Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
I’ve been thinking recently about the different ways that we’re able to approach a tarot card reading — not least because, late last year, I attended an afternoon workshop by Mary K. Greer (author of, among others, 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card) where a group of us spent an afternoon exploring the subject.
At one point in the afternoon, we took part in a 30-minute exercise that was conducted at a relentless pace that allowed for absolutely no planning, and little pause to ask, “Can I really do this?” We simply dived in and did it. The exercise consisted of doing single-card readings, each a minute long, moving on to the next person — and the next reading — once the minute was over. Each reading had a different theme, including doing a standard intuitive reading; summing up the card in a single word; speaking in metaphor; speaking without knowing the question; holding the card and talking about it, but not being able to look at it.
It was energising, quite exhausting and eye-opening, and I came away with two very clear insights. The first was that there is no ‘right’ way to read a card. This goes back to my statement toward the beginning of this series on tarot that readings are like myriad routes to a single destination. Some reading approaches — the routes — are well-worn ‘old faithfuls’ that you know will get you there; others are more experimental. But the message — the destination — remains unchanged.
The second is that anyone can read tarot. It is not for a few initiates. We are all initiates in our own right and in our distinct ways; we all hold The Magician archetype, as we hold all other archetypes. That doesn’t mean that everyone wants to, nor that someone should feel that they ought to. It just means that the choice is there if we have the desire. There is no barrier to entry as long as we are prepared to look at and negotiate the barriers inside us.
A lengthy preamble, I know, but I want to reinforce the idea that I’m not writing only for those who already know and work with tarot. Curiosity and a willingness to give it a go are all that are needed to start seeing how tarot can be a useful tool. Keeping that in mind, and inspired by my workshop with Mary K. Greer, here are four ways that you can approach a tarot card — this time, by harnessing qualities of the four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Let’s step into the realm of The Magician — whose work is the mastery all four of these elements of life — and see where we go…