How long did it take you?

I've been thinking about how long I've been studying tarot and it makes me wonder if I've gotten a little dense in my old age. I started learning when I was in my early 50's and now, at 60, I'm finally "getting it" so that it's coming really easily---or a lot more easily than it did for the longest time. Is it just that I'm a slow learner or did it take anyone else such a long time?

At this point, I feel like I can read with almost any deck quite comfortably as long as it's got illustrated pips. I've still got years more study ahead of me because tarot is a lifetime study, but in some respects, I feel like FINALLY I've "arrived" in a sense, but it seems like it took me forever. Did anyone else take so long?

I guess if nothing else, I can serve to be an encouragement to others who feel like they're never going to "get it".

i've been using the tarot for 15 years now but have only been properly studying its symbolism for about 3 years. for the first 10 years i only used the thoth and could read quite well with it, but when i started acquiring lots of decks and studying them in depth i began to slow down in my learning process. but that's not a bad thing because my readings are also gaining more depth.

i don't think i've answered your question, but what i'm trying to say is that you never stop learning the tarot. but you might find different ways of learning - some take you ages and some you master in a very short time.

Ive been studying tarot since one and a half year and still feel that there is so much more to learn. Everyday is a learning experience for me. I am still not very comfortable with court cards. Maybe I really need to do a deeper study with them. I too feel that I can read with any deck now and I dont have to actually study study that deck in order to read with it. Intuition just flows..

a_shikhs said:

Ive been studying tarot since one and a half year and still feel that there is so much more to learn. Everyday is a learning experience for me. I am still not very comfortable with court cards. Maybe I really need to do a deeper study with them. I too feel that I can read with any deck now and I dont have to actually study study that deck in order to read with it. Intuition just flows..

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LOL for a split second there I thought you were about to say you been learning it since you were one and a half years old

I think it took me a feel years to begin to feel really comfortable... I was sort of an on-again off-again reader at first, which slowed things down. I would guess it was six years in, but I think I really got comfortable with my deck about a year and a half ago -- around the time I joined AT, actually.

Julien

star-lover said:

LOL for a split second there I thought you were about to say you been learning it since you were one and a half years old

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Woww.. I would be a master in tarot then..

I started reading with my own deck about 10ish years ago. I read for the first 6ish on my own. I didn't know crap, and I was trying to avoid books to learn from, but I was also learning a lot more than I realized until hindsight kicked in....

I landed here 4ish years ago, at the point that I was eager to add formal occult study to my practice. That threw a wicked learning curve into the mix, and turned me upside down for a while before I felt comfortable with my cards again.

I remember several points along the way (say about 8 years into my Tarot journey) thinking, "I don't understand this, and I don't know if I ever will...." That's usually when I had hit a new plateau and reached a new place with my reading. But those moments often felt despondent, not transcendent! lol

Umbrae told me, during one of those despondent periods, "Don't worry, it takes years to really learn how to read." That made me less frustrated with myself.

One never stops learning the Tarot and I'd be wary of those who mug up one book and then start offering their services for money after just a couple of months of learning. Trust me where I'm from there are a lot of half baked readers boasting about their abilities.

I've been reading for 9 years now, and am quite comfortable with many decks, though there are moments when I look at the cards and go blank

Lyric you're an encouragement to a lot of people and an inspiration to me

I've been reading for about 2 and a half years, Tarot is a life long study so I can't tell that "I'm there" but I have to recognize that without AT it would take me probably 6 or 7 years to be where I'm now, the help of AT allowed me to feel comfortable with cards within months because I trusted that any doubt while reading can be quickly cleared.

Every day I learn something new about the Tarot - so I think its a life long process....

SX