I'm having a difficult time..

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Apr 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Shoegal75	06 Apr 2004
Hello everybody. I am new here and have read SOOOOOO much on this site and posted very rarely because of my fear of being too incompetent. So far what I have gathered is a lot of great advice, tons of info and have noticed everyone here is so open, responsive and kind. It is kind of like sensory overload for me at times, in a good way, reading everyones interpretations and such, but I feel I just can't read these cards sometimes. I've been reading for about a year I suppose, but sometimes I just feel stuck and trapped in the whole "this card means this and that" mentality. I also have a hard time putting the cards together as a whole. For instance if all of the cards are positive but right in the middle is the Tower, it throws me. I so much want to read more "intuitivlely" (sp) but feel blocked. Sometimes it flows out of me but most of the time I can't put them together. I especially can't read myself and I so desperately need some insight. My husband is looking for a job because he was laid off, sadly enough, and my MIL is trying to ruin our lives and I want to know what is underneath her cruelty. Is it an illness or is she just plain mean? I want more insight but cannot read myself AT ALL. I use the Hanson- Roberts primarily but I also have the Moon Garden and Faerie Oracle Deck. I only pull out the faeries on special occasions. :) Does anyone else ever get trapped in the meanings or do you just read them freshly new everytime? What is the best method for you? I am sorry if my rambling has bored any of you to tears. I would just like to know...WHat is YOUR method and style. I'd love to hear from you. :) Shoegal

Shoegal75	06 Apr 2004
I just pulled 3 cards for myself after writing this post. Some honest advice on my reading would be greatly appriciated. I didn't think of a question but my mind has been on my husbands job pursuits. Here goes. ace of cups six of swords ten of cups the ace of cups to me means an abundance of love ( the cup overflowing with new possibilities), the seed is planted for new love to grow or an old one to rekindle, a new career is surfacing, all things new, happiness surrounds the querent. Possibilities. the six of swords mean a couple different things to me, one it could mean a journey, or a trip to somewhere you may have not known you were headed but realized it was the right direction. It could also be a literal trip, although I don't see it as being a long journey. Travel. OR it could mean leaving hardships behind onto something better ahead. I could be totally off here. Ten of cups I see this card as being happiness around the home, family, feeling as though you have everything you've wanted or needed. I am sure there are many more meanings but like I said before, I get locked in. Ok so to put these together - there will be a new love come to fruition and the possibility is there ( but I am married and happy with that so...) in regards to my thoughts I'd say there is new career opportunities and possibilities on the horizon, the may have to do with travel, travelling to work, or travelling for work, OR it could mean leaving the old job, but with the other cards I don't see it this way. My objectiveness couls begetting in the way, or what I want to to say could be getting in the way. And with the 10 of cups I'd say that it will bring joy and happiness around the family and home. I know my reading is so simple, I'm sure someone else could have elaborated more but what do you all see? Sigh. :) :) :)

Dark Inquisitor	06 Apr 2004
There is nothing wrong with relying on card meanings instead of intuition as you are learning, and then later incorporating them both. It seems like you should restrict yourself to one and two card readings until your brain is able to process the whole thing a bit better . It might need some time to catch up. Tarotphelia

