What Is Tarot

Tarot is a practice where you use a set of tarot cards to gain insight, see into the future and look inside yourself. There are usually 78 cards in a tarot deck.

When doing a tarot reading, someone known as a “reader” mixes up the deck and places the cards down in a certain layout called a spread. Each spot in the spread matches with a different part of the question asked. The reader then explains what the cards mean based on where they are and how close they are to each other, relying on both their gut feelings and knowledge about the card’s meanings. This interpretation comes from the cards’ pictures which have things like characters, colors, and signs that add more layers of meaning.

Tarot doesn’t precisely predict what’s going to happen in the future. It’s more about looking at possible outcomes and getting why things are happening with a person or situation. People often use it to think over choices they need to make or to get their heads around tricky issues. Some folks take the spiritual side of tarot seriously, while others just see it as a chance to do some soul-searching or psychological unpacking. How valuable a tarot reading is really depends on what both the reader and the person getting read make of it.