. Mercury
7. Luna

This is the descending order of the planetary spheres on the Tree of Life.

Court cards

The Knights (Kings), Queens, and Princes (Knights) rule from 20° of one sign to 20° of the next.

The Court cards are fascinating. Notice how they bring together and mix the elemental, qualities (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable), decan and planetary attributions.

The reason for this is the special tasks that the Court cards perform (in a Kabbalistic Universe that is). These cards are what allow the Universe to maintain itself; they were also responsible for its creation.

These are the cards that mix up all the other attributions so that they are forced to combine and interact with each other. This interaction ensures the maintenance of the Universe. Without these cards performing this function, there would be no Universe.

Conclusion

In the last article, Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations, I suggested that the best way to learn this system was by using it.

I suggested:

1. Deal out your favourite Tarot spread.
2. Make the usual predictions.
3. Pick some cards that seem to indicate future events.
4. Consult the list of attributions below to see when that event will occur.
5. Record your results.
6. Repeat the process. Keep repeating and testing the system. See if it’s for you.

Now, I would like you to start noticing the patterns. Look at how the Golden Dawn attributed astrology to the Tarot; notice the logic and rationality behind it. Recognition of these patterns will do more than just make you a better Tarot reader, it will give you a sense of the interconnection of things.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations
• Three Ways To Accurately Predict When Events Will Happen
• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception

A great Tarot reading predicts events.

No, it doesn’t just predict them. It predicts when they’re going to happen.

This tutorial will show you how to do just that.

I will be using the Golden Dawn framework throughout.

There are several different frameworks that can be used to predict events with astrological associations. I’ve chosen to use the Golden Dawn method because it’s the one I use for my work. If you don’t like the Golden Dawn framework there are several others that you can explore before deciding which one is right for you.

Normally, I approach an article by:

1. Explaining why stuff works — or why a framework is structured the way it is.
2. Provide information.
3. Finally, suggest ways to practice it.

This tutorial series, in order to be practical, will have to break from that structure. This is how I’m going to write this series of articles:

1. Suggest ways to practice it.
2. Provide information.
3. Explain why this framework is structured the way it is.

This way, you will be able to start timing and predicting events with astrology immediately. The only downside, as far as I can see, is that you won’t immediately know why the Golden Dawn attributed the astrological associations the way they did.

Let’s get started.

How to practice

The Golden Dawn system is made easier depending on the deck you use. Certain Tarot decks will show the astrological associations on each card. This removes the need for memorisation.

Start immediately

1. Deal out your favourite Tarot spread.
2. Make the usual predictions.
3. Pick some cards that seem to indicate future events.
4. Consult the list of attributions below to see when that event will occur.
5. Record your results.
6. Repeat the process. Keep repeating and testing the system. See if it’s for you. If you think it is, then the next series of posts will explain why the cards are attributed the way they are.

Another good way to practice is to make notes on what the zodiacal and planetary signs mean in Astrology. There are several ways to do this. I started by noting the seasons that each zodiacal sign was associated with. This gave me a vague, but useful understanding of their structure.

Be intuitive

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that the outcome card is the card that predicts when events will happen. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. It changes with each spread.

If you don’t feel that the outcome card is predicting when the event will happen, look for a cluster of cards to help you.

For example, if there are three or four Tarot cards that relate to Aries — I would be comfortable in predicting that March will be the Month the event happens. Or, if there are several cards relating to Virgo, I would predict that September will be the Month the event happens.

Bottom line: look for patterns rather than relying on an individual card to give you the timing.

The information

Below is a list of the astrological attributions associated with each Tarot card. I’ve split them into distinct sections to make it easier for you to find stuff.

The Minor Arcana

These are the attributions, plus dates, for the Minor Arcana.

The Major Arcana

The 22 Major Arcana are associated with Zodiacal, Elemental and Planetary attributes.

The Zodiacal Trumps cover the time period associated with their zodiac sign. The Planetary Trumps correspond to the days of the week or the orbit of the planet, and the Elemental associations don’t cover a time period at all.

There are three primary elements associated with the 22 Trumps. The Golden Dawn attributed these three Trump cards — The Fool, The Hanged Man, and the Aeon, with the three Mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Court Cards

Below are the attributes for the Court Cards. The Kings are called Knights and the Knights are called Princes in the Golden Dawn system.

The Aces and the Princesses

They don’t represent astrological signs of the Zodiac. What they do represent are locations.

