GuidesA beginner's map of the tarot
Tarot · Updated 27 October 2026 · 7 minute read
A beginner's map of the tarot
Seventy-eight cards are a language. You do not need all of them to begin, and you do not need to be frightened of any of them.
The tarot is a deck of pictures used for reflection, storytelling and, for some people, divination. Starseed UK treats a reading as a set of questions, not as a verdict. The chamber on this site uses an original major-arcana text. It does not copy a published deck's illustrations.
A useful first spread is one card. Name the situation in a sentence, draw, and ask what the picture emphasises. A three-card line can be past, present and a possible direction. 'Possible' is doing important work. It stops the reading from pretending to be a timetable.
Cards with severe names, especially Death, the Devil and the Tower, are metaphors in this house. They are not threats, curses or comments on anyone's health. If a reading leaves you scared, close it. Fear is a poor teacher and a worse sales technique.
You can learn the suits later: wands for energy, cups for feeling, swords for thought, pentacles for material life. Those are conventions. Different books disagree, which is a good sign that you are in a tradition and not a laboratory.
Keep notes if you like. The journal on this site stays in your browser and can be exported or deleted. It is not a cloud account, and it should not be treated as one.