Getting To Know Yourself With Tarot Readings

Reading your own tarot cards is one of the most powerful self-development tools you could ever use. It’s easy to quickly get to know yourself by consistently reading your cards. I’ll share an example of a reading I did with myself to uncover some powerful truths about my inner world!

The first three cards I drew

I started out with the idea that I would do a three-card reading. However, it morphed into a five-card reading. And that happens! I felt intuitively inspired to continue pulling two more cards. Follow your intuition. There are no hard and fast rules about tarot. If you feel like you need more context or clarity to a reading, then pull more cards. If you feel inspired to keep drawing cards, then you should keep drawing more cards!

I used the Wild Unknown Tarot Deck for these readings. It’s my go-to deck because it’s simple, beautiful and I have a strong connection to my deck.

I drew two more cards and got this powerful five card reading

Here’s an example of a tarot reading for how you can get to know yourself better with a few simple questions. My spread ended up looking like this;

#1 What I'm thinking — Father of Wands

#2 What I'm feeling — 10 of Cups

#3 What I’m doing — 9 of Cups

#4 What are my anxieties — 5 of Cups

#5 What are my hopes for the future — The Lovers

#1 What I'm thinking — Father of Wands

Court cards typically represent people in your life, aspects of people in your life or an aspect of yourself. The Father of Wands is one of the most creative personas in the deck. The lightning flash on the card represents to me the flash of creative inspiration! He's a mysterious and charismatic character who is proud of his achievements. Others are naturally drawn to him and he welcomes them with an open heart as he is deeply compassionate.

If this card represents my thoughts, I'm thinking that people are drawn to me. Right now, there are people in my life who "want" things from me whether they are my friends or my bosses at work. It feels like "everybody wants me" right now and I am left with not much time or energy for myself.  I think this card in my reading is telling me to be more open and compassionate like the loving Father of Wands.

#2 What I'm feeling — 10 of Cups

The 10 of cups is a card that I seem to pull a lot and I still don't know why! For me, this card represents happiness, healthiness, glowing, and being in a state of love and abundance. See how light is freely flowing and exchanging through the cups? It's a harmonious card of sharing of giving. It's about energy radiating from us and around us. It reminds us of the infinite source we all come from.

I don’t trust this feeling of infinite energy and source and inspiration. I’m feeling very drained actually and I don’t feel like I have enough for me so I don’t want to share with others. Remember how I started out with a three card reading but then ended up with a five card reading? Well, it's interesting that I placed my #4 card representing my anxieties right above this #2 card representing my feelings.

The 5 of cups is right above this 10 of cups card. The energy of the five of cups is hanging over my head and influencing my feelings and emotions. I’m in a very happy and plentiful state right now (10 of cups) but I can’t really enjoy it because of this fear I have (5 of cups) of loss, grief and disappointment. Like I was reminded by the Father of Wands card, this card too is calling on me to have an open heart and embrace my natural magnetism.

#3 What I’m doing — 9 of Cups

I’ve always had difficulty understanding and interpreting the difference between the 10 of Cups and the 9 of Cups.

Allow me a brief side-bar. I’m trying to have more baths. Being in the water, without distraction, is a practice that I have been trying to use to know myself more and to become more feminine. The bathtub has a womb-like quality that makes it a powerful feminine space. When I was in the bath before reading my tarot cards, I had a thought of a ‘dark elixir’. This dark elixir represented love in a visceral, physical and bodily sense.

The 9 cups on the 9 of cups card are sitting, waiting, empty and waiting to be filled. They are wanting to be filled with not water, not heat, not light or anything shining. I am craving for them to be filled with something sturdy, heavy and viscous. Something that's going to really weigh these cups down and ground them.

I think that my ‘dark elixir’ is just the thing to weigh them down. This is reinforced by my #5 drawing, the Lovers card.

#4 What are my anxieties — 5 of Cups

After I drew my original three cards I felt anxious. I wanted to explore that anxiety, so I drew two more cards: one for my anxieties and one for my hopes.

The card representing my anxiety is the 5 of cups and it’s a card about grief, residual sadness and an inability to move on. It might be talking about a hurt that was never healed or even an inner child healing that needs to take place. It’s also placed right above the 10 of cups card in my reading.

What could this be signalling? I think since the first three cards were about how I don’t feel like I have enough energy for myself let alone my work and my friends, I think it’s telling me there’s sadness there and a need to heal around my past friendships.

In my early 20s, I didn’t feel loved. I wanted attention and vibrant friendships and close relationships. Looking back, I didn’t have that at all and my craving for it led me to spend time with the “wrong sort” of people, led me to devalue myself and prevented me from being my authentic self and even getting to know what that authentic self is like. In order to move on and accept love in my life, I need to heal this old wound.

#5 What are my hopes for the future — The Lovers

The final card I drew for this reading that represents my hopes and desires is the lovers card. This is a card of harmony and partnership. It’s a card of being more together than you are apart. It's a card of hope and promise for a brighter and happier future.

When I look at the geese in the card, they’re flying in kind of a migratory shape so I imagine that they’re flying somewhere warm for the winter together. It’s a long, arduous, tiring journey that they’re taking together. However, they’re going to be warm and comfortable for the winter if they can complete their migration successfully. According to this reading, I have high hopes for my romantic relationship. If I’m able to be open and receptive to love, let go of my fear of loss and accept my natural magnetism then I think I will be successful.

After a reading I find it helpful to look back at the whole reading after I’ve done my deep dive into the meanings of all the tarot cards. There were so many cups in this reading. Since the cups are the suit of emotions, it was a real wake-up call for me to drop into my feelings more! I think that I have a lot to explore, feel and heal around my friendships and my relationships.

Reading my own tarot cards like this helped me learn more about myself, reflect on my past and what I want for my future.