In some decks they are called Pages; in others, Princesses. There are important reasons, albeit philosophical ones, for why this is so. I will discuss that in a future post.

What is of more practical importance is how the Aces and the Princesses are linked together. The Aces being the root element of their suit and the Princesses the vehicle in which they manifest. In many ways the Aces and the Princesses have a special relationship.

Use the following information to predict locations.

Conclusion

The purpose of this post is to get you practicing this system straight away. Only through experimentation and practice will you know if you want to use it.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations
• Three Ways To Accurately Predict When Events Will Happen
• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception

This is the final post on the Beginner’s Tutorial To Reading Tarot Cards. At some point I may write some tutorials that look at expanding and adding to the techniques we have already learned. However, I want to use this time to reflect on a few of the key concepts and techniques we have learned.

The Difference Between Work And Play

I have talked a lot about practicing the techniques that I have laid out in this Tutorial Series, but it’s really a double edged sword because there is a point where practicing too much can actually take you further from the goal of delivering a great Tarot reading.

In the Western culture there is a heavy focus on hard work; hard work that eventually, through sacrifice, brings success. This focus does not translate well to Tarot readings. Naturally, you do have to practice the techniques, but as I said in my previous post, there is a point in a reading where the focus on the cards will naturally reduce; this is the point where intuition comes in.

When I think of hard work I think of ‘no fun’. I do not associate hard work with fun. It’s really important that you have fun learning Tarot. The more fun you have the more likely the intuition will just start to flow. In fact, if you work too hard at reading Tarot cards, you will most likely forget to enjoy yourself and the intuitive quality that you can bring to a reading becomes further and further removed from your ability to apply it.

I have tried to show that you only need a few techniques to deliver an outstanding reading; the less you know the more you will be able to offer. What are you offering? You are offering your intuition.

I would suggest practicing all the techniques in this Tutorial Series up until the point you don’t need to think about them anymore. Then, to put it simply, forget about them.

When practicing, it is vital not to read for yourself or others. Instead, view the practice as nothing more than telling a story; which is all a Tarot reading is anyway, only the story you tell does not involve you or anyone you know. That way you will be completely free to experiment with any one of the techniques you want to focus on.

Giving A Reading For Someone Else

There will come a point when you will want to read for someone else. When that point comes do your best to relax, and to relax the person you’re giving a reading for. When the reading starts, don’t worry if you don’t remember anything. In fact, that is a good sign. Allow your ‘story telling’ abilities to come through; another way of saying this is to allow your intuition to shine.

How to study the techniques

1. Deal out a card, name it and two keywords
2. Name the Element associated with the card
3. Name some key concepts associated with that Element
4. Repeat until it starts to feel like hard work

I’d then move onto the second stage of the practice session.

1. Deal out two cards
2. Use the Elements and the Keywords to tell a story
3. Repeat until it starts to feel like hard work

I’d then move onto the third stage of the practice session.

1. Deal out three cards
2. Use the Elements and the Key words to tell a story
3. Repeat until it starts to feel like hard work

I’d then move onto the fourth stage of the practice session.

1. Deal out the Celtic Cross
2. Use the Celtic Cross, Elements and key words to tell a story
3. Use the time to work on your communication skills. Imagine you are telling the story to someone else
4. Repeat until it starts to feel like hard word

I’d then move onto the final stage of the practice session.

1. Do a reading for someone else
2. Forget all the techniques that have been learned
3. Help create a relaxed atmosphere
4. Go crazy with the intuition
5. Repeat until it starts to feel like hard work

It is not necessary to use the structure that I have just outlined. I’ve mentioned it to give you some ideas on how to approach your study. It is also not necessary to complete all the stages outlined above. Simply decide what area you would like to work on and practice. In fact, just practice whatever technique takes your fancy. Once it becomes unconscious (the ‘forgetting’ part) move onto another technique.

The Main Technique I Use

Three card readings seem to work best for me. They are short enough and yet complicated enough to allow me to practice everything I want to work on.

I often deal out three cards from the top of my deck followed by another three cards and another and another, until I have run out of cards. It doesn’t take long. Remember, when it feels like work, stop. It’s much more important to allow your intuition to develop that it is to ‘put the hours in’.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, more is said and done – Lou Holtz.

I hope you have enjoyed this Tutorial Series and I wish you all good luck on your journey. If you have any problems or anything that you would like to discuss with me concerning this tutorial, then please feel free to either leave a comment at the end of this post, or contact me via the Contact page and I’ll do my best to help you in any way I can.

