Help!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Alrisha	28 Mar 2004
i bought my first tarot deck few days ago but always gave up when i felt so overwhelmed by all the information i had to memorize. how u follow the meanings defined in books or do u come up w/ your own interpretation for each card? how do u get a sense of what the cards are trying to tell u? i have so many questions and duno where to start really. which book would u recommend for a beginner? i just ordered the world spirit deck i hope i will feel better working w/ it. thx in advance.

contrascarpe	28 Mar 2004
My first piece of advice - patience. It will take time and practice and will evolve even when you get a handle on things. Everybody has her/his own style for learning. Personally I was in the same boat as you once I decided to seriously study Tarot. One day it clicked - my readings are not always the accepted book meanings as I try to read intuitively, but by the same token, it is always good to know what the basics are. The way I learned was to go through all the books I had on Tarot and start one suit and card at a time and take notes of key words. Once I was done I typed out a list that I still carry with me to this day. With that said, I suggest you start here: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/ Thirteen is a member of these boards and the descriptions presented were a big help to me, especially the Fool's Journey storyline for the majors. Another good source is Joan Bunning's online course. She has a book with the same info, but you can download the course here: http://www.learntarot.com/top.htm It is a logical approach to learn, but again, take one card at a time, maybe even one or two cards a day until you feel comfortable. You will get a "Eureka" moment one day - a time when things start logically coming together. Good luck, Dan

tmgrl2	28 Mar 2004
I agree with contrascarp...I am new since February....there is a world of information here at AT...just do searches and read threads...Under Forums you will find whole sections devoted to the mechanics of reading...check out the thread started by jmd recently....some new members posted with good questions..but there is so much here if you just search and post and read and learn...terri tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24027

Alrisha	29 Mar 2004
thx contrascarpe96

Jenny-Li	29 Mar 2004
First of all, welcome to the tarot-world. Second - welcome to the AT which is a very good place to start learning. Tons of good stuff to review - and loads of people to ask if/when you get stuck. And third, congratulations to buying the World Spirit which is a very good deck - the one that helped me take off and learn to read intuitively, because of it's very inspiring imagery! I would say, however, that you might have given up on your first deck a bit too easily, if you bought it a few days ago and have already given up on it - you might want to give it some more time and patience. But then again - who says you can't have two decks to work with, right? ;):D;) (Out of curiosity - what deck did you buy first?) The world spirit is accompanied by a really good LWB, read it! Not for memorization though, but for understanding of the symbolism in the cards, the archtypes in the Majors and the elements at work in the minors. Take notes, make a journal in which you record what you learn about the cards, your own observations as well as from other sources, things that makes sense to you. If it doesn't make sense to you - don't write it up in your journal. If you're meant to understand that particular point of a card, it will come back to you when you're ready for it. Do lots of readings, but start out small. Three-card-readings are great. Not just for newbies, I have started out with them, switched for bigger spreads but am now mostly back with the 3-carders again, simply because I like them best. And - as said already - be prepared to give it time. The best thing about learning tarot is that you will never be fully taught, there will always remain more to learn and find in the cards! Good luck! //Jenny :)

Phoenyx*	29 Mar 2004
The best way is to start out pulling a card a day, and writing down what the card's images say to you. Then compare it to the Little White Book (hereafter referred to as LWB)'s meanings. Sometimes, finding threads on the boards about your deck, and that card (like in the study groups), will help you to see things in there that you hadn't seen before.

Jenny-Li	29 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Triquetra Then compare it to the Little White Book (hereafter referred to as LWB)'s meanings. Hmmm... Personally I disrecommend anyone from using LWB's at all, it's just the World Spirit one that I recommend because that particular one is a good, usable one. Get a real tarot-book instead, 78 degrees of wisdom is a good one for RWS-inspired decks, and it also gives inspiration on how to search for symbolism and meaning in the cards' images. See the books-section on the forum for further recommendations! The standard LWBs with keywords listed for each card's meanings is, IMHO a plague of the tarot world and they should be tossed away without further hesitation. They limit you and your ability to think for yourself and use your intuition for reading/understanding the cards. Except for the more elaborate ones, like the World Spirit booklet. You'll see what I mean when you get the deck delivered! :) Jenny :)

Alrisha	29 Mar 2004
hi jenny, i bought my first deck a few YEARS ago...i think lot of beginners start off with this deck. take a guess :P

Jenny-Li	29 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Alrisha i bought my first deck a few YEARS ago...i think lot of beginners start off with this deck. take a guess :P Ahh, I misunderstood you then - sorry 'bout that! Then my guess would be Rider Waite... I bought the Universal Waite myself as my first deck, and I actually quite like it. The colouring of the Universal makes the deck more alive, methinks. Either way, the world spirit is a great deck, I hope you will like it and bond well with it. The tarot is a great journey, I hope you'll embark on yours with the company of the Right Deck! ;) //Jenny :)

mj07	29 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Alrisha hi jenny, i bought my first deck a few YEARS ago...i think lot of beginners start off with this deck. take a guess :P hee hee, you sound like me! I bought my first deck, the Rider-Waite, a few years ago and never connected with it. Recently I picked up tarot again and still could not make friends with that deck, so started looking at others till I found some I COULD read from! Good luck with your new deck! Hope it works better for you! Oh, and in terms of learning, since I'm also pretty new to it, I agree with Tom that it's important to have patience, something I never have enough of! and I think it was thirteen who gave the advice to stay away from the Celtic Cross and other multiple card spreads and stick with 1-3 card spreads for a while. That's helped me a lot!

Alrisha	30 Mar 2004
It's good to know I am not alone. I'll try to stick w/ a simple spread and really get comfortable with the cards before attempting to try more complicated spreads which never fail to give me the feeling of frustration.

Free	03 Apr 2004
I found it really hard to learn from books, i found lists of meanings really hard to connect with. I bought 78 degrees of wisdom, and it goes into so much detail, but it is really well written and instead of lists of meanings, really explains the meanings and symbolism explained in the cards. But I also think that you cannot learn everything from a book, you have to trust your intuition and if a card is telling you something that doesnt appear in a book, trust yourself. Tarot is individual for everyone, I think the cards speak in different ways to different people. So don't despair, just go with your feelings at first and if your get stuck you can give yourself a little help from a book!! :D

The Help! thread was originally posted on 28 Mar 2004 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.