My Approach to Tarot Readings, A-to-C Thinking, and Intuitive Storytelling
- Nya
- May 8
- 4 min read
There are as many ways of reading the cards as there are tarot readers. I thought I would take the time to write a little bit about my approach to reading the tarot today.
When I do a tarot reading, I like to look at the entire spread as though it is a story told in a series of pictures. Sort of like reading a comic book or picture book. I first look at the sequences of events shown in the images and let the story the cards are trying to tell me unfold. Once the overall structure of the story is clear, I zero in on the individual cards. I consider the symbols shown, the traditional meanings of the specific cards, and any intuitive information that comes through. Sometimes a meaning that isn’t necessarily apparent in the traditional meaning of the card, or isn’t super obvious in the symbols presented in the artwork might come through to my intuition.
I believe when that happens, my brain is doing something similar to what in improv we call “A to C thinking.” A to C thinking in improv essentially means taking the initial audience suggestion, then skipping past the most obvious association to come up with a scene idea that might be a bit less obvious to make a more interesting set (because the audience can only sit through so many scenes about eating tacos before they get bored). For example, if the suggestion was “hot dog,” your first idea might be a hot dog stand at a baseball game. But then that idea makes you think of the time you got mustard on your shirt at a baseball game. So you initiate the scene by being upset about spilling mayo on your shirt during a picnic. In this example, A = “hot dog,” B = “baseball game,” and C = “ruined shirt.”
For what this might look like in a tarot reading, let's take a look at the 8 of Pentacles from the Trash Panda tarot by J Starling Dukehart:
We see a raccoon working diligently to make D20 dice (this deck’s representation of the Pentacles suit) in his woodland workshop. Now, we have all of the traditional meanings behind this card and it’s symbolism. We see the raccoon working hard to build something using his skill and expertise. This card speaks to success through diligence and hard work, material security though effort and dedication. But the D20 and the workshop motif also then trigger a memory from a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I played once, in which I acquire a handmade doll of the vampire Strahd from an expert toymaker. Now I have a whole host of other symbolism to draw from. What if the D20 that the raccoon is working on right now happens to be cursed? Maybe the client needs to rethink their current project, or at least purify it in some way before proceeding.
Also, a lot of times, and I think it is the same A to C process going on in my brain, a song might get stuck in my head connected to a particular card in the spread, or in some cases, linking two or more cards together. For example, in a recent collective reading I posted to Instagram and Facebook, the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic came up in connection to the 10 of Swords, in particular the line “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end,” so while the 10 of Swords is traditionally associated with failure and betrayal, this bit of extra intuitive information told me that the card was pointing to something ending, possibly tragically and as a result of a betrayal, but that this ending would open the door for something new and better.
Now, with this much symbolic information at my fingertips (… or brain tips? That makes no sense. Let’s stick with fingertips) how do I know what symbols are important? That is where intuition comes in. Depending on the context of the reading, certain symbols on the card itself or that show up in my intuition via the A to C process I described above might stand out to me, so I will follow those particular threads for that particular reading, then explore how they interact with and connect to the other cards in the spread. The same 8 of Pentacles now could have a completely different meaning for this client than it did the last time it showed up in a reading.
Because, despite what popular media might depict, the cards themselves have no inherent power to predict the future or to tell you what you should do on their own. They are simply a tool for the reader to connect with their intuition, guides, and any spirits or energies that may be relevant to the particular reading. They are simply a way of focusing one’s mind to let the messages flow through, just like any other form of divination.
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