In the world of tarot today, there are so many beautiful, proven ways to get to know your cards. Daily pulls, journaling, studying the symbolism, etc. Even in my book, Talking with the Tarot, I offer a few new methods that help you build a real, living relationship that fosters conversation over memorization.

But the thing is, there is one truly simple method that helps you understand and connect with the cards like no other, and I don't see anyone talking about it. It's not breaking down the card's elements or connecting with the zodiac associations (though I love both those methods).

It's this: If you want to get to know your tarot besties, you have to stop focusing on self-studying and start reading for strangers.

That's it. That's the secret. Believe me, I know this method can feel scary and intimidating, but I can promise you that there is no other method that teaches you who the card is, how they speak, how they appear in everyday life, and how deeply meaningful their interpretations can be.

I'm not saying the other methods don't work. I know they work because I teach several of them in my classes while integrating my methods from Talking with the Tarot. I have seen my students make connections by breaking down the card's symbols or using a tarot spread to finally get the answers they were looking for. But time and time again, I have witnessed the reading for strangers' method transcend my students' understanding and be the real game-changer for their tarot practice.

I am a firm believer that reading for yourself is a beautiful, sacred act. It's how you build trust, how you reflect, build connections, and process your experiences. But reading for strangers? That's how you learn.

When you can muster the courage to step outside your comfort zone and read for someone you don't know, you allow your ego to step aside. The second-guessing voice that says, "Am I projecting? Am I making this up?" doesn't have much to latch onto. You can't rely on what you know about their situation. You have to rely on the card and trust that the message will land.

And when it does land, you will never forget that moment. When a stranger says, "Oh my god, that's exactly what I am going through," it shifts you. It instantly takes the pressure off of you to be "right" or to "know the perfect meaning." The cards know, and you now know how to hear them.

A trust is created, a bond is formed, and your relationship with the cards becomes real. I think my favorite part about reading for strangers, and why I know it's worth it to just rip the band-aid off and do it scared, is because it's the only method that actually deepens your tarot fluency. When the cards show up in different conversations and different situations, something amazing happens to you as a reader. The cards' personalities sharpen, their messages become louder, clearer, and you become more confident every single session. You learn to stop trying to control the outcome. You allow yourself to stop overthinking or hoping for a certain message. You just listen and interpret. You've already done the scary thing, so now you just get to have fun and trust your deck of 78 besties.

As you continue to read for more and more strangers, either at psychic fairs, community events or even online through social media, you'll begin to see the different layers of the cards themselves. A card that may have felt confusing for you previously when you pulled it for yourself now fits perfectly in someone else's situation.

It's like, sure, the Queen of Wands before felt like such a weird card of the day for you in the context of how your day will go. But when you see her again with your client, she suddenly makes perfect sense, and you can now see yourself embodying her magic and confidence. And that's my second favorite part of this method that I want everyone to talk about. The confidence that comes with the practice of this method. Reading for strangers stretches your comfort zone so wide, wider than any textbook method could (which is hard to say because my book is newly out). But it's true, and I am your tarot bestie, so I always want to be honest with you.

The truth is that the cards want to speak. But sometimes, they speak the loudest when we get out of our own way, also known as our heads. And the best way to do that is by offering our readings in service of someone else's clarity.

So, what if you're too scared?

What if fear has you paralyzed, and your self-doubt is so loud that your stomach drops at the idea of reading for strangers?

One, I want you to know that you are not alone. I have been exactly where you are. Thousands of us have. Even that one reader, either in person or online, that you admire and look up to, yes, them. They were scared at one point, too, scared to read for a stranger. But guess what?

It's not about being fearless. It's about being willing.

Bravery doesn't mean you don't feel fear. It means you feel it and do it anyway.

Start small, okay? Offer one-card pulls online and tell people you are learning. Tell them you are just wanting to practice. I promise that will take so much pressure off right away because there is no expectation to be an expert.

There is such magic in being a student. Soak it up and be loud with your learning. Read for a friend of the family or your friend's friend. If you want to be brave right from the start, join a tarot group on Instagram or Facebook and offer some free card pulls or trades.

My first stranger reading was at a psychic fair where I was helping a friend work. So, believe me, there isn't a "right" way to do this. It's just about doing it and letting the momentum take you forward.

Remember, you don't need to pretend to be a professional or have the perfect script, website, brand, etc. All you need is a deck you can read and the courage to say, "Let's see what the cards want to say."

Like I said, I know this method works because I've seen it change my students, but it has also changed me. It's the only method that taught me how to have real conversations with the cards. And I loved conversing with them so much that I wrote a book on it. But none of it would have been possible if I hadn't read for that beautiful stranger at the psychic fair.

I spent years reading for myself, my family, and my friends, but it never clicked. I couldn't see the cards, hear them, or relate them to the human experience in its complexity. They were just images on paper with countless meanings for years, until I leaped. Until I swallowed my fear and read for one stranger, then another, then another, until the fear turned into fun, and that fun turned into passion, and that passion turned into purpose.

You don't really get to know your besties until you've seen them show up when it matters. That's what reading for others does. It puts the cards in real conversations, in real lives.

Will it be messy? Yes.

Will you get a reading "wrong?" Maybe.

But will you grow, stretch, and become a better reader than you ever thought possible

Absolutely.

Tarot is not about performance. It's about presence.

It's about listening to the cards, to the querent, and most importantly, to yourself.

So do it scared.

Do it with your hands trembling and your heart pounding.

Do it before you feel ready and definitely before fear tells you that you have to be perfect.

Because this is how you meet your cards, not just as pictures on paper, but as real companions who show up for you and for others when it counts.

This is the number one way to get to know your tarot besties.

And hopefully, once you try it, you won't be able to stop talking about it.

All my love,
Samantha Rose Hicks, aka Your Tarot Bestie