When knowing too much is a problem lol

Hi everyone

As its been a while since I picked up a deck, this past week or so has made me pick up my old decks, give them a shuffle (and some off to new homes!) and start to feel inspired by what tarot is and what it teachs us.

However, over these past few days also I have felt myself become bitten by one of the various factors as to why I put down my decks - because I get too involved.

I spent a lot of time studying decks like the Thoth, the Druidcraft and the various esoteric knowledge that goes with tarot - like astrology, kabbalah, numerology etc. I then wanted to start to follow courses in books like the Hallowquest course for the Arthurian tarot, or even say the course of readings through the Tarot Shadow Work book.

Now that I have picked up my decks again I feel all bogged down with all this information, all this knowledge and feeling that I have to (I know its probably of my own creation) bring it all into some sort of system, like Kabbalah or in a particular theme like the Arthurian legends for example. I just can't appreciate the tarot in that simplistic way that I used to and now its just causing me the same confusion that I had when I last left my decks.

Any help or stories from personal experience guys? I feel that this need to bring it all together into some big system thing is really causing me to not see the forest for the trees!

Much loves
Sezo

Why not switch to an oracle? no rules or baggage there!

I was always afraid that too much reading might do some damage..... (seriously.)

why is a oracle different?
Is there not a lot of learning there as well?
I bought the Faries Oracle and book and am overwhelmed at how different the meanings are.

my opinion only....

Why not just read them intuitively.... just do a spread and look at the cards and read them that way.

I can understand if you are a beginner and don't have a foundation but if you have studied, you have that knowledge behind you, now just look at each card as if it were new to you and really look at it.

I've gotten a lot of new decks recently and I rarely read the book.... I look at the cards and always just dive into a reading... and see what I see. I didn't read the book with the druidcraft.... it is a very expressive deck in and of itself. The book is someone's interpretation of the cards, I want my own interpretations. If I do look at the book it is to see what the artist's inspiration was or something of that sort....

I hope that helps.

f

Hummm

Understanding a deck is one thing. Reading about why and how it was created, a thing good too.
But why do you need to know each cards meaning? Why not enjoy the feel it gives you to look at it and "feel" it? Being aquainted is better than knowing what each card looks like, naked.

I have 4 cards in frt of me, right now. Its just a regular deck of cards.
6 - 2 - Jack - 5
All it means is let him fight, let em get mad. Don't join in on it.
If I break all that down and use book meaning, it becomes a heavier reading. You know? I don't want heavy, I want light, as in intuiton light.

Oracles allow you to dance lightly or stomp. So do tarot, but we tend to slide easier with an oracle than a tarot deck. Pull out your oracle deck and slide to its call. Not a slave to it!

Barb

I understand where you're coming from with the big system thing. But I think it'll form naturally inside your head. Perhaps you need to give yourself time to integrate all the knowledge you've accumulated. Then it'll all be simple again and natural, once it has all sunk in properly. In the meantime, you could try to separate study from reading, when reading about your aunt's financial situation or your friend's boyfriend, no need to worry about esoteric symbolism. If it pops up and helps, fine. Otherwise, don't think about it.

Just my 2p

Time to digest what you have learned. Time to synthesize. Time to allow it all to flow together.

Time to give yourself some time. Stop reading books and start laying out spreads instead.

thank you all for your thoughts and posts!

I guess I am over thinking and just getting too bogged down in the theory, the seeing of tarot as the big spiritual map as I once did, when what I really need to just focus on is the tarot as a tool for reading.

Since I last looked at my decks best part of a year ago I have finished a course on how to read the ogham instead, and I found that very refreshing, to read and just work almost purely from my own experience and feelings of the trees.

Guess I need to stop thinking and reading about the tarot and just read the cards and see where that journey takes me

Reading back through the threads I have missed out on since my last lengthy stay here, I saw that Vargo has written a book for his Gothic deck. And the first impulse was to reach for my credit card - but I know that the Vargo is a deck I know nothing of what the artist envisioned for the deck, I just have the characters speaking to me, the dodgy accented english through fanged teeth speaking carefully, wrapping its words around me like silk.. Now thats a feeling that the book would take away, not enhance. I need to be part of that magic of a deck again, not just the theory...

Blimey reading that has made me itch for my Gothic deck - must be the time of year and all the fireworks getting me in the mood for Vargo hehe

Thanks for letting me type out my thoughts
sezo

We live in a world where we have been sold the idea that we have to ‘learn’ from experts. Our parents send us to teachers who teach (and convince us that we have to keep going to teachers and be taught).

There was a recent incident on MySpace, where one of our AT forum members suggested that a person could learn tarot without a book – she was hugely flamed.

But that’s what we’re taught. We have to read the books. We have to get the big picture. And of course the All Knowing Authors want us to buy their books…as though they knew something that nobody else knows.

What if the marketing of ‘knowledge’ has suckered us?

But here’s a thought to ponder…IF Tarot holds all the spiritual keys that everybody says it contains…why not study it. Alone. By itself. Put down the books, and pick up The Book With 78 Pages That Can Be Arranged In Any Order.

You may be surprised at what it has to teach you.