Star Spirit	06 Apr 2004
I remember you Shoegal. I hope you'll post more. I just want to say that you can't force it. Tarot takes time to learn, in fact we are all still learning. Don't feel like you are doomed or incompetent just because you are still learning and feeling stuck. When you are unhappy/uncomfortable in your life, it is very difficult to read most of the time, especially for yourself. I know, I've been there. Everyone has blocks. I'm a writer and I've been blocked forever. Every once and a while something clicks...but then it's gone. I know the feeling. All you can do is keep trying and take a different approach. Go somewhere or do something that inspires you. Try not to stress so much on getting it all right, right now. Don't stress on set meanings OR intuition too much. You need to go at your own pace and in your own way. If trying to read the cards as a whole doesn't work for you, don't do it. Everyone is different. Personally I usually just read them one by one. I'm not very fancy at all. I will just shuffle, cut and reorder once, and lay the cards one by one, face up from the top of the deck. Then I get out my journal, and start writing, card to card. No special rituals, not even meditation. Because that's the way it's always worked for me. Don't let one card throw you just because it looks out of place. Also remember that no card is all good or all bad. In some cases, the Tower could indicate a good kind of change. Something that was necessary, a real wake up call, a positive kind of transformation. But positional meanings really help make sense of things, so when you look at the greater whole, don't neglect the details :) I know that wasn't your intention. It will happen in its own good time. I had to leave tarot for over a year before it sparked me full force and now I know it was meant to be. You just can't force it, because when something feels like a chore it's just NOT fun, and not something you can really learn from. You have to allow yourself to be truly comfortable in your position as a reader before you can take on the role you want :) I hope this helped some and wasn't just a bunch of ramblings like yours :D P.S. Here's how I see your reading. Ace of Cups symbolizes what you wish for, like you said, abundance of love. You feel complete in your home life, but as for tarot, you're stuck and incomplete. You want to have the same relationship with tarot. Six of Swords represents your tarot journey. Swords are seldom harmonious cards, so naturally it is (and may continue to be, for a while) difficult. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. Ten of Cups is your outcome. This is the kind of completeness that you work hard for, and that you savor every moment when it arrives. I believe that once you find your comfort zone with tarot you will find your comfort zone as a tarot reader :) And your wish will be fulfilled.

Shoegal75	06 Apr 2004
Thank you for your encouragement, and I know I have tried to force myself a bit. It's the whole fascination of it all and when I love something and it inspires me I want to know everything about it. And the tarot is just something I don't think anyone, especially I, will ever know all there is to know. I read another post where someone suggests just playing with the cards. Maybe i'll just try that. A friend and I one night tried to just make up stories with each card for fun and some of it actually ended up being right on the money. So maybe the key for me right now is to go at it light and maybe i'll find things about the cards I never would have noticed before. I'll definately post more in the future. It was nice hearing from you...and thank you too tarotphelia for letting me know it's ok to rely on the basic meanings, it helps to know others understand. :)

Shoegal75	06 Apr 2004
Thank you for helping me understand the reading and it makes so much sense considering I was feeling down about my reading skills. I didn't even notice the obvious, it was about my relationship to the tarot! That's wonderful :) Thank you. Love and light :)

Star Spirit	06 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Shoegal75 Thank you for helping me understand the reading and it makes so much sense considering I was feeling down about my reading skills. I didn't even notice the obvious, it was about my relationship to the tarot! That's wonderful :) Thank you. Love and light :) Why of course it was! You drew them after you posted :D I think that idea of playing with the cards is GREAT, by the way. Tarot has to be fun, otherwise what's the point? I hope it helps you become more comfortable with the cards.

Jewel-ry	06 Apr 2004
Hi shoegal, I agree with everything Dead Star says, but would like to add that all that playing with the cards really does help. Just drawing the cards and telling stories and asking them silly things. It helps you to familiarise yourelf with the cards and helps you to make connections. The other thing is not to put too much pressure on yourself. When I first started, I studied and studied and wanted to know it all now but someone told me that I have the rest of my life and I thought 'Yeah I do'. I stopped beating myself up over it all and started to accept that I can take as long as I want . Instead of rushing things, I take them slower now and that gives me more time to think about them for longer and to assimilate the information. I started a little book which I headed up with a page for each card and whenever I come across a different meaning I jot it down. This gave me an instant guide which really was a pool of information from lots of different sources. I use to use it lot but now I very rarely look at it. It was really helpful at one time, though and even now I still add things to it. Keep going and don't pressurise yourself. Most impotantly - have fun. J :)

bec	06 Apr 2004
Open your heart - enjoy the journey and you will gain what you whish for in heart. My head line for the cards. I don't see this concerning your husband at all, and specially not when doing the draw immidiately after your post - this is tarot reenforcing your courage to keep going and open up to what ever may come. You are in for a treat :P

