Alright, so I wanted to become a tarot reader on Tumblr fast, right? Figured it’d be simple—just grab some cards and start posting. But man, I got totally overwhelmed at first. So I started digging around for shortcuts.
The Messy Beginning
First thing, I needed decks. Went down a rabbit hole trying to find cheap ones. Bought this $5 mini-Rider-Waite from that big online store—packaging felt flimsy but hey, it worked. Also printed free PDF decks from some artist blogs when my printer ink wasn’t acting up.
Tumblr Setup Chaos
Made my Tumblr page look like a garage sale at first. Couldn’t decide: dark mysterious theme or rainbow fluff? Settled on black background with neon text after three caffeine-fueled nights. Used generic witchy GIFs I found in the tags because making my own felt impossible.
Actually Learning the Damn Cards
Tried memorizing all 78 cards at once—big mistake. Wound up crying over the Ten of Swords at 3 AM. Then switched tactics:
- Only focused on Major Arcana first: Screenshotted meanings from mobile apps (the free tiers, obviously).
- Made terrible doodles: Drew stick figures on Post-its for cards like The Fool. Stuck ’em on my wall.
- Practiced on my cat: Asked “Should Mittens eat less treats?” Spoiler: cards always said yes.
Posting Like a Madwoman
Forced myself to post daily readings no matter how cringey. First attempts:
- Forgot reversals half the time
- Mislabeled The Hanged Man as “Upside-Down Dude”
- Got roasted twice in tags for bad interpretations
Just kept spamming content anyway. Used generic #tarotbeginner tags ’cause who was I kidding.
Cheating the Algorithm
Noticed my mutuals got traction with pretty flat lays. Stole the idea:
- Arranged crystals from my cousin’s gift shop on discount
- Used cheap twinkle lights that kept blinking out
- Grabbed free moon-phase PNGs off random sites
Suddenly got 15 notes instead of 2. Celebrated with instant noodles.
When Things Finally Clicked
After like 80 practice readings, pulled Three of Cups for a friend’s “Will my birthday party suck?” question. Accidentally used a meme from their favorite show in the interpretation. They reblogged screaming “OMG THIS RESONATES”. Felt like a wizard.
Now? Still mess up Pentacles vs. Swords sometimes. But I’ve got 50-ish followers who don’t mind my typos. Key takeaway: nobody cares if you’re “correct”. They just want content that makes them pause their scrolling. My Tower card posts with dumpster-fire GIFs get the most notes honestly.
