@Dierna_Nimue_Selene I do things a bit different than I have seen others… I also haven’t learned the intuitive reading part… but I am also working on some things & relearning to trust my intuition so there’s that…
I have bought my decks… I have never been gifted one. So my first deck was the Rider-Waite deck. As I went through them, I bought the Light Seer’s Tarot which is really straight up with me & then the Tarot of the Divine. It’s straight but not tell it like it is… then I found the Celtic Tarot… that one pulls no punches & is just not abrupt but definitely tells it like it is.
The first thing I do is smoke cleanse my decks & say a blessing, prayer, chant, not sure what to call it. That is based off one that I had gotten & I changed it a bit for myself. Then I place clear quartz in with the cards & sleep with them in my pillowcase for a few days.
Once I have started that, I over hand then bridge shuffle the deck 3 times. I take the top 3 cards off the top & place them within the deck. I flip the next card as the card for the day or question.
I start with one card drawn for myself each day. It’s usually a question like:
- What is the outlook for today?
- What is the energy for me today?
- Is there anything I should avoid today?
If there is a “jumper” I will read that one first then the card I’ve drawn as a pairing or clarification card.
As time goes by I will start 2 card draws up to a 3 & sometimes I get to a 5 card draw… usually I stop at a 3 card draw & will do 4 if I have a specific situation.
I also have a pdf file of a Tarot Journal, that has different spreads starting with 1 card through I believe 5 maybe 6 & then a Celtic Cross. There are kinds of templates though for each draw… there are suggested readings for the number of cards & it tells you which card is for which part of the spread. Then there is a section to write the card names & positions & a page for your interpretation of the cards based on the situation or question(s).
At first, I didn’t read reversals… honestly, I was afraid to & would get confused. It took me a little bit to start reading the reversals, usually there is an upright & reversed meaning for each card. The meanings of the reversals for me I relate to the question(s), situation, or spread that I’ve chosen.
When I do a 3 card spread for the day it’s usually something like:
- Card 1: What is the energy of the day?
- Card 2: What can I look forward to?
- Card 3: Something I should avoid or be aware of.
Biddy Tarot is a good resource for all of the above & will have free lessons/training on the cards or reading intuitively. I am currently enrolled to learn more about reading them intuitively. There is a workbook that goes along with the workshop. If you sign up for the email list they also send you a pdf of each card keyworfs of the meaning upright & reversed to kind of help you along.
Tarot.com also has a part where you look up the cards & it will give you the upright, reversed, & advice meanings for each card.
The lovely @Amethyst has also made up:
Tarot Poems by The Gifted and Talented Amethyst for each card in a traditional deck.