Is this even possible with tarot?

moderators: if this is already a topic, please feel free to delete this...I already searched for related topics (by typing in "intuitive" and found nothing related to my question/concern).

When I picked up tarot, I did it with the intention of wanting to be psychic. I wanted to be able to peer into the future with great accuracy. I wanted the cards to tell me how X feels, ect. Once I started working with tarot, I realized that being a tarot reader doesn't mean you will ever become psychic nor will it always tell you everything that is going to happen with great accuracy(or even any accuracy at all).

So now my main focus is not to be psychic or to predict events with 100% accuracy. Now I just want to be able to read cards by totally discarding the traditional meanings (as much as possible) and by going solely on the cards images (and whatever flashed in my mind) and still have the same kind of success as I did when I was reading by relying on some of the traditional meaning.

You know, as in using tarot cards as kind of like "flash cards" to reading. But then I began to wonder," is that even possible to read tarot or any kind of divination tool that has a system while simultaneously discarding the system and still have readings that resonate? After all, they say reading cards (tarot, Lenormand, ect) is like learning a Chinese. Even the so called "born psychics" (from what I have seen anyway) rely on the traditional meanings to some extent...

Surely, one cant just expect someone to go to China and just start speaking Chinese and expect what comes out of their mouth to resonate with anyone without knowing anything about the language? So maybe I shouldn't discard the cards' system because that's partly what makes them work? I'm not really into creative writing or story telling. So if a reading doesn't resonate with the sitter, I dont really see value in it (no matter how interesting the reading that comes up is).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me figure this out. I honestly dont know what to think...

And i hope this question makes sense. As I re-read this, I kind of feel like maybe I didnt word my question clearly. I'm not the best at communicating my questions

I read the tarot cards intuitively. I seldom use a book to look for a meaning for a card drawn or a spread used. I have received excellent feedback on readings I have done. The following is one brief example: I did a 3 card reading and the client responded that the first two cards really resonated but was not sure about the 3rd card. Several weeks later.. got a notice from the client saying we are now into the third card. Yes, I do go over the books I have, simply because I enjoy reading and a thirst for knowledge. Even when reading tarot books they do mention that the meaning they attribute to the card is just a beginning and up to you to take the ball and run with it so to say.
mimiraj

Yes it is possible. It takes lots of practice and meditation, at least it did for me.

olivia1 said:

Once I started working with tarot, I realized that being a tarot reader doesn't mean you will ever become psychic

So now my main focus is not to be psychic or to predict events with 100% accuracy. Now I just want to be able to read cards by totally discarding the traditional meanings (as much as possible) and by going solely on the cards images (and whatever flashed in my mind)

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But that *IS* being psychic! What do you think those flashes are???

olivia1 said:

You know, as in using tarot cards as kind of like "flash cards" to reading.

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<cackle> That's what they are.

olivia1 said:

is that even possible to read tarot or any kind of divination tool that has a system while simultaneously discarding the system and still have readings that resonate? ...

Surely, one cant just expect someone to go to China and just start speaking Chinese and expect what comes out of their mouth to resonate with anyone without knowing anything about the language?

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That's a good point. I feel (and speak) as though I read from images, but when I re-read my exchange-readings and/or comments I've made in "what Does Card X mean" type threads, there is often some kind of "tradition al" interpretation to the card as seen through my personal filter.

And yes, when I was a youngster-in-Tarot and was reading books, including LWBs, I'd take into account what I had read, then tried to make that "fit" with the person or the surrounding cards.

Nowdays, that conscious effort has largely become automatic, I think, operating without any conscious effort behind the scenes, giving me the answers as if those answers flowed straight from the cards in front of me.

I got an inkling of this when I was doing this review, where the cards themselves were completely unhelpful and I had to "read" the spreads I threw out of my own knowledge of Tarot. The readings still flowed, hence my saying in the review that the deck read well, but in fact, it was simply my knowledge of Tarot combined with my past experience that allowed me to get meanings out of those particular cards. I might as well have been reading with blank white cards with only titles printed on them.

Thank you, everyone!