This post is part of the Beginner’s Tutorial To Reading Tarot Cards

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• How To Communicate With The Client
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Eon Quiz and Robust approaches to Tarot Readings
• Why Reading Tarot Cards Like A Book Doesn’t Work
• A Simple Method for Interpreting Two Court Cards

The most important skill to learn (or perhaps it’s more a process of unlearning) is how to settle into a Tarot reading. Every Tarot reading is different because every client is different. They have different expectations as to what a Tarot reading can offer them. Before the reading has even begun this can be a potential conflict. If your understanding of what a Tarot reading ‘achieves’ differs from that of your client, then an unsatisfactory experience for both parties will occur. Usually, I like to spend a few minutes discussing exactly what they want from the reading. I feel this is only fair, both to them and me. There is nothing worse than doing a reading that neither of you are enjoying.

When someone visits a doctor there is a natural level of trust that already exists; when someone visits a Tarot reader there is a natural level of distrust that exists. By attempting to create a relaxed atmosphere with the client and discussing ‘expectations’ with them, you will have done as much as is possible ‘pre-reading’.

During the reading, if you remember that listening and communicating make up 90% of a successful reading then you will be well on your way to delivering engaging as well as competent readings.

A relaxing atmosphere before a Tarot reading

The first task that you will face, in terms of communicating with the client, is to find out what their expectations are. If their expectations differ from yours then it’s important to discuss those differences. If a point of agreement can be reached then continue with the reading.

At this stage of the communication process (Paul Hughes-Barlow taught me this trick) I like to develop an atmosphere of relaxation. Usually this is achieved while discussing ‘expectations’ but it can also be continued into the ritual of selecting a question, shuffling the cards, cutting the deck and so on.

I will describe how I approach this section of the Tarot reading so that you can adapt, dismiss or change my approach into something that is much more suited to you. I hope that by sharing with you what I do, it will allow you to be creative and develop your own style.

The first thing I do is ask the client if they want a general reading. I ask the question this way to develop trust. Although I have spent time discussing ‘expectations’ with them, it is still important to see this stage of the reading as separate. This stage goes a long way towards developing trust and I don’t force them to ask a question. Usually, if they have a specific question they will ask it. However, I think that by not appearing to focus too strongly on that, the client themselves relaxes more and subsequently engages more with the reading. Once we have settled on a question, a general reading or otherwise, I ask the client to shuffle the cards. Again, this helps to relax them and, in a strange way, involves them in the reading right from the start. Finally, I’ll ask them to cut the deck. I use the Opening of the Key which demands a specific method for cutting the deck which I guide the client through. This is also useful because, not only does it continue to create a relaxed atmosphere and involve them in the process, but it also signals the start of a relationship in the sense that every relationship requires activities to build trust and bonds.

After I’ve dealt the cards out I begin the reading proper. This is a critical stage, although we have done our best to discuss expectations and create an atmosphere of relaxation, this moment is usually characterised by an increase in tension. As Tarot readers, we have about 3 minutes to ‘win’ their confidence. If we don’t achieve this then it is best to abandon the reading.

I’ve written an article called How To Approach A Tarot Reading that you may find useful to read as well. This article compliments this post very well.

How to win the confidence of the client within the first 3 minutes of a Tarot reading

The truth is there is no right way to go about this. Be yourself is probably the best approach you can take. We only have a few minutes to win their trust so it’s important to feel confident with your abilities. By using the techniques that I have outlined in this tutorial you will achieve this confidence in two ways. The first way is the techniques themselves. These are the most practical and robust methods that I know; I use them with every Tarot reading I do. The second way is actually all to do with the lack of demands these techniques will place upon you. They do not ask you to learn vast amounts of information.

Why is this important?

It’s important because you will not remember complicated techniques at the start of a reading. It’s a strange an unusual phenomena but you will quickly find that the importance normally placed upon the ‘cards’ themselves, in the sense of them being critical to the Tarot reading, does not translate well into a real life reading. In fact, the client is the most important aspect of a reading and the cards become secondary in this process. With complicated techniques you will spend far too long trying to remember them, and then apply them. Those techniques are not robust. As you build experience then you will certainly want to bring new techniques into your reading, but the ones I have provided will most likely be the foundation for all further learning.

