Tarot Deck Interview: Spreads, How-to, and More

Get to know your new Tarot deck with a quick and easy deck interview spread. We’ll go over how to bond with your deck, shuffle, and more.

You’re in your favorite spiritual store, laboring over which Tarot deck to buy, and you leave with a brand-new deck. The shrinkwrap is still on, the box is shiny, the cards are glossy. While you want to leap right into Tarot readings (perhaps a love Tarot reading is on your mind?), you might want to hold your horses and try this first.

Why Interview Your Deck?

According to Maisy Bristol, Tarot reader and astrologer of the Instagram account @Tarotbymaisy, the first thing you should do with a new Tarot deck is interview it. Yes, interview it! “It sounds strange,” she says, “but ,when you ask your deck what its natural skills are, it shows you exactly how it can help you.”

Not only that, but, as a Tarot reader, you need to feel a connection to your Tarot deck, which Bristol considers to be its own entity. Ultimately, deck interviews are as much about you getting to know your deck as the deck is getting to know you.

“It’s all about finding out the deck’s language,” Bristol says. “With time, you’ll start to understand exactly why certain cards are flying out at certain moments—and what your deck is trying to say.”

How to Create an Interview Spread

When you’re learning how to read Tarot cards, even holding the 78-card deck can be overwhelming. How are you supposed to ask questions to an inanimate object?

“Think of your new deck as a person,” Bristol says. “You’re in the ‘getting-to-know-you’ phase of this relationship. So, what would you ask a new friend?”

Once you shift your mindset a bit, you’ll be able to think about the deck as a separate entity, with its own personality, strengths, and weaknesses. With this in mind, the questions flow easily!

Tarot Deck “Interview” Spread

To interview a deck is to allow it to show its true colors, natural talents, and ready gifts. Here’s a quick example of what an interview spread might look like:

Hello deck! How would you describe yourself?
Your strengths
Your weaknesses or limitations
Your favorite topic
What will our relationship be like?
What card in this deck is a great teacher for me?

Take note of where Major Arcana cards show up and what the “energy” of each card is like. For example, if you pull The Lovers or the Five of Cups card for “strengths,” you know that this deck is well-suited for relationships or matters of the heart (i.e. healing).

4 Tips for Bonding With Your Tarot Deck

Use them (or pick them up) daily. This is especially true if you’re still learning Tarot card meanings! Make sure you’re touching your cards all the time. It’s just like creating a friendship. The more you spend time with someone, the more you understand them and grow to enjoy their company. So, pull a daily card. Hold them while you’re talking to someone. Go through the cards, and admire their artwork.

Don’t worry if you lose interest in your deck over time. This will happen! Bristol says that we go through ups and downs in our relationships with cards. “It’s just how it is,” she explains. “More than likely you’ll find interest again in them over time.”

Sleep with them near you. Just do it! Keeping your deck by your bedside or under your pillow while you sleep can help you connect to it on a more unconscious level.

Take a course with your new Tarot deck. With the astrological calendar in Astrology+, you can pull cards on important astrological days—using the personalized astrology calendar. Bristol also offers an online Tarot course. You can also find quick and easy videos on YouTube to help you learn.

Get a Tarot-inspired notebook or planner. Use a Tarot journal to help you keep track of Tarot readings, write down thoughts or feelings, and link these things to current astrological happenings.

FAQs

How do you choose a Tarot deck?

The same reference to choosing friends can be applied here. “Again, this is just like finding friendship. Say you’re at a party,” Bristol shares. “As you look around, you can start to form initial impressions of who everyone is. And, from that information, you decide who you’d like to meet and talk to. The same process can be applied to finding a Tarot deck.”

Bristol says that it’s impossible to bond with every deck—and that’s a good thing! There are decks that feature cats, decks that have no people, decks that only use people, decks that focus on fairies and mythological creatures. There is no “right” and “wrong” in a deck, but there is a “right” and “wrong” deck for you.

So, as you look around in the store, pick up the box, flip through the guidebook, try to touch a sample deck if possible. Take in the artwork, themes, cardstock, shape, size … all of it matters when choosing the right deck for you!

How do you shuffle Tarot cards?

Shuffling takes practice, but there are a few ways to mix up your cards:

On their side
“Playing-card” style
Mixing them all up on the table or on the floor

Whichever method you choose is up to you!

How do you cleanse your Tarot deck?

You “cleanse” your deck when you feel it has been through a lot of readings, it’s dropped on the ground, or someone else has touched it. Basically, anytime you’d like to push the “reset” button for your cards, you might use this practice.

You cleanse a Tarot deck in the same way that you might cleanse your crystals. You could burn sage under your deck, put it in a bag and steep it in salt, or simply place a clear quartz atop the deck when you’re not using it.