It's ok with me if it takes me decades of practice. I just want to know that my goal is actually attainable. I do tend to set the bar high and unfortunately, sometimes, its set so high that its simply impossible for any human to reach.

nisaba said:

But that *IS* being psychic! What do you think those flashes are???

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I guess I have high expectations :-( I thought if I was being psychic that I would actually see actual place. Or real events or people- someone the sitter can recognize. Not just come up with some random character (for example) or activity to use as an analogy and relay it to the sitter (even if it makes sense to them because they like the analogy).

I tend to copy and paste/move sentences around when I post and I accidentally posted this sentence :

You know, as in using tarot cards as kind of like "flash cards" to reading.

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in the wrong place. when I said the above, what I really meant was that right now, I use the tarot as like a flash card. The cards have a traditional meaning that I already know. So I am able to look at the cards and since I already know the basic meanings, I am able to use the traditional meanings as kind of like a "spring board" and form a message based loosely on that cards' traditional meaning.

The messages that come from it are pretty cool. It sounds impressive because by adding onto the traditional meaning,I am able to give the card a meaning that wouldn't be found in books, ect (or shouldn't be, anyway).

However, I feel like I'm kidding myself and others by calling that "intuitive" because that isnt really being intuitive..or is it? That's me simply taking a meaning and running with it..not the same as if i just took a card, had no clue at all what the meaning could possibly mean and came up with the message all by myself.

And I thought being able to come up with a meaning, 100% all by yourself was the goal since I see people telling new readers all the time to discard the LWB meaning and just go with what the images "tell them."

But maybe I simply took that too literally? Maybe what people really mean is that RWS based cards, in theory pretty much have the characters acting out the traditional meanings and so by simply looking at the cards,it is easier to remember the cards meaning as opposed to taking a book and memorizing key terms.

But pretend people really do mean that by looking at the images, I'm supposed to come up with a new meaning unrelated to the traditional text each and every single time. Then wouldn't that mean (in theory) that I should almost always have a completely new meaning to each of the cards each and every time I draw them?

Because each time, the cards would flash a new image into my head. So I'd have to discard learning from experience if I did that since (for example) knight of wands/7 coins meant buying a new car last time but this time its supposed to mean something else?

So, I dont see how I would be able to practice and develop and learn if the cards have a new meaning every time I pull cards. Sorry if none of that makes any sense or if I'm simply over thinking and missing the point. I do tend to over think everything.

I got an inkling of this when I was doing this review, where the cards themselves were completely unhelpful and I had to "read" the spreads I threw out of my own knowledge of Tarot.

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yes, I would not have been able to read those cards, either. If I couldn't have the RWS meanings, I'd at least need to know the traditional meanings of the gemstones or colors...

Psychic flashes are like a humming bird...they pop in and out like quicksilver.
I use the cards the same way you do...I look at a card and get a flash....or not...if not I use the meaning ...because over the years the tarot has taught me ...use the meaning if no flash comes in because the meaning IS your flash.

lark said:

...because over the years the tarot has taught me ...use the meaning if no flash comes in because the meaning IS your flash.

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wow, you rock lark!!

What she said.

Alta

Alta said:

wow, you rock lark!!

What she said.

Alta

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LOL.. thanks Alta....trudging along in this reading for the public life you sometimes pick up a few things....rocks too..

Yes it is possible. I get 95 % of my readings from the card images and I have no set meanings for the images, they tell me a differnt thing each time. I could eliminate any use of the traditional meanings I have in my mind if I chose to. They are only like 5% of my answer.


Babs

nisaba said:

That's a good point. I feel (and speak) as though I read from images, but when I re-read my exchange-readings and/or comments I've made in "what Does Card X mean" type threads, there is often some kind of "tradition al" interpretation to the card as seen through my personal filter.

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That's how I feel. When studying the Tarot, the wisdom gleaned through that learning shows through in the reading. So it is not so much reading the images in isolation but rather allowing the images to trigger that wisdom (at least to some extent). And contained within that wisdom is also the gazillion card definitions we have read!