Whether you read tarot cards for yourself or others, the environment during your readings can make all the difference. By creating a safe, relaxing, and comfortable space to read your cards, you can deepen your experience and improve your overall practice.
Having a room dedicated for card reading is great, but it isn’t required. All you need is a space where you can quietly practice without being disturbed. With this in mind, you can create a tarot reading space in an unused corner, on a tabletop, in a windowsill, or you can even create a portable altar to move around the house with you.
To help you set up your space, we reached out to some of the top tarot experts in North America – from Austin, TX to Vancouver, BC – and asked for their best advice. If you feel a calling to explore, keep reading to see what they had to say.
Incorporate the sense of smell. Scents can be a powerful aid in setting up a sacred space in your home. Incorporating candles, incense, herbs, cologne, and perfume can elevate a space and bring you into the right mindset for a tarot reading. – Atlas Readings
Declutter your space. Create an area in your home that is decluttered to keep the positive energy flowing. Then decorate the area with magically charged items such as quartz or Amethyst crystals to enhance the area with psychic and magical energy. – Tarot By Emillie
Let your creativity flow. Creating a tarot reading space at home boils down to working with your creativity. Lay down a piece of cloth or scarf that you love on a clean surface. Place sacred items around the cloth, such as lit candles, incense, flowers, photographs of ancestors, or anything that has meaning to you. Take some deep breaths and tap into the divine. – The Tarot Woman
If you don’t have a designated room, use a small table or desk. I put down a special mat of gold fibers for spreading the cards. On the table is a small altar where I have a bell, candles, and a crystal. Before any reading, I light fresh candles and say a prayer that the light comes through me unimpeded to my clients. I strike the bell to signal that I have entered a sacred time that belongs to the reading only. – Gates of Light Tarot
Incorporate feng shui when deciding where to do your readings. Feng shui is the system for how qi-energy moves in your home, and it is a perfect complement that boosts home tarot reading spaces. For love questions read in the southwest corner of your home. For family and health readings use your tarot deck in the east. For work-related questions read in the north while wealth-related questions will get a boost in the southeast. And finally, questions relating to children can be done in the west. Reading tarot in corresponding directions depending on the question acts as a signal-boost to the answer you receive – Jenna Matlin, Intuitive Readings
Remember that you can create a tarot reading space anywhere you choose. I’ve done readings in cafes, breweries, and train stations. Your intention is the most important part of establishing your tarot reading space. At home, I have an old barn wood altar where I display my daily draw alongside other special objects. This space calls me into the sacred each time I see it. – Asheville Wellness Tours
Intentionally open and close the sacred space. To create a tarot reading space, I believe opening sacred space is key. I begin by rattling, whistling, drumming, and/or humming towards the four directions (north, east, south, west). Then I welcome their associated elements (earth, air, fire, water). I then ask Mother Earth to join Father Sky around me. I complete this by asking for myself to be protected, supported, and guided. After I complete my readings for the day, I close sacred space by reversing my actions while giving thanks and gratitude every step of the way. – Courtney Carnrite
Remember the importance of your breath. While crystals, incense, an altar, fresh flowers, and a reading cloth all add to the energy of divination, the only true necessity for creating sacred tarot reading spaces is your conscious breath. Exhale, and release mundane concerns, as well as any anxiety you have about the reading. Inhale, and bring sacred energy into your being and all around you to create your temple and attune to the divine. – Christiana Gaudet
Cleanse your space regularly. Smudge your space by burning sage to cleanse and clear stale or negative energies. Additionally, have either a Himalayan salt lamp or a selenite lamp in every room because they create a nice glow and also amp up the positive vibes of your living areas. – Jami Medical Intuitive
Don’t worry about creating a sacred space based on others’ perfect pictures. Put things that are sacred to you, encourage, and empower you in the space. For me that’s a plastic minotaur figure, a lapis lazuli stone, and a buffalo blue plaid flannel shirt as my tarot reading cloth — they are me, have my memories, and ground me to help others. – Big Bear Tarot
Create a space in your home that feels uniquely you. The tarot cards themselves aren’t sacred: they are pieces of paper with pictures on them. What is sacred is you. So create a space in your home that makes you feel safe, sacred, and loved. Flowers, candles, crystals may work for one person, while a sparse and clean environment works for another. Make a space in which you feel good, then bring your cards to it and begin. – Tarot by Hilary
Think about where your home’s heart is. Each home has its heart and that’s where the power is. Ask yourself where you gravitate to when you want to unwind and relax? Also, ask where in your home you entertain and share great times with others? Is there a core spot where you feel the safest and most empowered? For some, it’s the kitchen, for others a sunroom or entertainment area or even a garden. There is no wrong answer as each person will need to use their intuition to determine this place for themselves but your comfort there is essential. To be an effective card reader, for yourself and others, you need to be comfortable first. Once you determine your home’s heart you can build on that with candles, crystals, tablecloths, chachkas, and flowers but first, you need the firm foundation and that is where you choose to center yourself. – New Orleans Psychic