The focus being on the client and not the cards

Certainly, the most important point I want you to remember is that communicating with the client, engaging with them and talking with them, will naturally be taking up the majority of your concentration. What is left of your concentration will be applied to the cards. To have this natural division of attention balanced in the cards favour, in the sense that the cards take up more of your attention than the clients, would be detrimental to the reading itself.

By allowing the client to be the focus of your attention, you will notice something strange starts to happen. The intuition that will begin to guide your use of the cards will, in most cases, be completely different from both the techniques that you practice and the information that can be gathered from those techniques. This is a great sign that the foundations you have been laying with your practice are taking hold. The less importance you place on the cards and the more you place on the client then the more likely intuition will play a role in your Tarot readings.

A standard question that you will be asked

A standard question that people ask me is, “will my partner come back”?

That is all the client wants to know. Once you have answered that to their satisfaction, they will probably want to discuss where things went wrong in their relationship and what the cards indicate, if at all, are the motives behind their partners actions and so on.

I wanted to share with you a standard question that I get asked to give you a sense of what client’s think a Tarot reading can achieve. Not only do they expect the question to be answered but also all the other knock on questions that will occur, depending on the answer you give. That’s why it’s important to have thought out before hand what you think a Tarot reading can achieve, so you can communicated that effectively to a client. This will keep you enjoying the Tarot for much longer.

I think it’s really important to just be yourself and let your own style flow naturally. I think this simple (but hard to do) approach is actually what builds the trust more than anything. Naturally, the client wants the answer to their question but how you answer that is down to you.

Asking the client questions

This is a dangerous exercise. If you have not won their trust or confidence in the reading then they will be unlikely to answer any questions you ask. This is a great technique to make sure you have won their confidence. If they answer your questions and engage and participate in the reading then you know you have succeeded, but if they don’t do this then it’s a good bet that you have not succeed at this point to win their confidence.

It’s important to ask questions that involve them in the reading. In some senses it’s very disempowering for anyone to be told what will happen, and when. I think it’s good practice to try and involve them in the reading as much as is possible (every client is different) so that they can empower themselves to make decisions.

Conclusion

I’ve tried to write this post in such a way as to equip you with enough knowledge to begin thinking about how you would like to conduct your Tarot readings. In some sense this is a customer service driven business and as such it does require the Tarot reader to take control of the reading in a positive, client driven way.

However, there are really no right or wrong ways to go about communicating with the client. Whatever works for you is the best way.

Tomorrow will be the final post in this Tutorial Series. I will be bringing together everything that we have learned into one comprehensive whole. There will be plenty of practice exercises so you can see how everything fits together in a practical way.

This post is part of the Beginners Tutorial Series.

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• Improve your Tarot Readings Activley with the Rule of 2 — Guaranteed

We are almost at the end of this Tutorial Series, and we have come a long way. There are no more techniques that you need to know at this stage in your learning in order to read with Tarot cards. Everything that we have already covered in this Tutorial Series will now form the foundations needed to read, not only the Celtic Cross Spread, but any spread you choose to study. At this stage of your learning, I would highly recommend you pick a spread you like and stick with it for a couple of months. Resist the temptation to read with other spreads. Why do I say this? If you can really build your confidence with one spread then it is very easy to apply that confidence and experience to any spread, but not so the other way around.

The Celtic Cross spread has become one of those Tarot spreads that is so well known and almost every popular book or resource has written on it. I have included the Celtic Cross as part of this Beginners Tutorial Series for two reasons. The first reason is that you will have inevitably read or will read about this spread, so I wanted to use this opportunity to show you the best way to read with this spread. The second reason is to help build your confidence in the techniques we have already covered. I think you will really see the benefit of doing all that practice when it comes to using the Celtic Cross.

The spread itself is not hard to learn. It’s positional based, and therefore it forms a logical structure for reading the cards. I personally don’t think there is anything logical whatsoever with doing Tarot readings, so I tend to avoid any positional based spread. I prefer to tap into the irrationality of Tarot as completely as I can; I tend to use non-positional based spreads. Regardless, choosing a Tarot spread is matter of preference and experience and we all, at some point, learn the Celtic Cross.

As I mentioned earlier, I do feel that with the techniques we have already learned, you will begin to see how the Tarot itself provides the structure, and the need to use artificially imposed limits and rules will seem unnecessary.

There are ten cards used in the Celtic Cross spread. The cross itself indicates time and the column of four cards on the right hand side of the cross represent influences.

