Is it helpful to read several books while learning?

witzipoo

Hi. I bought the Rider Waite deck & Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot book.
I do have several decks & other books (Mary K Greer) but am only using the Rider Waite & Bunning's book to study. I'm no where near doing a reading yet. I take one card a day & study it, read the meaning several times, study to image, go back think about it some more & so on with one card a day. My "plan" was to get a good book knowledge under my belt & incorporate with my intuition. Has anyone read 2 or 3 books at once to get different perspectives on the cards? Like, would it be helpful or harmful to continue my "card a day" studies but read several meanings for the same card? I feel like when I am able to get different perspectives it uncovers something that was inside myself all along, maybe just hidden. I take what I need & leave the rest. Maybe it would be confusing though! I'm only up to Justice. I just started studying 2 weeks ago. I would love some experience & input on this! Help! How many books?!?!?!
 

tarotbear

witzipoo~ welcome.

There is nothing wrong with reading (or owning!) an entire shelf of Tarot books! However - a few points:

You will soon discover that no two authors agree on any one point. This is natural and should be expected. It does not mean one author is right and the other is wrong. Tarot is fluid and most authors write from their experience and usage of it.

Trying to memorize - don't do it! IMPOSSIBLE! You will end up with such a headache! If you memorize a book all you will ever know is that one author's 'take' on Tarot and that is not a good thing. You should be open to learning from everyone.

Even though I wrote a book on the subject I still have a shelf of Tarot books - as a reference. Think of those books of yours as a place to look if you have a problem with an interpretation, or if you need to find a new way of looking at a recurring card. But use them as reference books only - never use them as a crutch.

You will find many threads here on AT that tell you the best thing to do is start keeping a journal. In that journal you record your basic impressions of each card, readings you did and their interpretations, also anything that strikes you at that moment. All the books in the world cannot compare with your own experience in the matter.

Be sure to add my book to your collection: 'It's All in the Cards:Tarot Reading Made Easy' :smoker:
 

Simone

Welcome, witzipoo :)

Good advice, Tarotbear :D

If one asked me personally, i'd be hard pressed to answer... I have never read a tarot book at all ;) I read the cards intuitively, meaning I let myself be drawn in by the picture, and usually something relevant to the querent attracts my attention. (Sometimes I am way off too, but such is the world - and it always helps me learn!)

And I never even bothered to memorise card meanings. Of course, after all the time I have been into tarot and of participating here, some things have stayed in my memory, but I rarely draw on them while reading...

As tarotbear says - if you "must" ;) have books, use them as reference, not as truth graved in stone... every single card is so versatile that it can have a million different meanings, depending on the context, the question, the cards surrounding it...
 

Sian100

Take the authors' opinions and interpretations on board, but more importantly decide what your own opinions and interpretations are. I suppose reading more than one book is a good way of reaching your own conclusions, as you see more than one perspective.
 

Sophie

Have as many as you feel comfortable with! It's worth comparing meanings and methods between authors. It's also good to reach across traditions and world-views, so you don't end up with endless repetition.

Mary Greer's book is actually a workbook - it will teach you to read. I taught myself to read tarot - by reading tarot. From the first night I started reading for others, leaning on Rachel Pollack and on my own observations. I gradually gained more knowledge and reading practice - and more books.

Books are important, but they don't replace reading practice and personal observation. Start getting some of that right now. Don't wait, or you'll make more of it than it is :)
 

Grizabella

Try different things and then stick with what works for you. Everyone learns by their own unique process and nobody else can tell you what will work the best for you. If you're thinking that maybe reading more books will help you learn, then try it and see. If it doesn't and just confuses you, then stop and go back to what was working better.

The thing that helped me more than anything was to drop the idea that there was a "right" way to learn tarot or that there were any "right" meanings for the cards. And more than anything, it helped to forget all those "schoolgirl" attitudes of having to cram information into my head at a frantic pace. The "right" way is the one that works for you. The best rate at which to learn is whatever is working for you. And there's no better interpretation of the cards than what your intuition is telling you. You'll learn much better, more easily and more quickly if you just don't try to force it. Relax, enjoy the process, and trust your instincts, whether it's how many books to read or what the cards mean to you.

