Learn tarot
Tarot spreads and card meanings, explained plainly.
Guides to every tarot spread, the cards and where tarot comes from. A new article most days. New to tarot? Start with About tarot.
Tarot spreads
The Celtic Cross tarot spread explained
The Celtic Cross tarot spread explained: its ten cards, the cross and the staff, how the two halves work and when this spread suits a question.
Tarot spreads
The three-card tarot spread
How the three-card tarot spread works: past, present, next and situation, action, outcome, with a method for reading the story across the cards.
Tarot spreads
The one-card tarot spread
How the one-card tarot spread works: how to lay it out, which questions suit it, a worked example, and when a single card is enough.
Tarot basics · Major arcana · Minor arcana
Major and minor arcana in tarot, explained
The 78 tarot cards explained: 22 major arcana for big themes and 56 minor arcana in four suits, and how each group reads in a tarot spread.
Tarot basics · Reading tips
Reversed tarot cards and how to read them
Reversed tarot cards explained: what upright and reversed mean, three ways to read a reversed card in a tarot spread, and when to skip reversals.
Tarot basics
Tarot card positions and what they change
In a tarot spread, each position asks its own question. See how the same card changes meaning from past to present to advice, and how to read by position.
Reading tips · Tarot basics
How to read a tarot spread, step by step
A four-step method for reading any tarot spread: set the question, check the positions, read each card, then read the whole tarot spread together.
Tarot history
A short history of tarot: where the cards came from
How tarot grew from a fifteenth-century Italian card game into the deck used for tarot spread readings, from Visconti-Sforza to Rider-Waite-Smith.
Tarot basics · Tarot spreads
What is a tarot spread?
A tarot spread is a layout where each card position has its own meaning. Learn how spreads work and how they differ from a single draw.