What to Expect in a Tarot Reading: The Honest Truth

People think tarot is fortune-telling. Someone in a headscarf and big hoop earrings telling you that a tall, dark stranger is coming into your life, or that you’ll meet your soulmate on a Tuesday in June, or that you’re about to come into money.

That’s bollocks.

I’m going to show you what actually happens in a tarot reading by walking you through a real session I did recently. I’ve anonymised it obviously, but the cards, the interpretations, and the insights are all real. This is what to expect in a tarot reading with me, and honestly, what you should expect from any decent reader who isn’t trying to sell you certainty they can’t deliver.

No mystical bullshit. No predictions. Just honest reflection, pattern recognition, and practical clarity.

The Setup: How a Reading Actually Starts

The Question (Or Lack Thereof)

The person came in and said, “I just want some clarity on my relationship and my career.”

That’s it. Broad, vague, not a perfectly formed question. And that’s completely normal for a first tarot reading. You don’t need to show up with a thesis statement. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re asking. We start where you are, and the cards help us figure out what you actually need to explore.

If you’re wondering what to expect in a tarot reading, know this: you don’t have to have your shit together before you walk in the door. That’s kind of the whole point.

The Grounding Meditation

Before we touch the cards, I do a quick grounding meditation. It’s optional, but I encourage it.

It’s not woo-woo. It’s just practical. You’ve probably spent the whole day in your head, running from one thing to the next, and now you’re about to sit down and reflect on your life. The meditation gets you out of the mental noise and into the present moment so you can actually hear what the cards are showing you.

Some people love it. Some people tolerate it. Either way, it helps.

The Shuffle and the Spread

For this reading, I didn’t use a traditional spread. I just followed my intuition and laid the cards out in three sets of three. Sometimes I use structured spreads, sometimes I don’t. The cards tell a story either way.

The person shuffled while holding their question in mind. Then I laid out nine cards in three rows. Three beats. Three parts of the story.

This is what came out.

The First Three Cards: What You’re Actually Doing

The first three cards were all reversed.

The Hermit reversed. The Seven of Wands reversed. The Two of Wands reversed.

Three reversals in a row isn’t random. That’s a signal. That’s a pattern.

Now, here’s something important about what happens in a tarot reading: card meanings aren’t rigid. The Hermit reversed can mean a lot of things depending on the context. It could be forced isolation, or it could be someone who needs solitude but isn’t getting it, or it could be withdrawing from the world out of fear.

In this reading, with these other cards around it, it meant the person was making themselves small. Hiding. Pulling back instead of showing up.

The Seven of Wands reversed added to that. Normally, the Seven of Wands is about defending your position, standing your ground, fighting for what you believe in. Reversed, it’s backing down. Not defending yourself. Letting other people’s opinions or expectations dictate your choices because it feels easier to shrink than to stand firm.

And then the Two of Wands reversed. The Two of Wands upright is about making bold choices, looking at your options, committing to a direction. Reversed, it’s sitting on the fence. Having options but refusing to commit to any of them because committing means risk, and risk feels too big.

So the story in these first three cards was clear: this person was withdrawing, backing down, and avoiding decisions. They weren’t stepping up. They weren’t backing themselves. They were letting life happen at them instead of making active, bold choices.

What This Looked Like in Their Life

This is what a real tarot reading does. It’s not “the cards say you will meet someone new” or “the cards predict success in your career.” It’s “the cards are reflecting what you’re already doing.”

And what they were doing was playing small.

In their relationship, they weren’t speaking up about what they needed. In their career, they weren’t going for opportunities because they were scared of failing or looking foolish. They were stuck in this loop of indecision and withdrawal, and it was keeping them safe, but it was also keeping them stuck.

That’s the first beat of the story. Now let’s see what it was doing to them.

The Second Three Cards: What It’s Doing to You

The next three cards came out upright.

Nine of Swords. Five of Wands. Page of Cups.

The Nine of Swords is anxiety. Proper mental overdrive. Late-night brain noise. Rumination, catastrophizing, running through every possible worst-case scenario on a loop. That’s what happens when you’re not making decisions. Your brain fills the void with fear.

Again, context matters here. The Nine of Swords doesn’t always mean anxiety. It can mean insomnia, nightmares, guilt, grief, all kinds of things. But in this reading, with the story we were already building, it was clearly about the mental cost of staying stuck.

Then the Five of Wands. Inner conflict. Competing priorities. Second-guessing. It felt like they were constantly arguing with themselves, pulled in different directions, never able to settle on one path because every option felt like it was at war with the others.

And then the Page of Cups.

The Page of Cups is playful, curious, emotionally open. It’s the part of you that allows softness, that explores without needing all the answers, that lets you feel things without immediately needing to fix them.

And here it was, right in the middle of all this anxiety and conflict.

What I saw in this card was simple: they weren’t letting themselves have fun. They weren’t allowing softness. They weren’t letting themselves be curious or emotionally open. The playful, honest part of them was there, but it wasn’t getting a proper seat at the table.

