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3 Simple Ways to Tell the Story in Your Tarot Reading

By June 14, 2018 June 22nd, 2018

3 simple ways to tell the story in your tarot reading

Reading from the Book Versus Reading from the Heart

Have you ever had a Tarot reading with someone who just reeled off a generic description of every card that could apply to anyone? Who sounded more like they were reading straight from a book rather than reading from the heart?

It probably wasn't the best Tarot reading you've ever had, huh? In fact, it might have felt like the Tarot reader didn't really understand your personal situation and couldn't make a direct connection with you.

On the other hand, have you ever had a Tarot reading with someone who really connected with you from the very first moment? Who told your life story through the Tarot cards and opened up a world of possibilities

Amazing, huh?!

Weaving a Story with Tarot

You see, great Tarot readers know how to weave the story between the Tarot cards to create highly engaging and meaningful Tarot readings for their clients. They see patterns between the cards and combine these intuitive messages into a beautiful story that is unique to the client and their situation.

If you want to be an amazing Tarot reader who has a real impact in your clients’ lives, then it’s essential you know one thing – how to tell the story in the cards.

Today, I'm going to share with you 3 simple techniques to tell the story in your Tarot reading.

1. The Story in the Card

It's pretty obvious, I know, but if you want to tell the story in your Tarot reading, start by telling the story in the card.

Every Tarot card contains its own unique story and that story will help us to understand the overall story of the reading and ultimately, what's going on in our lives (or our client's).

Let's work through an example. Ask the Tarot, “What do I need to know right now?” and draw 2 cards.

For each card, describe what you see. Are there people in the card? What are they doing? What objects do you see? Why do you think they are there? What's in the background? What's in the foreground? How do all of these different elements come together into a coherent story?

I drew the Ace of Swords and the Six of Swords.

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In the Ace, I see a hand holding a sword up high with a crown at the tip. The story I might tell is that with truth and clarity of mind there is success. Sure, there are mountains in the background – a sign of future challenges – but it doesn't matter right now because life is good and the potential for success is high.

In the Six of Swords, I see a woman and child in a boat. A man rows the boat across a body of water to a faraway land. To me, the story here is that after a period of success (what we saw in the Ace of Swords), it no longer met the needs of the family and so now there is a reluctant move to a new location or a new way of life. Even with success, there can still be change particularly if the success is no longer aligned with what's truly important.

Why not try it out for yourself? Tell the story in each card, and then combine those two stories to create the overall story for the reading.

2. Directionality

Many cards in the Rider Waite Tarot deck (and most other decks) feature people. But did you know that the way in which they face and interact with each other can be very revealing of the ‘story' behind a Tarot reading?

Let's say you're doing a relationship Tarot reading. You place a card on the left, representing you, and a card on the right, representing the other person. Now, if there are people in the two cards, take a look at how those people interact with each other.

To show you how this works, I randomly drew the Six of Pentacles and the Four of Pentacles.

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The man in the Six is looking away to the left as he helps the two beggars kneeling at his feet, while the man in the Four is facing front on.

One possible story here is that your attention has been taken away from the relationship and instead you are more focused on helping other people in need. Or, perhaps you're giving away money and resources that were meant for the relationship but are now going elsewhere.

For the other person in the relationship, they're ready to give the relationship the attention it deserves as the figure in the Four of Pentacles faces front on. What's interesting, though, is that the man in this card is not looking over towards you, so he/she may not fully understand or agree with what you're doing when you're focused on helping others.

It certainly makes for an interesting story, hey?

So why not give it a go? Think of a relationship that's important to you and draw two cards – one for you, and one for the other person. Take a look at the way in which the people interact with each other and start to tell the story about what that signifies in the relationship.

3. Flow

Looking for ‘flow' across Tarot cards is a beautiful and fun technique for telling the story in a Tarot reading.

I typically look for what is common between the cards – common symbols, colours, people, people's stances or positions, elements (air, water, etc.), backgrounds and so on. Then, I look for how those common elements change or ‘evolve' between the cards and what this tells me about the situation at hand.

Let me give you an example. I randomly drew two cards – the Nine of Swords and the Five of Cups.

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Look at both of the figures in the cards – both have their head down and both appear to be grieving some sort of loss. What's more, in the Nine of Swords, it is night time (the dark background), and in the Five of Cups, it is day time.

To me, the ‘story' here is that grief, sorrow and disappointment is inescapable – it's a part of every waking (and sleeping) hour of this person's life. And clearly this is not a sustainable way of living.

You might also notice other patterns of ‘flow' across these two cards. What do these patterns tell you about this situation?

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