HOW did and do you learn Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Ophiel	01 Jan 2003
MOST people like to think of themselves as informed and well-rounded, with a good sense of priority and clear vision in all matters, including Tarot knowledge/wisdom. However, that is not "always" the case. lol. We learn by studying what others have to say, and usually adopting the current version of information that is accepted by the majority. Experimentation is not always encouraged in our educational systems, and frankly, that is where we develop our fact-finding skills from school. How much of what we were forced to write about in school is based on what others have said, rather than what we have to say? Research papers require 'proof' based on what has already been stated. Tarot has a definite 'traditional' side to it, and most of what we discuss in this group is based on what we've read, assimilated and decided to be true (at least, for the moment.) Perhaps we read and then start working with the cards and decide what works best for us. I thought it would make for an interesting, informative discussion here to examine how we come about believing what we believe about the Tarot. For example, one person might 'believe' certain 'truths' about the cards when in fact, that belief is based on read texts we've adopted as our own, without testing the knowledge. This may be a viable method of learning, too. Take a belief system and run with it until it no longer serves. How did you come by your tarot knowledge transformed to wisdom? Of course, there is no one right answer here, at least, IMHO.

napaea	01 Jan 2003
ophiel: hi, haven't met you yet...i'm napaea. i'm probably not the best person to start this discussion off, but no one else has responded yet, so you get me ;) i started off with the osho zen tarot as my first deck. not exactly traditional. and i didn't understand how the layouts worked, so i just read into the cards what i could. even when i started doing a couple readings for friends, i still didn't get the "positions" so i just read what i saw in the cards. i had looked at books and all of that, but it just wasn't clicking. finally after a few years of this "do it yourself" style, i read some books, and things started making sense. i started to understand that an ace or a 5 or a queen represents an idea, and each card symbolizes something. i went through tarot dictionarys, books, spread books and wrote down different meanings, so i could sort of see all the different views of the cards. but still, when i do a throw, i end up using my intuition. some days a 3 of cups means celebration to me, and some days it means an aquaintance will bring you a cup of coffee. the cards always seem to say what they want to at the time... so that's my take. i think you can read the cards as they've been put forth by "experts", but i get more out of it when i just let the cards do the talking!

Alex	01 Jan 2003
they require the falsification of a hypothesis based on the so-called "scientific method". If you find a sounding way to test the hypothesis that angels exist, you can write your paper and have it published in Science, Scientific American or "name it" journal. Quote: Originally posted by Ophiel Research papers require 'proof' based on what has already been stated. IMHO.

Moongold	01 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Ophiel I thought it would make for an interesting, informative discussion here to examine how we come about believing what we believe about the Tarot. For example, one person might 'believe' certain 'truths' about the cards when in fact, that belief is based on read texts we've adopted as our own, without testing the knowledge. This may be a viable method of learning, too. Take a belief system and run with it until it no longer serves. How did you come by your tarot knowledge transformed to wisdom? Of course, there is no one right answer here, at least, . I use the Tarot mostly for personal spiritual development so my learning process will always be unfolding. I read a lot and have now got into the cycle of doing a three card spread once a week which I think about in depth. That kind of reflective process is powerful for me. I sometimes do other spreads as well for practice or from curiosity, or just for fun. What have I learned in the last six months? That Tarot has an extensive history; that it uses symbolism, myth and art to reach the deepest levels of our conscious and unconscious minds, and that it can nurture my spirit. I think there is quite a lot of empirical evidence about the value of myth and imagery for stimulating insight and ideas; in therapy and in other creative processes. This evidence rests in the psychological literature and other therapeutic literature. It's not hard to find. Ultimately it is what I believe that matters. My practical experience with the Tarot has demonstrated that it can have real meaning for me, can offer me knowledge and a window to the unknown. That is all that really matters. One day I might get good enough to do many readings for others but at the moment I'm happy doing the occasional one and tending to my own spiritual growth and healing. I trust that I'll keep learning. There is huge delight and anticipation in that confidence. Happy New Year! Moongold

Cerulean	01 Jan 2003
Gee Ophiel, your conversational threads are intriguing. How did you or are you learning the tarot? I am curious, as you have a delightful bent for enjoying coasters and Dante and a former life doing stamps...so tarot is in the mix somewhere... I started with modern decks decorated in various manners and had Marseilles ordering, then began to look at scenic Rider Waite style, celtic, Italian and French decks. I'm still learning different or historical systems out of curiousity...sometimes they parallel evening humanities classes by time period. I just finished reading an essay booklet by someone who runs a metaphysical store in Minneapolis and he sounds well-versed in Golden Dawn traditions...he made interesting parallels between astrological assignments to tarot archetypes and seasonal flows in the Nile River Valley, beginning with Spring as the Egyptian calendar year. Good information for me, as I'm trying to decipher what fed into the Egyptian bent in turn-of-the 20th century or later European decks.

