Playing games with your tarot cards

When I started my tarot cards, I was cautious with them. I didn’t want to do anything to disrespect the cards. That included only using them to do what I considered “legitimate” readings. That is readings with real questions. I somehow felt that if I pretended to read, I was disrespecting the cards or my intuition. And that’s the last thing I want to do.

As I got more involved in my study of the cards, I realized that while a healthy amount of respect is good, There is a need to use the cards to learn how to use them. As a guitar player, I learn just as much about the guitar from playing silly songs as I do from more serious pieces of music. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star teaches me the same thing a Metallica song does. And that doesn’t disrespect the guitar or the player behind it. So why couldn’t this same approach work for the tarot?

I’m not saying that you should be frivolous with your cards. Please continue to respect them by treating them well. Please put them in a safe place when you’re not using them. Thank them after every reading. Even your practice readings. If you have rituals around your cards, please continue using them and honoring them. Those are all good things. But you should also feel comfortable handling your cards. Carry them with you, and you walk around the house. Or take them with you when you go out into the world.

One way I like to play with my cards is to take out one of the major arcana cards, like The Fool or The Magician, and put that card directly opposite me. I’ll pretend that this card is a client seeking advice from the tarot. Since the card can’t ask questions, I tend to make this a general reading. As I shuffle, I focus on this card’s personality. I start pulling out cards and reading them with that card’s character in mind. Sometimes I play with my usual three-card reading using the current situation for card 1, advice for card 2, and the third card is the takeaway. This is the same spread I use for my daily readings. I play this game as. Away to deepen my connection to this spread and work out its kinks. Lately, I’ve been using this method to get more comfortable with cross spreads like a five card where card 1 in the center speaks to the situation at hand. Card 2, on the bottom, is the foundation of the situation. Card 3 at the head of card 1 is about aspirations. Card 4 is our clients past, which I’ll place to the left if the card has no person on it. If there is a person in the image, I place this card in a position so that it is behind them. And the last card, placed opposite card 4, is an issue our client is facing or looking towards.

Another game I like is using the cards to tell a story. I’ll shuffle and clear my mind. I usually end up with a four-card linear spread going left to right. The first card is the protagonist, who the story will be about. The second card tells me a little more about who they are. The third card is about their situation; the fourth is about their desires. You could also see this as a past, present, and future spread with a significator card in the first position. My next step is to do a second row of cards for the antagonist, our main character’s rival. The cards are arranged in two rows, our protagonist’s line on top and our antagonist’s line on the bottom. You can start to see relationships between the cards. What do the first two cards for each character say when read together? I’ll look at those columns and see how they might create plot points in the story or a conflict and resolution. Sometimes the resolution doesn’t come, and that’s ok.

This last game is still a work in progress for me, and I”m still working out some of the issues with it. It becomes a somewhat complicated reading that could use many cards. If you’re not used to reading from a lot of cards, this can be daunting. But it’s still a lot of fun. What I like about it is that it forces you to see the cards differently.

However, if you play with your cards, my advice is to do it respectfully. Please respect your cards and your intuition as well. Games like these aim to deepen our understanding and relationship with the cards and help sharpen the intuitive mind.

These are just some of my ideas for playing games with your cards. Your results may differ from mine, and you may have other thoughts on this topic. Some of this might resonate with you, or it might not. That’s also ok. I hope that you enjoyed this. Please let me know by leaving a comment. And as with anything in tarot, if it resonates with you, take it with you; if it doesn’t, leave it behind.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

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