How Did YOU Start Learning Tarot Reading?

iAmRiotEyes

I'm looking for some advice. I'll be getting my first deck very soon, I'm super excited

But where do I start? How do I start?

From your experience, what's a good way to learn? I mean techniques, books, sites, advice, anything. I'm kind of lost.

Also, if anyone could give me an explanation on how a Tarot Journal is used? Is it like a place where I write down the meanings of each card? I'd like to start one, I've seen many online and it seems to help you get in touch with the cards...

RunningWild

iAmRiotEyes said:
I'm looking for some advice. I'll be getting my first deck very soon, I'm super excited But where do I start? How do I start?

Some people just jump right in, reading the images. Me, I like books. So that's where I started. Hopefully the deck that you're soon to have in hand has a decent companion book to help you get started. You don't have to absorb it all at once. Take your time.

iAmRiotEyes said:
From your experience, what's a good way to learn? I mean techniques, books, sites, advice, anything. I'm kind of lost.

I can't speak to techniques. I don't have a set pattern.
Books: Try these threads - http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=170869
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=168228&highlight=beginner

Sites: You're there! May I suggest you start with the Using Tarot Cards section? Lots of useful advice on ways to perceive the cards. If you want variety, several members have their blogs listed on the forum here: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=163288

Advice: Pretty much just start reading here on the forum. They're very supportive.

iAmRiotEyes said:
Also, if anyone could give me an explanation on how a Tarot Journal is used? Is it like a place where I write down the meanings of each card? I'd like to start one, I've seen many online and it seems to help you get in touch with the cards...

There are threads on journaling. Many have kept tarot journals over the years, myself included.

Best of all, enjoy the tarot journey!

Good Luck.

Edited to Add: After posting this I scrolled down the Talking Tarot section and found this on journaling: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=151878

iAmRiotEyes

RunningWild,

I'm kind of big on books too lol Do you have any recommendations? The first thing I want to get down is the card's meanings and then go into a more intuitive approach with that base.

Thanks for the links!

VGimlet

I really like Mary Greer's Tarot Reversals. It uses the upright meanings as well, so you get both.

I also like Dan Pelliteirs "The Process' discs. (Umbrae, who is no longer on the forums.) When I first started reading tarot I didn't know anyone else who did. And while the internet has completely revolutionized learning about tarot, if I had had these discs when I started out...well, it would have been great. While I don't completely agree with everything he says, I learned a lot.

Me, all I had was the LWB, and then one book that was based on my Aquarian deck, and the old Tarot Classic book by Kaplan, which was Marseilles based.

I took a giant step forward when I left the books behind, but it's good to learn the basics, IMO.

Later I did in-depth studies with the RWS, Thoth and Marseilles - a card for about 4 pages of journaling, studying books...the Marseilles almost broke me, so I don't know if I would recommend that method.

The biggest thing is just start reading. Read a lot. 2 and 3 card readings are really good to start with, and to keep going with. (3 card is still my favorite.)

Teheuti

iAmRiotEyes said:
RunningWild,

I'm kind of big on books too lol Do you have any recommendations? The first thing I want to get down is the card's meanings and then go into a more intuitive approach with that base.

Thanks for the links!

There are lots of recent threads discussing best books in the Books and Media section here.

Aivli

Hello iAmRiotEyes!

I am fairly new to tarot, too. Although, I've had a deck for several years, I only recently started being able to make heads or tails of everything. This forum is a wealth of valuable information! Search for any topic on tarot and 99.9% of the time theres already a thread! Ask a question, and people are extremely generous and forthcoming with an answer!

Besides the forum, here is a great place to start: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/

Also, the one book that helped everything to start falling into place for me is Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot. I have this as an ebook on my phone, but you can also get a print copy, or go to http://www.learntarot.com/

The entire book is on that site! So, you can check it out for free. I'm so glad I have the ebook though! Its really handy and I don't have to have a wifi connection. It is very well written, and the author's take helps me to make sense of it all.