The Cost of Playing Small

This is where the tarot reading experience gets real.

It’s not just “here’s what you’re doing.” It’s “here’s what it’s costing you.”

The person wasn’t just stuck. They were cutting themselves off from joy. From curiosity. From the parts of life that make it worth living. And all of that was feeding the anxiety and the inner conflict, creating this brutal loop where the more stuck they felt, the more they withdrew, and the more they withdrew, the worse they felt.

That’s the second beat. Now here’s where it lands.

The Final Three Cards: The Answer You Didn’t Know You Needed

The last three cards came out.

Queen of Cups reversed. Two of Swords. Knight of Pentacles.

The Queen of Cups reversed felt like unprocessed emotion. There was a deep well of feelings here that they weren’t dealing with. They were either holding it in, swallowing it down, or trying to think their way around it instead of actually feeling it.

And emotions don’t disappear just because you ignore them. They just sit there, unprocessed, making everything harder.

Then the Two of Swords. Stuck in a choice. Avoiding a choice. Keeping the blindfold on because taking it off means something has to change. And they were treating the decision like it had to be perfect, like there was a “right” answer and a “wrong” answer, when really the only wrong answer was staying stuck.

This is classic black-and-white thinking. Either I stay in this relationship or I leave. Either I stay in this job or I quit. Either I’m a success or I’m a failure. No room for nuance, no room for a third option, no room for “I can take one small step and see how it feels.”

And then the Knight of Pentacles.

This card felt like the answer. Not a dramatic, flashy answer. Not “quit your job and move to Bali” or “leave your partner tomorrow.” Just: you’re more prepared than you think. You’re capable of steady, committed action. You don’t need a perfect plan. You need to choose something and move.

The Knight of Pentacles doesn’t rush. They take it one step at a time. They’re reliable, grounded, methodical. They get shit done. And that’s what this person needed to hear. Not that they had to make some massive, life-changing decision, but that they could make a decision and follow through with it, even if it wasn’t flashy, even if it was slow, even if it was just one practical step forward.

This is what happens in a tarot reading. You get practical insight, not prophecy.

What the Client Actually Walked Away With

So when I reflected the full story back to them, this is what I said:

You’ve been withdrawing. Making yourself small. Not backing yourself. That’s feeding anxiety and inner conflict, and it’s cutting you off from the playful, open, emotionally honest part of you. Underneath it all, there’s emotion you’re not processing, and it’s making everything feel like a brutal either-or. But you’re more prepared than you realise, and you give yourself way less credit than you deserve.

You don’t need a dramatic move. You need a steady commitment. You need to make a real decision, not a perfect one, just an honest one, and start moving.

Not a Prediction, a Pattern

This is what a real tarot reading looks like. It’s not “your relationship will work out” or “you should stay in your job.” It’s “here’s the pattern you’re stuck in. Here’s what it’s doing to you. And here’s what you’re capable of when you stop getting in your own way.”

The cards didn’t tell them what would happen. They showed them what was already happening. And that gave them the clarity to make an informed choice.

Permission to Make an Imperfect Choice

What they actually needed wasn’t certainty about the future. It was permission to stop waiting for the perfect answer and just take one honest step forward.

And that’s what they left with.

Not a guarantee. Not a prediction. Just clarity, perspective, and a reminder that they were more capable than they’d been giving themselves credit for.

What to Expect in a Tarot Reading: The Real Deal

If you’re thinking about booking your first tarot reading, this is what you can actually expect.

It’s a Conversation, Not a Performance

Readings are collaborative. You’re not a passive recipient sitting there while I perform at you. You talk. You ask questions. You push back if something doesn’t land. That’s normal. That’s how it should be.

If I say something and it doesn’t resonate, tell me. If a card meaning doesn’t fit, we’ll explore it differently. The cards are a tool for reflection, not a script I’m reading from.

You Won’t Get Predictions, You’ll Get Perspective

Tarot doesn’t tell you what will happen. It shows you what you’re doing, what it’s costing you, and what you’re capable of.

That’s the tarot reading experience. It’s a mirror, not a crystal ball. And honestly, that’s more useful. Predictions keep you passive, waiting for something to happen to you. Perspective puts you back in the driver’s seat.

You’ll Leave With Clarity, Not Certainty

And that’s actually better.

Certainty keeps you stuck because you’re waiting for a guarantee that doesn’t exist. Clarity lets you move because you understand your situation well enough to make an informed choice.

That’s what happened in this reading. The person didn’t leave knowing exactly what would happen in their relationship or their career. They left understanding the pattern they were stuck in and what they needed to do to move forward.

That’s what I’m here for. Not to tell you your future. To help you understand your present so you can create the future you actually want.

Ready to See What’s Actually Going On?

This is what a real tarot session looks like. No mystical bullshit. No sugar-coating. Just honest reflection and practical insight.

If you’re curious, sceptical, or just stuck and want some perspective on what the fuck is actually going on, this is what to expect in a tarot reading with me.

Book a session. Let’s figure it out.