The Cross

1. The present
2. The present
3. The card above will provide clues to the distant future
4. The card below will provide clues to the recent past
5. The card to the left will provide clues on the distant past
6. The card to the right will provide clues to the immediate future

When you practice reading the Celtic Cross, look to this section first for your ‘narrative’ and only use the column of cards to support or add strength to your interpretations of the cross.

The Column provides us with information on the influences:

• The bottom card provides clues to the client’s influence
• The next card provides clues to the environmental influences (that means anything outside of the client’s control)
• The next card can be read as a potential outcome card and provides clues as to the influence of change
• The last card is traditionally seen as the outcome card. This card should be used as a way to validate your ‘narrative’ or story. Think of it like any historical event; there is never a complete outcome. There are always consequences

To summarise, the cross answers questions and the column informs the cross; the cross makes predictions and the column adds some extra detail.

Let’s check out an example of the Celtic Cross spread in action, and see some of the techniques we have learned come together.

Example Celtic Cross Spread:

The following reading is published with permission of the client. I wanted to show the approach I take to reading a very simple 10 card Celtic Cross spread.

A list of the cards used in the above example

1. The present: 8 of Wands reversed
2. The present: 10 of Disks
3. The card above will provide clues to the distant future: Wheel of Fortune
4. The card below will provide clues to the distant past: The Magician reversed
5. The card to the left will provide clues on the recent past: The High Priestess reversed
6. The card to the right will provide clues to the immediate future: The Fool reversed
7. The bottom card provides clues to the client’s influence: Temperance
8. The next card provides clues to the environmental influences (that means anything outside of the client’s control): Ace of Wands reversed
9. The next card can be read as a potential outcome card and provides clues as to the influence of change: Queen of Disks reversed
10. The last card is traditionally seen as the outcome card. This card should be used as a way to validate your ‘narrative’ or story. Think of it like any historical event; there is never a complete outcome. There are always consequences: 9 of Cups reversed

The client did not wish to ask a question.

General Impressions:

3 upright cards, 7 reversed cards. 4 Fire, 2 Water, 2 Air (or Spirit?), 2 Earth. This suggests activity that goes nowhere.

Reversed Tarot Cards

It’s also helpful to look at the reversals as one group and the uprights as another. The reversals (High Priestess in the past position being the initial start of this cycle) are what’s happening in her life, whereas the uprights are what’s causing tension. Her influence to change her life is limited.

The Ratio Between Elements, Picture, Court And Pip Cards

Apart from the Ace, the numbers start at 8, 9 and 10, suggesting the culmination of past efforts (the Minors often indicating individual effort).

5 Major Cards and 1 Court Card.

The abundance of Major’s in the spread tells me that the client’s ability to make dramatic changes is subject to powerful forces outside of her control. The lack of other characters tells me that this is about her against the world. A maverick perhaps.

The Air cards (Fool and Magus) suggest the Element Spirit. This tells me there is no real conflict; perhaps continuing down this path is the one of least resistant for her.

The Story Or Narrative

The Priestess in the past position suggests a strong focus on the physical (money, sex and so on). This links to the 9 of Cups. Enjoyable but empty. Empty because (Art) she’s unfulfilled.

It’s clear that her plans are going nowhere (8 of Wands, Fool, Ace of Wands, Magus). The feeling is likened to hard work, inspiration and yet the money doesn’t reflect. What does she have within her environment that is the supportive element (10 of Disks)? Although, traditionally we’d be looking at the 9 of Disks (a gain in money and finances) to suggest support, the 10 explores the concept of inheritance and family. The question (only within our own minds at this point) must be, what does she have that she can rely upon…that also causes a degree of discomfort (the cross position)?

It’s probably her family (10 of Disks association with family). Also her plans have to do with career development, possibly self-employment (Magus).

The majority of Majors tells me that her circumstances play a large role in dictating what opportunities are available. The Art card tells me that her approach is balanced; her optimism is what gets her through, possibly even an inspiration to others. Does travel play on her mind?

I think that because her circumstances change (Fortune Card), people (her family- 10 of Disks) and career related opportunities, that this approach is a good one.

However, her influence is small.

The Fool and Ace (opportunities, probably unexpected) are what’s hoped for. Looks like they’ve never really happened for her, and are unlikely to in the near future. I get the impression that she works hard (8 of Wands), but nothing changes. The overall effect though (9 of Cups) is that a certain inner satisfaction is what counts for her.

The Magus (usually associated with self-employment) suggests that she is looking to build her own business.

