Silly Question(s)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

PltoStorm	01 Dec 2002
I'm new at this and rather confused. Heh. Question 1: Alright, So, I have a deck, I read over the instuctions and card meanings, started to memorize them and all that. For a reading, do I use the whole deck (Major Arcana and Minor Arcana) or just Major Arcana or Minor Arcana alone? :P Question 2: And when the cards are facing me (or the diviner) they are the Divinatory Meaning, but when they're facing the person that's getting the reading they're the reverse meaning? Question 3: And also, while I'm in asking these questions (heh) the deck came with a little booklet that explains how to lay out the cards and mentions that the questioner should place the first 6 cards out in the fashion the diagram shows, but it also shows card numbers 10, 9, 8, and 7 on the right hand side. Does the questioner set those as well, or does the diviner? Did that make sense? heh Thanks you! :)

wakeboarder	01 Dec 2002
The opinions stated here are not necessarily right or wrong, they are merely opinions. All of the questions you have are questions that most people have as novices, and you have to decide how you like to handle them, but I'll tell you the way that I do it. Answer 1: Most people use both the Minor Arcana and Major Arcana in their readings. Many people suggest starting off with just the Major Arcana since it is easier to memorize 22 cards than 78, but I chose to start off working with all 78 because I tend to be good at remembering things. It's all up to you, but I recommend picking up the Minor Arcana somewhere along the line. Answer 2: That is totally up to you. Some people ask the querent (term normally used for the questioner) which they prefer and others do it one way. I personally haven't started doing reversals yet, so I'm not very experienced in this area. Someone else will probably help out a little more than I can. Answer 3: Ok, the spread (the way you lay the cards on the table/floor) is usually layed out by you because the querent usually doesn't know where to put the cards and it makes it simpler. Before anyone else tells you to throw the little book away, I'd like to voice my opinion about how useful the little book is to a novice. I learned most of the things I know from the little book and this website, so don't throw it away. Ok, I've said my peace. It's time to go to sleep. ~Wakeboarder

RingTheory	01 Dec 2002
Yeah, go ahead and use all of them. Well, if you really feel overwhelmed, just use the majors. But, if I were you, I'd try them all at once, but not reversals for awhile. The majors are the big picture, the minors, the little details. Always face east if you are the diviner. When you're reading for someone, or for yourself, the cards are read from your perspective. They're not reversed for the person you're reading, since you're interperting it. Try using intuition and focus, and relax. The diviner lays all cards. Sounds like you're doing a Celtic Cross there...not the best if you're totally new. Try a 3-card, or 1-card spread if the CC is too much. Keeping a tarot journal can help, too. So can the LWB, like wakeboarder says, but your own intuition should trump...

Trogon	01 Dec 2002
First off... these really aren't "silly" questions... they are very good questions which do come up. Next, as wakeboarder already mentioned... these are strictly my own opinions. ;) 1) When I started out, I also began using all 78 cards. According to some people, that may have been the hard way to do it, but it's done now. I can't say for certain of course, but it probably did slow me down a little bit... steepen the learning curve so to speak. But in the end, it seems to have worked out okay for me. But you have already found one of the best resources for learning the Tarot ... Aeclectic Tarot. Be sure and check out Thirteen's Tarot Basics. 2) I do use reversals. As RingTheory mentioned, when I do a reading, I deal the cards "facing" me, therefore, any "reversed" cards are upside down to me. There are many pro's and con's to using reversed cards. Me, I use them all the time and I don't feel that they've really made the Tarot any more difficult for me to learn since the reversed meaning is almost always directly related to the upright meaning. If you want to make sure your deck has reversed cards... you can just lay the cards face-down on your table and mix them up by "smearing" them around - or you can just rotate 1/2 the deck 1/2 a turn the first few times you shuffle the deck. 3) The spread which is shown in the LWB of the Dragon Tarot is the "Celtic Cross" spread. It can be a rather difficult spread to learn and to use (it was for me anyway ;) ). I tend to use either a 3-card or 5-card layout. These tend to be easier to learn and easier to use. If you check this thread - http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9449 it is one of the most recent discussions on people's favorite spreads (my contribution to that is the 5th one down, if you want to check that one first! ;) ). I would also suggest a search on "celtic cross" or just "spreads" and see what others are suggesting. Also, you might want to check out TarotSpreads.com and see what other spreads they discuss. Hope this has been of some small assistance...

