Keeping it in your head

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Mar 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Little Baron	03 Mar 2005
I have been learning the tarot for quite a while, and on some days, when I am learning, I really feel I have a hold on the cards. On other days (most of them), I look at them blankly and everything I have learned goes out of my head; I feel like a total beginner than has never looked at a deck of tarot cards in my life, lol. Does anyone else have this problem? It is so frustrating. Any ideas? LB

Grizabella	03 Mar 2005
Yes, this does happen to me. I find, though, that if I make myself work at it and keep studying the cards till I figure out what they're trying to say in that particular instance, then I get good readings. It's as though my intuition just takes a hike and doesn't want to immediately see what's in the cards. I guess it may be that intuition is in the middle of a nap and I have to jostle it around and wake it up. Actually, though, I think it's that I'm not relaxing my mind enough to allow intuition to take over. I have to have a certain amount of "looseness" in order to allow my sixth sense the room to expand and do its work.

Phoenix Rising	03 Mar 2005
Hey Little Buddha, I know what you mean mate, I've been looking at tarot blankly for the last year or so, there is just so much to learn with it, and it's continual. I'm not sure i can wait too long, i'm a little impatient. Although the readings that i have done with them for others are starting to manifest themselves, and are proving correct. Although at the time, it didn't really make sense to me, luckily i had written them down in my journal, so I could see where the connection was made. Although I've put my tarot decks on hold at the moment, I just want to master my other interest..as you know, I'm sure that it will compliment and help to read the tarot better for me later on.

Ahria	03 Mar 2005
Hi there I was warned if I try push myself too hard and do too many readings I would hit blanks often, and I have found if I slow down (I am going to limit myself to 2/3 week) then its much easier to read.

psychic sue	03 Mar 2005
I think you can get psychic overload - as you describe everything going out of your head. When that happens to me I simply don't consult the cards for a week or two. There are definitely days when the vibe is stronger though. Perhaps its to do with bio-rythms? I don't know much about those, perhaps someone else can pick that up? Sue

tarotbear	03 Mar 2005
If you're asking if 'Are there days when you simply blank out?' ~ the answer is YES! Even those of us who deal in tarot every day and not immune from the 'deer in the headlights' effect. It's even worse when you are doing a reading for a querent, turn the cards over and ask yourself 'What the hell is all this supposed to mean?' LOL!!!!! It has happened!

Annabelle	03 Mar 2005
I know exactly what you mean, LittleBuddha. That happens to me sometimes as well, usually when I'm tired. What I usually end up doing is just leaving the cards out for a day or so, and thinking about them whenever I walk past them. Typically within a day or two I'll have an "ah-ha!" moment and everything will click into place. Have to admit, it makes me a bit fearful of trying to read "live" for others--I don't know what I'd do if I drew a blank and was really on the spot.

Keslynn	03 Mar 2005
It's definitely happened to me, even with a paying querent. What I find helps is to just start talking anyway. Find a card that you can remember something about and start jabbering. Then things will usually click into place. Don't worry, it happens to all of us at some time or another. :) Kes

Nevada	03 Mar 2005
Yes! I then find myself struggling to recall what some book said instead of really looking at the cards. Or many rote meanings come to me and I wonder, which one, which one? Sometimes I think we try to rush this too much. Sometimes I think we can study too much. At times its best to simply let the artwork do its thing to our minds. Let it sink in slowly and make new pathways. Maybe sometimes words are too much to expect. Just let the images sink in. Of course that's a problem when reading for someone else. All they see is you appearing to draw a blank. Frustrating... Nevada