Hope this helps (o:

linnie

Although I initially read the LWBs of most decks that I find, as someone has taken the trouble to write them, I often feel that the iauthor's interpretation of the card doesn't match mine... so... I usually read exactly what the image itself says to me, as that feels right to me... I can't work against my own flow... It does mean only working with decks that align with my way of reading, though, in that they actually tell a story, as some images just don't really have much to say at all

Best wishes for a fruitful Tarot reading future

Penthasilia

I can second Linnie on that- the books are fine, but also try to look deeper into the card to get your own intuitive meaning.

I honestly think- one of the best ways to do it is to pick ONE deck and do an intensive study with it- working with the book "definitions" of upright and reversals (if you want to use them) and then setting the book aside and trying your best to get inside the picture and interact with the landscape, the people and get a feeling for all the hidden meanings that lurk behind. Keep a journal- it will help with this process. When you are done- you will not only know the "book" definition of the cards, you will have one deck you absolutely can intuit and you will have raised your ability to do so with other decks from the practice.

The best deck to use? The one you like. I recommend scenic pips (minors) for beginning, something that isn't too abstract or overly detailed (that can muddy the waters). I would also go with a typical deck that follows normal patterns without any extra suits, changed elemental associations, etc. You can branch out to those later, but in the beginning they can just serve to confuse.

Hope this helps! You can check out threads of old intensive study groups/posts on the forum to give you an idea of how to go about it if you decide to give it a try. Good luck!

RunningWild

iAmRiotEyes said:
RunningWild,

I'm kind of big on books too lol Do you have any recommendations? The first thing I want to get down is the card's meanings and then go into a more intuitive approach with that base.

Thanks for the links!

I posted a couple of links above that are good book discussions (there are more, I'm sure but those two are more recent). And Teheuti suggested pretty much the same thing.

In hindsight, I would say that just to start to get a feel for card meanings that something like Eden Gray's The Complete Guide To Tarot would be a good start. It's a small book, really but a good reference as you go along. If you want a workbook, I like Tarot 101 by Kim Huggens. If you want to explore things that integrate other tarot related areas, Mary K Greer's Tarot For Your Self is good. It's another workbook.

I enjoyed reading Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom and I reread sections of it from time to time.

But then I also like The Tarot Bible by Sarah Bartlett. Or Power Tarot by Trish MacGregor and Phyllis Vega. Nice reference material both of them.

I think for someone just starting out, the Intensive Deck Study might be taking on too much, but what do I know? Whatever you do, make sure it resonates with you and that it's an enjoyable journey.

I hope this helps a little.

ETA: I meant to also mention Psychic Tarot by Melanie A Howard and Nancy Antenucci. This is a book meant for those who would rather read cards intuitively. There's a thread about that book in the Books and Media section of AT as well.

iAmRiotEyes

Penthasilia said:
I can second Linnie on that- the books are fine, but also try to look deeper into the card to get your own intuitive meaning.

I honestly think- one of the best ways to do it is to pick ONE deck and do an intensive study with it- working with the book "definitions" of upright and reversals (if you want to use them) and then setting the book aside and trying your best to get inside the picture and interact with the landscape, the people and get a feeling for all the hidden meanings that lurk behind. Keep a journal- it will help with this process. When you are done- you will not only know the "book" definition of the cards, you will have one deck you absolutely can intuit and you will have raised your ability to do so with other decks from the practice.

The best deck to use? The one you like. I recommend scenic pips (minors) for beginning, something that isn't too abstract or overly detailed (that can muddy the waters). I would also go with a typical deck that follows normal patterns without any extra suits, changed elemental associations, etc. You can branch out to those later, but in the beginning they can just serve to confuse.

Hope this helps! You can check out threads of old intensive study groups/posts on the forum to give you an idea of how to go about it if you decide to give it a try. Good luck!

This is exactly what I want to do lol

I'm drawn to the Legacy of the Divine and Shadowscapes but I'm going to get a RW deck to study the basics with until I get a good understanding of the traditional meanings, and then branch out in the way I perceive them personally after learning their significance. I just wanted some input of resources or books, something, that will help me cover the basics well (other than this site since I don't want to be online all the time.) I'm looking at a few books but I don't want to waste money on something that won't be worth it.

How Did YOU Start Learning Tarot Reading?

iAmRiotEyes

RunningWild

iAmRiotEyes

VGimlet

Teheuti

Aivli

linnie

Penthasilia

RunningWild

iAmRiotEyes