Lacking intuition and reading the Tarot.

I've been reading the cards for a while now but I still seem to be lacking confidence in my reading skills.

I have got the readings right before but sometimes I'm way off. I'm struggling to pinpoint what it feels like to read with my intuition.

I've read with my emotions before, or so I thought, and have had mixed readings. (I can be quite empathic at times.)

I've said the first thing that's come up with the cards and also had spot on reading and readings which made no sense whatsoever.

The I've also done the intellectual thing and used the books and so on and had some very good readings but nothing truly enlightening.

How do you know you're reading with your intuition? I've always liked to think that I had some sort of "thing", not gift, but something that set me apart in a spiritual-type way, such as perhaps a different way of thinking or the Tarot etc... But then again often enough, life seems to show me that I'm well... Just a little dull and not quite "useful" in that context. Lol.

Any advice? I'd really like to persue my reading as right now I can't help but feel as if I can become really good at it, even if I'm not ever "meant" to. (Does that make sense?)

relax and play are the two things i would say, try some excercises in mary greers books to connect with the cards.
perhaps you shouldnt be reading for others yet, and get back to learning the cards and having fun with them. creativity is the greatest way to kick start your intuition more. sometimes we run before we can walk, enjoy walking and see what happens

Perhaps you haven't found a deck to read with that really 'clicks' with you!

Some decks 'speak' to you more than others, and there are so many out there to choose from.

Once you stumble upon the one that is meant for you, everything will all fall into place.

It helps if you have a strong connection with the cards, and it's a huge bonus if the person who made the deck provides a really great companion story/book to go along with it. Once you 'click' with that deck, it will make reading other decks a breeze.

Hello romanticdreamz;

I'd like to share some personal suggestions (no mandates implied – individual results may vary).

First, I'd reduce. Store the books and all the decks. Reduce it all to ONE DECK. Make it plain. I used to suggest the International Icon – and I still do. However if you absolutely detest the Tarot de Marseille – use that. Thoth works well, but store the books.

If you do choose something like the Thoth – edit out that section of AT forum for a while.

You don't want to read or associate with bookish thoughts of others on the subject.

You're going to change your life. You're about to create something different of and for yourself – the opinions of others will get in your way.

You want your path clear. It is easier to get out of your own way – when it's not crowded with opinions of others.

Get a blank journal book (spiral back steno-pad works best). This is a 'beater' journal. Nothing nice. Nothing pretty. It's for jotting thoughts. Not presenting to the Queen.

So you've reduced down to where it's One Deck, one ugly journal book.

Here's the where the going gets tough.

Read.

Read for strangers, read for your supper, read for drinks, read at the races, read on the bus, read for the monekeys at the zoo.

Read for strangers face to face.

Use nothing but that one deck (do not read books, reduce time on AT), for at least four months.

The journal? The most important thing is to jot notes on expanded understandings about cards (not meanings – understandings).

Now get out there and read!

PS: The cards ARE a book. They simply lack the binding.


ETA: at the end of four months - if you follow directions - I guarantee, you'll like the results. The 'rules' are in place for a reason.

Thank you, Umbrae! I have a "problem" with being a bit of a knowledge seeker - I want to know everything about everything! - and tend to get bogged down in looking for moremoremore to learn and know. Time to let the left side of my brain kick back and relax and see what nonsense the right side can get up to

romanticdreamz said:

How do you know you're reading with your intuition? I've always liked to think that I had some sort of "thing", not gift, but something that set me apart in a spiritual-type way, such as perhaps a different way of thinking or the Tarot etc... But then again often enough, life seems to show me that I'm well... Just a little dull and not quite "useful" in that context. Lol.

Any advice? I'd really like to persue my reading as right now I can't help but feel as if I can become really good at it, even if I'm not ever "meant" to. (Does that make sense?)

Click to expand...

I haven't read the whole thread yet.

