Teaching tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rhiannon	20 Jan 2003
I have started teaching/leading a sort of "tarot class" locally. We have just begun an exercise and I'm wondering what else you guys think I should include. Certainly there will be recommended reading (including Umbrae's process posts). Here's a sort of "lesson plan": 1. (taken from Faerie's oracle) pick fave, least fave and universal cards... answer the questions and discuss the meanings of your cards. 2. discuss meanings of each suit. 3. discuss meanings of numbers (this may be combined with my next step) 4. Start going over the cards like this: all aces and magician, all 2s and High Priestess, all 3s and Empress, etc. Emphasising the numerology aspect... sort of. Any suggestions? Where would YOU want to start? R :)

Phoenix	20 Jan 2003
How about the Major Arcana, and the Journey of the Fool? You should talk about the three 'big' schools of tarot: the Rider-Waite-Smith decks, the Thoth Decks, and the Historical decks(the Visconti and Marseille Tarots). BTW, I would love to see your notes on #4 up there.

MeeWah	20 Jan 2003
Rhiannon: Is this class Tarot 101 or is it intermediate? Has there been an introduction with a brief history of Tarot? That could lead into the 3 types of decks, beginning with historical decks. Followed by Major Arcana & include information on the numbers; minor arcana, suits & expand on the numbers.

Khatruman	20 Jan 2003
Of course requiring them to keep a journal... and have creative exercises for them.. have them imagine stories for a particular card..things like that... give them a list of creative things to do... or outline a conflict and ask them how a certain card would handle that conflict... i.e. Your boss tells you that you are getting a promotion, but you must relocate, away from your family... if you were the Empress, how would you handle this situation? Peace!

Umbrae	20 Jan 2003
In truth, I’d start with a brief history of Europe covering the plague years through the reformation. Then introduce the Tarot. This may help back them away from what they know about the misinterpreted “Archetypes” that they may already have ‘looked’ into. It serve to clear the canvas so they can begin learning anew. And don’t you dare do “the fool’s journey”.

tarotbear	20 Jan 2003
Please restrict any discussion of 'history' to a bare minimum. The students are there to learn about how to read, not to get a major history lesson. I say this ever since I took a two-week 'Intro to Computers' class and for the first (2 hour) class- we didn't even turn the damn thing on! Teacher talked about lots of 'PC history' -- big boring deal. Got to turn PC on five minutes before the first class ended. A lot has to do with how many classes, and for how long. Tarot is a big subject. I teach Adult Ed and it 's a 2-hour class, once a week for 8 weeks. That means I have 16 hours to teach 78 cards and reversed meanings, spreads, interpretations, etc. That means I have exactly 12.307692 minutes maximum to spend on each card. Can you cram everything you want to teach them into that space of time? What will the 'core' info be? Someone interested in teaching Tarot told me they wanted to go into the Astrological signs for each card, and the Quaballah and the this-that-and-the-other-thing for every single card. I told them: you have to say something, the class has to hear it, digest it, then write it down. Then they ask questions and you have to answer them. This takes time. Your class will have to last hours and hours and weeks and weeks to tell a class everything you want them to know. It doesn't work that way. People cannot simply write while you speak (or drone). Teaching is a two-way street. You give them the basics and let them progress on their own. My syllabus goes something like this. Feel free to use or discard any part of this: "It's All In The Cards"- Class Syllabus Week #1- Intro to the historical aspects of the deck; handling and storage of cards; shuffling; responsibilities & use; The First 10 Trumps of the Major Arcana (wants & needs); answering simple questions using yes/no and 2-card layouts; The Importance of Keeping a Journal Week #2-Reading the Aces, 2's, & 3's (similarities & differences); 3-card and 3-pair 2-card layouts (good for hitting the highlights); doing readings for others; journal review Week #3-Reading the Second 10 Trumps of the Major Arcana (emotions & feelings); Horseshoe layout (helps to determine options); journal review Week #4 -Tonight is the halfway mark! Reading the 4's, 5's, & 6's (similarities and differences); Pyramid layout (helps organize your thoughts); journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment * Week #5-Reading the 7's, 8's, & 9's (similarities & differences); Contrary Cards- Are You Asking The Correct Question?; The Classic Celtic Cross layout-{this IS the 'Mother' of all card spreads}- 10 card spread good for considering all angles; journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment Week #6- Reading the 10's (similarities & differences); Reading the Pages and Knights (news & messages, changes); The Wheel Spread (influences and synthesis); journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment Week #7-Reading the Kings & Queens (people & their personalities); journal review; readings for class members; Homework assignment Week #8- attempting The Tree Of Life reading (NOT for the feint of heart!).This is a highly technical and involved concept involving the Qabala. It may be replaced by a 'Reading For Others' workshop at the instructor's discretion. * Homework Assignments: Homework assignments consist of a predetermined card reading with specific information and specific questions to be answered by the student. Although these are not graded, all answers should be written and submitted by the following class meeting. These ARE challenging, but they are NOT difficult! They will be returned to you with the instructor's comments the following week. ********** The 8th week is really there to give me a cushion to finish anything we might not have gotten to. I accomplish all this is 8 weeks- believe it or not. This is all done in a free-wheeling pleasant lecture format with my students asking me questions as I go. Except for the first and third weeks where things get squshed together due to so much info and so little time, the class is very relaxed.

