How did you learn?

Some people say that you must be tought tarot and some people learn from a book, what you you think?

I think it is better not to even look at a book before you are tought by someone becouse some books dont give good meanings to the cards. And also you should be tought by a professional, not just someone who dose tarot in there spare time. Usely a professional who reads people every day will give you "all" the meanings to the cards.

How did I learn? hehe, the hard way. One deck, one rather bare bones book, and a million readings.

What do I think now? Teachers are fine if you can find one and you hit it off with them. Learning is often faster with someone to ask questions of and give specific help.

Books are great, but read several, not just one. Get some history, and a view on the variety of meanings possible for a card. Also read the sample readings to get an idea how a good reading should flow.

Might be wise to stick with one deck at first, just to not add a layer of confusion to the learning curve.

And, do lots of readings! Impose on your friends, do readings for characters on TV, in history, whatever. I remember doing a series of readings on Cleopatra when I was first learning and having a wonderful time seeing where the cards lead my mind.

I learned the old fashioned way. Reading the cards in umpteen readings, meditating on the pictures, books, study, intuition.

Teachers? Yea nice and all, but you don't need a "professional" to teach you about this art. I would love to go to an upcoming Tarot convention in WI or a course given by Mary Greer in NY soon, but to learn right from the get go, I must say I am glad I discovered and learned on my lonesome.

Ok if you think a book is good, tell me what book is the best

I got the RWS, a LWB-type book. lots of victims.

Actually i only used the LWB for a few weeks, and although people knock this method i would rather see a beginner do this than just give up, because using your intuition to find meanings can be really really daunting if you haven't been creative or reflective in this way for a long time. But as soon as you possibly can, take the training wheels off and just have a go.

while not doing readings for people i learn by trying everything; someone suggests a method of reading, a way of looking, i give it a go.

browse the forum (if you haven't ben lurking already ) talking tarot and using tarot discusses people's methods and problems on learning quite a lot. one deck wonder and 21 ways, and 78 weeks are all excellent methods.

Not that how I evolved into tarot will help anyone else...here it is
As a history buff I started by studying the history of tarot, trying to see how it came about, what it was based on,any insights into what, at the time, I thought would be a history of esotericisums and intrigue, there where a few, but mostly man made and in the 19th and 20th centuries. All we need to know from a book point of view is out there in print, nothing is hidden if you enjoy others opinions. At this point I wanted to use the cards not just know thier past...

Then I went on to reading every book I could find on card meanings. You know that thin little chapter in most books about intuition and the bigger picture? I found myself much more drawn to that one little chapter in these books then the "meaning" of each cards so next I started reading books on intuition and social intelligence, things like that, while practicing with the cards and seeing what "words" reverberated for me when I studied the cards. Next I looked at the cards as a puzzle, I wanted to know not what a card meant but what a group of cards meant, how they interacted with each other, and what effect they had on each other:their story. I am still going down this path and still learning. I found as I learned the cards became more and more of a tool and less and less mysterious, I was divining, not the cards.

I read, read, read the cards and practice, practice, practice..it starts to fall together.

Lastly a game I play when i am driving or eating lunch etc is I think of a suite and a card, I draw that card up in my mind and I think "what does this card mean to me" If I get a blank I pull out a pocket sizes ref. book and review, that kick starts my mind and I continue with my very light meditation on the card.

For me it really started coming together when I started trusting myself. I needed to understand my abilities not the cards. That said I do find anyone can read with tarot cards in a very general way using even the lwb, it is a testament to the original arcana that went into the creating of tarot.

I started thinking, for no apparent particular reason, that it would be interesting to study the Tarot. My only previous experience had been sitting on my bedroom floor with my mom's Rider-Waite, trying to do a reading with the Death and Devil cards set as far aside as possible (I thought they were bad luck when I was a kid). So I was in Barnes and Noble, just browsing, when I found the box set for the Art of Tarot deck on a sale table. It seemed like a good deal. It had the deck, a book and reading cloth. So I got it, took it home and started studying and trying to read that night.

I've learned from reading books, doing a lot of readings and now focusing more on reading the cards intuitively.

I think the idea of having a teacher is nice, but it would really have to be the right teacher. I wouldn't want to base my reading style only on one person's teachings without considering other things, too.

I don't think you ever really stop learning. You can reach a place where you feel capable, but I think there are always new things to try.

coolpm said:

Some people say that you must be tought tarot and some people learn from a book, what you you think?

I think it is better not to even look at a book before you are tought by someone becouse some books dont give good meanings to the cards. And also you should be tought by a professional, not just someone who dose tarot in there spare time. Usely a professional who reads people every day will give you "all" the meanings to the cards.

Click to expand...

but how will you judge the quality of the "professional" if you dismiss the books and the history altogether and deny yourself any background?

just because they are professional does not ensure that they are qualified to teach or that they're any good as readers.

Perhaps this will sound a little odd to some, but I, actually, think that some of my tarot knowledge came from past lives.

Very early on in my tarot quest this go-around (this lifetime), I had many "deja vu" instances in learning--where it just felt like I'd known and done that spread or seen a similar card (along with knowing the "meaning" of it) before...too many times to allow me to disregard the possibility.

But, in general, I agree with the others. The best way to learn is to do. Simple as that. Take into consideration what others (teachers, colleagues, books) have to say...and then do whatever feels right for yourself.

I read alot of books but the tarot came alive for me when I got a teacher to show me some of the fundamentals I was missing. I agree with the others, ideally it should be someone you have a rapport with. The first teacher I had knew the basics but was very arrogant and charged an arm and a leg. She also had the attitude that she was the only competant teacher in town. I was very frustrated in her class as she may have known the material but did not have an intuitive bone in her body and couldn't teach that way or offer any guidance about how to work that way. There were also some dysfunctional things happening in her class that she refused to acknowelege.
The rest of the class put up with it, but I felt very frustrated .

Later on I took some classes online with Thrysse at TarotMoon and it was like night and day. I also took some classes with Arwen (don't know the website offhand) and that was ok too. I've had more success with teachers online than in person so far.

I am teaching an introductory tarot course now and those lessons were'nt lost on me. I am trying to be the teacher I would have wanted-and trying to give a more rounded view of the tarot than I initially got.

So, the teacher works if it's the right one, but all tarotists are a bit self taught too.