Step 1. Ask a real question
Bad: Will I be happy? Too broad to answer. Bad: Will he text me? Predictive, and about someone else's behaviour. Good: What am I not seeing about this job offer? Good: What is keeping me stuck here?
The best tarot questions start with what or how, and are about you.
Step 2: Choose a small spread
Start with one card, or three. Ten cards on your first reading gives you more material than you can integrate, and the usual result is that you fixate on the one card you recognise.
Step 3: Shuffle however you like
There is no correct method. Riffle, overhand, spread them on the table. Hold the question in mind while you do it, not as a magic technique but because it keeps you from drifting.
Step 4: Lay the cards out and look before you read
Sit with the images first. What is the overall feel? Mostly majors or minors? A dominant suit? Lots of reversals? These impressions are real information, and they get overwritten the moment you start looking up meanings.
Step 5: Read each card in its position
The position is context. The Three of Swords in "the obstacle" is a heartbreak in the way; in "the outcome" it is a heartbreak coming. Same card, different sentence.
Step 6: Say the reading out loud as one statement
This is the step beginners skip and it is the one that matters. Force yourself into a single paragraph. If you cannot, you have not read the spread yet. You have read three cards near each other.
The two mistakes
Re-drawing because you did not like the card. This trains you to only accept answers you already agreed with, which makes the whole exercise pointless.
Looking up every card before looking at it. Your first impression of an image contains information about your situation. Look, react, then consult.
