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A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot

Finbarre Snarey


Region:
Anywhere
Notice Period:
Regular (more than one month's notice)
Type:
Professional speaker / journalist and researcher
Fee:
Expensed
Category:
Humanities
Updated:
14th August 2026

Curious about tarot, but put off by the idea of memorising 78 different cards? You really don't need to.

In A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot, I take the mystery out of the deck in a warm, accessible setting. I have been looking at cards for over thirty years, and whether you've never held a deck before or have one tucked away in a drawer, I bet I'll show you something new!

Together, we’ll break down the structure of the deck- from the Major Arcana to the suits and court cards - shifting the focus away from textbook definitions and onto visual storytelling. Using rich visual examples and a live one-card demonstration, I’ll show you how much a card can reveal through its details, colours, and characters.

Suitable for complete beginners. No prior knowledge needed.

Views: 7 | Enquiries: 0

About Finbarre Snarey

Hello! I am an arts and culture journalist, podcast producer, and tarot researcher based in Nottinghamshire.

I founded the British Tarot Archive and created Tarot Interviews: a world-first international interview platform where tarot cards guide conversations with best-selling authors, musicians, and cultural leaders.

At the heart of everything I do is a fascination with hidden stories sitting just beneath familiar things: the real human lives that might be tucked away in century-old tarot cards, the gentle ways traditions survive as they are passed from hand to hand, and the magic that happens when you approach an interview or a piece of technology fitting into your work like a jigsaw piece.

Much of my research focuses on the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, the extraordinary life and world of artist Pamela Colman Smith, and tarot as a vibrant, continuous thread in Britain’s cultural history. I have presented my research at places like Goldsmiths, University of London, and my day-to-day work spans writing, producing podcasts, digging through archives, and speaking at festivals.

My talks almost always start with a spark of curiosity. I find a little thread, pull on it, and see where it leads us. Sometimes that thread is an easily overlooked detail in a single card. Other times it is a 400-year-old witchcraft trial, or the simple question of whether an everyday mobile phone can pull off the job of thousands of pounds’ worth of studio tech.

Above all, these sessions are crafted for curious minds. You do not need to arrive knowing anything about tarot or history, so just bring your enthusiasm and we will explore it together.


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