Are Online Tarot Readings Accurate? My Honest Answer

People love to assume that if you’re not in the same room as someone, the reading can’t be real. That you have to touch the cards yourself, or that something gets lost the minute the Wi-Fi gets involved. So the question comes up a lot: are online tarot readings accurate?

I read online every week, from the same room in Salford I do my in-person readings in. If you mean can a reading tell you what’s going to happen, my answer is no, online or in person. If you mean can it fit what’s actually going on in your life, yes, and doing it online doesn’t change that.

Is a Tarot Reading Accurate? Yes or No

No, if accurate means predicting the future

If you want a reading to tell you what’s going to happen, then no, and that goes for in person as well as online. I don’t claim to know what happens next, and I’d rather you knew that before you book. I’ve written more about why in Can Tarot Predict the Future?

Somebody asked me once how I feel when my cards lie to me. I don’t think they can lie, because I don’t think they can tell the truth in the first place, and yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds from someone who gets paid to do this shit. It’s a deck of cards. It doesn’t know anything about your future.

Yes, if accurate means it fits your life

What the cards do is give you something to react to. You look at the picture, we talk about what’s going on for you, and whatever the card ends up meaning comes out of that conversation. That’s why it’s never the same reading twice, even with the same card. So when I call a reading accurate, I mean it matched what’s actually happening in your life and you came away able to do something about it. I’m not claiming tarot’s been proven to know things about you that you could go away and check. I mean the reading was relevant to you, and it was useful.

And you can check that while we’re doing it. I tell everyone at the start that if something I say doesn’t make sense, they should say so, because my ego can handle it. I’m neurodivergent, I grew up in London and I read for people in cultures nothing like mine, so now and then something makes perfect sense in my head and nowhere else. I’d much rather you told me than sat there nodding.

Are Online Tarot Readings Accurate?

Why people doubt online tarot

The usual worry is that a reader needs to be close enough to read your body language, or that the cards won’t work unless your hands have been on them. And if you’re not sure about tarot in the first place, doing it over a screen can feel like one leap too many.

That’s bollocks. The cards don’t care about postcodes. I’m the same reader online, with the same deck, and the reading’s made of the same thing: you and me talking honestly about what’s going on.

The thing that makes the biggest difference is how honest you can be with me. Some of my strongest readings have been online, and in my readings I find people sat on their own sofa often open up faster and drop the mask sooner.

Does online tarot really work?

I had therapy entirely online during COVID, and it still helped. I’ve had good sessions in a room too, and the difference was never the room. It was whether I felt comfortable and whether anyone could hear me.

I read online for people dealing with breakups, burnout, family stuff and big changes in their lives, and it goes just as deep as it does in person. You can also cry in your own house without worrying about walking past anyone on the way out. If screens wipe you out, though, in person might suit you better.

Are online tarot readings legit?

Social media is full of fake accounts and dodgy promises, so I understand the worry. But there are scam readers in person too, and online it’s actually easier to check someone out before you hand over any money. Read their website. Read their reviews and look for patterns, like a load that all sound the same or profiles that don’t look real. Check their ethics, and walk away from anyone promising you something they can’t know.

And a live reading isn’t an app. An app gives you a card and a keyword. I can ask what you meant, pull more cards when something’s confusing and change the question when it isn’t working. I’ve written more about that in Can an AI Tarot Reading Replace a Human Reader?

How Does Online Tarot Reading Work In Practice

What to expect during an online tarot reading

My online readings run the same way as my in-person ones. We start by getting your question focused, because tarot works best on one situation rather than your whole life in half an hour. Then there’s a short grounding meditation, I shuffle on camera, split the deck into three piles, and you pick one. From there I pull the cards in threes and we talk through what’s coming up.

You set the pace. Some people hear what I’m getting from a card, say yes, that makes sense, and we move on, and sometimes half the session goes on one card. Towards the end I draw some oracle cards, then I ask you two questions: what are you taking away from this, and what are you going to do differently? You write your answers down, and the last thing I ask is whether the reading’s actually been helpful.

You don’t have to touch the cards

In person I’ll often get you to shuffle, so I get why people think your hands are what make it work. Online, you still pick the pile, and you steer the reading with what you tell me and what you ask. Whether your hands have been on some bits of fucking cardboard was never what made a reading land.

Seeing the cards

I try my best to show you every card. Some readers point the camera at their cards, but I like to keep the camera on my face, because it’s a conversation and I want you to be able to see me. So I’ve built a way of putting the cards up on the screen as an overlay. As each card comes out it goes up on the screen beside me, so you can see the whole reading laid out as it builds, the way you would on the table between us. It just works better for me.

What you get after the reading

After every reading you get a picture of the cards we pulled, your question, the answers you wrote down at the end, and a short summary from me. It comes to you by email after the reading, once your recording is in too if you added one, and it’s kept in your account on my site, behind your login. If you’d rather not get the email, tell me and I’ll switch it off, and it’ll still be in your account.

Why I Use Google Meet For Online Tarot Readings

Google Meet makes online tarot simple and secure

Every reading booked through my website happens on Google Meet. The link comes to you by email when you book, and on a computer it opens straight in your browser, so there’s nothing to download. If you add a recording, it goes into your account on my site once it’s processed, behind your login, where you can watch it, download it and download the transcript if there is one. It stays there for 90 days, so download it if you want to keep it.

I don’t do phone or WhatsApp readings as standard, because you can’t see the cards. But if Google Meet isn’t accessible for you, tell me and I’ll adapt.

When the tech goes wrong

It doesn’t happen often. If my Wi-Fi drops I switch to mobile data, and if there’s a lag we go back over what you missed. Things go wrong in person too. I’ve had the electrics trip during a reading, and we sat there in the dark until I found a battery light and carried on.

Can You Give Tarot Readings Online? Yes, Every Week

Who books online

Plenty of the people I read for online live round the corner and still choose it, because they can finish work, make a brew and join from the sofa. Others are on the other side of the world, or find leaving the house hard, or are neurodivergent like me and just find a video call easier than sitting in someone else’s house.

Privacy online

An online reading is just you and me. It’s not a live stream and it’s not a reading in the comments, and I don’t share your story with anyone. On your side, pick a room you can shut the door on and stick some headphones in.

Online or in Person, It’s the Same Reading

A reading can’t tell you what’s going to happen, online or in person, and I’d rather you knew that before you book. What it can give you is something to react to and an honest conversation about what’s actually going on for you, one you can question and argue with as we go. The screen doesn’t change any of that.

You can book an online reading for however long you want, from your sofa, your bed or your car on a lunch break.