The agnostic method for card reading is a way to memorize the keywords and practice reading cards through repetition, not relying on anything deep or elaborate. What you need:
- A Tarot de Marseille deck #Buying a Deck
- Paper and pen
- Keywords #Keyword Chart
The Agnostic Method for Reading Tarot
note: These readings are anonymous, they are not for a certain person or about a certain topic. You are free associating. But don’t be surprised when you notice some of the cards do pertain to you!
- Remove the major arcana
- Shuffle the cards
- Draw three cards and lay them in a row
- Write down the keyword for each card (only the keyword, not the rank/suit or title of the card)
- Build a reading based on those words and the illustrations on the cards and write it down, it should be a short sentence at most.
- Repeat 3 - 10 times
if you hover on the card images you will see the keyword!
Possible interpretation based on the keywords and images:
Starting a new project or task, You already have the resources you need, You will complete the project.
You should not spend much time on these, as soon as the ideas dry up move on to the next one. There are no right or wrong meanings or answers. Some cards may leave you with a blank, just move on.
The positions of the cards do not matter unless something sticks out to you. We will expand on the three card readings later, for now we just want to focus on learning the keywords and seeing how the cards interact with each other. The more you do that, the better you will get at reading the cards.
Optional Next Step
Calculate the cards to get the theme of the reading and / or the advice. You can do this to spend more time on each reading and get additional information from the cards.
- Add up the total of the three cards you have drawn
- Reduce the total to a number between 1 - 9
- Use the number’s keyword to determine the theme or advice (or both!)
- Draw the major arcana that is numbered so and lay it next to your three cards
- Think about how it ties in with your three cards
For example if you drew an ace of cups (1), a knight of Swords (12 / 3), and a queen of coins (13 / 4)) - you would add them together for a total of twenty six, 2 + 6 = 8. (26 / 8). The keyword is “Progress”. You would draw Justice (8).
Possible interpretation based on calculated total:
a new passion, calling you to action, have patience, you are doing better than you think.
Theme: Progress (8)
Advice: Be fair, stay centered. (Justice)
From there you could integrate the keywords from each of the three cards, and the images to keep going. Listen to any ideas that pop into your head and trust your intuition.
This should be approached in a casual / fun manner. You are just playing and experimenting with the cards. Sometimes I just shuffle the cards and go through the cards three at a time until I am ready to stop. I learn so much about the cards and their little details by looking at them in different contexts.
Variations
Keep a deck handy, you can do a spread or two whenever you feel like it. You can even leave the major arcana in the deck if you want to and just read by the images and titles.
Assign a meaning to each position in the spread. Before, Now, Later. Me, Us, You. Pro, Idea, Con. You can come up with anything that you want. You can even do it after you lay the cards down! It works, try it.
Read according to the suits. If you draw three cards and they are all cups, is the reading about a relationship? Or a feast? It is up to you!