How to Read Tarot Cards: Part 4 - The One-Card Tarot Spread

© Copyright 2012 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

Now that you have a basic understanding of the 78 cards in the tarot deck from reading Parts 1, 2, and 3, you are ready to begin a practice of reading the cards in a spread. And the easiest spread I know of to get you started is the one-card spread.

Don’t be fooled by the utter simplicity of this spread. I used to be a reader of the American Tarot Association’s Free Tarot Network and answered many questions to the satisfaction of the querant (i.e., person asking the question), using only one card.

For our purposes, however, the one card spread is going to be the means by which you reinforce and expand your understanding of the cards in the tarot deck. Therefore, in the beginning, you won’t be doing this reading for anyone; you’ll be doing it for yourself.

There’s a lot of controversy about whether or not you should give yourself a tarot card reading. Many tarot enthusiasts warn against it, primarily due to the belief that you won’t be able to give yourself an “objective” reading or that you’re too vested in what the cards will say. And I’d be lying to you if I said I’ve never been vested in the outcome of a reading I’ve given myself.

One excellent way to avoid this is to pretend as if you’re giving a reading to someone else. It’s a good way to detach from the outcome and be a bit more objective.

The one-card tarot spread I have in mind involves simply drawing a card from your shuffled tarot deck at the beginning of each day and comparing the card’s meaning with what occurred at the end of the day, as a means of reinforcing and expanding your understanding of the cards.

For this daily practice, you’ll need:

• A tarot deck (preferably a Rider-Waite (RW) or a RW clone deck)
• A tarot journal (loose-leaf notebook works well)
• A pen or pencil.

Keeping a tarot journal is going to help you reinforce and expand your understanding of what each card in the tarot deck represents. I like to use a loose-leaf notebook because you can keep adding pages as needed. But you can also keep your journal on the computer if that’s your preference.

The journal consists of two sections.

Section One of the Tarot Journal

The purpose of this section is to make observations about the day’s events akin to what you would write in a diary. You’re going to need this information in order to have a record of the day’s events so that you can relate them to the card you drew for that day. Insert 30 or 40 sheets of blank (ruled or un-ruled, whichever you prefer) paper in the first section the notebook for recording your observations.

Add the date on which you begin your practice at the top of the first page so that it will be ready for your notes at the end of the day. On the next day, record the date and continue journaling in this manner.

Your daily entries don’t have to be long. Include a brief summary of what you did, with whom you interacted, as well as the main emotional state(s) you experienced during the day.

Section Two of the Tarot Journal

In the second section, insert 78 blank pages. On the front of each page, write the name of one tarot card so that you have a page for each card in the deck.

The front of the page will be devoted to insights you get about the meaning of the card from your day’s observations when the card you draw is in an upright position.

The back of the page will be for insights you get when the card you draw is reversed or upside down (more about reversals at the end of this article).

As a page for a particular card becomes full, simply add a blank page behind it to continue recording your meanings for the cards.

Remember, the primary goal of this one-card spread is to reinforce and expand your understanding of the tarot cards. Therefore, you won’t be asking a specific question for the reading to answer. Doing tarot readings to answer questions will be covered in Part 5 of this series.

Be sure to draw your card before you get going with your daily activities as follows:

Step 1: Shuffle the Deck

Take a minute or two to thoroughly shuffle the tarot deck. As you shuffle the cards, take a few deep breaths to quiet and clear your mind. Continue shuffling the cards and, at the same time, set an intention that you will not only gain important insights about the day’s events by relating them to the card you draw, but you'll also get important insights about the meaning of that card itself.

Step 2: Cut the Cards

When you have thoroughly shuffled the deck, cut the cards as you would before dealing cards in a card game. I cut them twice; one to three times is sufficient. Then draw a card from the top of the deck and turn it over.

Note**: An alternate method to shuffling the cards is to spread them out over a flat surface face down, mix them around, and then draw a card.

