How To Get Started

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Tarot	17 Apr 2002
Im Fairly new to Tarot and Very Impaitent....I dont really read things through So would anyone be willing to help me out? In simple terms?

Diana	17 Apr 2002
edited

Talisman	18 Apr 2002
"I'm Fairly new to Tarot and Very Impaitent....I dont really read things through So would anyone be willing to help me out? In simple terms?" 'Lo, Well, I really think Diana's advice is the best you're going to get, but you're impatient and want it simple. So, simple: First, brew a cup of tarot tea. Anyone can tell you what goes in it, but I want to keep this simple. Wait while the tea leaves seep, spirits in the cup like fragments of dreams left over when you wake up. Don't look at the surface of the tea with your eyes out of focus or you'll see images there. That's something else, I think. Then take your tarot deck. You have one, right? Some people say their decks talk to them. They sit on the store shelf and holler, "Hey, buy me!" Well, ignore that. It is just too sad. It reminds me of dog pounds. Noses pressed against cages, the dogs say, "Choose me!" "Oh, please take me, we'll have lotsa fun together." "Oh, yes, take me, and this time I'll be a real good dog, I promise." "Yes, yes, take me, or they're going to kill me and instead of being a fun loving puppy, I'll be just a lump of dead dog meat." "Please . . . My tail is wagging hard as I can . . ." So, sip your tarot tea. Then shuffle your tarot deck and choose just a few cards. Not too many, so this will be simple. Float the chosen cards out on the table like dreams floating in a pool of sleep. Then look at the images on the cards. They have images, right? Gotta have something. Listen in that corner of your mind that hears things like this. Listen to what the cards are saying to you. Listen to what the cards are saying to each other. Listen to the story being spun. Sip your tarot tea. Take your time. The story is there for you. It may at first be a passing shadow, a fleeting glimpse like a quick image in a rearview mirror. Concentrate, so you don't miss it. And, that's all there is to it. It is that simple. Really. Talisman

Jenny-Li	18 Apr 2002
Hi! I've always been very much the impatient kind of person myself, and I have to tell you this at once: I think if there is anything that will give you a sense of patience, that might just be the Tarot learning! :) I've always wanted to "get" everything on the first try, and preferably be the best at it from the very start too (silly, I know...!), and that's just not the way it works with Tarot, at least not in my opinion. On the other hand, I think what I love so much about the Tarot is that it's ALL about learning, actually! Learning, growing, travelling a life long journey...! Mmmmh...! :D So I think your impatience might be in for a tough fight here...! :D I hope you'll enjoy it! Just ask away, that's what I do, and there are always nice people around to answer, discuss, help out in any way! Love and light! Jenny :)

Diana	18 Apr 2002
edited

Original Destiny	18 Apr 2002
wow you have got some really good replies...all i can add is 1---take your time 2---start off simplistically 3---Assam tea, black without milk or sugar 4---keep on this forum .it is the best :TFOOL

Tigerwings	19 Apr 2002
You guys are great!! I am also an impatient beginner tarot reader/enthusiast/freak! I have put to good use most of your advice here, and I wanna say thanks for setting me and others on the right path! I hope you all dont mind answering the million and one questions about tarot I will have in the future! Now I am off to get me some tarot tea! yum Love Erin

Diana	19 Apr 2002
edited

Talisman	19 Apr 2002
'Lo all, What's going on here? The journey of a single step begins after you've traveled a thousand miles. (I think I may have slightly discombobulated an ancient Chinese saying.) Jenny is so right! Some of us have the patience of a second grader with a fanny rash sitting through his sister's oboe recital. In my grumpy way, I was just trying to start an argument. Truthsayer called me an old conservative, and I'm still stinging. But, I have to agree with Robert Heinlien. TANSTAAFL. Tanstaafl means, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." I think you get out of something, like, say, relationships, what you put into it. So, Tigerwings (Erin), welcome! Please, please, argue, disagree, voice your opinion, have fun. I've learned bunches here, and I'm always arguing. Watch: Original Destiny says tarot tea is Assam black. Diana asks for a bit of milk. So: Depends. Have some Lipton teabags (some may not consider teabags tea at all) for "Chai" tea. Ingredients: Assam black tea, cinnamon, allspice, ginger root, black pepper, cloves, cardamon. Give it a grind from your peppermill, add milk AND sweetner, and maybe, a tarot tea. Or, Assam black tea alone. Relish the flavor. I may be talking to myself at this point, but I think I'll continue. Talisman

Talisman	19 Apr 2002
More, just me, Life is so difficult if you can't read -- or don't read. Once upon a time, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world was a man named Sonny Liston. Esquire magazine did a cover story on Liston. There he was on the magazine cover, scowling out from a towel over his head, lookin' mean and as invincible as a granite mountain. His next fight was against some Olympic upstart named Cassius Clay. The writer, a man of words, tried to elicit more from Liston than grunts. Liston, who had spent much of his adult life in prison, was a clever sparring partner. Question? Grunt. Finally, Liston confided that he had never learned to read, and was totally illiterate. The wordless man confessed to the man of words. And, he said something I'll always remember, pushed to a point by the clever word man where his fast fists couldn't help him: "Do you know what it means not to be able to read?" he asked. "See that sign? I don't know if it says, 'Hey, free beer,' or if it says, 'Nigger, keep out.' " Sorry, but there is a tarot thing here. Talisman

Butterfly	19 Apr 2002
I have to agree with sweet Talisman's point. It's a cliche, but so true- you only get out what you put in. Don't be impatient, respect the journey- because that is truly where the wisdom and learning lies. I quickly discovered tarot is a lifelong learning. Once you think you know it all-bang- another insight and you realise that you really don't even understand the tip of the iceberg. Enjoy, don't rush it- that's my oppnion.

