Tarot Teacher: How To Do a 3-Card Tarot Reading

Reading Tarot Cards is literally as easy as 1-2-3 with a 3-card spread. With the ever-increasing popularity of Tarot cards these days, you may find yourself asking, exactly HOW do tarot cards work? In this blog post and accompanying video, I will demonstrate how to do a 3-card tarot spread, giving you a better understanding of how to perform your own tarot card reading. 

Tarot cards are an ancient divinatory system that shed light on past, present, and future energies. Before you pick up a deck of tarot cards, it is important to know that you control your fate and destiny and that the cards help you gain insight into how you can most effectively navigate your current circumstances and learn from the past and prepare for the future. Giving your personal power away to tarot cards or anything else outside yourself can be very dangerous and toxic. 

WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Selecting the Best Tarot Deck for You

Now first things first - choosing your tarot card deck.  As a beginner, I recommend starting with the original Rider Waite tarot deck or a comparable deck with equally vivid and descriptive imagery. As a new practitioner, you will want to begin by grounding your energy and centering your mind. It is helpful to establish a daily routine of meditation and other grounding and mind-centering techniques for your personal benefit and to enhance your intuition to aid you in deciphering your tarot card spread. Next, you’ll want to cleanse and connect with your tarot deck. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, but some popular methods are to sage your deck and charge it with crystals, sunlight, or moonlight. You could even carry it around with you in your purse or sleep with it near your bedside. Reading tarot cards will become easier as you familiarize yourself with the meanings of each of the 78 cards. 

These prerequisites to reading tarot cards aren't necessary, but they can be beneficial in improving your reading skills. It is also helpful to familiarize yourself with obtaining and sustaining a meditative state. A practice called channeling is a trance-like state that allows information to form in your mind without any effort.

Now that we covered the more "educational" topics, let’s have some fun! So, how exactly do you read tarot cards? 

How to Pull Your Own Three Card Tarot Spread

A one or 3-card tarot spread is a great way to start when you are a beginner. Having a specific layout can make it a lot easier to determine the message. Reading tarot cards may seem intimidating or daunting at first, but with time, dedication, and practice, you can learn to interpret tarot cards effortlessly. 

After you have performed your deck cleansing and energy grounding techniques, you are ready to do your tarot card spread. Let’s talk about a love specific spread as an example. 

In a 3-card love spread, the first card represents you (the person asking the question), the second card represents the relationship dynamic overall, and the third card represents the other person (the POI). To start, shuffle your cards any way you see fit for any length of time. There is no right or wrong way to do this. While shuffling the cards, you are setting your intention and making your question clear in your mind. Having a clear question in mind makes interpreting the cards much easier, especially if you are a beginner. Over time, you will begin to see how the cards' meanings can be weaved together to create a story and thus answer your question. 

With your tarot cards sufficiently shuffled, you are ready to lay out your spread. There are several ways you can pull tarot cards. Some draw the cards from the deck, while others shuffle until they fly out of the deck itself. Again, there is no right or wrong way to do this. Trust your intuition from the beginning of the practice to the end - including how you shuffle and lay out your cards. This now brings about the question of reversed cards. If a card comes out reversed, should you leave it reversed or flip it upright? Every reader is different, so you should follow your gut. Often it is recommended that beginners start only reading upright cards. However, all cards have definitive upright and reversed meanings, and it can be beneficial to familiarize yourself with both interpretations. This brings me back to a previous point that I made about claiming your personal power. As reversed meanings of cards can often be negative, it's important to approach the reading in a way that you are only seeking information that aids in aligning with your highest self and good. Once your cards are laid out in the 1-2-3 formation for this particular spread, you are ready to interpret your cards.

Your tarot card deck has likely come with a guidebook that contains a brief interpretation of each card. Many other resources are also available, such as physical books or online guides. It's helpful to research the meanings of cards and refer to them while reading them until you become an expert. 

Get a Tarot Reading

Hopefully, this information gives you confidence in exploring tarot cards! If you need help or want a professional tarot reading, give me or another expert Psychic a call. I'd love to lay a 3-card spread to help you find clarity or reassurance in any life area. We can talk about love, career, and relationships or delve into your past to heal trauma.