Diana	01 Dec 2002
You're going to get many many diverse answers to your questions here (which are not silly by the way.) Which just goes to show you that Tarot is highly flexible, and there are very few set rules. RingTheory says to face East. Well, I have done readings in a moving car, so we are changing directions all the time. In fact, I've never heard of this theory of facing East. I wouldn't know where East is, most of the time! Personally, I wouldn't start reading with the Celtic Cross that comes in the LBW (Little White Book). Far easier to start out with so-called simple 3-card spreads. (I say simple, because one can read a whole story in three cards). Perhaps the most popular is the past-present-future. The past is what has brought you up to where you are today. The present is where you are, and the future is the possible outcome of your situation based on the first two cards. Of course, the future is not set in stone and the cards provide us often with the inspiration to change the outcome. You can use Majors only and also Majors/Minors. That's something you need to decide on - what you feel more comfortable about. I did only Major readings for a long time, thinking that the Minors were too complicated. I was wrong about my opinion of the Minors, but the Major only readings were highly accurate so I don't regret having started out with them only. I think the question you asked about reverse cards can be given a definitive answer : No, the cards are not reversed for the person sitting opposite you. The cards are read in the position they are drawn. Don't forget, you can have the querant sitting next to you, or you can have him/her on the phone, or over the internet. The querant does not necessarily have to be present. Also, I have never heard of readers drawing half of the cards, and then the querant drawing the others. This idea sounds odd to me, and I think the reading would come out pretty odd. But who knows? Some people never let the querants even touch their cards, other people prefer the querant to shuffle and draw the cards (this is my case). Again, this is very personal and you must do what feels right to you after trial and error perhaps.

PltoStorm	01 Dec 2002
Thanks for the spreads and answers! They helped a whole lot. One more, and I'll make it quick. For the Minor Arcana, I read them as if its someone affecting me? When it says "An emotionall sensitive man" it means that a man will be that way to questioner, or this case myself? Or do I have it wrong? Heh

Thirteen	01 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by PltoStorm Thanks for the spreads and answers! They helped a whole lot. One more, and I'll make it quick. For the Minor Arcana, I read them as if its someone affecting me? When it says "An emotionall sensitive man" it means that a man will be that way to questioner, or this case myself? Or do I have it wrong? Heh Well, this is an even more complicated question. Court cards are usually considered among the hardest to read. The card could mean YOU (or the querent). OR it could mean someone you (or the querent) know. It could also mean someone you're going to meet, or it could have a particular meaniing--like if you get the page of wands, that can mean travel. How do you determine which it is? The spread will help you. You do a three card spread. Past--likely the card is indicating someone you knew or were involved with recently. Present--likely it's you or someone you know now. Future, likely someone you'll meet or something you'll do (like take that trip). See? All depends on position in the spread AND the other cards. But don't jump ahead to spreads just yet--and MY recommendation, DON'T start doing reversals just yet. Get to know the cards, how they relate to each other, what the suits mean. Then move onto spreads, starting with easy ones (as wisely recommended, 3/5 card spreads). Then reversals if you like (some master readers never use reversals). Then more complicated spreads. It's tempting to dive in the deep end and start swimming, I know, but relax, take it slow, enjoy the learning. One thing you find out very quickly about tarot is, the discovery process never ends. And that's the real joy of it.

HudsonGray	01 Dec 2002
Remember that court cards don't need to represent people at all. They can represent ASPECTS of that particular type of person indicated in the little white book. If the Queen of Swords comes up, you can possibly be looking at yourself (the person having the reading done) in that card, or someone who affects the person is represented by the card, OR the sharp tongued NATURE of the Queen of the card could be what's indicated here--such as maybe the person having the reading done needs to watch what they say without thinking, or that they need to stand up & defend themselves, or that what others say to them has more impact than the person thinks. Aspects for each particular court card can come into play just as often as the court cards representing the querant or people they know.

anjocoxo	02 Dec 2002
I read tarot for about 5 years (on and off) and only about 6 months ago I decided to read with the minors. I only read with the major arcana b/c I have a lousy memory and I though "geee 78 cards? no way, jose!", so I only did readings using major. 6 months ago I decided that it was time to adventure with the minor... and guess what, it was sooo easy to work with. Don't be afraid of the cards. Yet, as soon as I started to use minor, I quit doing reversals. Reading the tarot has basically to do with you? what do you feel? how do you fell confortable? keep trying and you'll get there (whatever "there" means). Anjo PS- there are not silly questions (sometimes there are silly answers, but that's another issue) :)

juice	02 Dec 2002
You don't have to be afraid of reversals either. Since all cards have positive and negative aspects, you can read reversed as negative. Not all people do it that way. There are a hundred ways to read reversals. I've just started using reversals as a cue that I'm trying to intuit from the "negative" half of a cards meanings. Seems to be working so far. A simpler method on the front end and harder on the back is to ingore whether or not the card falls reversed and read both regular and reversed when trying to intuit a cards meanings. Don't try to keep track of which of the meanings are reversed.

The Silly Question(s) thread was originally posted on 01 Dec 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.