comments and questions from a tarot baby

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Nov 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

cuddles	29 Nov 2002
hi all :-) i am pretty new to all this. only started studying how to use them properly recently. i would like to hear your comments to what i have been experiencing so far. i don't know how much of what i am reading (and i'm only doing it for myself at the moment) is reading and how much is me seeing what i want to see. you can't tell me that, i know, but maybe you can give me some thoughts and advice based on your own experience and knowledge. i've had a stressful couple of years. good things as well as bad, but all stressful. the last 2 months have been worse, and the last 3 weeks even worse. like i said, the bad is among the good, and i would say i'm a lucky person with a good life. but even good change can be hard. without going into details, a loved one with many problems dissapeared 3 weeks ago. things are better now but those weeks were awful. i read my cards the day this person dissapeared, before i knew he was gone. they showed the past as it had been, the present as very difficult-i read it as him going through a difficult time of confusion, and the future as positive. it was a celtic cross reading using the elemental tarot by caroline smith. when i look back at this reading it is almost scary how accurate it turned out to be. and it amazed me that i seemed to understand it correctly. i have decided to use the mythic deck to do my learning and am taking an email course offered by the lotus tarot site. i read my cards several times in the last few weeks. the cards remained positive and so i tried to as well. i'm using layouts with 2 or 3 cards so that i can concentrate on learning the cards as well as being able to find the meanings more easily. i did a let go to gain 2 card spread. the let go card was the page of swords and the gain card was the six of cups. i understood the gain card to mean i would gain peace, love and serenity. but i had problems with the let go card...and believe me, i wanted to know what to let go to gain that! the best i could come up with was that i need to be more down to earth and not get too caught up in unreal panic about the situation. the card in the mythic deck has the page on a cloud above the earth blowing at more clouds. still not sure i got that one right, but it did help me to remember to remain calm and realistic. just when it seemed everything was going to be all right it seemed to go wrong again. i did a problem solution 3 card spread. card 1 is the character of the problem. 2 is the consequences, and 3 the solution. i asked what to do about the situation. my problem card was the ace of cups-abundance of emotion-raw and overwhelming. consequences was the chariot-battles to be fought-conflict and struggle and struggle to maintain control over tensions and contradictions. solution was nine of wands-at point of exhaustion-final challenge arised to prevent goal but somehow find strength to meet challenge. virtues of patience. you might recongnize some of these card descriptions...they come from several books i use. this reading seemed spot on for the first 2 cards so i decided to stay strong and focused and believe all would be ok. and it was. he was in touch soon after and i could help him get the help he needed. everything looks so much better now. so these weeks have been really amazing tarot-wise for me. the cards really seemed to speak to what was happening and give me focus and direction. which makes me wonder how much i was reading what i wanted to read. i know i tried to do a reading on another topic once and it ended up being about this same situation. think that could be because that's what i really wanted to know about? my this is long...hope i didn't put anyone to sleep. thanks for your thoughts! cuddles

Thirteen	30 Nov 2002
Quote: Originally posted by cuddles so these weeks have been really amazing tarot-wise for me. the cards really seemed to speak to what was happening and give me focus and direction. which makes me wonder how much i was reading what i wanted to read. i know i tried to do a reading on another topic once and it ended up being about this same situation. think that could be because that's what i really wanted to know about? If I understand your question, you want to know if you're reading too much into the cards or if the cards are really giving you viable info, yes? Yes, you can read things into the cards when you're reading for yourself. But remember, you don't decide which cards to draw. They come up randomly. So if the ten-of-swords comes up, it comes up, and you can't read good news into that, can you? Similarly, if the nine of cups comes up, you're not likely to read bad news into that, are you? Put it this way. You're SUPPOSE to read things into the cards--they're coming up with a message FOR YOU, no one else. So you get something and it rings familiar, well, then the cards have done their job, they've indicated to you something in YOUR life to examine, look out for, take advantage of. They want you to know what they're trying to tell you. See? Oh, and that page of swords--let go of your fear that others are or are going to say bad things about you, gossip about you, whisper behind your back, act like gossipy kids. That's how you get peace of mind.

fairyhedgehog	30 Nov 2002
Hi cuddles (lovely name :) ) As usual, Thirteen has good and useful advice that is worth listening to. If you haven't checked out her 'Tarot Basics' yet then I suggest you do, as they are very useful. I'm not sure what I want to add (I'm a real novice compared to her) except that it sounds like you're doing OK to me and that you want a bit of reassurance. All I would say, is trust your own experience. If it is working for you, and it sounds like it is, then it is right, good, fine. Sounds like you're off to a great start and I hope to see you around in here with lots more to post :)

divinerguy	30 Nov 2002
To add a litle bit more, try not to force the reading. If you can't figure out the reading, make a note of the cards and come back later. If it still doesn't come to you, draw another card or two, asking for clarification. Sometimes you just need to wait a bit, and let the reading come to you in its own time.

