confusing

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

mikeyofthesea	13 Oct 2004
i am new to the tarot and i got my deck a week ago after a few weeks of reading up on it and to see if it was for me... (to make a long story short) i was talking to my brother, he told me he asked this girl out because he is back into the dating game. when asking this girl out she never gave him a yes or no answear. so later on in the week they where to go to the mall togeather. when he called her house her ex-boyfriend picked up the phone. and she siad he was going to the mall with them. my brother hung up on her. after i told him ohhh i am studying the tarot, he siad read them to me so i said ok. i did the cross and the first few cards i didn't understand much when i looked them up. then the cards siad.....somone is beind dishonest...you will have to make a judgment call on this person.... then a few confusing cards... then somthing positive and then somthing negative right after this. my question.. when you start is it often that some card are confussing and some are very cleer to read.???

Eco74	13 Oct 2004
It comes and goes.. It does tend to get a little easier to "tune in" after a bit of practice and learning though, but that has more to do with 'cooperating with the tarot' than with the amount of learning about the underlying meanings and history of it all', even if this part can become a huge intrest and the knowledgebank is bound to grow immensely as one goes along. At first there is a lot of confusion. For most it is to the greatest extent that one is hesitant to trust in oneself though, and not the lack of knowledge of the history and meanings of the cards.

Sulis	13 Oct 2004
Hi Mikeyofthesea, A bit of advice I'd give to you is to start with smaller spreads than the Celtic Cross. The Celtic Cross is a very advanced spread - I really don't know why it's included in little white books and beginner tarot books - I hardly ever use it. It's hard enough when you start getting your head around the card meanings without trying to tackle 10 other meanings too (which you then have to link up with the card meanings). When I read I usually use 3 - 7 cards, 3 cards are often all you need - many experienced readers on these forums get loads of information from single card readings :) Here are a few 3 card spreads for you to try - you can answer almost any question with 3 cards. 1. Past, Present, Future 2. Situation, Challenge (what's blocking you), Advice / The way forward. 3. Body, Mind, Spirit 4. Background, Problem, Advice Try them, see how you go on :0 Hope that's helped. Love Sulis xx

Seed Crystal	13 Oct 2004
Do you have notes or can you recall the cards in this reading? One thing that can help a lot in learning Tarot is making a note of your readings; that way, you can research cards and the meanings they might have in the position in which they fell, and (even) ask on these boards for suggestions if really puzzled... A simple way to do this: each position in your layout can be numbered, based on the order in which they are dealt; this makes this easier than recording position names. Then, list e.g. 1 4 of Wands 2 3 of Cups etc. You can summarize your initial interpretation below. And you then have the start of a Tarot journal... Another thing - the cards can say a lot about worries as well as reality. Maybe your brother is worried. Or maybe the ex-boyfriend was misleading. Maybe there's a lot not being said, or being misheard, among them. It's always tricky, giving advice (or not). Just some thoughts. And welcome :)

Seed Crystal	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Sulis Hi Mikeyofthesea, A bit of advice I'd give to you is to start with smaller spreads than the Celtic Cross. The Celtic Cross is a very advanced spread ... Here are a few 3 card spreads for you to try - you can answer almost any question with 3 cards. ... Sulis gives good advice :) Personally I use Celtic Cross very little these years; I use 3 and 4 card spreads, mostly, and (not too often) an 18 card spread.

Ace	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by mikeyofthesea iafter i told him ohhh i am studying the tarot, he siad read them to me so i said ok. i did the cross and the first few cards i didn't understand much when i looked them up. then the cards siad.....somone is beind dishonest...you will have to make a judgment call on this person.... then a few confusing cards... then somthing positive and then somthing negative right after this. my question.. when you start is it often that some card are confussing and some are very cleer to read.??? One of the problems you may be having here, is that you are trying to make sense of the cards instead of just telling your brother what they say. It may be confusing to you but not to him. Try to relax and just give the meanings as they come to you, it doesn't have to make sense to you.

mikeyofthesea	13 Oct 2004
i hope this is going to the right place i am still geting use to this site and stuff. but thanks for the advice about using easyer layouts i was thinking about that last night. i am acualy going to talk to my bro in a few mins to see what was going on and to see if the "advice" i gave him last week helped at all. i will post if it helped and i think i may try somthing new this week with him. i will also post the cards on here. so maybe i can get some insight about it. thanks again everyone, and thanks for being so helpfull i put this site onto my favorites. i sleep with my cards under my pillow

wiccanlady39	11 Nov 2004
Hello I am new to this forum and I seem to have a confusing time with my deck The Witches Tarot.....I just can't get my head around them because for one that deck has totally different pics than what other decks have........I hardly like using them for this fact........could someone comment on this?Thanks

wildchilde	11 Nov 2004
mickeyofthesea, I hope you will take Sulis' great advice! There is no reason to try such lengthly spreads when you are just getting familiar with your cards. It might also be important to consider the same issue that wiccanlady39 has...if you have a deck that you are having difficulty connecting with, it will make it that much harder to understand what the cards are trying to say. For wiccanlady39, I am "assuming" by your name that you practice Wicca and therefore believed that you should connect to the Witches Tarot by default. There is no reason to believe this, nor to 'fault' yourself (or the deck) if the connection is not there. Don't be afraid to move on to other decks and test your ability to connect. Eventually you will find certain decks speak very clearly to you, and will probably also find that once you have that deep connection, other decks that originally didn't "click" will become easier to read with based on your knowledge of the cards as a whole. There is no reason to force yourself to try and read with any certain deck if you are not satisfied with the connection. Sometimes you might even want to try a Tarot version of "speed dating" :) Just to see what happens within you with different decks. Over a few hours or days/weeks, do a small (1 to 3 cards) reading with each deck you have and get a feel for each deck and how you respond to the card images and meanings. This can be a fun way to "break the ice" and become more comfortable with any decks you have. And if you don't have more than one deck...well, don't worry! Just hang around this forum a few more days and the dreaded Tarotholism will seep its way into your marrow:)

The confusing thread was originally posted on 13 Oct 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.