Can't make sense of the cards

I'm just starting out with tarot. Have had my Original Rider Waite deck a couple of years now, I gave up trying with it after a few weeks. I was trying to read, but the cards never seemed to make sense. I've pulled them out again recently, as I really want to learn. But again, if I try and read I can't make any sense of the cards which come up in answer to my questions. I look at all the different meanings and I just can't work out what the cards are saying.

So, what's likely to be the problem here? I've posted before saying that I don't really feel connected to my RW cards. Is this the problem? Do I just need to spend more time with them? Is it me, is my brain so foggy that I can't be intuitive enough?

I'm completely lost and feel like giving in again.

It's very possible that you're not connecting with the deck. I started out with my gorgeous Morgan Greer (RWS style) deck when I was 14. Eighteen years later, I still didn't feel like I knew how to read that well. Then I bought a new deck...and whoa, world of a difference!!

Why not look at different decks online or in a store and see what you "connect" with, and you might be surprised what a difference it makes. If the RWS style decks are giving you trouble, I'd recommend The Fey or Druidcraft, both of which have a very different look/take on the cards.

Good luck and don't give up!

GA

Thank You, GoddessArtemis. I have actually looked at other decks and do keep going back to look at the Druidcraft. I plan on ordering it today.

I had a feeling it might be a connection issue. I've tried a few decks in the online tarot readings and haven't yet found one that really felt right. The Druidcraft does feel right though, so I hope when it arrives things will fall into place a little more for me.

Thanks again.

That's great! I think you'll like the Druidcraft. Make sure to join the Druidcraft Study Group here and discuss what you see. Practice reading for others and yourself, and after a while, you won't need to look at any books, etc. for interpretation. The Druidcraft also comes with a great book, so that'll help a lot.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

GA

When I first started using the cards, I could not make head nor tail of what the cards were trying to tell me, I suppose that I was full of doubts which only got worse because I did not understand what the cards meant, so I had no way of forming correct answers or for that matter any answers.

Then, like you, I left the cards alone for a long while, then I came back to them and started immersing myself in the meanings and then doing readings for others. It is all a matter of understanding the symbols on the cards, just like learning a new language and then going to the places where people speak that language and conversing with them in that language. You cannot become proficient unless you practice continuously. Also, you do not need a mountain of decks to read well, the cards are just tools, the knowledge comes from within you, it is you that are intuitive not the cards.

I started out with Morgan Greer and then got a Rider RW because I thought that would help me more, because I didn't think I was getting all the symbolism and deeper meanings, since MG is simplified. I spent a lot of time studying on various tarot info sites, and camped out in the RWS area here ... copied pages of symbolism meanings,,meanings for color, numerology, astrology and never got to kabbahla or some of the heavier things.

I would study a card inside and out, look up everything I could find about it, write down everything it could possibly mean, and take days and days to work on one reading and avoided more than 5 card readings, because otherwise it gave me a headache... a bit obsessive and insane, but it really helped me in some ways and was a bit excessive in others. The real meaning would usually hit me, when I was washing dishes or doing some mundane thing... so tarot came to me in flashes, not usually when I was staring at them, but when I stepped back and really allowed free association to take place.

I'm not sure if all these links work, but these are some of the better ones I found in my favorites:

www.learntarot.com
http://tarotstudies.50webs.com/index.html,
http://www.supertarot.co.uk/,
http://www.kenaz.com/resources/tarot.htm
http://www.geocities.com/tarot_r_us/Home.html
http://www.tarotpassages.com/old_moonstruck/oneill/index.htm
http://www.worldtarotnetwork.com/Astrology/astrotarot.htm
http://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/index.html
http://decoz.com/numerology_freeStuff.htm

I spent one year with each of those decks, before going out and buying something different, still RWS based, but very different themes and visuals.
Druidcraft came about the 4th year after I'd started learning to read and blew my mind... it is a great deck to read with.

While it is true that we may not connect with some decks, I think once you spend time with a deck and write down your thoughts, your impressions and don't second guess yourself, you will find you can read them better than you believe you can.

I think that you just have to accept that learning to read tarot takes time.

It took me a good few years before I really felt as if the cards were making sense in relation to my questions and I see now that it was simply because I wasn't experienced enough.

You can learn keywords and you can look up meanings in books but that isn't reading.
You can swap decks and try to find one that you 'connect' with more than the one you have now but you won't suddenly be able to read overnight just as you wouldn't suddenly be able to speak a different language soon after you started studying one.

The only way to learn to really read the cards, in my opinion is to do it, to enjoy the journey and to realise and accept that the journey is going to be a long one.

Neely,

Don't you dare give up xoxox

The cards are just beginning to click for me. I've got a long way to go before I feel like a tarot reader, but I'm starting to. I don't feel as cluless as I used to. It takes time, for some(like me) it takes A LOT of time. For others it's just a really quick step into it and off they go. I think I will always be learning. I tend to overanalyze and try to get things just too "perfect" so that's part of my own hang up. I get in my own way sometimes.

Neely if I can do it you can do it... and I'm looking forward to you having your Druidcraft so we can get through it together. I agree it may still take work to learn. More than likely you won't be able to read them over night, but if they resonate with you like they did with me, then you will be able to remain interested and focused and really want to dedicate yourself to learning. I think that's the real value of finding a deck that speaks to you, no matter what deck it is, that you grow with it, you invest your time in it and you enjoy it.

Hang in there, we are all in this together.

Lots of love,

Disa

When I first started with tarot, I thought it would be a good way to make a little extra money here and there. Learn the card meanings (take about a month, maybe, I figured), read the cards, piece of cake, right? Wroooong!! Little did I know that it's not that simple. It's not card tricks to wow the neighbors. It's an art and it's a lifelong study. Not only that, it's a great mystery and it's a means of communication the Universe uses to speak to us if we learn to listen with our eyes and our heart. Learning to listen has taken me years and I haven't learned it all even yet. I don't expect I'll ever learn it all.

My advice is not to expect too much of yourself. Don't try to rush it. Just settle in like you would for a long train journey with a good fat book. The less you try to rush it and the less intense you are about it, the quicker it will come. It can't be forced or rushed.

As for trying with another deck---why not? Most of us have done it and a good many of us have done it a bunch of times so we've got stacks of decks gathering dust that weren't "the one", but hey-----we're collectors, right? LOL I don't call myself a collector but I do have a lot of decks I like but don't ever use, so if I'm not a deck collector then I must be a deck miser, huh?

I hope you'll find that the Druidcraft helps you along more than you've been helped by the RWS. No deck is going to produce a "ta dah! I can read!" all of a sudden, though. You're going to find that when you change decks, you've got to change your perception of a lot of the cards to learn the new symbolism the different deck artist used, so you may feel more bewildered than ever.

The key to learning tarot is just not to ever give up hope or faith in your ability to learn. Then no matter what pitfalls and stumbling blocks you encounter, you'll keep on going and learn to read as well as any of us.

I started learning tarot in 1999 and still draw a blank all the time on what certain cards mean in a reading especially when they keep coming up. It is difficult to read for yourself and I find it less difficult to read for others - things just seem so much clearer when I'm not emotionally involved.

Having done many readings, certain cards have a personal meaning for me. The Knight of Swords often shows up to warn me of an impending argument for example. They will for you too. Be gentle with yourself, relax and keep going. I really hope you stick with it

edited to say - I started out with the Original Rider Waite as well and it's a good deck to learn with.