We're all given spiritual gifts. Some more than others in different areas. But if you're expecting people to always tell you how spot on you are, you're waiting at the wrong bus stop. (Not that you are---just saying---) I tend to hear later on about it, sometimes by the grapevine and not from the sitter----"so and so said that the reading you gave her X number of months (or sometimes years) ago was so 'accurate' (I dislike that word a lot) and that everything has happened just as you said".

I don't use that as a measure of my ability to read the cards. What I rate my ability with is how much better (or not) my sitter feels once the session is over. And by how grounded I was in my resolve to be used by the Universe for the good of my sitter.

I paint, I'm a writer (nobody famous), I read Tarot, I make beaded buckskin creations, I cook "by ear" better than average. All these things are gifts. But some of them were given to me in greater dollops than others. Some I've worked long and hard to develop, some seem to have just arrived on their own without so much effort---but I just do have greater ability in one area than another for whatever the reason. I've learned that that's okay. I don't have to be as good as the next person with any of them. I just have to be as good as the Universe, who gave me the gift, wants me to be and has motivated me to be. My focus is to just use whichever gift is called for at that time to the best of my ability for the good of others. I might do thousands of readings and never hear "wow, good job!" about any of them, but it's my job just to do them to the best of my ability at the time. Someday I may know the result----or maybe I never will.

I'll bet you're a whole lot better than you think you are. And if you keep going, you'll be a whole lot better even than you are right now. Don't worry about how good you are as compared to someone else, just keep developing to be as good as YOU can be and trusting that that's going to work for good at the places and times it's needed and then show up for duty.

irmata said:

Thank you, Umbrae! I have a "problem" with being a bit of a knowledge seeker - I want to know everything about everything! - and tend to get bogged down in looking for moremoremore to learn and know. Time to let the left side of my brain kick back and relax and see what nonsense the right side can get up to

Click to expand...

Facts and minutiae can obfuscate the truth, and lead some seekers to blind alleys.

I use the your readings section, put the book down for the first half of my reading, generate my own front intuition( imagination- whatever you want to call it) , whatever grabs your attention in the cards. Just describe what you see and what you feel about them, or what insights come to you. Then get the book out, put the book meaning underneathe what you have just written and try and link in your meaning above so that it fits with the universal archetypes. Sometimes it will , sometimes it wont, but always read without the book first.

To develop my intuition i meditated for about 3 years solid. I would close my eyes and try to read on a subject without the card- first i would see nothing but black, then i saw patterns as i tried to see more in my minds eye and now i see images, like a dream like state with my eyes closed when i'm awake. Alot of what i get is symbolic, like the tarot. Just jot down notes.

Then ask your question to the tarot rather than just trying to get an answer from your intuition, describe the pictures and see what comes up. Then finally back to the book meaning. I may have skimmed this explaination as i'm in abit of a rush, but hope this helps. Do ask me to clarify any point your not sure on.

Good luck x

I agree with Umbrae. Also, I teach a free class. Look here.

And, I've read all the books. Now I'm trying to unlearn all of that.

romanticdreamz said:

I've been reading the cards for a while now but I still seem to be lacking confidence in my reading skills.

I have got the readings right before but sometimes I'm way off. I'm struggling to pinpoint what it feels like to read with my intuition.

Click to expand...

This seems like something I struggled with for some time~ When reading for others I'd get the blank look and wonder if I was way off and just saying the wrong things... even now I struggle with that. However, the more I study and the more I read for others I realize that it's best to not think about that... The sitter might give you a blank look and wonder what you're talking about, but if you really feel confident in what you're saying ("yes, I really do see this and mean it")--- then don't take the sitter's confusion at face value. I end up finding out later that whatever I said made an impact, even if during the time of the reading the sitter was confused.

It's a big thing to overcome, anyway xD But once you really feel more comfortable saying what you see sans the reactions and impression of the sitter, the better reader you'll be, I think. For me personally, I'm trying to focus less and less on the sitter's reaction or impression and more on the cards which are not one and the same X) It's working better!

Get magnetized by the cards, read what they have to say, and THEN deal with the sitter~ Works for me xD