Starting over

I've been studying tarot with the Gilded tarot for a little over 2 months. The more I look into it and reading books or tarot learning sites, the more I get curious about the RW's symbols and their meanings. For example, I found something about the wheel on the Wheel of Fortune in a book while skimming through it. There are T. A. R. O. on the wheel. It goes to explain that "Taro"=Tarot, "Tora"=Law, "Rota"=Wheel, "Orat"=Speaks, "Ator"=Egyptian goddess of life .. I was just blown away by that fact. I have been thinking more and more of getting the RW deck, and starting it over.

My concern is... the confusion this switch may make for me. (I am a very very beginner on tarot, so I only hope this switch is a right move and help me in a long run, not leave me confused)

I was just wondering how it was for everyone when you decided to learn other deck/s (especially as a beginner)??

Moon shadow, all i can say to you is i got my first deck when i was thirteen and am now 23 and am still a beginner and always will be in my book. (bcause hopefully i'll never stop learning!)

With tarot follow your gut instict. Get a RW deck if you want one! its not going to hurt you, so you have been studying with the gilded for over two months, i'm sure it won't hurt your gilded if you get a RW and start studying with a different deck.

A good idea maybe to keep a tarot notebook and jot down anything, be it confusion, insight, ideas etc. you may start to see a pattern emerging and if there is any confusion it the journal may help you in identify it and dealing with it.

I actually love learning new decks and seeing if some of the meanings are 'the same' as other decks.

What ever you choose to do go for it!

Just because you have a RWS deck doesn't mean you can't use your Guilded.

I'm a "beginner" too and I've noticed that the RW deck has a ton of literature and support which, for someone like me who loves study, is a big boost. Also its available in different coloring schemes to fit your preferences (I picked the original scheme because I'm a bit of a purist.) There's a lot of depth to the cards, many layers of symbolism.

But I can't speak for other decks as this is my only one.

-anarchophila

I just did this;

started over with learning the symbolism with the RWS deck, and and it didn't cause any confusion. It does the opposite. It helps me to understand the meanings.

Under the section on AT, Tarot History & Iconography , there is a forum
Rider-Waite-Smith , and then a thread, "Things I missed...." about the RWS deck. It takes about 20 minutes to go through the thread with your cards. I loved it!

I think I went about 4 months using only my first deck until I was ready to branch out. Once I decided to branch out though others followed each other fairly quickly though. LOL

The transition was very easy for me personally. I started with the Haindl Tarot, which is of course a untraditional deck to start on. As I was reading and trying to learn what the cards meant in the beginning, it did not take me long to see that the meanings of my cards as given in the Haindl book had very little to do with the meanings given in traditional books, especially for the Minors.

Then as I read more books, I found the traditional books even differed on what the traditional meanings of cards were. And as I read on of course I read how there are not "set" meanings for the cards as so many things have change them...It developed the way I read. I learnt to not pay much attention to book meanings and to learn to read from inside myself. I developed my style more and more of reading by analysing imagery and feeling inside what it means at that time. Somethings I still do today.

So, it has always been for me that I never have any trouble "learning" new decks at all. In fact I never "learn" decks at all. Not in the sense of reading the author's views on what cards mean... or anyones. I just learnt and got down pat my methods of analysing imagery and it applies to any deck ever made. And, for me, also I have always found my answers more accurate when I find them within myself then taking the creator of the deck's ideas of what the cards mean.

To me learning to read Tarot was like learning to read books. You don't have to learn how to read each book individually. You just have to learn the skill of how to read and then you can read any deck whenever you want to as many times as you want, if that makes sense.

In that sense, working with a new deck has always been a joy, to see how it will teach me to see things in new ways. And I have loved most of the ones I have gotten.

Bar

I like SunChariot's comments. Very insightful. I can only add that for me learning about the originally intended symbolism can be a rewarding experience in itself.

-anarchophila

Thank you all for taking time sharing your thoughts on here and I am sorry it took me a while to get back.

I can definitely feel more positive thing coming out of studying the RW deck now.

To me learning to read Tarot was like learning to read books. You don't have to learn how to read each book individually. You just have to learn the skill of how to read and then you can read any deck whenever you want to as many times as you want, if that makes sense.

Click to expand...

SunChariot, yes, that does make a lot of sense.
When it comes to reading, there is a rule on what letter(or combination of letters) makes what sound.. once you learn that you can slowly start reading books.
I have a question though.. SunChariot. (Maybe I needed to start a different thread for this question... I hope it was ok.) It's about books and intuition. I feel like I should learn meanings( or what simbols mean) on books. Books explain how using intuition is important. So I also started to go through each card placing myself as a person on a card, and write on feelings/ thoughts.. what I would/should do in the situation..etc..
This is where I run into a bit of problem. I find myself just so way off on some of cards when I go back to book and see So if that card comes up on reading(I practice with 3 card reading for now), what should I do? Trust my intuition or go with what book says?

Simple: Trust your intution.

That is unless you are really stuck and need a bit of a push, that is when reading a book might help.

always go with your intution. you are smarter than any book. reading is about context, which only you can provide, not the author of the book.