Tarot reads are a powerful tool for witches wanting to tap into their clairvoyant powers, however with this reputation, it can be really intimidating to get started with. When I bought my first tarot deck, I didn’t know where to start or even what spreads look like. This guide will take you through the set up process and how to conduct and interpret a simple 3 card spread. 

Preparing the Deck

The first step is to prepare the deck for a reading. If the deck hasn’t been used before, then a good practice is to cleanse the deck. This can be done in many different ways with different levels of involvement. One way to cleanse the deck involves sorting the deck by Major and Minor and then shuffling the deck from there. Another way is placing the cards out in view of the moon. This is a moon bath and utilizes the moon’s energy to charge the cards. Once they are cleansed, if you haven’t already shuffled them, then shuffle the deck.

Pulling the Cards

Just as there are many ways to charge a deck, there are also many ways to pull the cards. It is important to find the way that connects the most to you. The method I use is to split the deck into 3 piles. These piles don’t need to be even, just trust your intuition with where to draw the piles. Once you have your 3 piles laid out, you are going to pick cards from the pile that you are drawn to. Then you pull the three cards and lay them out face down in a line.

Revealing the Cards and Interpreting

Once the cards are pulled and set out, you are ready to read. Cards can either be all flipped immediately or as you go to read them, it’s entirely up to you.  From here you read each card as interpreted through the guide. Traditionally a 3 card read represents the past, present, and future, however this setup can be used for any 3 item question. 

And that’s how you do a read! It can be quite intimidating at first but as you do more and more reads it becomes more natural.