Tarot Tip #1: Connect With Your Cards

This is the first in a series of articles with tips for beginning tarot readers and other emerging mystics wishing to practice the art of divination.

Tip #1: Connect with your cards

One of the most exciting things about reading tarot or oracle cards is getting a new card deck! Whether you are a new practitioner or a seasoned witch, a new deck brings with it the promise of possibility. On the other hand, a tried and true, well used and well loved deck is also full of its own special magic. Spending time your deck, shuffling the cards, looking at the images, and simply handing them can all help enhance your connection and increase the power of your divination tools. Here are some ways that connecting to your card deck or decks can benefit you in your divination practice.

Enhanced Intuition:

One of the greatest assets a card reader has in their toolkit is access to their own intuition. A strong connection with your cards can help you tap into your intuition more effectively. The more time you spend working with your deck, the more you will be in tune with the images on each card and the broader your intuitive responses will be. Think of it like building a personal dictionary of association for the deck that helps you transfer advice from spirit into a message using your intuition.

Personalized Interpretations:

Having a deep connection to your cards will allow you to give more personalized and unique interpretations that provide a richer reading overall. Your readings become more authentic and resonate with your personal perspective. This not only sets you apart as a reader, but it helps you use the cards to express the specific messages that you intuitively receive from your spirit guides, ancestors, and other astral beings.

Increased Sensitivity to Energies:

Speaking of astral beings, a deep connection to your desk will also help you be more in tune to the specific energy of that particular deck. Each deck has its own “vibe” that comes from the cards, the deck creator, the images, and the energy you put into the deck as an energetic being. My personal belief is that different spirits are more easily connected through different decks. Some decks are light and fun, while others tend to pull messages from the shadowy side of our consciousness. Being sensitive to the energy of each of your decks and how they function in a reading can contribute to a more intuitive and nuanced reading experience.

Flow of Information:

Having a strong connection to your cards makes for a more fluid and seamless reading experience, facilitating a smooth flow of information during readings. It becomes easier for your to receive and interpret messages from the cards, and thus you can providing a more seamless and insightful reading. The more you work with a particular deck, the better you will be at divining messages using those cards. This also allows you to be more free and creative in your interpretation, because the messages are easily accessed.

Building Trust:

Have you ever done a reading with a brand new deck and been less confident in the message you are trying to interpret? Taking time to connect with your deck builds trust and confidence in your reading abilities. You are more likely to trust yourself and the people you read for are more likely to trust the insights provided in a reading when you feel like you have a genuine and strong bond with your cards.

Facilitating Communication:

One way to view divination is a communication channel between your intuition and the higher self or subconscious of the person or group you are reding for. Having a strong connection with the cards may enhance this communication, allowing for clearer and more profound insights. When you have a strong connection to the deck, you are able to go more deeply into the reading, and potentially access a greater range of information int he reading.

Deepening the Reading Experience:

Reading tarot or oracle cards is more than just the physical act of pulling cards and describing the meaning. A reading is a holistic experience, involving ritual, communication, intuition, spiritual connection, magic, and more depending on the style and abilities of the reader. Above all, a strong connection with the cards deepens the entire divination experience, making the reading more meaningful, insightful, and transformative for both you and those for whom you deliver messages via the cards.

Your connection to your tarot and oracle decks is a dynamic and personal relationship. Strengthening your connection to your decks, or even developing a favorite deck that you work with over and over again, can enhance your reading abilities, enrich the divination experience, and foster a deeper understanding of the messages conveyed by the cards.