Step 3: Record the Card in Your Journal

Record the card in Section One of your tarot journal right below the day’s date, and note if the card is upright or reversed. Take a minute or two to study the card’s image. Record any insights you get underneath the card’s name.

You don’t have to spend too long doing this if you’re in a hurry to get going with your day. If the card is nearby during the day or you take it with you, take a couple of moments from time to time during the day to study the image.

Step 4: Go About Your Day

Do NOT look up the meaning of the card in a tarot book or refer to my descriptions of the cards in Parts 1 through 3 of this series. Simply go about your day as you normally would. During the day, something that occurs may spark insights about the meaning of the card. Write them down somewhere if at all possible so that you can record them in your journal when you have access to it.

Step 5: Summarize the Day's Events in Your Tarot Journal

Toward the end of the day, highlight the major events of the day in Section One of your tarot journal. Include any immediate insights you get about the card’s meaning, as well as insights you received during the day.

Step 6: Find Correlations Between the Day's Events and The Card's Meaning

Now get your tarot book out, or whatever resource you have, and read the meaning of the card. Can you relate the meaning to the events that transpired during the day? Record any additional insights you get.

If you don’t get any insights or can’t make a correlation between the day’s events and the card’s meaning, that’s okay. Simply continue drawing a card a day with the intention that you will get insights, and you soon will.

Step 7: Record Tarot Meanings in Section Two of Your Tarot Journal

In Section Two of your tarot journal, record a short phrase or sentence that best captures the meaning of the card as you experienced it during the day. If a phrase or meaning from your tarot book does a good job of describing how your card related to the day’s events, record that meaning on the card’s page in Section Two of the tarot journal.

The goal of this exercise is to get at least one or two short phrases or sentences recorded on each page, both front and back, of the 78 pages in Section Two. In this way, you will be building your own personal book of tarot meanings. And when you start doing tarot readings using multi-card spreads for yourself or others, you can continue adding meanings as they are revealed to you.

Reversed tarot cards are another area of controversy for tarot readers. Some readers will simply turn a card that’s drawn in its reversed position right side up and conduct the reading as if the card were drawn upright. This is fine, especially when using a spread containing multiple cards.

I personally leave a card that’s drawn upside down, in its reversed position. I think reversals add depth to a reading, especially when the spread you are using consists of only a few cards.

When I draw a reversed card, I first turn it right side up and make some statements about the card’s meaning in the upright position. Then I turn the card upside down, and see if any of the following interpretations for reversed cards applies:

• The opposite of the card’s meaning in the upright position (e.g., if the 6 of Wands means success; the 6 of Wands reversed means failure or lack of success)
• Blocked energy; difficulty expressing the energy represented by the card.
• Latent energy; energy that is just beginning to be expressed.
• Delays in how the card’s energy is expressed (e.g., 3 of Wands reversed could be delays in the start of a project).
• Internalized energy; as opposed to energy that is overtly expressed.
• A decrease in energy; (e.g., the Ace of Wands upright represents a burst of new energy; reversed, it could represent fatigue or low energy stores).
• The lesson of the preceding card in the tarot deck needs to be learned (e.g., if the 7 of Wands is reversed, then the lesson of the 6 of Wands needs to be learned before the energy of the 7 of Wands can be fully expressed).
• The end of a difficult period (e.g., The Tower reversed could mean that the period of upheaval is subsiding).

Don’t let these multiple meanings for reversals overwhelm you. When you draw a reversed card, simply review the day’s events to see if you can determine which of the meanings applies.

On the other hand, don’t let this list limit the insights you get on the reversed meaning of a card. If you have an insight that’s not included in the above list, trust it and remember to record all insights about reversed cards on the back of the card’s page in Section Two of your tarot journal.

We’re drawing to the end of this series on how to read tarot cards. In Part 5, I’ll describe an extremely versatile spread that consists of four cards that can be used to answer a wide range of questions.