Art of Tarot

Working with Cards

Working with Tarot is essentially a dialogue that unfolds on several levels. Each level reveals a new dimension of the relationship between you and the cards.

The First Level of Dialogue — Discovering the Cards

The first level is the moment of encounter. There was a time when Tarot simply didn't exist in your life, and then one day the cards appeared. For everyone, this happens differently: someone received them as a curious gift, and the deck sat forgotten in a drawer until it caught their eye again one day. Someone recalled their childhood — a grandmother's mysterious and captivating spreads. Someone stumbled upon a beautiful deck in a shop, a friend offered a reading, or a book about Tarot quite literally found them.

Some people can't remember exactly how it began, while others remember that day down to the smallest detail. Cards may come quietly and unnoticeably, or they may burst in suddenly and vividly.

But here is the key insight: it is not we who choose the cards — it is the cards that choose us. This is how the first dialogue begins. We may think it was our decision, our curiosity — but in truth, the initiative belongs to the cards. And if one day this dialogue is interrupted on their side, we will simply stop reaching for them. The decks will remain on the shelf, the knowledge will stay — but the desire will fade. At least until the cards turn to us once again.

This first level is the foundation of everything. You may know absolutely nothing about Tarot, but if you're drawn to it — the cards have already spoken to you.

The Second Level of Dialogue — Choosing the Cards

The second level of dialogue activates during a spread, at the moment you select your cards. You don't see the images on the Arcana — before you lies a fan of 78 identical card backs (and some practitioners even draw from a neat stack by touch alone, without looking at all).

One could argue that the dialogue actually begins during the shuffling — and perhaps that's true. Everyone shuffles differently: some spread the cards across the table and mix them like kneading dough, others riffle-shuffle like a playing deck, some twist and turn the cards in their hands, and some — believe it or not — don't always shuffle before drawing at all.

But one thing is beyond doubt — there is this elusive moment of decision: "this card... this one... and this one." It is not our rational mind that makes the choice, but our eyes, the tips of our fingers. In that instant, the cards make contact with us on the second level.

The subtlest of signals finds its way to us, and it manifests differently for everyone. For some, it's almost thermal — a warmth felt by the palm. For others, one card feels denser, more "alive" to the touch. For some, the back of a particular card seems to flash, inexplicably capturing the gaze for a split second — so fast that the conscious mind barely registers it... and then we return our eyes to that spot in the fan of cards. The signal was here... yes!

We've chosen. We turn the card over. And we freeze...

The Third Level of Dialogue — Understanding the Message

The third level of dialogue begins when we look at the images and start interpreting the meaning of the spread — translating the language of the cards into something we can grasp. We study. We interpret. We decipher.

Many consider this stage the most important, but in reality it is the least intimate, the least mystical of the three (to the extent that any of this can be called devoid of mysticism). We can keep a spread laid out for a week, glancing at it from time to time. We can sketch it, photograph it, send it in a message. The images and symbols remain before our eyes, speaking to our conscious and subconscious mind. The conversation is not over, but the cards have ALREADY said everything they wanted to say. It is we who have not yet understood it all.

We rely on intuition, leaf through books, search the internet, consult friends. Perhaps understanding will come in fifteen minutes — or perhaps weeks and months later, when the pattern of life events illuminates the answer in the most unmistakable way. This is the third level of contact.

Tarot — Teacher, Companion, Guide

The cards TEACH us to understand what we see, what we are asking about, what we truly want, and what is actually happening. It has been rightly said that Tarot is a friend and companion with whom you are never bored, and whose language sounds unique to each person. It is a teacher that helps us see the connection between the inner journey of the soul and the lessons of external life circumstances. And it is a guide into the world of inner transformation, because the images of Tarot are archetypal markers on the path of self-discovery.

They attune themselves to us without expecting crystal-clear mediumistic abilities, patiently seeking paths through the twilight jungle of our perception. The cards flow and shift, just as we do. The ancient sage Heraclitus was right — everything flows. Everything in this world is a river you cannot step into twice. And this is the simplest answer to the question: how is it that if you lay out cards three times on the same question, you get three different spreads? Yes, you do. Although most likely these won't be three different answers. Those who have tried know how patient and persistent the cards are in their messages, and how little room there is for "chance" (in the pseudo-sense of that word). But naturally, these three spreads won't be exact copies of one another. Because old Heraclitus was right. PANTA RHEI.

What Qualities Matter When Working with Tarot?

