How to Read Tarot Intuitively (The Somatic Method)
A Primal, Embodied Approach to Tarot That Speaks Through Sensation, Not Memorisation
Tarot does not begin in the mind – it begins in the body.
When you look at a card, something stirs long before your brain reaches for book definitions. A tightening behind the ribs. A slow heat at the base of the spine. A faint drop in the belly. A whisper behind the sternum.
This is the somatic method of tarot: a sensory, instinctual, primal approach that treats the body as the first oracle and the mind as the interpreter that enters later.
Most people begin tarot backwards — they memorise meanings and then try to force intuition on top. The somatic method reverses the entire process. You experience first. You interpret second.
This is how readings become accurate in a way that feels alive, instinctive, and strangely inevitable.
Why Intuitive Tarot Is a Somatic Practice
Your intuition does not rise from thought. It rises from:
- the nervous system
- the subconscious
- the emotional body
- the breath
- the energetic field
- the inner voice that speaks in texture and sensation
When people say, “I felt it in my gut,” or “My chest tightened,” or “I suddenly knew,” they are describing intuition moving through the body’s sensory channels long before the mind articulates meaning.
Tarot is a perfect container for this because the cards act as visual triggers for deep emotional archetypes. When you look at a card, your body recognises its meaning on an instinctive level.
The somatic method teaches you to translate this instinct.
Step 1 – Begin With the Breath
Every intuitive reading begins by slowing the breath. Before you look at the card:
- Sit upright.
- Place your feet on the ground.
- Lower your shoulders.
- Inhale for 4.
- Exhale for 6.
- Repeat twice.
The breath is not a formality – it is your access point into intuition.
A calmer body = clearer signal.
A tense body = distorted reading.
If you can feel your ribs softening, your mind is ready.
Step 2 – Let the Card Speak First
When you flip a card, do nothing for the first few seconds. Do not analyse. Do not try to recall the meaning. Do not reach for logic. Do not judge.
Just look.
Let the card land.
Most intuitive readings come from this silent moment where the image is allowed to enter your awareness without interference.
Step 3 – Notice the First Sensation
This is the heart of the somatic method.
Ask your body:
“Where do I feel this card?”
Then observe:
- chest
- throat
- belly
- solar plexus
- hands
- jaw
- pelvis
- spine
- breath rhythm
Then notice the quality of sensation:
- tight?
- open?
- restless?
- warm?
- cold?
- heavy?
- buzzy?
- stable?
- rising?
- sinking?
This sensation is the card’s intuitive meaning — its emotional truth — before the logic appears.
Examples:
- A rising feeling → momentum, awakening, initiation
- A contraction → fear, resistance, protection
- A drop in the stomach → loss, grief, truth
- Chest opening → hope, love, clarity
You are not memorising. You are listening.
Step 4 – Name the First Word
Once the sensation stabilises, speak the first word that arises.
It might be:
“Softening.”
“Conflict.”
“Ending.”
“Opening.”
“Honesty.”
“Revelation.”
“Hope.”
“Desire.”
“Boundary.”
“Rest.”
This word is the intuitive headline of the card.
Why it matters:
Your first word is what bypasses your rational mind and taps the subconscious directly. It is often more accurate than anything you intellectually “know” about the card.
This is how intuitive readers become frighteningly precise.
Step 5 – Observe Where Your Eye Moves
Your eye is drawn to specific parts of the card for a reason.
Look at:
- the object you notice first
- the colour you feel most strongly
- the face or figure you connect with
- the direction the energy moves
- anything that feels “loud”
Where your attention goes → the message.
Example:
If your eye goes to the water in The High Priestess, the reading is emotional.
If your eye goes to the pomegranates, the reading is about hidden truth.
If your eye goes to the moon, the reading is about intuition or mystery.
Your attention is not random — it is intuitive guidance.
Step 6 – Now Add the Logical Tarot Meaning
Only after steps 1–5 should you bring in:
- traditional upright meanings
- reversed interpretations
- suit symbolism
- numerology
- keywords
- archetypal associations
- historical symbolism
This is where intuition and structure merge.
The somatic method doesn’t ignore the traditional meaning — it re-contextualises it through your intuitive lens.
This is how your readings become:
- more accurate
- more nuanced
- more personal
- more unique
- more emotionally resonant
You are not regurgitating definitions. You are weaving a story through two channels: intuition + structure.
Step 7 – Speak the Story, Not the Concepts
Clients (or yourself) cannot integrate keywords alone. They need the story.
Example:
Instead of saying: “Three of Swords is about pain or heartbreak.”
You say: “This card shows a truth that must be acknowledged before the heart can heal. I feel a slow tightening in the chest here — a sign of something unspoken that now wants release.”
See the difference? One is informational. The other is transformative.
When you read intuitively, your language becomes poetic, grounded, embodied, and profoundly honest.
Step 8 – Let the Cards Talk to Each Other
Intuitive tarot is relational.
You must sense:
- contrast
- repetition
- elemental imbalance
- emotional pattern
- direction of movement
- tension
- resolution
If two cards feel completely different in your body, the reading is signalling conflict.
If two cards share similar sensations, the reading is signalling reinforcement.
Example:
If The High Priestess feels cool, slow, internal…and the Knight of Wands feels hot, urgent, external…you have a duality of instinct vs impulse.
Your body will know before your mind does.
Step 9 – Close With the Somatic Truth
Tarot readings that end in abstraction don’t transform people. You must close the reading with:
“What does your body say now?”
Or:
“What sensation remains?”
“What truth feels undeniable?”
“What emotion rises when you look at the final card?”
“What action feels right in your bones?”
The somatic truth is the real guidance.
Tarot is the mirror — the body is the oracle.
A Sample Somatic Spread (Use for Clients or Yourself)
3-Card Somatic Spread
- What my body already knows
- What my mind is resisting
- What my soul is choosing
This spread is powerful, raw, and disarmingly honest.
How Often Should You Practice Somatic Tarot?
Daily if possible.
Why?
Because somatic intuition sharpens with repetition. Within a few weeks, you’ll notice:
- faster clarity
- fewer second-guesses
- stronger bodily impressions
- deeper emotional literacy
- more embodied truth
Somatic tarot becomes a spiritual practice – a way of listening to the body as the gateway to the soul.
When the Somatic Method Is Most Powerful
Use this when you need to navigate:
- heavy emotions
- relationship confusion
- inner conflict
- shadow work
- awakening experiences
- crossroads
- situations with unclear logic
- spiritual guidance
- trauma-sensitive readings
Tarot becomes an internal compass here – not a prediction tool.
Final Thoughts – Tarot Lives in Your Body
You don’t learn intuition. You remember it.
Your body remembers before you do. Your breath speaks before your mind. Your chest tightens, your throat softens, your belly drops – these are the symbols beneath the symbols.
This is tarot at its most primal, powerful, and transformative.
When you read somatically, you are reading not just the cards – but the deeper architecture of your own inner world.
