How to Read Tarot Intuitively

Some people get discouraged that they’re not able to read tarot intuitively right away, but it’s actually rare for a person to pick up a deck and start reading with confidence and ease without a book or teacher. (Children are great at this, simply because they haven’t yet been fully conditioned to ignore their intuition.)

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you as a reader if you can’t immediately let the cards be a conduit for your unbridled and wise intuition.

Accessing your intuitive powers

We ALL have intuitive powers. But because our (patriarchal, capitalist) society values only the tangible and logical, we’ve systematically been taught and conditioned to discredit and disavow our intuition over the course of our lives (especially when we’re younger and our connection is the strongest). 

The less we listen to and use our innate intuitive capabilities, the harder it is to hear them over the noise of our busy minds and the “shoulds”. The intuition is harder to access the less it’s nurtured and relied upon, which can lead to an excess of stress, overwhelm, anxiety, overthinking, and negativity.

Your intuition connects you to your core self and grounds you in a courage and confidence that’s impossible to think or effort your way to.

So how do we access our intuitive powers? 

There are many ways to tap in that aren’t on this list, but hopefully this will get you started:

Start asking your intuition questions. 

Just start asking your intuition low-stakes questions (let’s not start out with, “What’s my life’s purpose?” mmmk?). We’re learning to build our intuitive muscles here, so let’s start small with: “What should I wear today?” or “Which route should I take home?”

Observe the response you get and how it feels in your body. 

What’s the FIRST response you get? Take note of that. How did it sound? How did it feel? Did you feel a sensation in your body when you heard it? Write these things down so you can start picking up on patterns.

Act on the answers you receive. 

Part of building your intuitive muscle is acting on the advice you receive to build your trust in the process and, more importantly, trust in yourself. Notice how following through on your intuition’s advice feels and the results it yields.

Take the pressure off. 

If you feel like you’re not receiving guidance or feel frustrated, pause and pivot. Consider a different approach, something that feels light and maybe even fun. 

“The intuition responds to openness and curiosity, not control.”

Get grounded and rest. 

Another way to approach our intuition when we feel like we’re not getting much back or perhaps are putting too much pressure on it, is to shift our mindset and environment. 

Getting grounded through time outside in nature, paying attention to our senses, movement, breathing, quiet rest, music, or meditation can help shift our minds from doing to receiving mode. Receiving mode is where the messages come to us.

What does it mean to read tarot intuitively? 

The best readers do a blend of studying and knowing the tarot in the traditional sense (by putting in the hours, reading up, and learning from teachers), using their intuition, and building a personal relationship to the cards.

Read more about Magical Tarot: Spells, Shadow & Shine.

The tarot is a beautiful blend of symbolism and structure that helps us access our unconscious wisdom.

The concept of reading intuitively takes into account the individual meanings and symbolism of the cards and yet isn’t bound to them exclusively. 

An intuitive reader feels into the way the cards interact with one another when brought together in different formations, picks up on energy from the querent’s questions, and listens to messages that want to come through the reading.

For more, check out my workshops.