A 3-year-old's take on 5 of cups

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Aug 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Molly	02 Aug 2003
We were picking up daddy from work yesterday and I had my Victoria Regina Tarot with me, so I started looking at the pictures. I was curious if my son would pick up on facial expressions so I asked him what he thought of some of the cards... it was so much fun... Then we got to the five of cups and Caleb asked me why the lady was sad. I said, "I don't know; why do YOU think she is sad?" He said, "Is she sad because she lost her dreams?" I wondered to myself, isn't all disappointment, in a way, losing your dreams...? And maybe the two cups that did not spill holds the secret - remembering or reconstructing anew. At any rate, I'm going to have to look at the cards more often with him; he has a lot to teach me! Just had to share ;-)

Little Baron	02 Aug 2003
Quote: What a lovely and innocent perception. Can I borrow your son? I've got a spread I need some help with! Best wishes and thanks for sharing that Molly. Yaboot

Armande	02 Aug 2003
WOW! How wonderful. Kids pick it up very quickly but they don't always share it with you, unless they feel it is safe to do so. :)

Mimers	02 Aug 2003
That was great. I love going through my decks with my daughter as well. They are 'untrained' and it is as if their perceptions are pure.

Kiama	02 Aug 2003
*Wiping the tear away* Children are wonderful. Responses such as that are why I have no qualms in allowing children to look at my decks and learn Tarot... If it's okay with you, I'll put Caleb's response in my Tarot journal? Kiama

Astraea	02 Aug 2003
"Out of the mouths of babes..." What a clear and concise statement! Just lovely.

Trogon	02 Aug 2003
Wow Molly... that is sooo cool! (I was going to say more, but it sounded too cynical and I'm too tired to change it... :D )

Diana	02 Aug 2003
Molly: your kid is quite something..... Please tell us if he shares any more wisdom about the cards. Give him a kiss for me!

Alissa	02 Aug 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Diana Please tell us if he shares any more wisdom about the cards. I second the motion ... what a little Teacher you have. thank you for sharing...

Teranar	02 Aug 2003
I third the motion, so it should pass! Children, it seems, have this odd, almost unnatural ability to tell us exactly what we need to hear, mostly because their eyes are purely innocent, therefore untainted by the world, and see things in simple, yet stunningly deep, perspectives. Why is she sad? The innocent: Because she had her dreams taken away... a response like that, is why people are sad at their core. Show your sun a card showing happiness and joy, and ask him why they're happy... Its almost sad the way in this world innocence is so rare outside children, and so easily destroyed...

Wildchild	03 Aug 2003
I never thought of the 5 of cups that way before! Thank your son for sharing that with us. :)

Umbrae	03 Aug 2003
Perhaps just maybe...you should take notes on his comments for all the cards... (When he wants to talk that is)...it could be enlightening...)

punkangelgcm437	03 Aug 2003
I went to get my deck and the 5 of Cups was at the bottom. And now that I look at it...what Caleb said is true. Usually I'd say regret or relationship issues...but now I see that she just lost her dreams. ::tear:: how adorable. Maybe I should see what Luke says (Luke is my best friends cousin)...he's only 4. And of course I fourth that motion. :)

firemaiden	03 Aug 2003
...because she lost her dreams... That sure sums it up, doesn't it. How poetic! Thank you for sharing this with us!

Chronata	03 Aug 2003
What a wonderful story! The best Tarot students I have ever had are the ones that teach me new things....And all those I have learned from have been children...usually under the age of 12.

catti	05 Aug 2003
i am asking because my 8 and 5 year old want me to teach them ...and like alot of you have noticed i find i learn alot from them...almost in a selfish way i think NO i will not tell you what it means YOU must tell me! but more seriously i find that we do better with storytelling than a meaning on a card, they dont have the life experience or maybe i just dont speak well enough to explain it...... and i just have to share this with the only people i know who could understand, i told my oldest , a girl, i would get her the hello kitty tarot ( hello kitty stuff is HUGE here for girls) she rolled her eyes, looked at me and said" no, mama hello ktty is to cute for me, i want real tarot" she is eyeing my Ancestral Path...says she "loves the swords " her birthday is in 5 days and she has been hinting heavily... catti

Molly	30 Aug 2003
Hi Catti, (sorry it took me so long to reply - i have been having internet issues..) I have often wondered if people who love tarot feel comfortable teaching it to their children, with todays climate ... I know Marie's (Mary-El tarot) daughter, who I believe is 5, has been working on drawing her own deck (Marie put scans up at her website), and it is really amazing to see - the raw emotion and intuitive understanding of symbols... just fascinating. I think it is a wonderful tool for creative thinking and storytelling. I was planning on doing some collage art projects with my son and breaking out the decks - see which art styles he's drawn to or what images stand out to him.

catti	30 Aug 2003
what i ended up doing is getting a BOTA deck and making large scans and allowing my 5 year old to use them as a colouring book, it is really cool the colors he chooses. Like strength was in a magenta dress and had silver skin. My daughter who is 9 didnt want to color and wasnt "getting" tarot at all. In fact her Leoness was getting rowdy when it turned out her Piscean little brother was intuitively better at it than she was...but finally her deck set arrived ( thanks to Mari Hoshizaki ) and she is comfortable with it, just playing around mainly , but with the book she doesnt feel so lost....also she started doing some "cards" based on doodles she saw in my notebooks...I told her whatever you do dont tell your religion teacher where the idea came from...say you saw it on yu-gi-oh or something!

