That said, if you’re new to tarot, you might want to go with a deck adapted from Rider-Waite, as you’ll be able to find more material online about what each of its cards means. Once you have your deck, you can decide what to ask it about. Depending on the topic at hand, you can do a single-card pull or multicard spread. The following five spreads from Parvati are a great place to start, but feel free to adjust them as you feel called. Once you’ve settled on a question to ask and a spread to use, all that’s left is to give your deck a shuffle and start pulling. Place the first three cards next to each other, left to right. Inspiration and action are laid on top, horizontally, between the first and second, and second and third. The first card represents you; the second, the person you’re in relations with; and the third, the two of you together. Place the first and second cards next to each other (left to right), and the third above them. To do it, pull seven cards and arrange them in a vertical line to mirror the way the chakras run up your spine. Arrange and read them from bottom to top. So, the first card you pull represents your root chakra; the second, your sacral chakra—and so on until you get to the crown chakra for your seventh card. Placing three cards in a vertical line from top to bottom: The first card represents your mind currently; the second, your body; and the third, your spirit. Arrange the cards to form a circle, and read them clockwise for a sense of what’s in store for each month, season, or cycle ahead. Tarot is one of many intuitive traditions that can lend insight into the deepest parts of ourselves. Once you get a feel for reading tarot, Parvati notes the most important keys to a well-rounded reading are being open to the answers you receive—and then taking action. Only then will you get the most out of this dynamic tradition.
