How tarot readings work
Drawing
A reading shuffles the whole deck and deals from the top, so no card can appear twice in one reading. The cards are fixed when they are dealt; turning them over or replaying the animation does not change them. You can also record a reading from your own physical deck by choosing the card and its orientation for each position.
Reversals
With reversals on, the shuffle turns a few random runs of cards end for end before mixing, the way a hand shuffle does. The share of reversed cards therefore varies from reading to reading, averaging about one in five. With reversals off, every card is dealt upright.
Meanings and positions
A card’s meaning and a position’s meaning are kept separate and shown side by side: what the card says, and what the place it lands in asks. The interpretation text is reference material written for this site; quotations from A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911) are marked as such. Generated commentary, where offered, is labelled.
The Celtic Cross convention used here
Celtic Cross layouts differ between books, especially in the order of positions 3 to 6. This site follows the widespread order derived from Waite: the cross first, then a staff of four cards rising on the right.
- The Significator: What is at the heart of the matter right now?
- Crossing Card: What crosses, challenges or shapes it?
- Foundation: What is the root of this?
- Recent Past: What is passing out of the picture?
- Crown: What are you consciously aiming for, and what could this become?
- Future: What is coming next?
- Emotions: How are you meeting this, inside?
- External Forces: What are others, and the wider setting, bringing to it?
- Hopes & Desires: What do you hope for, and what do you fear?
- Outcome: Where does all of this lead?
Card 2 is laid across card 1. Cards 3 to 6 surround the pair: below, to the left, above and to the right. Cards 7 to 10 form the staff, read from the bottom up.
What a saved reading keeps
A saved reading keeps the spread, the cards and their orientations, the deck, your question and topic, your notes and reflections, and whether it was a virtual or physical draw. Readings are private to your account.