10 Ways to Get Out of a Tarot Reading Rut
Illustration by Wiji Lacsamana.
A tarot reading practice that’s consistent will do your magical life a lot of practical good.
But let’s face it, a daily draw practice can get pretty droll (and not in a fun way), boring, and monotonous—especially if you’ve been consistent with your draws. Like any relationship, things are exciting and fun in the beginning… and when the honeymoon phase is over, you have to put in some extra effort to keep the passion and excitement alive (I just finished Season 3 of “You” on Netflix, hence the analogy).
I was just doing an interview for a lifestyle website (coming out soon!) and I talked about how tarot can serve as a beneficial tool when we’re going through major life stuff. You want to pick up your deck when you’re going through the wringer. But when life is good and nothing’s really going on in your life that you think merits an “emergency” pull, you can get blasé about it.
And that’s when the Tarot Reading Rut© begins to rear its ugly head.
It’s a slippery slope from then on because it’s easy to let go of a consistent practice when boredom sets in.
I don’t think we need to be thinking about our cards 24/7 (in fact, i would highly advise against this!). But I do think that a shake up in our tarot reading practice will serve us well—to keep us sharp, to keep us consistently mindful of our thoughts, feelings, actions, and experiences, and to keep us present in our daily lives.
If you feel like you’re headed into a Tarot Reading Rut© , here are a few things you can try to shake things up. Incorporate some freshness back into your tarot reading routine and see how you can work around and work through tarot boredom. PS: these are tried and tested by yours truly!
Switch the time you do your readings. Do you pull a card for yourself first thing in the morning? Maybe you can try setting your deck on your night stand and pulling a card before bed instead. If you’re the type who pulls a card pre-bedtime, then put your deck right on your breakfast nook so you can pull a card while you’re having your morning coffee. Not a time-based puller? Why not set a daily alarm on your phone, download a free tarot app (I highly recommend Labyrinthos!), and integrate a card pull into your day on your preferred time slot to see what it’s like to do your pulls same time, every day. As with any practice, do it for a couple of days, a week, or even a month and check in with yourself afterwards to see how you feel about your switcheroo.
Read for someone else. Want to see how your intuition fares when you’re not reading for yourself? I’m pretty sure you can name at least five friends of yours who’ll be willing to be tarot guinea pigs for you to practice on. Make sure that you contextualize the reading you’re doing for them—inform them of how confident (or not confident) you are about your reading skills, bring your little white book to the reading if you have to, and as per ush, advise them on your own personal FAQs and ethics so they know exactly what they’re signing up for.
I notice that when I read for others, it takes me a really long time to get into the meaning of a single card; while when I read for myself, I look at my pull, jot down a sentence or two, and I’m done. The added element of having to explain something to someone who doesn’t know the tarot the way you do will keep your neurons firing up in a way that could really motivate or inspire you to keep card slinging.
Draw, paint, or create your own cards. I’ve seen so many other readers do this: color in the pages of a tarot coloring book, do 30-second doodles that represent a tarot card (drawing from memory adds another layer of difficulty!), or just create their own versions of the RWS or Thoth decks. There’s something about really getting into each card (literally) that makes you reexamine your own perspectives and points of view when it comes to the tarot.
I don’t know about you, but this seems like a really intimidating task to me, so make sure not to make this like homework. Pick your fave cards or the ones that speak to you visually.
4. Get yourself a new deck. Maybe you’re just tired of looking at the same images again and again. Now, the thing about buying a new deck is one, it costs money, and two, it might lead you down a rabbit hole of overconsumption (something I highly advise against!). Instead I would suggest trading with a fellow tarot enthusiast, buying secondhand, or even downloading a free tarot app so you can look at new decks on your phone instead of having to buy the actual, physical thing. Sometimes, you just need to see a different artist’s take on the tarot to fall in love with it all over again.
Illustration by Wiji Lacsamana.
5. Deck out your reading set-up. Maybe you just need to zhuzh up your reading environment! Repurpose a scarf to create a pretty tabletop. Add a scented candle or a diffuser to make your reading ritual extra special.
Your space doesn’t have to be Instagram pretty. As with Feng shui, sometimes just switching up the placement of your props and materials can give your energy a boost. That said, if wanting to get on #TarotTok will give you some renewed motivation to shuffle your cards, then go ahead and let that motivate your tarot rut shake up.
6. Add some zing to your reading with oracle cards. Experimenting with which oracle cards you blend into your tarot readings can add a different flavor and spice to your readings. If you’ve already got a plethora of decks in your collection, don’t be afraid to mix things up.
7. Learn a different system. This might seem counterproductive to you, but perhaps switching the “tarot section” of your brain might actually do your practice some good. Learn Lenormand, put your RWS to bed by learning the Thoth system instead. Switching to another methodology may just reignite your own knowledge of tarot and make you appreciate the structure again. Bonus? You end up adding to your cartomancy CV in the process.
8. Get read by a professional. Maybe part of your tarot ennui could be the fact that you’re hearing your own interpretations of the same cards, over and over again (I’m definitely guilty of this). Seeing how someone else gleans meaning out of the cards and links them to your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and issues can help open you up to new ways of using the cards. And I mean, what tarot reader doesn’t love getting read too?
9. Consume some tarot-adjacent media. Seeing tarot onscreen always makes me proud and excited about the fact that this is a skill I can actually do. I loved seeing Dawn and Mary Anne pull cards in Season 2 of The Babysitters Club on Netflix! (*this blog post is not sponsored by Netflix, LOL). By virtue of the name of this website and blog and my deck, watching “Practical Magic” always gets me really happy about my woowoo life.
10. Give yourself a tarot vacay. You know what? Maybe you just need some rest. Like a proper break or scheduled leave from your job, give yourself a projected “first day back at work.” Set an alarm, pencil it into your Google calendar, and just commit to a certain date for pulling cards for yourself again. Listen to your intuition to figure out how long of a break you need; but don’t let your break go by without setting an actual date for your return so that you can hold yourself accountable.
Tried any of these Tarot Reading Rut tactics?
LMK if it worked out for you and about your experience. If you have any other tips for folks going through tarot boredom, feel free to share them in the comments.