zorya	01 Jan 2003
i started reading about 30 years ago, when i was 10 or 12. i had seen my grandmother's deck, but she was long gone and i knew of no other readers. i had the 1jj swiss deck and used the book with it to learn the basics. from there it was totally intuition for decades. it's been only the last few years that i've read any books. i'm not sure whether to suggest you read all the books you can and learn all that you can, then let go of all the meanings, and trust what you hear from beyond.... or to tell you to first learn to let go and listen, and then learn the book meanings. there are dangers in both methods. if you learn the meanings first, they can become a crutch and hard to let go of. on the other hand... going solely by intuition, is to work with a very limited palette. it's like the untrained artist who has great vision but is unable to articulate it in anything less than a crude manner. perhaps balance is the key. read and learn from several different sources so as not to be locked into one view, but at the same time exercise your intuition and dare i say, tee hee.... your psychic abilities.

Ophiel	01 Jan 2003
Mari_Hoshizaki -- You ask how I learned/am learning the tarot? IT all came about over twenty years ago, when Tarot was one of my main areas of interest when I was first discovering the occult worlds. There weren't so many decks available then, at least, in stores. One can see from Kaplan's Encyclopedia, Volume 1, that there were actually quite a few decks. My first serious encounter with Tarot was taking a correspondence course for over a year with those wonderful B.O.T.A. people. That might explain why I am less interested in reading as I am working with the cards in other ways. Since then, Tarot drifted in and out of focus, but never very far away. The past few years, it has been on my front burners all the time. Perhaps before I die, I will learn how to read the cards more in the tradition of this group. But I'm in no hurry...to read, or to die.

Cerulean	02 Jan 2003
Thanks for the updates...I need to check out if my Michael Dummett/Ron Decker book can tell me about Builders of the Aytum (sorry about the spelling) or BOTA...I think they're a historical 20th century group. I'm not certain if they do the 22 majors Egyptian style or do Paul Foster Case...so many ways for people to learn...those books above give me some interesting ideas. I forgot to say before, I've also walked through some books and writers about Thoth and Rider Waite style of decks...Hajo Banhoff has some good books about Thoth in Keywords for the Crowley Tarot and then he compares Rider Waite/Marseilles in Tarot and Journey of the Hero. I really enjoy books that compare different decks...this includes Rachel Pollack's Illustrated Guide and Juliet Sharman Burke's Mastering the Tarot. In the later, Sharmab-Burke has the Medieval Scapini, Renaissance by Brian Williams, the Arthurian Tarot by the Matthews, Oswald Wirth and Mythic in color and she writes a little summary first of the majors, then uses Rider_Waite courts and has a few pages to the minors.

Jewel	02 Jan 2003
This is a really interesting question. Like you, "reading" is not my primary focus where tarot is concerned. I learn by applying concepts, so exercises where I actually use the cards is the best way for me to learn. Once I gained a comfort level in my ability to work with tarot then I moved onto comparitive study between decks, using Rachel Pollocks 78 Degrees of Wisdom as a basic text. I continue to explore exercise books, and books that appear to have original ideas or explain something that I want to understand better (Forest of Souls, Tarot Reversals, Qabalistic Tarot for example). Aeclectic has probably been my greatest learning tool however. Having people to really discuss ideas, ask questions of, that has been invaluable. It has also provided me with the opportunity to share what I have learned along the way with others. I do not consider myself an expert but an enthusiast (tarotholic and tarot-gollum). I love the learning process and plan on continuing to engage in it for many many years to come.

Trish	03 Jan 2003
I started initally with Tarot when a friend of my mom's got me my first deck, Tarot Nova, as a gift. It's a nice deck, but personally, it's not a good one to start out on if you want to seriously get into Tarot. I had a Tarot book to work with too, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Tarot and Fortune Telling. It worked well for me, I guess -- at least it got me thinking. ;) This past fall, I got my Cat People deck, and that was what motivated me to really start studying Tarot. It worked with my book a little better than the Tarot Nova deck did, anyway. *shrugs* From there, I have gone on to try and pick up information wherever I can get it. hehe! That is part of the reason why I joined this forum. :)

warabi	03 Jan 2003
What a fun question! Coming from someone who doesn't think of himself as informed and well-rounded (in my opinion, one who searches for knowledge can never be informed enough ^_^), when I first started learning Tarot it was from those little white intruction books that come with every pack and the few books I could find. This went on for about 8 years (I started when I was 11) because I really didn't know any better. I became an instruction book regurgitator that spewed out facts learned from those little precious white pages. Whenever I read the cards it was more like listening to computer code (10011011101 ^_^). Then I met my significant other. She is not a Tarot card reader, but in our discussions on Tarot she showed me their true beauty. I learned that their use comes from within, not from books that tell you what they are supposed to mean. At least, that is how I feel now. It is because of this that I stopped reading the cards for divination and started using them to look at myself, and I continue to do that today, always learning. That's my story anyway ^_^.

The HOW did and do you learn Tarot? thread was originally posted on 01 Jan 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.