mindxb said:
Hi There
I've only been on the forum for about a week. I have however, been devouring information non-stop for a few months and listening and learning from fellow members of the forum... thank you!
I am now, however, super confused. I have read about the major arcana, minor arcana, their astrological signs, numerology signs, seasons they represent, people they represent, elements they represent... now elemental dignities (starting to get lost), the kabbalah, and the four letter unpronounceable name of God... I'm really, really confused.
What do I really need to know to make a start and read some cards?
Is there someone, either on AT or elsewhere, that gives a quick rundown of what 1-10 of any suit should mean, court cards and their astrological partner (as might help understand a person in a reading), and other such basics to get on and interpret.
When I had less in my head, I just got on with it... now I'm a little overwhelmed. With this in mind, please forgive me if I have posted in the wrong forum (again!)
I don't think there is any way you SHOULD do anything or learn anything in Tarot. It is a very individual process. We are read differently and it is an indivivual process finding the way that works best for you.
First of all it sounds like you have been doing A LOT of reading and studying. But have you been using a Tarot deck and trying to do readings with it yet? The best way to learn Tarot is by doing, not by reading. Yes, the reading is important when we learn, but you learn much more by doing.
That being said each of us is in a different path as we learn to read. You can only find the path that will best suit you by practising reading. Just try all the methods that sound like fun to you and keep what you enjoy and what works well for you and let go of what doesn't. There is no "should" in Tarot. There is no one way you "should" learn and there is no one way you "should"read. You just have to find your best way that works for you through trial and error. Trial and error is the best teacher there is. Because books are not written for you personally. But the cards will personally tell you what works best for the individial that is you.
Keeping a journal helps too, so yuo can look back at what you learn as you go and to remember it. Also when you look back at old readings later, you'll see new things in them, expecialy at the beginning.
What I want to say is that all the work you have done so far....Wow, that must have been so much work for you. All that was not part of my path. I am not crazy about memorising things, I never have been.
I do not know the astrological signs, the numberical signs, the seasons, the people they represent(?), I don't even know what an elemental dignity is to be honest, the kaballah, and as for knowing the 4 letter name of G-d to me that would be sacreligious as in my religion we are not meant to know the name of G-d. I never even write the three letter name out without omitting the middle letter.
You don't have to know everything there is to know about Tarot to be a good reader. I am a professional reader now and those I read for consider me a good reader. And I know none of those things. All I know by heart is the main one word meaning for the Majors, the basic one word meaning for the Suits and I have developed a method to use for the Court cards, and 3 different methods that I alternate between when I choose to use reversals. And that's it. I personally refer the Minors back to the Major of the same number PLUS the meaning of the suit.
E.g. 6 of Cups = the Lovers and feelings, so it means the querent have loving feelings for someone (of they do for him/her). The 9 of Swords (Hermet and thoughts)= the querent is thinking that they would like to get away and take some time alone to themselves.
I honestly don't know the "real" meanigns for the Minors. And my readings have never suffered in any way from not knowing them.
The rest of readings come from separating the image in the cards into parts and feeling what each part is trying to tell me.
The thing is that no matter how you choose to read and what methods you choose to use the universe will happily send you the answers that fit into whatever method you choose. So it is, to me, not a matter of learning book methods but in finding which methods woudl best with your individual talents. The cards will happily send you the answers in any form you choose to use. But we are individuals and we are each best able to perceive them best in different forms. I am a very visual person and my intuition is important to me so I personally read best by reading intuitively. But again someone who is more lead by rational thought and likes to think things out might do better another way.
But again, I think my point was that no one can tell you should do. Only you can know that and yuou find it out by trial and error. The answer is different for each of us. We are all individuals and very different insdie.
And there is no real need to know everything there is about Tarot to be a good reader. You can pick and choose which parts you want to incorporate into your reading style, and which you don't. If I had learnt that many methods and tried to incorporate them all together that would confuse me bigtime. I don't even use half of what you've learnt. And my readings are fine. Maybe you are making things more complicated than you have to, by trying to incorporate too many things into your reading style?
Tarot is not a science, like math or biology, where there are set facts you need to learn and apply and they will always work. Tarot is a spiritual pursuit, and it follows spiritual laws not scientific ones. What is the right way spiritually for someone to do things can vary from person to person. The only way to know is by direct communication. It's something we each have to learn for ourselves. In religions people connect by communicating with G-d, in Tarot we do so by communicating with the cards. That is where the answers lie for you. In the cards.
BTW, you can ask them. Ask them which way of reading work best for you and for your individual gifts and talents. You can ask the cards anything you want to know and they'll tell you.
Babs