Shadow Wolf	01 Sep 2003
Children can give us such insights. I had my son help me to cleanse and bless my tarot cards. He had said he was bored, and I asked him if he wanted to help me. He's 12 yrs. old and I was very touched by the reverence he showed while helping. He asked me why I was doing this, and I said that if you use the cards a lot the need to be cleansed and blessed to "re-energize" them. We talked about very diverse spiritual topics and I told him that I wanted him to use his head as well as his heart on choosing his spiritual path. We are sending him to religious instruction in the Catholic Church, but we also say that he should follow his "gut" reactions. If something doesn't ring true for him, it's O.K. for him put it aside for now. I believe in teaching children to make their own choices. My poor mother is beside herself. My brother moved to California about 13 yrs. ago and is now Buddist, and I'm doing candle rituals and reading tarot cards !!!! We were raised Catholic but ultimately had to make our own choices. So if our children are going to choose their own way anyway, why not expose them to different belief systems now , so they are better equiped to make those decisions. Molly, I applaud you for exposing your son to the wonders of Tarot now. He sounds a if he's well on his way already to making intuitive readings !!!! Thanks for sharing !!!! Sorry if I got a little long-winded !!!

Marie	03 Sep 2003
Hi Molly, I must have missed this thread the first time around. How sweet your son is! What a fantastic sentiment! Speaking of my daughter Sophie who is 5, I have learned a lot from her too. Kids take these things so naturally. I was very conflicted about exposing her to tarot when she was younger. Ultimately I had no choice. We are so close and it's such a big part of my life. I don't regret it at all though and I truly don't think there is anything wrong with tarot, nor do I think it is harmful to children. I can think of a few kids cartoons I would consider way more harmful. I bought her her own deck, the whimsical and gave her my tarot of the cat people, but she didnt like either of them! She likes the Ancestral Path the best I think. Recently I got a large Swiss Thoth, she saw it and said " I guess Ill have to make another deck now" since her first one was RWS inspired LOL She loved the Thoth! It's funny, I get a little shy about talking tarot with strangers, probably because of bad past experiences, but Sophie and Michael, my fiance, have no problem at all. Sophie will announce it loudly anywhere especially in a bookstore and Michael tells everyone sending links to my website to all the people he works with, family, friends, whatever. Now that Sophie is school age I am dreading the first time tarot comes up around one of her friends fundamentalists christian parents. I just keep in mind that I am doing nothing wrong. Why should I worry when it is other people who are closed minded? There is a stigma around tarot, and I recently realized that it is deserved. There are people who rip off people and take advantage of them with tarot, I actually know someone who gave a tarot reader thousands of dollars to remove a curse!!! They are used by pagans and witches, which strike the fear of God into Christians, like it or not, right or wrong. People do use them to see the future which also scares people mightily. I don't know what the answer is except stay true to yourself, don't harm anyone and let people make up their own minds. If they don't like what you do that is their own problem, especially if it is based on fear and misinformation. I have noticed that in the case of Michael who broadcasts my tarot interest far and wide, he is so forthcoming about it people don't take it negatively. When you worry it is like holding a dog on a tight leash, he knows there is something to worry about, something bad about that other dog walking toward you. Hold him on a loose leash and he is relaxed and thinks life is good and there is nothing to fear! Geez, is that too much info?! BTW if anyone else has kids who draw tarot cards I would be happy to post them on my website, I just love it!!! I think it offers such a beautiful, innocent, intuitive view of tarot. Love, Marie

Ivy Rhiannon	05 Jan 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama *Wiping the tear away* Children are wonderful. I completly agree Kiama! How beautiful, and innocent! And yes thank you for sharing! When we are young we are so close to our original design, and so close to our creator! I only hope that we in our greatest moment of intuition can see as your son did and answer as honestly!

skytwig	05 Jan 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Marie Recently I got a large Swiss Thoth, she saw it and said " I guess Ill have to make another deck now" since her first one was RWS inspired LOL She loved the Thoth! Sophie is a Crystal child for sure....... :laugh: I have several in my life and they are pure delight!!!!! Quote: People do use them to see the future which also scares people mightily. It's the 'power' that scares them, Marie, especially women with power.... that's why witches have been rejected for centuries..... :) skytwig PS.... I was 'away' for awhile, that's why I missed this......

Vynara	05 Jan 2004
that's it, I'm going to have a kid. I've been sitting on the fence about it for a long time but yeah, I decided to have kids. What you all said about children is SO true, it went straight into my heart *weeps* But until I bear one, I think I'm going to kidnap my 4 year old cousin and see what she has to say about my cards. ^.^

Molly	31 May 2005
I cannot believe how long ago I originally posted this! We have since moved cross-country and re-settled in a new city... and my son is now five! My daughter is now three! wow... Yesterday, Caleb saw me with the cards and asked me to do a reading for him. He asked if I would "tell his future" and I giggled and asked where he heard that (knowing not from me) and he said "Between the Lions" (a children's TV show on PBS that teaches reading - ???? - and tarot apparently????) But ANYWAY, I opened up all my decks and showed them to him and asked him which deck was his favorite.... It was the Shining Tribe Tarot! I told him to sort through it and put it into three piles - "favorites, med. favorites, and ones you don't like so much" - He said, "Actually, I'll just do two piles of my favorites and my favorite favorites." *giggle* So we decided we would study the deck - do a card a day - and I would read to him from the book. And what a great deck to study... we read from a Children's mythology book all the time and he is really interested in that. so... I just wanted to give a little update... and thank all the people who participated in this thread, :) (I have been MIA from Aeclectic for a long time between the move and resettling, but I plan on being back now). Thanks for your reply back, Marie... I just now read this thread and saw your post today... I noticed at your website you are pregnant again... as am I! Congratulations, :)

Emeraldgirl	31 May 2005
Wow Molly what special fantastic children you have. I hope you always remain as blessed with them as you are now.

The A 3-year-old's take on 5 of cups thread was originally posted on 02 Aug 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.