How to Read Tarot: A Practical Guide

by Adams Media

Learn how to anticipate the future and shape the present in this new guide about reading Tarot cards.

For centuries, mystics and clairvoyants have used Tarot cards to predict the future. But no special power is needed to read the cards with How to Read Tarot . This easy-to-follow guide can show you how to interpret and understand the meaning behind Tarot cards. You’ll find everything from explanations of each card in the deck to using the Tarot for personal gain. The truth is in the cards—that is, if you know where to look.

Genres: Tarot, Nonfiction, Reference, Spirituality, Magic, Witchcraft, Wicca

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 7, 2017

Reviews

[Cheryl Lucero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very practical
I used it to become familiar with card meanings before reading for others

It has lots of information but not a lot of heart or feeling

It is AND feels like an instruction manual

All the how to with none of the feeling

Which, when learning, may be the best first step 🤷‍♀️

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm quite happy to read almost any tarot book, as each book offers new and unique insights. With this one, I was particularly pleased with its interpretations of the Major Arcana, the spread ideas, and the information it gave about numerology. However, many parts of the book didn't resonate with me. I found the sections on the Minor Arcana to be a bit repetitive and rigid in the interpretations. It also seemed to focus mostly on using the tarot for things like work, money, and relationship advice rather than general personal growth and spiritual development. (Though to be fair, it IS marketed as a PRACTICAL guide.)

I believe this book would best be suited for tarot beginners, as it explains the basic concepts of the cards and conducting readings quite well, and provides some simple spreads to use for practicing.

[Megan Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive teaching!

[Valerie Thibaudeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une bible pour débuter le tarot! Je vais la garder précieusement!

[Brendan Rather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and organized guide to becoming well-acquainted with the symbology, numerology, and meanings of each individual Tarot card. Special attention is dedicated to being able to read any Minor Arcana card by understanding the four basic suits and the driving numerology of Tarot cards. This book made Tarot reading feel approachable, and it serves as a regular reference whenever I need it.

[nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come see me talk more about books over at my Twitter!

Someone bought this for me as a gift when I expressed interest in getting to learn and understand tarot. At the time I didn't even have a deck, I just knew that I wanted to explore it more. I think that for a beginner, this has a lot of useful basic info on tarot. It's really quite comprehensive and has so much useful information which I refer back to again and again, including the symbology of the suits, an introduction to numerology, an in-depth look at each card of the tarot, and an introduction to spreads and readings. It is a great way to walk you through everything you need to know about tarot if you have little to no experience.

I think one thing to bear in mind, and one thing that I guess stopped me from giving it the full five stars was that not all of the interpretations of the cards landed with me or made a whole lot of sense. I have done lots of research using other information sources and have found interpretations that seem to make more sense and also felt less restrictive. I would definitely encourage anyone reading not to use this as their sole source of information when it comes not only to card interpretation but also to other areas of tarot practice such as how to bless your cards. To be honest, this is completely normal as the whole practice of tarot is something very personal. You have to find what works for you, and in the same way that you find the deck(s) that resonates with you, you'll also develop your own method of practising tarot. Nonetheless, this book is a great place to start.

[Jackson Stephens]

this book shows how to read tarot cards which can help you tell your future or make decisions. There are two types of cards the Major arcana and the Minor arcana, the Major arcana includes 22 cards and the Minor arcana includes 56 cards. In tarot there spreads, ways to lay out your tarot cards, to use such as the tree of life spread, the world tree spread, the quick answer spread, and the general life conditions spread. These spreads all do different things but in most spreads it is showing a problem you have whats causing it and a solution to it. This book also tells about the suits(Minor arcana); the wands, the swords, the pentacles, and the cups each representing something different. Wands usually representing business affairs, swords usually representing change and power, the pentacles representing money/wealth, and the cups representing emotions. The Major Arcana cards represent very different things but usually play a large part in your reading. Tarot cards can also be reversed when shuffling and that can reverse the meaning of the card entirely, such as the star which upright means confidence and energy but reversed it means feeling alone and withdrawn.