Talisman	19 Apr 2002
More, I guess, So, you start reading about tarot. You encounter Plato's division, on one side the receptive faculty and on the other the thing perceived. On one side is "icon," and on the other "eikasia," the specialized state of mind receptive to incons. Part of what follows, I'm, quoting from Paul West, a guy who writes. So, you find a rosette, which to the Greeks is a symbol of something as well as a rose. So, the part of it that's a sign implies the whole. The sign speaks to the senses, but the sign plus the ineffable speaks to the mind. "The sad thing, for the Greeks and us, is that the two come apart, which is to regret that we no longer apprehend symbols in the round: to us they are highly specific counters or mystical tokens. Surely there was a time when, with both thrown together as the Greek verb "ballien" suggests, the concise magisty of all created things entered the mind at its most magical. What we call symbolism has an elegiac sound because it indicates loss, severance, breach . . . "After all, the rash intimacies and cranky maneuvers of their gods were things they more or less took on trust. No wonder then, that the Greeks, so prosaic and clinical in math, let their imaginations loose when viewing the stuff of everyday." Well, if you're still with me, was there a time when the brain's right hemisphere and left hemisphere worked together? Before symbolism got split from the pack? And, ain't it better, maybe, not to know this stuff, and just look at the tarot pictures and read the stories you see? Talisman

Talisman	19 Apr 2002
Butterfly, While I'm typing away, blathering way, you posted. I really don't want to knock Tarot, who posted the original message, 'cause I'm always impatient, but -- I really believe you get out of something what you put in. I agree with you so much, it is a lifetime journey. Talisman

arizonagirl	19 Apr 2002
I hope Tarot, who doesn't "really read things through" does read through this thread. Talisman, Talisman. This forum wouldn't be the same without you.

Kiama	19 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Talisman Then take your tarot deck. You have one, right? Some people say their decks talk to them. They sit on the store shelf and holler, "Hey, buy me!" Well, ignore that. It is just too sad. It reminds me of dog pounds. Noses pressed against cages, the dogs say, "Choose me!" "Oh, please take me, we'll have lotsa fun together." "Oh, yes, take me, and this time I'll be a real good dog, I promise." "Yes, yes, take me, or they're going to kill me and instead of being a fun loving puppy, I'll be just a lump of dead dog meat." "Please . . . My tail is wagging hard as I can . . ." *Kiama blushes* This doesn't happen to me at all. No-siree! No decks ever callin' out to me, Mr Talisman Sir! I never done it. What? All those decks I have? Oh! Them... Yeah... Um... They didn't really holler at me.... It was more of a whisper. Kiama ;) :p

ladycj	29 Apr 2002
Yeah, mine is more like a whisper too.

Umbrae	29 Apr 2002
"...shuffle your tarot deck and choose just a few cards. Not too many, so this will be simple. Float the chosen cards out on the table like dreams floating in a pool of sleep..." Talisman, it is truly a joy to observe one who understands the language of cards and man.

sarahenglish	29 Apr 2002
Talisman, I agree with Umbrae, you have a way with prose! What a joy to read!

Talisman	30 Apr 2002
Umbrae and SarahEnglish, Just read this, and now, I'll feel good all day. But, sometimes, I re-read stuff, and am embarrased, thinking, okay, plenty of bit and bridle, but where's the horse? Oscar Wilde said, "Brevity is the soul of wit." Dorothy Parker said, "Brevity is the soul of lingerie." Methinks I should look up the word brevity, then post it on a sticky on my 'puter monitor as a reminder. But, well, thank you. Talisman

Umbrae	30 Apr 2002
Brevity, may be the soul of wit, but if one is attempting to educate, motivate, or provide vision (of the big picture), it be neither wit nor lingerie. If brevity was all it was cracked up to be, Yeats and Joyce would neither be taught nor read (or are they?). Further, what did Oscar know about wit? What does Dorothy know about Lingerie? A cup of tarot tea (Darjeeling with a hint of lemon), and a deck of cards…stories of lives laid out to examine…there is prose in the telling; and to get there is poetry. Talisman, you write good (lol-roflpp)!

Butterfly	30 Apr 2002
Talsiman, you are truly a modern day minstrel, weaving humour and wisdom with your words. I love that!

The How To Get Started thread was originally posted on 17 Apr 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.