Diana	30 Nov 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Thirteen So if the ten-of-swords comes up, it comes up, and you can't read good news into that, can you? Similarly, if the nine of cups comes up, you're not likely to read bad news into that, are you? cuddles, I hope I'm not going to confuse you even more now! :) Thirteen, are you saying that the ten of swords (according to the Rider Waite deck) is always bad news? And that a nine of cups is always good? Either I have misunderstood your post completely, in which case I apologise. Or else I must say I don't agree at all. Recently I did a reading for a member of the forums and that 10 of Swords was so encouraging. Better news could not have been asked for. But I wasn't using the deck that has some guy lying sprawled on a deserted beach like some squashed jelly-fish with 10 Swords sticking out of his back.

cuddles	30 Nov 2002
yes, thanks everyone. i guess i really wanted to hear whether or not i was on the right path. it sounds like i am :-) i'm so glad i found this forum. it seems like such a wonderful place-even the disagreements i've seen are had with respect for the other person's views! hugs to all, cuddles

Thirteen	30 Nov 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana Thirteen, are you saying that the ten of swords (according to the Rider Waite deck) is always bad news? And that a nine of cups is always good? Either I have misunderstood your post completely, in which case I apologise. Or else I must say I don't agree at all. Well, I was kinda saying that--and the minute I did I knew someone would call me on it ;) But hear my reasoning: I said that because Cuddles is a newbie and I *didn't* want to confuse her. Also because I kinda feel that the tarot gives you what messages it can depending on your level. So, you're new, you've got your LWB, and 10/swords, according to that LWB (and Waite by the way if you're using him) is NOT a good card. So, if the cards want you to know things are not going to be good, up comes 10/swords. Time passes, you get better, you ask questions, you post on this forum, and folk say, "Hey, 10/swords ain't as bad as you imagine...."--and you maybe use a Crowley deck where there's just 10 swords and not a guy lying dead, dead, dead. At that point, I figure the deck starts to offer up that card to indicate good as well as not-so-good, because at that point, you're able to see such nuiances. Cuddles is still learning, and there's only so much that can be learned by anyone at one time. So I figured, save the nuiances, the yin-yang lesson about the cards for later. There's plenty of time to learn that. What she needs to know now is whether she can trust her intepetations. The example I gave of 10/swords, 9/cups was aimed at helping a newbie understand that, yes, she can trust those interpetations. If YOU, Diana, were asking the same question, I would not have used that example at all because it would have been waaaaaay too simplistic for you--as, evidently, it was.

jlbvt	30 Nov 2002
Quote: Originally posted by cuddles I tried to do a reading on another topic once and it ended up being about this same situation. think that could be because that's what i really wanted to know about? The same thing happens to me all the time! It used to drive me crazy, but now I recognise pretty quickly when it happens. I think maybe it's not what YOU are really trying to find out, but what the Tarot wants to tell you. Anyone else have any thoughts on this??

Trogon	01 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by jlbvt The same thing happens to me all the time! It used to drive me crazy, but now I recognise pretty quickly when it happens. I think maybe it's not what YOU are really trying to find out, but what the Tarot wants to tell you. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?? Yes... I have similar experiences quite often, both when reading for myself and when reading for others. Though my take is more along the line of; sometimes you get an answer to what you have asked... sometimes you get an answer to what you have asked. Alternately - you might get something you want to know, or you might get an answer you need to know. For example; not too long ago an acquaintance asked me for a reading about what was going on with this guy she was interested in. She seemed to have fairly strong feelings for him, but hadn't heard from him for a couple of months (an internet thing, btw). The message didn't seem to reflect on the relationship or possibility of a relationship, but rather on a need for some self exploration and a hard look at her own needs and desires. It was a rather strong reading for her and she has since come to realize, after that self examination, that she was grasping at this "relationship" because she was in a "rebound" situation.

Diana	01 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Thirteen Also because I kinda feel that the tarot gives you what messages it can depending on your level. Thirteen: your answer to my post gave me a lot of food for thought. I realise that one must not only give credit to one's own understanding, but credit to Tarot Itself (with a capital "I"), for showing us the path up the mountain that we are able to cope with. Like it won't expect us to climb up the rock face until we have bought mountain-climbing equipment. It will show us the path that leads round the mountain. Thank you for taking your time to answer my question with such patience and tolerance.

baba-prague	01 Dec 2002
Hi Diana, This comment came at a good time for me because we are just beginning to design our 10 of swords. We've been looking at RWS and I've found myself saying weakly "well, it can be a good card in certain circumstances" BUT like you, I look at this scene of the guy absolutely like a pin-cushion, and it's almost laughable to say it can be good. So, you asked in the other forum about our (Tarot of Prague) 9 and 10 of swords. Well, the 9 we have revised about six times so far, but now we feel we are getting it about right, but do you have any thoughts about the 10? What decks do you recommend looking at for their 10 of swords? Maybe I should add, we are using a woman, rather than a man, for this card (in several instances we are changing the gender, as I just find the RWS too male) and this makes me even more reluctant to show someone that looks like the victim of a serial killer! On the other hand, I don't like decks in which everything has been "sweetened", I do think there are bad as well as good things in life.... Any advice or thoughts will be really appreciated. Karen Recently I did a reading for a member of the forums and that 10 of Swords was so encouraging. Better news could not have been asked for. But I wasn't using the deck that has some guy lying sprawled on a deserted beach like some squashed jelly-fish with 10 Swords sticking out of his back. [/b][/quote]

Diana	01 Dec 2002
baba: As we're getting off-topic here, I'll start up a new thread on this topic. It is one of my pet-peeves, so you are doing me a great favour here ;) .

The comments and questions from a tarot baby thread was originally posted on 29 Nov 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.