Can you be good at tarot right away? This is a question I see posted on a lot of tarot forums. What is lost in this question is the idea of tarot reading as an art. Would you sit down to draw, play cello, or start a martial art with the assumption that you’ll be perfect from the start? Art takes time to learn, and reading tarot is the art of story.

Every now and then a wild Yo-Yo Ma appears who seems to magically master an art from the very beginning. These folks are rare (and you never see the tremendous amount of work they put in before appearing). For most of us – be it cello or tarot – we need to slog through the thankless task of practicing. There are, however, a few skills that could elevate your readings before you start, (if you have already been practicing them for a long time):

• Intuition
• Dream work and lucid dreaming
• Other forms of divination
• A strong connection with the spirits
• Writing and storytelling

Strength in any of these areas will make your ability to read tarot stronger. It’s like picking up the cello for the first time, but you’ve been playing violin for years. You know how rhythm, tempo, and pitch work – you have already cultivated your musicality, so it follows you from violin to cello. And if you have not learned these arts before picking up the tarot? Studying any of these skills will increase the speed you grow proficient.

My favourite suggestion for getting good fast is to record all of your readings: the question you asked, the deck you used, the cards you got, and your interpretation at the time. Periodically got back to these journals and compare your readings with what ended up happening. You will see your strengths and weakness very quickly: cards you have miss-read, warnings or signs you passed over (these signs often repeat), and – most importantly – seeing the readings you got dead-to-rights.