25 May 2026 · 11 min read
Tarot often intimidates those wanting to get into it — 78 cards, arcana, complex spreads, dense iconography. Yet it's one of the most accessible divinatory practices to learn alone. This guide gives you a clear roadmap: where to start, which deck to buy, which spreads to try, and the beginner's pitfalls.
By Jonathan Petit · Fondateur d'Espace Voyance
Many beginners abandon while leafing through a tarot book. 78 cards, 22 Major Arcana with strange names (The Magician, The Hermit, The Hanged Man, The Tower), 56 Minor Arcana in four suits (Cups, Pentacles, Swords, Wands), hundreds of possible combinations… it seems like a lifetime learning.
The truth: **you can do a useful spread after 4-6 hours of learning**. Not an expert-level spread — but a spread that sheds light on a concrete question, using the cards as a symbolic mirror. Tarot isn't a system where you must know everything before using it. It's a tool that reveals its richness progressively, as you practice.
The second classic intimidation: "will I do this correctly? will the spirits speak to me?" Tarot has nothing magical in the supernatural sense. It's primarily a **structured reflection support**: 78 symbolic archetypes that, by random drawing, force you to look at your situation from angles you wouldn't have spontaneously chosen. If you're open to the symbolic dimension and have some imagination, tarot will work.
Tarot divides into two families. The **22 Major Arcana** (from 0 — The Fool — to 21 — The World) represent the great archetypes of human experience: beginning (The Magician), maternal trust (The Empress), power (The Emperor), transcendence (The Hierophant), romantic choice (The Lovers), conquering drive (The Chariot), balance (Justice), introspection (The Hermit), cycle (Wheel of Fortune), quiet strength (Strength), letting go (The Hanged Man), transformation (Death, to be understood symbolically), harmony (Temperance), the shadow (The Devil), abrupt rupture (The Tower), hope (The Star), illusion (The Moon), clarity (The Sun), reckoning (Judgment), accomplishment (The World).
These 22 cards are the most important — they signal the great background movements. When several Major Arcana appear in a spread, the topic is important and structural.
The **56 Minor Arcana** are divided into four suits, each linked to an element and life area:
— **Cups** (Water): feelings, relationships, emotional life
— **Pentacles** (Earth): material, finances, body, concrete work
— **Swords** (Air): intellect, thought, communication, conflicts
— **Wands** (Fire): action, creativity, projects, energy
Each suit has 14 cards: Ace (the pure element principle), 2 to 10 (progressive manifestations), then 4 face cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King). You don't need to memorize all 78 meanings in detail — first learn the 22 Majors, then the 4 Aces, then progressively the others.
Three main accessible choices for beginners:
**Marseille Tarot Camoin-Jodorowsky edition** (~25-30€). Scholarly restoration of the historic tarot by Philippe Camoin and Alejandro Jodorowsky. Bright cards, preserved symbolism, clear companion booklet. The choice recommended to 80% of francophone beginners.
**Marseille Tarot Conver-Marteau (Grimaud) edition** (~15-20€). The 20th-century French classic. More accessible price, traditional iconography, basic companion booklet. Suits if you want the "real" classic Marseille without frills.
**Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot** (~15-25€). The most-used Anglo-Saxon tarot in the world (created 1909). Very narrative iconography — each Minor Arcanum tells a scene (unlike Marseille where Minors are more geometric). Excellent for visual beginners, as the images almost speak for themselves.
My advice: **buy Marseille Camoin-Jodorowsky to start**. Excellent value, rich but uncluttered iconography, and it's the tarot most francophone tarologists use — you can compare your readings with the pros'.
Avoid "themed" decks at the start (fairy tarot, mystic tarot, animal tarot, etc.). They're actually oracles, not classical tarots — they lack the rigorous 78-card structure.
Before each spread, **formulate your question mentally or aloud**. An open question yields a better spread than a closed one. Prefer "What should I understand about my current romantic situation?" to "Will he come back?".
**1-card spread (5 minutes)**: shuffle thinking of your question. Cut with the left hand. Draw the top card. Read the card's general keyword, and ask yourself: "what does this image tell me about my question?" The ideal format to start — done once daily for 2 weeks, you'll have integrated much of the deck.
**3-card spread (15 minutes)**: three cards aligned left to right. Several readings possible: past/present/future, or situation/action/outcome, or soul/heart/body. Past/present/future is the most intuitive to start. Read each card independently, then observe links between them.
