Intuition vs what the book says

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

stenoboy	04 Mar 2003
Me and my partner both did a "mind, body, spirit" reading for him yesterday, and in the "mind" section of the reading, the Seven of Swords came up (using the Robin Wood deck). Before we looked at the book for a meaning, I came up with the conclusion that there were issues that were hidden but slowly coming to the surface (the wall that takes up half the picture, the hood half over the guy's face), frustration at not knowing what these issues were (the tents in the background that gave no clue whatever as to what's in them), depression (the dark clouds), but that it would lift (the speck of blue in the left of the sky), and that this negativity would pass (the flag is billowing in the wind, driving the clouds away). However, when we looked up its meaning in the book, it said something completely different. My question: just how wrong were we to make these assumptions? I felt our interpretation fitted the situation perfectly, but the book's interpretation shed no light at all. How safe is it to make these kinds of sweeping judgments, not taking into account the words of the wise printed in Tarot books?

Umbrae	04 Mar 2003
Trust your heart...not the book.

Major Tom	04 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by stenoboy How safe is it to make these kinds of sweeping judgments, not taking into account the words of the wise printed in Tarot books? I felt our interpretation fitted the situation perfectly, but the book's interpretation shed no light at all. A well constructed question often answers itself. :) "If it feels right to you - go with it".

jmd	04 Mar 2003
In doing a reading, trust, as Umbrae said, your heart... the moment is what speaks - especially to, as Major Tom said, the well constructed question. In carrying out further studies, I would also suggest to study the books (including your own notes from previous readings, reflections and meditations) - and inquire into why what is written by various authors may be so written, given the cards...

cheekyminx	04 Mar 2003
I have to agree with Major Tom, Umbrae & jmd! Use your intuition, what do you feel the cards are telling you? Every tarot book will have similar & different meanings to cards, but it is up to you to decide.... Good Luck!

HOLMES	04 Mar 2003
eventually you will put down the book and use it only for when your inuition get stumped as our minds blocks the message. :O) so in the long run you will rely on your inuition,, and your knowledge, when that happens for you ,, it is only for you to say,, i was 20 when my book was taken away by my mother saying you dont' need this,, boy did i dispair, but now i can do most readings without looking at a book. :O) it will come mario ,, it will come. babe ruth in his first few weeks in the majors struck out til he got us to the majors and became a house house name. consider reading the tarot without the book as the majors :O)

Karenwhe	04 Mar 2003
In addition to all said above...... Do not try to attach logical meanings from the conscious to the cards, or guess (this means that in my life and that means the other) in a logical way. Trusting you intuition as opposed to using you logic to make sense of what you see (that is a pitfall, I have seen many go down that road). Just my 0.0000000001 cents.

Kazz	04 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by HOLMES eventually you will put down the book and use it only for when your inuition get stumped as our minds blocks the message. :O) I agree with you Holmes! Alot of the time when reading, certain cards to me instantly 'jump out' screaming something that is so far off their traditional text meanings from a book, and my initial reaction (intuition) usually hits the nail right on the head (so to speak). There is alot of times that a card's particular picture, symbols, even colours, is in fact, exactly what it's trying to tell you..literally! Cheers Kazz :TQC

XLCR	04 Mar 2003
as for intuition in readings vs. book once I was giving a practice reading on the internet and got the devil card in the relationship position I use the Sacred Circle tarot - the book describes the devil as the dark side of human nature but when I looked at the card I saw an old man who appeared to be about to fondle himself. So I typed in the first thing that popped into my head when looking at the card - "dirty old man" The person I was reading immediatly said "That's my dad. He sits around all day watching porn movies."

Alex	04 Mar 2003
of this discussion? As for one thing, I haven't, as yet, gotten a good answer to the most important question in all this: what is this "intuition" you all talk about (just considering there is anything unifying all definitions). If you read a bunch of books in the past and today you never open them, you can't really compare this "intuition" that "speaks to you" when you are reading with that of a person who has never opened a Tarot book and reads the illustrations on the cards. If you don't use illustrated pips, then don't come tell me that you read "by intution". You probably use a system that you got either from books or from somebody else who learned a system from books. A lot of what people call here "intuition" is a rooted knowledge that has come though a combination of a lot of study and experience. If I were you, stenoboy, I would just do what you feel like it's the right thing for you. People's minds work differently, trying to follow someone else's system may end up holding you back, no matter how appealing and charming this system might look at first. But books tend to either simplify or overcomplicate card meanings, so you probably need good books and more than two or three. Alex.

jmd	05 Mar 2003
As Alex raises some points about the use of intuition which are important, I may start another thread on just this... In terms of this thread, however, I certainly do not think that one 'needs' to have any learned 'system' when actually faced with a reading - irrespective as to whether the pips are illustrated with scenes or with the number of implements... But I'll continue in a new thread entitled 'Intuition and the Reading' in the Talking Tarot section.

XLCR	05 Mar 2003
well to me intuition is what tarot is all about...I look at it as working my psychic muscle...I began by using the book and gradually "spirit" began to speak to me thru the cards...where I would look at say, the Strength card which in my deck (sacred circle) is respresented by a dark skinned petite looking woman and "know" that this card represented not the meaning of the card or the book interpretation but an actual person. Who in reality hardly resembles the person on the card but for that particular question I could "see" her in the card and "knew" that it was her. This "knowing" without any logical explaination is intuition.

lupo138	06 Mar 2003
the question is: how did the first readers find out the meaning, if not by intuition ? my point of view is: know as much as you can about the cards. And then dump it, in case a new view is offered by your intuition, if you checked the intuition carefully.

The Intuition vs what the book says thread was originally posted on 04 Mar 2003 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.