learning to speak Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Sep 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

sarahbellum	17 Sep 2004
I have been interested in Tarot for many many years, and have owned many decks over the years, and done many spreads, but it is only recently that I have started having this experience: I feel like I am learning to speak Tarot. When I was a girl, my family moved to France, and my parents chose to put me and my sister into French school. For the first few months, I had special classes in French, and I carefully did all the lessons and memorized the irregular verbs, etc. But then there came a day when I noticed that I was thinking in French, and that I no longer needed to translate everything in my head. I began to understand words that don't even have an English equivalent. I seem to be having that experience with the Tarot--a kind of non-translatable understanding of what certain cards mean, an understanding that is very hard to express in English (or French, for that matter) because it is essentially different from anything those languages encompass. For example, I have a completely new relationship with the Strength card. I used to just read it as meaning (duh) strength. Now I seem to read it as meaning a certain kind of joyful and seasoned strength that arises from looking into the face of the scary thing, and smiling, and even (contrary to any rational expectation) embracing it, thus forging a surprising new relationship. I would be inclined to call it the "Kissing The Lion On The Nose" card. I am just embarking on this new way of understanding. Maybe it has to do with getting older, or maybe with having gone through a very harrowing illness, or maybe just the Tarot casting its spell. Whatever it is, I am having a wonderful time! Who knew that as a woman "of a certain age," I would get the chance to learn a whole new way of thinking?

floracove	17 Sep 2004
sarahbellum, that's absolutely enchanting... Hope one day it comes to me like that!

Eco74	17 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by sarahbellum I would be inclined to call it the "Kissing The Lion On The Nose" card. Just had to say I really love that name for the Strenght card. :)

Diana	17 Sep 2004
The Tarot is a language. It has its own grammar, its own structure. It's own alphabet. So you're becoming trilingual. Wonderful!!!!! And please kiss that lion on the nose for me. :laugh:

Red Emma	17 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by sarahbellum but it is only recently that I have started having this experience: I feel like I am learning to speak Tarot. I seem to be having ... a kind of non-translatable understanding of what certain cards mean. Whatever it is, I am having a wonderful time! That green light suffusing your computer screen as you read this post is pure, plain, evil, jealousy. I'm way, way beyond a certain age, and I've been studying tarot for several years. None the less, when I read I daren't get very far away from my LWB's. Sigh.

blackroseivy	18 Sep 2004
That's ok, I've been reading since I was 12 (I'm now 38) & I *still* need to refer to them from time to time! But I have been just recently thinking of this as being a language!! I have the *most* trouble with undecorated pips, although the court cards do give me some trouble, too. Don't feel too bad about the LWB's, I'm still only just learning to get along without them, or at least less of them! :|

Imagemaker	18 Sep 2004
Quote: maybe with having gone through a very harrowing illness I think this is a element in your new "comprehension"--having kissed a lion on the nose and come "through" (literally) that tunnel of learning, new levels of awareness often arise. There is a knowing beyond words that hovers outside language. Fascinating and useful.

Cerulean	18 Sep 2004
Thank you for your story! Is there any favorite decks that help clarify 'speaking in tarot' for you? Regards Cerulean

Alissa	19 Sep 2004
I loved your post, sarahbellum! :D It reminds me of when I was studying French in college. I was taught that when you begin to *dream* in another language, it is a sign you are truly absoring the language into yourself. I think each card in the Tarot begins to have a "meta-message," an essential core to it that refracts differently in various decks, or even just from reading to reading with the same deck. Have you dreamed in Tarot yet? :D })

magpie9	19 Sep 2004
Just wanted to say that I think having you here on this forum is going to be great for the rest of us! Very glad you found your way here. And yes, I speak/think in tarot too. It's occaisionaly embarressing when I have to try and explain where I "got" that to a non-speaker. But I figure it's good exercise for me. :D And I still have to delve in books for reference, too. I'm not sure it ever gets entirely simple. But I am sure it always stays fascinating! edited to attempt re-spelling. gave up. O well.

Vincent	19 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by sarahbellum I am just embarking on this new way of understanding. Maybe it has to do with getting older, or maybe with having gone through a very harrowing illness, or maybe just the Tarot casting its spell. Whatever it is, I am having a wonderful time! Who knew that as a woman "of a certain age," I would get the chance to learn a whole new way of thinking? There have been a few theories about Tarot, some comparing it to reading music or braille, or learning a language. However you see it, it's nice to see someone get fluent. "The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs. Given the inward meaning of its emblems, they do become a kind of alphabet which is capable of indefinite combinations and makes true sense in all" A.E. Waite The Pictorial Key to the Tarot Vincent

Fulgour	20 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by sarahbellum For example, I have a completely new relationship with the Strength card. "Strength" reminds me of the ripened fields of corn here in Illinois: the Summer's Sun was the wild, powerful Lion, but work and care have raised up a mighty crop to bring energy and sustenance through the Winter months ahead, and yet still provide the seeds for next year's crop in Spring. Strength tenderly takes each tiny grain from the harvest, and transforms it into the Bread of Life ~ to sustain us all.

Vincent	21 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Fulgour "Reading" the Tarot was not very big on Waite's list: Although Waite could be scathing about 'fortune-tellers', he knew exactly what most people would use his Tarot deck, and book, for. Perhaps you have an edited version of the PKT. Have you checked to see whether it has these chapters devoted to "reading"? Section 3: The Greater Arcana and their Divinatory Meanings Section 4: Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana Section 5 The Recurrence of Cards in Dealing Section 6 The Art of Tarot Divination Section 7: An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination Section 8: An Alternative Method of Reading the Tarot Cards Section 9: The Method of Reading by Means of Thirty-Five Cards He also wrote a book called "A Manual of Cartomancy" under the pseudonym of Grand Orient, which appears to be quite big on "reading". Quote: Originally posted by Fulgour " "Readers" know enough to avoid Waite's irresistable suggestions. Readers will do as they wish, whether they know anything or not, and Waite was well aware of this. As was Crowley, when he said; "Mr. Waite has written a book on fortune-telling, and we advise servant- girls to keep an eye on their half-crowns. We have little sympathy or pity for the folly of fashionable women; but housemaids need protection ___hence their affection for policemen and soldiers ___ and we fear that Mr. Waite's apologies will not prevent professional cheats from using his instructions for their frauds and levies of blackmail..." Vincent

Fulgour	22 Sep 2004
Quote: Originally posted by sarahbellum For example, I have a completely new relationship with the Strength card. "Strength" reminds me of the ripened fields of corn here in Illinois: the Summer's Sun was the wild, powerful Lion, but work and care have raised up a mighty crop to bring energy and sustenance through the Winter months ahead, and yet still provide the seeds for next year's crop in Spring. Strength tenderly takes each tiny grain from the harvest, and transforms it into the Bread of Life ~ to sustain us all.

Teranar	22 Sep 2004
Its an interesting concept... I never thought about thinking tarot is another language, just a medium speaking to me and I'd just 'know' what it was saying... since I have a lot of free time now I think I'll try this new concept... tarot as a language...

The learning to speak Tarot thread was originally posted on 17 Sep 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.