This course is free and always will be. No account, no email needed. Your progress stays in your own browser. If you have never held a tarot deck before, you are exactly who I wrote it for.
Tarot for Beginners: A Novice’s Path takes you from your very first shuffle to reading a full Celtic Cross, in 30 short lessons. Each lesson teaches one thing, ends with a small exercise and has a quick quiz so you can check that the main idea landed. You do not need any special gift. You need curiosity, a deck, a notebook and a few minutes a day.
What you will learn
- What tarot is, what it is not and where it really came from.
- How to read ethically, for yourself and for others.
- All 22 Major Arcana and how they form the Fool’s Journey.
- The four suits, the numbers and the sixteen court cards.
- Spreads from a single daily card to the ten-card Celtic Cross.
- How to handle reversals, yes or no questions and hard cards calmly.
- How to keep a journal that turns practice into skill.
How it works
Open a lesson, read it, try the exercise and press “Mark as done”. Your progress is saved privately in your browser, so nothing is sent to me. If you switch devices or clear your browser, just open this page and pick up where you left off. When every lesson is done, you can open your certificate of completion.
There is no schedule. One lesson a day takes about a month. One module a week takes about two months. Both are perfect. What matters is that you shuffle the cards between lessons.
The lessons
Module 0: Welcome
Get your deck and notebook ready, and see how the course works.
Module 1: What tarot is
What tarot really is, where it came from and the myths you can drop.
Module 2: Reading ethically
Consent, good questions and calm words for hard cards. Ethics first, because good habits are easiest to learn on day one.
Module 3: The Major Arcana
All 22 Major Arcana, from the Fool to the World, read as one journey.
Module 4: The Minor Arcana
The four suits, their elements and the numbers Ace to Ten.
Module 5: Court cards
The sixteen court cards, and how to tell whether one is a person, a part of you or an approach.
Module 6: Spreads
Spreads from one card to the Celtic Cross, and how cards talk to each other.
Module 7: Your practice
Reversals, yes or no questions, a journal that teaches you and reading for others.
Module 8: Next steps
A 30-day practice plan and your certificate.
Who this course is for
This course is for complete beginners and for anyone who has dabbled and wants a calm, honest foundation. It does not ask you to believe anything. It treats tarot as a tool for reflection, attention and storytelling, and it is open about what the cards cannot do: predict the future with certainty, read other people’s minds or replace a doctor, lawyer or therapist.
What you need
A tarot deck, ideally one based on the Rider-Waite-Smith pictures from 1909, a notebook and a quiet corner. That is all. Candles and crystals are welcome if you enjoy them, and never required.
Start now
Begin with How this course works. It takes five minutes.
Go deeper
Every lesson points to the matching chapter of my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, which has a full entry for each of the 78 cards. You can also read the card meanings on this site, or download the free Mini-Grimoire for printable spreads and journal pages.
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