Reading Tarot Cards for Yourself? Pitfalls and Tips

Is Reading Tarot Cards for Yourself Something You Should Do?

Reading tarot cards for yourself is undoubtedly something that you and we have all done at some time or another. It is easy to do but there are some caveats.

I think, if we are absolutely honest about it, most of us started learning the tarot because we wanted to read for ourselves. I did and I believe that most readers whether they remained amateurs or turned professional started that way.

Some of us did go on to read professionally, but first of all we went down the path of reading for yourself to get insight into our own lives. Of course, there is nothing unusual or wrong with that, but experience has shown that you have to be particularly attentive when doing so. So, putting it bluntly, what do you need to be mindful of?

The Two Main Pitfalls of Reading Tarot Cards for Yourself

There are indeed a couple of pitfalls when it comes to reading for yourself and many a wrong decision or choice has resulted from them. So, what are they? And what should you look out for?

Not Remaining Neutral

First and probably foremost, it is crucial to understand that you must be very, very, careful to remain neutral when considering the interpretation of your tarot spread. The more important the question the more important it is that you do so.

What do I mean by that? Well, it is human nature to want the answer to a question to be what we want it to be. We all want to know if we are on the right path or doing the right thing.

When interpreting the tarot cards in a spread, it is so easy to play up the positive aspects and to play down the negative aspects of what you are seeing. Putting it another way, you are keeping your thumb on the scales of neutrality.

Professionals reading for a client have it easier in some ways as they don’t have skin in the game.

Doing the Same Tarot Reading Over and Over

Another negative thing I have known beginners and even some more experienced readers to do, is to redo the tarot reading again and again because the first answer wasn’t what the reader wanted.

Yes, I will put my hands up to having done that too in the very early days of my tarot reading journey.

I think this is particularly common when the question is relationship oriented. It is, once again, very easy to do this and most times we will justify doing it again because we think that our interpretation was wrong. After all, when you are learning you make mistakes. We all do and we all have.

So, What Happens if You Do Fall into These Potential Traps?

For comparatively non-critical questions the ramifications of not remaining neutral will not be too detrimental to your well-being.

However, what if the question was much more important? What then? What if the question was along the lines of “Is he/she the one?” There really can’t be much that is more critical to your future than choosing a life partner.

If you interpreted the tarot cards as “Yes” because you really wanted it to be this person, when at best the reading showed a “Maybe” you could potentially be heading down a dangerous path.

By that I don’t mean that you will necessarily get physically hurt but emotional hurt and pain are a very real possibility.

A flawed reading can make you say or do things that you really shouldn’t say or do. The end result could be very distressing.

It can be a very different sort of question of course, but relationship questions are far and away the most common readings that a beginner will do when reading tarot cards for themself.

What Can You Do to Avoid Making These Two Mistakes?

As far as neutrality goes, balance is the key here. Balance and neutrality go hand in hand. Try interpreting twice! I don’t mean re-deal the tarot spread but look at the cards again.

Once you have interpreted the cards and decided what the overall answer is (for argument’s sake let’s say it was positive) interpret it again, but this time play up any tarot cards that are negative.

Is your interpretation of the reading still positive? If it is, then okay, your overall interpretation is probably along the right lines.

If, however, it is not so clear cut anymore, then your overall interpretation may be wrong. The answer is probably somewhere between the two, i.e. it’s a “Maybe.”

That interpretation doesn’t mean it definitely won’t go the way you would like it to go, but it does mean you should be cautious in your decision making. It is better to wait and get it right than rush in and get it wrong.

Onto doing the tarot reading again and again. Quite simply, don’t! I cannot stress that enough. Doing so will just confuse the heck out of you. It certainly did me!

There’s no harm doing a reading on a question once a week for example. A lot can happen in a week so that may be justified. But every day? Or even worse, several times a day? Just don’t. You will not get anything meaningful from the cards if you do.

If it helps, I normally recommend that a client does not get a new reading about the same situation for at least a couple of weeks.

So, Is Reading Tarot Cards for Yourself Okay?

Yes, of course it is! Just remember that when you are starting out reading you need to be especially mindful when it’s something important you are asking for guidance on.

Food for thought… We have a lot of professional readers come to us for a tarot reading. It’s not because they can’t read for themselves because they obviously can, but because they are aware of the difficulties of remaining truly neutral.

Most of them will have already read for themselves but because of the serious nature of the question or situation they come to us for confirmation that they are right.

We, of course, are not involved in their situation so it is easier for us to be 100% neutral.

So, in a nutshell, there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading tarot cards for yourself. Just be careful when the question revolves around something really important.

“Reading Tarot Cards for Yourself” article by Talisman