Okay, so I’ve been lurking a lot here for a while, and it sometimes feels like how you guys all get messages from the Tarot might as well be another language to me. How do you actually become a psychic?
Which makes me wonder if this is even something you can learn, or if you need to have had at least something happen naturally first. Because right now I’m at literal zero.
Where do I start? The obvious start seems to be learning how to read the Tarot, but then what?
Most readings leave you with more questions than answers.
Get unlimited tarot readings and actually ask the follow-up. Full spreads, not generic meanings or automated generators.
You’re not at zero, being drawn to this stuff already counts.
“Psychic” isn’t one ability. It’s the clair senses: clairvoyance (mental images), clairsentience (gut feelings or picking up others’ emotions), clairaudience (inner words), claircognizance (sudden knowing). Most folks have one dominant one, clairsentience is super common, like feeling anxious in a room for no reason.
You can test your latent magick ability with a test like this, but you also might already just know with your own intuition. I mean, that’s kind of part of it, but you can use a Tarot spread to tap into that same knowing to get the details. Not everyone’s ability is going to look the exact same, so it might take a little time to uncover.
This would be my suggestion (though ideally get someone here to do the reading for you)
You could do a spread on the question, but a single card can at least point you in the direct direction if you don’t want to do that.
Pick one card (random or one that draws you). Sit with it 10-20 minutes, study every detail: colors, expressions, background. Close your eyes, visualize it from memory. You might try to ‘step into’ the card, walk around, talk to the figures.
Tarot symbols hit your subconscious directly. That’s the intuitive psychic spark. Your unconscious spots what your conscious mind misses. Get readings from others if you can. It shows you the process from the receiver’s side.
Also learning where your psychic ability is is just the start. After that, the real work starts, and that means developing your psychic ability. You build it like a muscle, not some gift like you see in the movies.
First of all, you don’t need to be psychic to read tarot. You can read purely through interpretation: symbols and their meanings, plus how they interact in a spread. Some of the best readers do it that way and it’s exactly why anyone can read the Tarot. Democratised insight and intuition! Yay!
But if you are seeing signs or maybe you just want to develop a practice outside of the cards, then there are things you can do, but they’ll all take a lot of work. There’s nobody (and I do mean nobody in my experience) who just wakes up one day able to do all the crazy things you see on TV.
It all takes work and effort. Sometimes years of work.
If you already practice with the Tarot, I would keep doing that, and your psychic gifts will follow. Chance practice, not external factors. Just let them show up since you’ve already put work into reading the cards you don’t want to start from zero again. You’ll find it a lot easier to use other tools later if you choose to but don’t keep jumping from idea to idea.
Don’t chase the psychic side. Chase practice.
Started at literal zero too, like hoping for powers the way kids dream of telekinesis, but nothing. Took me ages (too long) to understand that intuition is like a muscle and needs to be worked. Trained. Tried Reiki after; others got visions, I just felt arm warmth. Super “gifted,” right?
Kept going: Akashic records course, tons of practice, consistent even when zilch happened (most days) and now I would use the Tarot for the same thing with better results. Now I’ve got clair-knowing, feel energies, pull specifics in readings. Not as intense as some here, but it’s growing.
You can learn from zero. Stubbornness beats talent but it does take time and your journey probably won’t develop as you expect it to.
‘The Psychic Pathway’ by Sonia Choquette. That’s where I’d start.
Grab that book and go from there.
Started my awakening in January at nearly thirty. The colors in the cards hit me differently coming in with zero background. Just none.
The deep blues in the High Priestess started speaking to intuition, and the fiery reds in the Wands suddenly made sense energetically, all of that developed from nothing. The golden yellows representing mental clarity, the blacks signaling shadow work ahead… You just start noticing it, sometimes faster than you’d expect.
Everyone starts from nothing and feels confused, but as long as you stick with it, you’ll see your ability develop.
The fact that you’re here means you are miles ahead of most people. Think about it, out of the billions of people in the world who is called to actually be a member on a Tarot forum?
Check out ‘You Are Psychic’ by Debra Lynn Katz. It covers pretty much everything you’re asking about.
Honestly, you’re already doing the real work that you need: the curiosity, paying attention. Your skepticism will keep you grounded, too, and actually serves you here, but before card meanings or spreads, learn to ground yourself first. That’s the foundation for energy awareness.
Sit comfortably, feet flat, palms up on thighs, eyes closed. Breathe. Visualize a cord from the base of your spine down, past the floor, soil, and rock, to Earth’s glowing core. Say hello, see if you sense anything. Then picture a golden sun above your head, calling back your scattered energy (work, worries, whatever). Let it pour down and fill you. 10 minutes daily. Soon you’ll hold it while walking or living life.
Every image you make, the cord, sun, your body, is your clairvoyance in action. You’re reading energy just by visualizing. Awakening is noticing what was always there, like opening eyes you didn’t know were shut. You’re closer than you think.
Skip the books. Find real people in your community who do this work. That’s where I’ve learned the most. Even just learning from people here has done me more good in 6 months than any book I’ve read (and I have a bookshelf behind me).
Everyone learns differently, but for me, it’s practice and talking to other people who are at different stages of the same practice.
Everyone has some natural ability and everyone has the ability to work on it and expand it. Psychic stuff covers a lot of different capabilities, and you might discover you’re on a completely different end of the spectrum from where you think you are. The only way to find out is to start connecting with practitioners near you who can help you identify your particular gifts.
It started to develop for me when I stopped thinking and started feeling.
I took an intuition course, then Reiki, then akashic readings, each one kind of building on the last (though I didn’t plan it that way). Now I get clair-knowing, can pull specific things from readings. The guide’s connection just developed once I got out of my own head.
I think most people probably learn this kind of thing locally. Everyone has some level of skill (usually, the ones you hear talking about it online are not the ones who have really honed it), but it takes practice. I think you learn from real practitioners, not just books. Everyone has some innate skill to develop, even if yours looks completely different from what others experience.
But psychic abilities cover a lot of different things, and reading about them just isn’t the same as having someone guide you through it. You’re clearly doing your research already, so the next step is finding mentors who can show you what clicks with your particular gifts.
I’ve taught psychic development for years. Everyone has these abilities, and everyone can strengthen them with practice. That part isn’t even controversial to me anymore. You can tap into skills from past lives or ones you’re still developing. The timeline stuff gets weird, but it works. Follow what resonates.
A lot of teachers out there don’t fully understand what they’re passing on. You’ll feel that disconnect eventually if you stick with someone who’s just repeating frameworks without real experience behind them. Some of the most intuitive readers are also the most delusional. Truth and intuition aren’t always the same thing.
I think a lot of this comes from our past lives, so the akashic makes sense. Maybe the more spiritual work you do in a past life, the more you’re open to it in this life?
Ugh, my early days were a total flop. Just me sitting for hours trying to ‘tune in,’ and never feeling like I was getting anywhere.
Other than my dreams.
For me, the messages that actually meant anything were coming through from dreams, and that led me to a lot of work with the astral and the Akashic. I could see things from there that were verifiable and acting on them made changes to my life and the people in my life I would share my experiences with.
It started in dreams, but through my practice there, I was able to branch out. I still use the Tarot most during my waking hours, helps me tap in a lot easier but the astral is still where I would say I do all my important work.
Once you learn to sense and control energy through regular meditation, it becomes second nature. Clearing and opening chakras can genuinely kickstart things, at least it did for me. Twice-daily practice led to this moment where everything just flowed better. Took a while though.
Meditation is the key to a lot of this and most people don’t have the patience it takes to really understand that that takes more than 5 minutes on an app.