Imagemaker	06 Apr 2004
The impatience of wanting to learn *everything* tarot may be related to your impatience of wanting life to get better (with a job for your husband and getting away from or dealing with your mother in law). As though if you could just read the cards, they'd tell you how it's all going to turn out. When I've been in a situation like that (several in my life), the emotional overflow (Ace cups?) blurs the cards. Unfortunately, the only key is forward to new understanding (6 swords?) until you can come to a new clarity of appreciation and enjoyment (10 cups?). Patience to wait while life unfolds is the most urgent thing we need, and the hardest to attain :)

lunakasha	06 Apr 2004
Hi Shoegal...glad to meet you! :) I just wanted to add my two or three cents....and to let you know that you are among a tremendous group of people here...a support network that you are not likely to find anywhere else, in terms of people who know and love the tarot as much as you do. Most people here will probably agree with me on this: that out in the "real world", most of us don't have a lot of support...people we can talk with openly and/or enthusiastically about tarot. I would just like to give you a nice warm WELCOME and remind you to be patient with yourself, as others have already mentioned. Just take your time and enjoy the journey...and knowing that you are not out there on your own.... :)Luna

Shoegal75	07 Apr 2004
Thank you so much Luna and to all of you who have given me encouragement and support. It's important to me because as you said it's a taboo subject amongst most people. I look forward to getting to know people on this board and learning from them as well. Love and light :) Christy

DarkElectric	07 Apr 2004
Hello, Shoegal, nice to meet ya :) It can be very frustrating when you're stuck in the spot where you want to learn soooooo badly! Everyone who's posted here has given some really good advice. I don't know if what I can say will help, but I'll give it my best. It took me a long time to get to the point where I felt as if I were relating to the cards in a coherent way, and not just guessing and bumbling. What did I do? I read for EVERYBODY I could who wouldn't run away! All my friends got readings, all the time. It got to the point where someone with a pregnant cat would get a reading about the kittens ( I was so wrong about how many grey ones) but I learned! It took about 2 years for me to feel more confident. And then, I found Aeclectic. I have learned so much from this place, it's absolutely amazing. There's a lot of collective knowledge here. Something which opened up a world of understanding for me was our own Thirteen's "Tarot Basics" which are posted on this site. I think it's one of the best, and most comprehensive method of explaining tarot I have ever encountered. It helped me read for myself, as well as other people. I also like a book, "Tarot for Yourself" by Mary K Greer. It was helpful to me, and got me to think about the tarot in a different way. I was able to develop my intuition, and not have such fixed and rigid ideas about meanings, and things like that. I find cards will have different meanings given the situation they apply to. That was something I didn't quite expect, but it's proven true to me. Just for fun, here's what I get from your 3 cards. Ace/Cups~ I see this as a new opportunity in the happiness department. Not a new love per se, but perhaps a new opportunity to make a fresh start with the one you love already, your husband. He may be offered an opportunity for a job he really likes, which would get you guys away from that mother in law... This may be the 6/Swords influence here, leaving the conflict behind, this job he's offered could involve a physical move, and if it's somewhere that her influence can be minimised, this is a good thing. Even if there's no physical move, it could be that whatever this is will diminish her influence. (Mathematically, 6=3x2, and it seems as if this mother in law is the 3/swords on both of you. Distancing her could only be a good thing, right?) And that brings me to the 10/cups, which could signify the ending of the old cycle, and the establishment of a new and happy home life, without her! You two can create your home, and your lives, without her petty control trips, insecurities, and downright meddling. I hope everything works out for you guys :)

The I'm having a difficult time.. thread was originally posted on 06 Apr 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.