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Maat Astro

Three-Card Tarot Reading

A classic three-card spread: past, present and future.

Ask the cards

Take a breath and think about the situation you want to understand. Open questions about a single situation work best.

Your question stays in this browser tab. We never send it, save it or add it to the page address.

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How it works

  1. Focus on your question. You don’t have to type it. If you do, it stays in this browser tab: we never send it anywhere, save it or add it to the page address.
  2. Shuffle the deck. Your browser shuffles all 78 cards using its built-in secure random number generator and the Fisher–Yates method, a standard technique that makes every order of the deck equally likely. At the same moment, it decides whether each card is upright or reversed, with even odds when reversed cards are included.
  3. Choose three cards. The top twelve cards of the shuffled deck are laid out face down. Each card you choose fills the next position in order (Past, Present, then Future), or you can let the deck pick for you. Your choices only select places in the row. The order was already set by the shuffle, so neither your clicks nor the wording of your question changes which cards you get.
  4. Read the cards. Each position shows its card, upright or reversed, with a short interpretation written for this site and based on the card’s traditional meaning. There’s no automatic summary: how the three cards relate to one another is yours to reflect on.

The three positions

1. Past
What led to this situation, including influences you may still carry.
2. Present
Where things stand now and what deserves your attention.
3. Future
A possible direction if things continue as they are, not a fixed outcome.

How to phrase your question

  • Focus on a single situation, for example: “What should I understand about my move to a new city?”
  • Open questions that start with “what” or “how” work best. For a quick yes or no, try the Yes or No Tarot.
  • Read the Future card as a possible direction, not a verdict.
  • For health, legal, financial or safety decisions, talk to a qualified professional. A card reading is not advice.

About the deck

The card faces are scans of the deck Pamela Colman Smith illustrated in collaboration with Arthur Edward Waite, first published in 1909. Her artwork from that first printing is in the public domain. The card back is our own design, based on the feather of Maat.

Card art by Pamela Colman Smith (1909), public domain

Browse the meanings of all 78 cards

For self-reflection and personal insight. Not a prediction and not a substitute for professional medical, legal, financial or mental-health advice.