The combination of the Fortune Card and the 10 of Disks might also suggest that people within her immediate family have:- some left, some new additions. This would probably play out (10’s being associated with family but the disk is focusing in on the financial element of the family) as a financial drain. One leaves but one gained.

To summarise so far:

A woman, self employed who works hard isn’t enjoying the expected financial rewards that her enterprise should bring. Her plans (8 of Wands) don’t seem to arrive at that expected place and the financial support (10 of Disks) allows her to continue. This support will cause a degree of tension.

Her approach is balanced (no advice needed on a change of attitude) and the inner satisfaction of the work is a reward in itself.

The opportunities that her business should be providing have not happened, and although things will continue to change (Fortune) the overall effect for the client is: no change.

The Fool also suggests the need for more adventure and surprises in her life. I suspect that she believes that career success will bring this.

Conclusion

Overall, (Fool, Ace, Fortune) the potential for things to change is implied, but unlikely in the next 6 months. With her balanced approach to life, when circumstances change, then success. This isn’t guaranteed unfortunately. Potential is simply potential. With her environment exercising so much control over her options, if this changed then success.

Feedback from the client:

My family although supportive are also a cause for concern and Douglas was so right about the changing dynamics – my son recently joined the Army and I also gained a teenage lodger! Although I didn’t ask a question, Douglas picked up on the factors in my life that are the most dominating. My business, though not dying, isn’t doing so well and I am struggling to maintain the balance. I have also been looking at some other options but have been undecided about what to do. I can see now that I must reassess my whole situation. I can continue on this current path and hope that things will change, or I can stop sitting on the fence and make a decision one way or another. After my reading with Douglas I know that I do have many options, it’s down to me to step outside my comfort zone.

Practice The Celtic Cross

The way I think you’ll get the most out of your practice sessions is to spend the majority of time dealing out the Three Card spread we looked at in the last post. This will provide you with the firm foundations to tackle the Celtic Cross spread with ease. I would still practice the Celtic Cross spread but at this stage it is important to be comfortable with all the techniques we have covered in this Tutorial Series. The Three Card spread will help bring all these different methods together.

There is also a new tutorial series that has just started at Tarot Elements – How To Read The Celtic Cross Spread. This series is designed to teach you how to read the Celtic Cross like a pro.

The next post will look at the most important aspect of giving a reading.

This post is part of the Beginners Tutorial Series

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• Reversed Tarot Cards Explained
• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations

Today we will combine all the techniques we have learned into reading a three card Tarot spread. The techniques we will be using are:

1. The divinatory meanings of all three cards
2. The ED’s or Elemental associations
3. Reversed Tarot cards

Understanding Three Card Dynamics

Before we go further, it’s important to discuss a few concepts concerning the dynamics that exist between three Tarot cards. The most important point I’d like you to remember is that the Elements number four, yet we are only using three. In this sense we have already created an imbalance. We are missing an Element.

In the last post I wrote on the Elements, as part of this Beginners Tutorial to reading Tarot cards, discussed the tension that exists between the Elements. They always seek a perfect harmony, yet this state of perfection can never be reached; the three card Tarot spread we will be discussing further exploits this phenomena, by allowing us to read the point of change.

The second point I’d like you to keep in mind involves the nature of the three card Tarot spread itself. In this Tarot spread, we will not be using positions to indicate the past, the present, the future, or any other combination commonly seen. How then do we go about giving the reading a structure? If we are not using positions to provide the structure, what then shall we use?

The answer lies in the middle card of the three card spread. We will use that as the focus point for our reading. Imagine that the two cards that flank or provide the border to the middle card, in some sense, create the middle card. Their interactions transform into the middle card. In other words, the middle card is the outcome card.

A note of caution: I rarely view things in that way, however, it’s important that we start somewhere so that your confidence in using spreads that don’t depend upon positions starts to grow. The less you see the cards as positional indicators, the more you’ll start to open up to the energy flow that the cards themselves provide.

This process of becoming less dependent on positional based Tarot spreads will really open you up to seeing how the Tarot itself provides the structure to base your readings on. This process does take time and the foundations that we have laid with this Tutorial Series will go along way to help you achieve a greater understanding of this ‘structure’.

Questions To Ask Ourselves When We First Deal Out The Three Tarot Cards

1. What Elements are present?
2. What Element is missing?
3. Is there an excess of either the Elements, the Picture cards, the Court cards or the Pip cards?
4. Is there a complete absence of either the Elements, the Picture cards, the Court cards or the Pip cards?
5. How many, if any, are reversed

Try and ask those questions in the order I have provided above. Think of it as a checklist. By answering those questions we will already have built up a strong impression of what the reading suggests.