**5-card cross spread (25 minutes)**: the classic format to explore a situation. Position 1 (center) = current situation. Position 2 (above) = what influences from above (spirit, sky). Position 3 (below) = what influences from below (unconscious, base). Position 4 (left) = the weighing past. Position 5 (right) = the coming future. Read each position, then synthesize.
Start **only with the 1-card spread**. For 2-3 weeks, do one spread per day, and note the drawn card + an interpretation sentence in a dedicated notebook. You'll be stunned by the resonance with your day. Then move to the 3-card, then 5-card.
**Mistake 1: asking the same question multiple times.** You draw cards, the message doesn't please you, so you redraw. Bad idea. Tarot isn't a roulette — you dilute meaning by multiplying attempts. If an answer doesn't please you, sit with it, meditate on it for a few days, then ask a different question.
**Mistake 2: interpreting each card as purely "positive" or "negative".** Tarot has no "good" or "bad" cards — it has energies to understand. Death doesn't mean a death, but a transformation. The Devil isn't evil, it's attachment. The Tower doesn't predict catastrophe, but a necessary rupture. Read cards for what they are symbolically, not for what they evoke culturally.
**Mistake 3: drawing for others from the start.** Drawing for yourself is already difficult (our own subjectivity blurs the reading). Drawing for others requires emotional distance only acquired with experience. Learn to draw for yourself for several months before offering spreads to relatives.
**Mistake 4: relying only on booklets.** Companion booklets are useful starting points, but always give very general interpretations. Tarot truly reveals itself when you establish your **personal relationship to each card** — often through image observation, intuition, free association. Don't be a dictionary slave.
**Mistake 5: abandoning too quickly.** The first 2-3 weeks, you'll feel you understand nothing. That's normal. Tarot is learned by **regular practice**, not memorization. Do your daily card every morning for 30 days and note your observations. After a month, you'll have an intuitive understanding ten books wouldn't give you.
Learning tarot alone is entirely possible and even the path of most contemporary practitioners. A few reliable resources for self-learning:
— **"Le Tarot de Marseille"** by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa (Albin Michel, 2004). The reference book, dense, demanding, but containing everything. ~€30. Available in English translation.
— **"The Way of Tarot"** by Camoin (Camoin Tradition school). More practical and progressive approach.
— **YouTube channels**: many of varying quality. Favor those discussing symbolism and structure rather than "general monthly psychic readings."
But at some point, **consulting an experienced tarologist brings what no book can give**: seeing how someone else reads your situation, observing the speed of their associations, sensing the difference between an intuitive reading and a memorized one. It's also the opportunity to ask concrete questions on practice.
One or two consultations on Espace Voyance with a professional tarologist will bring you dozens of hours of personal learning. Cost: €35-100 per session — a low investment compared to in-person formation (several hundred euros) or a demanding book you'll take months to integrate.
Both paths are complementary: practice alone daily (the daily card), and consult occasionally (every 2-3 months) a professional to see your reading evolve.
For correct personal use: 1-3 months of daily practice (daily card) + regular reading. For professional practice: 3-5 years minimum experience, ideally with in-person formations. Mastering subtleties takes a lifetime — that's what makes it a rich practice.
No, tarot isn't reserved for "psychic" people. It's primarily a structured symbolic system anyone can learn to read — like learning a language. Intuition helps, but develops with regular practice. Many [professional tarologists](/voyance/tarot) don't consider themselves "psychics," just symbol readers.
For francophonie: Marseille Tarot Camoin-Jodorowsky edition (€25-30). Rich but readable iconography, clear companion booklet, and it's the deck most francophone tarologists use. Rider-Waite (Anglo-Saxon) is also a good choice if you're visual.
Some practitioners recommend an appropriation ritual (carrying the deck for 24h, passing it through incense smoke, storing it with a crystal). It's not mandatory — the essential is to **familiarize yourself with the cards** by handling them regularly. The "link" to the deck is created by use.
Yes, it's even the first recommended step. Drawing for yourself is harder than drawing for others (our subjectivity blurs the reading), but it's the best school. For very personal or emotionally charged questions, complement with a consultation with a [professional tarologist](/voyance/tarot) for outside perspective.
For Major Arcana: yes, a reversed card modifies or inverts its meaning (but remains interpretable). For Minor Arcana: most francophone schools always read upright. At first, ignore reversals to simplify — focus on the base meaning of cards.
Complete in-person formation in a tarot school: €800-3000 over several months. Reference book + daily practice: €30-50. A few consultations with a [professional tarologist](/voyance/tarot) to observe: €100-300 total. Combining the three is the most effective path.
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