Tarot is not merely a set of rules to memorize — it calls upon certain inner qualities that develop and deepen over time. Here are the most essential ones.

INTUITION. Among other things, Tarot is an excellent training tool for this faculty. It can even serve as a professional development instrument for people whose work depends on intuition — psychotherapists, business consultants, and others. Working with cards teaches you to assemble a coherent picture from scattered, seemingly unrelated facts. The idea that all phenomena and events in life are interconnected through subtle, not always rational or obvious influences — this idea is embodied in every spread. The more complex the layout, the greater the need to perceive these invisible threads between the cards.

INNER HONESTY. This is sometimes the biggest stumbling block during a reading. When we feel deeply personally involved in a situation and overly invested in a particular outcome, we may choose to ask someone else to read for us. It is not that the other person is wiser — it is the risk that our own inner honesty will short-circuit under the emotional overload.

TRUST IN TAROT. Notice this is not listed first, because experience shows that initial trust is not always present. Sometimes the relationship with Tarot begins with skepticism. But the cards are wise and forgiving of human doubt, providing insights that gradually build trust in a natural way — as long as a person hasn't set out to consciously deny the obvious.

A WORLDVIEW that sees life as a project, a PATH — a fascinating journey through an astonishing world of existence, meant to make us wiser, kinder, stronger, and more whole. Every life is a legend. Every person, in spirit, is a wandering knight seeking the sacred Grail. And there are Higher forces helping us along the way. The Arcana of Tarot are one of the instruments through which a person can receive this guidance. Of course, one can get by without them, or use other ways to read the signs — wisdom can be drawn from the most diverse sources. This is each person's free choice. Higher forces do not fit into any single dogma. As the Hasidic sages taught, even in the way a straw falls along and not across a road, the divine will manifests. Similar ideas about not a single hair falling from a person's head without God's knowledge can be found in the Bible. The same applies to the Arcana that appear in a spread — it is a sign. In this case, a sign that the person has asked for. If they asked calmly, ready to accept it honestly whatever it may be, they have violated no commandments.

What truly matters is the motive of the person laying out the cards. If they do it feverishly, pinning their hopes on a very specific result and trying through repeated spreads to extract the answer they want — that is precisely where the line is crossed. And the cards, by the way, will make this known! Divination is the domain where contact with Providence manifests in the most unmistakable way. A person is given a SIGN upon request. In return, they make the effort to receive it with gratitude and clarity. This, incidentally, is the ethics of working with the cards — and the subject of a future lesson.

Concentration, Patience, and Flexibility

CONCENTRATION. The kind of focus that Tarot demands is hard to define precisely. It is not the concentration you need in a gym or over a mathematics textbook. Outwardly, the state may appear relaxed, almost lighthearted. Yet without this particular form of focus, a reading becomes literally impossible. Only those who have lost it can truly understand what it is. It is much like attentiveness in a conversation — if you don't gather your mind, you won't understand a word the other person is saying and won't recall a thing afterward. In communicating with cards, exactly the same principle applies.

PATIENCE. The process of a reading tolerates no rushing. Haste here equals failure. And this haste often arises when the spread touches upon some life-or-death question. Few of us possess the spiritual composure and self-control needed in such moments. This is precisely why even experienced readers who know the spreads and card meanings often turn to someone else in difficult personal situations. So — no hurried shuffling, no feverish throwing of cards, no asking the same question five times over. It is truly better to draw a single card and reflect on it deeply than to frantically lay out ten, then another fifteen to double-check, and end up frozen in complete mental chaos and emotional exhaustion — still without an answer.

FLEXIBILITY OF PERCEPTION. It is vital to break free from stereotypical interpretations of the Arcana. This advice is aimed more at those who have already gained experience with regular card reading. Beginners naturally work on building initial patterns of understanding, and that is perfectly valid. But eventually the opposite process must begin! The moment you feel that interpreting The Tower takes you only a second... the moment the King of Cups leaves no room for imagination, everything about him is obvious... the moment you catch yourself thinking that the Empress is as simple as it gets — it is time to heal your perception. You can work through exercises from quality books, or write your own treatise on the manifestations of each Arcanum — at the very least, you won't forget how many subtleties exist. As a last resort, you can buy a new deck with unconventional imagery to shake up your perception. And of course, stay observant — sometimes the cards do the shaking themselves, revealing manifestations and turns of events found in no books and impossible to imagine on your own.