quickest/best way of learning?

hi all,
first of all im sorry as im sure this has been asked before, but i would like to know what your opinion is on the fastest/ most reliable way of learing the tarot? what way struck a cord with you and stayed with you?

blessings, sarah x

You need to find "Your" Way

hedgewitch79 said:

hi all,
first of all im sorry as im sure this has been asked before, but i would like to know what your opinion is on the fastest/ most reliable way of learing the tarot? what way struck a cord with you and stayed with you?

Click to expand...

Well, first, depending on who you are, fastest might not be best and best might not be fastest Second, when it comes to tarot, the best way varies person to person. So what you're really looking for is your way. What will make you say, "Oh! I get it!"

The fastest way to memorize the cards basic meanings (and for *some* the best) is the keyword system. It's essentially a flash-card method. You associate the card with one word or phrase. Like "Fool = Beginnings." Sylvia Abraham came up with a method that extends this to the minors by associating them with the first ten majors. So, the Magician is "I make." Cups = Emotions. So Ace of Cups (Magician is 1, so Aces are Magician): "I make emotions." Her little book ("How to Read the Tarot: the Key Word System") will help you to memorize all the cards very fast.

Warning: speedy as this method is, there's no guarantee that you will be able to read the cards by week's end Learning what the cards mean can be quick, but learning to read the cards is something that goes through stages. And whatever method you use to learn the card meanings, however fast, you still have to go through those stages. Stages like, the point where you work out connections between them in a spread, or the point where you get confused over which meaning is right, etc. These take time. With tarot the joy is in the learning, or at least it should be. Which is why certain people enjoy slower methods, ones where they can take their time with each card, explore it top to bottom. They want to really get to know the cards and learn for as long as they can because they're having such a good time doing it

Anyone can memorize the cards. The quickest way to do it is whatever way you memorize anything else the quickest. It's kind of an individual thing. Memorizing cards isn't going to make you able to read the cards, though. Only time, study and experience will make you a good reader. Reading the cards is tons more than just reciting learned meanings.

When I first started, I wanted to read for other people. I thought, "Oh heck, this is a cinch. It should take me a month at the most to get the cards memorized." I'm a quick learner. Boy, was I ever mistaken.

hedgewitch79 said:

hi all,
first of all im sorry as im sure this has been asked before, but i would like to know what your opinion is on the fastest/ most reliable way of learing the tarot? what way struck a cord with you and stayed with you?

blessings, sarah x

Click to expand...

I have been reading cards for decades and I am still a student, learn new things all the time. What stuck with me..learn numbers and suits and how they relate to eachother first(learned this when I was 9 years old). When I started tarot(which is a bit different then card reading) I went through each card and wrote my own definition of each card and kept a diary. Tarot for me is not a game, it is a method to learn about life and yourself. A piece of you is in every card, see if you can find it.

Memorization is probably the fastest way to learn very basic meanings,if you can stand it...I never could. But the best way is a much more rounded and complete learning system. So instead I'm recommending 3 books to you to look at. Each of them is probably better than your local Tarot Teacher. Each of them can --with your work--turn you into a Tarot Reader, not a Tarot Parrot.
First Louis's "Tarot Plain and Simple". It has keywords, but also a long list of possible meaning for each card and encourages you to see each card in a rounded way. It get s you started using your intuition from the beginning in a natural way, It just happens.

2nd, Greer's "21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card" Takes a bit longer, is an amazing course, worth doing over and over again at each level of reading you come to.

3rd, despite the Hokey title, Dusty White's "The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot--EVER!!" It's a combo workbook and text, and excellent.

All 3 of these books actually teach you how to READ the cards as you learn their meanings, how to combine them, how to let you intuition in, how tho understand spreads, etc. They are each a tremendous resource,written by excellet teachers. The other thing to do is Read, Read, Read the cards, all the time about everyting and let them teach you.
FEH on Memorization! It will NEVER make you a reader!

One Reader's "Feh!" is another Reader's "Eureka!"

magpie9 said:

FEH on Memorization! It will NEVER make you a reader!

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I've known plenty of readers for whom memorization (keyword method typically) DID make them readers. Not in and of itself, of course, but they'd bought the deck, studied the deck, tried meditation, tried journaling, read all those books you just recommended and ended up tossing deck in a drawer in defeat, sure they'd never be readers.

Then they tried the keyword method and within a month, they were able to get down to the business of learning how to read the cards. Which is to say, we can wag our fingers and say, "this won't make you a reader!" but in the end, anyone wanting to be a reader usually has to first find a way to get to know the cards. It's very difficult to focus on learning how to be a reader if you have to keep flipping through books to remind yourself of card meanings--or if you have to stop yourself during the reading and decide what the card's image means to you. So if a method of memorization allows a person to put the book aside--or not have to spend hours wracking their brains trying to think of what the card might mean--and focus on learning how to read, then YES that method is a step toward making them a reader.

If there's anything I've learned in my many years of seeing new tarot students come, go and often develop into masters on this forum it 's that we can't disrespect any method of learning. What is completely "feh!" to one person is "Eureka!" to another

I really don't think there are any shortcuts to being a good reader. There are some tips, though - and here are some of the things that worked for me - though even after all the years I have been reading, I do not consider myself a professional - I am and probably always will be a student.

For learning card meanings, esp with the often confusing minors, start with the generals and work down to specifics. ie - get familiar with elements, suites, numerology, even colors - before getting into individual cards. Read a lot - for yourself, for others, for your pets, for everyone and everything. Read for the planet. Just read. Learn to empty your mind and trust your impressions. Find books that help you practice your intuitive skills. Take advantage of workbooks. I love tarot books that act as "textbooks", with quizzes and tests - like Masino's Easy Tarot Guide. Watch videos of good readers reading.

I think learning about combinations and associations between the cards is the hardest thing. Even many readers I see today online who are selling readings are just book readers - they are just going from card to card, spouting out standard definitions, something anyone can do. Learning to look at the cards as a group, and to see how they relate to one another - well, that is no easy feat. It takes years of practice and dedication to the art. Some may be better at it than others, but I still think it is a challenge to learn.

Read the cards - for yourself, for others, for friends, for strangers. Music is not meant to be lifeless black notes on a staff - it is meant to be played, sung, turned into something to hear, not talked about in the abstract.

So it is with cards. Mere memorizatrion will not make you a Tarot reader - READING the cards will make you a Tarot reader.

I think you've received several excellent replies already! To suggest something a bit different as an option, I'd say to check out the book The 2-Hour Tarot Tutor. It's more of a personal-association way to approach the cards, rather than learning traditional meanings, elements, etc. There are suggestions for combining the cards, too, I think.

As the others have said, regardless of your method of learning, the "good reader" part of the equation will come with time and practice. I do agree that finding some way to get up and running will allow you to get to the "practice" part more quickly, however.

I don't think this book's approach is better or worse than any others, only different. Just wanted to toss it out there!

I like that book, too. I found it after I'd been using the cards for a few years, but I like its approach. I've recommended it several times myself and I'm glad to see it's still available on Amazon.