Umbrae	21 Jan 2003
Actually, it is important to discuss world history and tarot. There are three distinct divisions in archetypal and tarot interpretation. Archetypal images from 1450-1760 (pre de Gebelin), Tarot archetypal interpretation 1760-1909 (Post de Gebelin/pre Golden Dawn), and 1912-present (post Golden Dawn). Each of the three eras carries their own analysis of the supposed archetypes, and it aids in enlightening the student to current mythos and dogma, which is stated as reality, by modern self-proclaimed experts and authors. Just a thought, since there was no association between Tarot and Quaballa prior to Elephas Levi, why bog down the new student…

Alex	21 Jan 2003
such approach. I would like to learn about Tarot interpretations in the "Pre-Freudian Era". Most of our "modern" interpretations are so much contaminated by psychoanalytic jargon. Terms such as "defensive", "unconscious", "projection" etc we use in our daily lives and take for granted in card interpretation rely on untested psychoanalytic theories… We not only fail to remember that, but most of us don't know what other message is/ or could be contained in those cards… because we cannot distance ourselves from some … some untested psychoanalytic theories of our era. My suggestion, as a wish for a Tarot course, would be a frank discussion_ it does not have to be a lecture but a conversation with the students_ about some concepts, theories and modern societal values that undermine regular card interpretation, such as: associating the HP with unconscious; giving the Hierophant a negative meaning because we value the individual above the society, and because we have relaxed certain communal and family values; associating The World with the word "integration" etc. The reason for such discussion would be, once the student is out there for counseling, he/she can reflect upon an issue we tend to forget: many of the advices we give and receive are according with media broadcast of what really matters, but some of these are far from human nature and only serve to distance us from nature and from each other. It is easier to find the right message when we can think of a certain message within the context of our culture ... and then distance ourselves from it and think again, what other message could be therein contained? Hope that helps Alex. Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae Archetypal images from 1450-1760 (pre de Gebelin), Tarot archetypal interpretation 1760-1909 (Post de Gebelin/pre Golden Dawn), and 1912-present (post Golden Dawn). Each of the three eras carries their own analysis of the supposed archetypes, and it aids in enlightening the student to current mythos and dogma, which is stated as reality, by modern self-proclaimed experts and authors.

Jewel	22 Jan 2003
Tarotbear, I would be interesting in learning what types of assignments you make. I am not planning on doing any formal tarot classes but my sister inlaw is intersted in learning and this approach seems like something that would be compatible with her style of learning and processing information. I copied your syllabus to use as a guide when she is ready to block some time to work on this. I will also sharing Thirteen's basics with her. I love this site!

Teranar	22 Jan 2003
I notice no one talks about seeing how well the students handle intuition mentioned. Wouldn't it be help to know how well they handle intuition?

Osher	22 Jan 2003
When I went to Tarot class we started with a discussion on the tarot, the majors and minors. With the majors we had to meditate on each one, and 'meet' them. Then discuss our thoughts. Gradually we learnt the majors, with minors a bit quicker. Courts took time as you can imagine. We learnt how to shuffle, how to meditate, and so on. Our meditation gradually over the 3 months become deeper, our spreads more complex. As we improved, so the emphasis changed from learning cards to learning via spreads. Finally, we leant how to read for others, including commercially. We also had handout which went into a file, which reflected each lesson.

Cerulean	23 Jan 2003
I went to a two-session class on introducing tarot cards to people about five years ago. The introductory one encouraged people to bring their own decks or try the ones at class and as the teacher talked about the majors of his deck, he encouraged others to at the break to break open their pack or or to come up and look at the different majors of his deck. It was a three hour class with two sessions, so we had an hour and half on the first 11, then a break, then the next hour and a half on general meanings for the second half of the major archana. From what I recall, the meanings were more Waite-style. He mentioned the switch in Justice and Strength, depending on the deck. For those who did not have pictorial minors, he said he would suggest numberology keys. The second sement was on the minor archana and simple numerology--then a break and we did a few card exchanges--people passed one to three cards to a neighbor and the neighbor described what the card pictures meant to them. Then the neighbor passed one to three cards and listened in turn. For history, further methods of reading, places to buy cards, etc., some books were also recommended. The teacher had the Royal Fez Morroccan, some people had decks such as the Norse Tarot or Aquarian, I had the Ukiyoe, and I saw a few Voyagers. Mind you, it six hours total and we only barely touched diverse decks. He only gave the handouts at the end of class, as he had us looking at his and our decks throughout the class. I liked the hands on approach.

The Teaching tarot thread was originally posted on 20 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.