[Julie Rössler · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I really like this book. I think its a great start for when you want to get more into Tarot but I feel like the interpretations are too direct and not open enough. I compered them to diverse other interpretations I have from the deck booklets and with that you get a pretty good overall viewing of the meaning of each card. So if you are a beginner or if you want to check up a specific meaning this book is great. However if you have a specific question it can be difficult to apply the interpretations onto your reading, because some interpretations are to generally or the opposite is the case and they go in an extremly specific direction (e.g. you have a love-related question and all the interpretations are talking about money and finances)
Also, they teach you about Numerology, Color symbolism, Systems to lay the cards etc.
I would really recommend this book but only keeping in mind to check other books as well. Otherwise your view on the cards can be a little too close minded

[emma ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great as a general guide to aid in your tarot journey.

In the end I ended up putting the book down since it reminded me of the guides you get in your deck, just expanded on. The first half of the book goes into history of tarot and its many origins but the latter half just a general gist of each cards meaning and spreads you can use.

Other than that it’s okay as a guide just not a book to read start to finish, more a skim to see what you need in the moment.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent intro if this is your very first Tarot book. But despite the title, I didn’t find it all that practical. The card meanings lean heavily on psychological interpretations, which seems to be the default in most Tarot books these days. But how practical is it if all you can answer after reading a dozen books is still only "so... how should i think about X?". Looking for truly practical tarot book recs

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, easy-to-follow guide for the beginner tarot reader, though a bit cliche-written. It’s not a comprehensive book on the art, but it covers all the basics needed to start reading tarot cards, either for yourself or for others, including common interpretations for all the major and minor Arcana, including reversed readings.

[Kasandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a nice introduction, it mentions the history of tarot, includes multiple spreads, detailed information about the individual cards, and other things you should be aware of when reading cards. The only thing is that the meaning of each card sometimes didn't stick with me, but different people can have slightly different interpretations of the cards so it's okay.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good as an introduction to what tarot is all about. It also seems like a decent reference book. It was a little waffly in regards to concrete advice, like when it would advise the asker to be as specific as possible, but then in the next paragraph say it was better to be generic. However, I suppose that's just the nature of tarot and not any fault if the author's.

[Shae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really helped me gain a deeper understanding about tarot! Everything was explained so well and I really loved the tarot spreads too! I highly recommend this to anyone needing to learn or gain a deeper understanding of how tarot works in your everyday life and how to tape into your intuition!

[Flora the explorer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were components of this book that I found insightful. Namely the spread ideas, major arcana interpretations and references to numerology. That being said, the minor arcana interpretations felt repetitive and overly focused on the physical realm (I.e. money and work). It truly is a PRACTICAL guide due to the authors heavy focus on the material world/concerns.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use the term “finished” with this book very lightly, seeing as I am still reaching for this book for new spreads and further insight to my drawings almost daily.
Definitely my go to tarot book at the moment.

[Zorenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very encompassing however I found it lacking in the sheer level of Christian imagery the RWS Tarot has, which came as a shock to me when this book inspired me to get a RWS tarot deck, I returned it as I was trying to get away from that sort of thing.

[Jessica Furtado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful for beginners. This was a great starting point to get acquainted with symbolism and basic spreads.

[Reese Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Already knew a bunch of this stuff. Although a great book for beginners, kind of wish it gave hacks/more advanced tips for more advanced readers.

[Keri. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical is a fair word to summarize this book. Not really helpful on intuitive reading but I’d recommend this book as a starting point or reference guide for sure.

[Stately Elms Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun to read and extremely accessible. Provides a well rounded guide to practically applying tarot into everyday life.

[Anna Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro book! Wish it included some example readings but otherwise pretty through. If you want to learn tarot, I would recommend supplementing study with YouTube videos.

[Chris Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference book

[Jennifer Mordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several tarot books and I am always excited when I can learn something new. I love the spreads in this book and the details on reading the spreads and choosing a significator.

[K Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book if you’re starting out with Tarot. Simple to understand and had all the basics needed without pushing an ideology on you.

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

this one too

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent primer for the novice or curious.

[Alex]

This was a very formative read. The information was well formatted and easy to understand. I'm now very exited to continue my research.