Milamber	03 Mar 2005
There have been a couple times when I've stared at a spread for 20 minutes and got nothing out of it, and then made a connection and was able to continue. Other times, I turn over the first card, and from it determine the nature of the entire spread -- my last reading in the Circle of Stones was like this. Maybe the licorice tea had something to do with it. :P Yeah, there are times I can't bring myself to understanding. Especially if I'm rushed. I learned something on my trip to Alberta. Don't try reading if you don't have time to ponder and work with the cards. I had little time to myself during the trip, but a couple times I made time for quick readings, and neither time did I realize what the spread meant until after its meaning had been revealed by the day's events. Both my rushed interpretations were off. So, my advice to you would be to give time to a spread that is otherwise evading you. Maybe a thought, idea or realization will occur to you. I'd recommend not abandoning a spread to return later though -- if you have to do that, I'd recommend redealing a new spread instead. You could also try dealing clarification cards, but from a personal standpoint, I have never had a clarification card clear up anything for me, and I usually end up discarding them and trying to read the spread again as it was initially dealt. Still, you may do better with them than I have. Lastly: If thinking is failing you, then feel instead. If feeling is failing you, then think instead. If both fail you, you may not be grounded, or you may be mentally tired -- therefore, dream instead. See the cards in your head and imagine. I don't know if any of that will help, but that's my little flowchart for working through a spread.

psychic sue	04 Mar 2005
Annabelle4 wrote: Have to admit, it makes me a bit fearful of trying to read "live" for others--I don't know what I'd do if I drew a blank and was really on the spot. This is an interesting point. I don't read on a regular basis for others, but it has happened to me, when I turn the cards over and it just looks like a jumbled mess!! I do think though, that sometimes you just can't connect with that person at that particular time. For example I was reading for a friend of a friend (no money involved) and it happened. I said to her " I'm really sorry but I just can't read for you at the moment. There's nothing bad there, but I just can't make sense of it". She told me that she hadn't really wanted her cards read and our mutual friend had insisted that she have a reading. I told her not to worry, if she didn't want them read that was fine. Another time I got a totally confused reading for a lady who was bi-polar (she told me afterwards) and again I had to say "I'm sorry I can't read for you today". I think the cards had picked up her "high" mood and were scattered all over the place, just like her thoughts were that day.

Little Baron	04 Mar 2005
A lot of the time, I look at the cards and I think 'I know what you are trying to say ... I have got the essence through a feeling'. I just have trouble saying it in words. I come out with the vaguest and most predictable of keywords which mean nothing. Also, when I study a card for a long time and I think I have a hold on it, the next day, I look at it, and can remember nothing. LB

firemaiden	04 Mar 2005
Hey Little Buddah, here's a wonderful thread by Umbrae from his series called "the Process" where he addresses this very issue:, see The Blank Spot.

Little Baron	04 Mar 2005
Thanks Firemaiden ... very interesting stuff. I have read some of these, but not that one. Thanks for sharing it with me. LB

Emily	05 Mar 2005
This can happen to me too - I look at the cards........ and there is nothing there lol - I have a total mind blank, and I find myself thinking of something that isn't tarot related like what to do for lunch. I write the cards down, what question I asked, the date and time, incase next time I look at them I can relate then I put the deck away and go and do something else. :)

Stacie Doll	05 Mar 2005
When this happens to me sometimes it helps to look @ the book. It usually triggers something.

Ivy Rhiannon	07 Mar 2005
It happened to me when I was relying on the LWB, and before I learned to use my own interpritations. But now I just go with it, and my readings have never been better. :D

Milamber	07 Mar 2005
Yeah, I used to use the LWB like that too. I found, though, that in the long run it wasn't helpful. Sometimes I outright disagreed with the LWB's meanings, and came up with my own afterward. That's when I finally gave it up.

Raven Reed	07 Mar 2005
I am at the point where I can recognize at least half the cards but for some reason many continue to ellude me. The eights, the sevens, I can never remember, for example...

Milamber	07 Mar 2005
For me it was the fours, sixes, and anything in the Pentacles suit. ;) I think it depends a lot on which cards you can really relate to well. It grows easier over time though. The Four of Pents is one of my favourite cards in the Gilded now, lol.

Sinner	07 Mar 2005
This happens to me often, I thought it was the norm. Whenever I cant think of anything I always note the position of the card, and then I look at the card very closely, observing as much detail that I can then trying to relate it to more emperical things like states, feelings, phases or objects - in light of its position I usually come up with something after a while. It does take some time though.

Ivy Rhiannon	08 Mar 2005
Yeah everyone has trouble with some cards. Some one on here said that it is most likey the ones that we are having trouble with in our lives. The best thing to do is keep a journal of all your meanings, readings, and spreads.

The Keeping it in your head thread was originally posted on 03 Mar 2005 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.