Use a black mirror in your tarot reading room. Each tarot card is a ritual of magic. So it is best to set up a magic place that makes you feel energized. One should also use a black mirror for scrying each individual card. Just take a regular glass makeup mirror, remove the glass from the frame, and paint the backside black. Reframe it and place two candles on the right and left sides of it. Then place a tarot card, upright, facing the mirror, with candles lit. One then enters the multiverse of that card’s images. – The Tarot of Eli
Let the cards bring positive energy into your space. Take your favorite, positive feeling cards out from an extra deck, buy prints from an artist, or print them from the internet. Place them in your home on bookshelves, above your front door, under your bed, in your kitchen, and let that card bring its positive energy to each room to clear the space and bring good vibes. – Andrew’s Tarot Readings
Establish a peaceful, comforting mood in whichever space you choose. Sound and scent are noticed subconsciously and help create an open state of mind and memories. So I suggest prior to the arrival of anyone, balance the space with essential oils, a mist of sage smudge spray, or whatever aroma works for you. Sounding a small ritual bell with a distinctive pleasant ring to mark the start of a reading sets the scene for insights to come. – Mental Wires
Kick out the humans; the fur babies can stay. Pets are inherently intuitive and can calm or energize a space. Kids, spouses or roommates, on the other hand, can disrupt the energy, distract you, and unintentionally influence your reading. – Andrea St. Amand
Your reading space should reflect your inner spirit. Fill your space with your favorite color and meaningful things – pictures of loved ones, your art, mementos. Treat yourself to a handmade tarot bag or reading cloth, or have one custom made. The deeper you connect to your reading space the more meaningful your readings will be. – Tarot Totes
Create a space that holds love and heals troubles. First, use keepsakes from moments when you felt loved. Next, bring in a container like a potted plant that can hold and transform your troubles. You now have a space where your love holds and heals your troubles. – Lago Taro
Add elemental representatives to your reading space. On the table, you can have representatives of the building blocks of the tarot, and its four suits associated with fire, water, air, and earth. You can use a candle for fire, a bowl of water for water, incense for air, and a crystal for the earth. Before laying out the cards, acknowledge the sacredness of the tarot itself as a tool to access divine guidance, wisdom, and truth. – Elissa Heyman
Keep your space clean. As my golden retriever believes that all those that enter, are there to visit him, keeping the area tidy and free from tumbleweeds of dog hair is essential. If you are not in a serious relationship with a Roomba, it’s time to commit! When a client can see that I respect and care for my space, it translates to them knowing that I will respect and care for them. – Readings with Lorri
Your sacred tarot reading space is wherever you and your cards are in that moment. I think tarot readers can get caught up in needing a specific environment to pull cards, and their confidence suffers if conditions don’t seem optimal. In reality, all you need is your deck. I’ve given readings all over the place – from cars and closets to backyards and banquet halls. Regardless of the space I’m in, the quality of my tarot readings remains the same. – Tarot Lori
Remember that creating your space doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Focus first on your tarot table. Cover it with sumptuous fabrics, choosing colors that convey peace, tranquility, and presence. Add a few comfy, plush pillows that send your unconscious mind signals of safety, comfort, and security. Your tarot table is a stage on which the tarot’s timeless archetypes will lovingly reflect your life back to you, amplifying what your Inner Self has been whispering all along. – Dr. Elliot Adam, author of “Fearless Tarot: How to Give a Positive Reading in Any Situation”
Choose a space with a door for privacy and quietness. With six kids it is essential to have a tarot reading space of my own, so a door is the first step. I light my favorite scented candles and pull the curtains before turning on a nature sounds CD. It makes such a relaxing space that sometimes I let my family think I am still doing readings so I can have some peace and quiet. – Tucumcari Tarot
Create a beautiful spot that you actually want to spend time in. Include objects in your space that inspire and calm you: a special journal, crystals, fresh flowers, etc. I love keeping out specific tarot cards I may be currently reflecting on as well. – Tarot Luv
Choose a spot that is filled with sunlight (preferably outdoors). I bring a feather or a small crystal with me. Or if I’m on vacation, I’ll seek an object that calls to me from my surroundings, like a pebble from a brook or an interesting-looking stick. Anything that calls you into your soul space. I get settled, place my object on the surface in front of me, put my tarot deck to my heart, and my face to the sunshine, and set my intention for the reading. A good intention can clear a space better than any ritual. – The Black Feather Intuitive
Consider a small portable altar for your tarot reading space if you have limited space. Place your deck of choice with a square of cloth and a few carefully chosen items (incense, strings of beads, and figurines work well) attractively on a shelf. Next time you want to consult the cards, unfurl them decoratively on any table nearby or pack them together for readings on the go. – Lionel Tarot
Find a place in your home that makes you feel cozy and relaxed. Perhaps that’s a room with lots of windows with the sun shining through to help you feel positive and motivated. Light up some palo santo, take a deep breath, and pick a few cards and receive some guidance. Tarot is all about speaking to your intuition, so creating a calm environment that will help you tune in and relax is key. – Nourished With Nina
Find sacred space within yourself. The most important part of creating a sacred tarot reading space at home or wherever we may take our cards is to find the sacred space within us: that quiet, calm state where the voice of our intuition can be heard. – Intuitive Insights by Jen Cintron
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