I don't think there's ever a point at which we can say about Tarot "There! I've finally learned it all!" Like with life, it's not the destination, but the journey that counts. :)
 

Dulcimer

All excellent advice. I would like to add a comment on what you wrote : "I am no where near doing a reading yet". Well, yes you are!
There is no better way to learn about Tarot than doing readings. Do them for yourself and/or close friends, but do them. The cards are tools, instruments for your intuition to work through. If you rely too much on books then it will be the authers' intuitions and not your own you will be working with. You can study books all you wish but until you get your hands dirty you will never understand Tarot.

How many books? An infinite number because they all contain something different. So my advice would be: put the books down and get to work! Don't worry. Don't be afraid of cocking it up. The books will always be there and so will we! :).
 

Sophie

Dulcimer said:
There is no better way to learn about Tarot than doing readings. Do them for yourself and/or close friends, but do them. [...] Don't be afraid of cocking it up. The books will always be there and so will we!
Exactly! Reading tarot is like cooking. You can read umpteen recipe books, but you'll only ever really learn to do it by getting in the kitchen and cooking up a dish. Start simple (would you do a six-course meal first time?), and don't worry if you singe the edges a little, or undercook the potatoes ;). Plenty of time ahead of you to learn and to practice :)
 

Moonbow

I think you are doing fine, reading books is fine, but at some point try to go it alone. It's important to have your own meanings for cards, some of which will be spontaneous, as it's much easier to remember your own meanings than 78 of someone else's.

I notice that you have a few decks too. As you are up to Justice, how about getting the Justice card out of several decks and comparing. I do this all the time and it's a great way to find different takes on the same card.
 

SunChariot

witzipoo said:
Hi. I bought the Rider Waite deck & Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot book.
I do have several decks & other books (Mary K Greer) but am only using the Rider Waite & Bunning's book to study. I'm no where near doing a reading yet. I take one card a day & study it, read the meaning several times, study to image, go back think about it some more & so on with one card a day. My "plan" was to get a good book knowledge under my belt & incorporate with my intuition. Has anyone read 2 or 3 books at once to get different perspectives on the cards? Like, would it be helpful or harmful to continue my "card a day" studies but read several meanings for the same card? I feel like when I am able to get different perspectives it uncovers something that was inside myself all along, maybe just hidden. I take what I need & leave the rest. Maybe it would be confusing though! I'm only up to Justice. I just started studying 2 weeks ago. I would love some experience & input on this! Help! How many books?!?!?!

Well in my opinion, the more books on techique the better. Although I would go at them one at a time, not 2-3 three at once. :grin:

There are many ways to read, many nuances...If you just stick with one book, how will you ever know if it represents the best way for you. I personally started where you did. One deck (although it was the Haindl) and the Joan Bunning book. Now, it's a great beginner's book. Easy to understand if you have no prior knowledge of Tarot. But honestly, most of what is in it is not in line with my way of reading now. I have well over 30 books on Tarot technique by now.

The thing about Joan Bunning's book I think it's too focused on learning/memorizing meanings. I found that somethign that is not my path. I just read intuitively now, analysing the imagery on the cards that come up, which never mean the same thing twice. So there is nothing to memorize, each card has immediately and infinite number of meanings. All I had to do was get my technique down pat. No learning meanings...which I find boring anyway. And bingo the technique works perfectly with any card in any deck. So no learning curve with a new deck.

Yes over time I learnt the main meanings of the Majors, the meanings of the suits, how to use court cards and reversals, but the rest is all intuitive, for me at least. My best book on learning to do that is: "A Magical Course in Tarot, by Michelle Morgan". Joan Bunning's book has nothing like that in it. And if you don't try books with different techniques of reading (and there are MANY and they are quite varied) you will never know that the one you are reading is really the best way for you.

In case you are curious, my three favourites are:
Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot, by Rachel Pollack
Tarot for Self-Discovery, by Nina Lee Braden
and
A Magical Course in Tarot, by Michelle Morgan


You can start reading whenever you like. No matter what you do it will be a learning experience. Sometimes we learn more from trial and error than from books. No one's asking you to be perfect as we humans never are. :grin: The way you read will evolve over time, as I think it has for most of us. You'll try new things, drop things that don't work well for you. I personally tried yes/no spreads for a long time until I realized that they did not work for me. But I needed that experience under my belt to be sure.

As for how many books, read whatever interests you and calls to you.:grin:

Babs