Example Three Card Reading:

1. Elements present: Air or Spirit, Fire and Earth
2. Element missing: Water
3. Excess of Picture cards
4. Missing the Court cards
5. One reversed card
6. This is the point we add the DM’s

Let’s start by looking at the Elements present. Apart from Earth, they are all active Elements. We know things are changing, and the Earth of the Universe card will give that ‘change’ a solid base in which to develop. In other words, these changes have the potential to last. I am viewing the Magus card as Spirit and as such, is supported by the Earth Element of the Universe card. However, we could say that the Magus, which, when seen as the Element Air is an Enemy of the Earth Element provided by the Universe card. This would certainly change the interpretation; it would indicate obstacles.

The excess of Picture cards indicates life changing events and the lack of the Element Water indicates that the client will be ignoring their health, other peoples feelings and their own. We can speculate that they have already put a lot of work into making this plan happen and are now at the point where circumstances have gathered enough energy to take the clients plan forward.

The reversed Universe card, in this context, seems to indicate delays. Why do I say this? Looking at the three cards I ultimately see the client’s plans working out for them, however, I see the Universe as indicating a resistance. It looks to me like this resistance is a product of circumstance rather than some inner subjective, or psychological resistance, that belongs to the client. In plain English, the Universe card reversed indicates that it may take longer to finalise certain key things; longer than the client may have anticipated. No doubt, the client will be feeling slightly frustrated while waiting for events to catch up or materialise. I would suspect these delays involve bureaucracy.

The Six of Wands is the middle Tarot card, and that is, in this version of the three card spread, the outcome card. The influences, or perhaps more specifically, the union (I’m often reminded of Yoga) of the Magus and the Universe have created a separate, individual Tarot card; a unique set of circumstances. Elementally, the Six of Wands is strong, it is well support by the other cards. Now is a good time to bring in the DM’s of the three Tarot cards, to assist our ‘narrative’.

The DM’s of the Magus, Six of Wands and the Universe card are as follows: Self-employment or self promotion; Victory and recognition; Success and Foreign countries.

Overall, this reading is telling me that the client will successfully expand their business into their foreign country of choice. They have worked hard to get to this point; they have ignored both their health and the feelings of others in the pursuit of this goal. There will be delays before the business is fully operationally; it looks bureaucratic in nature. The Six of Wands indicates initial success with recognition being given by their peers.

The Elements are looking to rebalance though; the missing Element of Water will need to be expressed soon. I would expect, at some point, that this area of the client’s life will require attention.

The missing Court cards indicates that the client may feel like they don’t need anyone to succeed in life. This fiercely independent aspect of their nature will inevitably catch up with them when the Elements seek to rebalance.

As you can see, from this simple three card Tarot spread, we were able to gather a lot of information on the client’s circumstances and possible future experiences. I would like you to continue practicing this spread as much as possible and remember, it is important to resist the temptation to read for others at this time. It’s much more important that you learn how to ‘open yourself’ up to imagination and allow different types of ‘narratives’ or stories to flow. This will not only give you the confidence to read for others, but will lay very solid foundations for your continued Tarot journey. It is my belief that by practicing the techniques that I have outlined in this Tutorial Series, you will avoid many of the pitfalls that can trap so many beginner students of Tarot.

For further research into reading three cards I would recommend the lessons on Supertarot’s Elemental Dignities and Reading Three Tarot Card Groups. You might also like to check out an awesome series of articles, by Tarot Elements – Elemental Dignities Mini-Series that introduce techniques for using Elemental Dignities within a three card reading.

This post is part of the Beginners Tutorial To Reading Tarot Cards.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations
• Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations

There are a lot of different opinions on how to read reversed Tarot cards. I think it’s one of those ambiguous areas of Tarot that only personal experience will make you feel comfortable with. Some of the different approaches to reading reversed Tarot cards are unhelpful; principally because they are not practical. Avoid the practice of interpreting a reversed card as somehow reversing the upright meaning, and try instead to see it as just another way to group the cards.

I have been asked before if I think it’s necessary to use reversed cards in a Tarot reading and my honest answer is no. I’m unconvinced that using reversed cards, for people that are concerned with memorising vast amounts of keywords or DMs, is the best practice for them. It tends to provide an unnecessary amount of stress that is counterproductive to the aim; giving a Tarot reading.

The method that I am about to outline here is the one I use in my professional practice. I know this method works, and it really is simple to use, however, I must insist that you avoid the temptation of adding any more DMs to your repertoire. In my opinion, the use of reversed cards is not to provide the reader with additional DMs, but rather to allow the Tarot reader to structure the ‘narrative’ or story he tells the client.

The Method For Reading Reversed Tarot Cards

I use the reversed Tarot cards to structure a Tarot reading. It’s difficult to explain exactly what I mean by this. I do not mean that I change the DMs of the cards just because they are reversed, or that I assign any special privileges to either the upright or reversed cards. In fact, whether they are reversed or not does not matter much to me. The only thing that concerns me when I see reversed cards is what story they are telling me.

Like any good book or movie there is the main plot, but contained within this structure are ‘sub-plots’ of the main story. I see reversed cards as indicating the sub-plot of the main story within the client’s life. As a result, I group all the reversed cards together to help me determine what this sub-plot is.

For example, if it’s a relationship reading, I’ll first look at the main plot of the reading before checking out the reversed cards. If it just so happens that the client’s partner is reversed then I will apply all reversed cards to him. This allows me to tell the client what their partner feels about them, the issues that surround them and in some instances their motive for acting the way they do. In this way, I group the reversed cards together in order to help complete the Tarot reading.

Additionally, I’ll use reversed cards as a way to explore blocks or resistance to the client’s plan or goal. In fact, I’ll usually interpret the same reversed Tarot cards more than once in order to add greater depth to my readings. The process of reinterpretation is possibly a little too involved at this stage of our learning, but it is worth while recognising that nothing is absolute in a Tarot reading. Every card can be reinterpreted by using different criteria, depending on the information you are looking for, as often as you like.

Example Two Card Tarot Readings Using Reversed Cards

The purpose of this exercise is two-fold. Firstly, to get you comfortable with viewing reversed cards, not as a reversal of the DMS but rather, as a method for structuring a reading. Secondly, to illustrate that there is no real mystery behind using reversed cards. In a two card reading, the ‘narrative’ you tell will be much the same as if they were both upright.

In fact the technique I use to read reversed Tarot cards would see two reversed cards identically (if it was only a 2 card Tarot reading) as if they were upright. You might see reversed Tarot cards differently, that’s fine, the important point is not to get ‘hung-up’ on the thought of learning extra DMS when really, it’s not necessary.

Here we have the 3 of Swords reversed next to the 7 of Disks. We know Elementally that Air and Earth are enemies and weaken each other. We also know that one is Active and the other is Passive which results in a neutralising influence. Therefore, this situation is unlikely to change. When both cards were upright we saw them as meaning profound debt. Now that one of them is reversed, how does this change the story? Not a whole lot to be honest. The main change is that the person experiencing the debt is bound to feel worse about things and also, if we imagine the 3 of Swords as somehow indicative of other people, being cut off from any outside help. On a positive note, we could also imagine that the client has the determination to succeed as indicated by the 7 of Disks; it just appeals to my imagination as being stronger.

Here we have the 4 of Wands reversed. When both cards were upright I felt it indicated marriage; now, with one of them reversed, we will have to reinterpret the cards again.

I still see this as an excellent combination of cards. I can’t see the 4 of Wands reversed as indicating a great obstacle to the client’s life. At worse, all I could say would be that the client could take more time to enjoy what’s happening around her.

If we completely reinterpret these cards we could say that the professional advice offered by the Hierophant will certainly help the client with their property; perhaps the client has experienced delays in terms of moving home?

Both these cards are reversed. I will use the same interpretation we used when both these cards were upright: The Fool indicates something new and when combined with the Universe card I would be inclined to say that this person will be moving abroad.

I used the same interpretation as before as I don’t use reversed cards to reverse the DMs. Instead, I use reversed cards to help create a structure within a Tarot reading; to help me explore the ‘sub-plots’ within a reading and to provide a way of analysing the blockages or resistance that life, or the client, might create.

I would like you to continue using reversed cards within your practice readings and next week we will be combining all these different lessons into a powerful three card spread.

This post is part of the Beginners Tutorial To Reading Tarot Cards.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• An Introduction To The Elemental Dignities Compendium
• The Celtic Cross Spread
• Learn How To Confidently Do A Two Card Reading.
• How to Select the Significator that will be used in the Opening of the Key
• How To Read With The Opening of the Key And Still Keep Your Sanity