How to improve reading the cards together???

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Enchanted	29 Apr 2005
Hi all I began 'really' reading the tarot about a year ago and while I have found the single daily card really useful in learning and appreciating individual card meanings, because a lot of the time you live them. I still have a lot of trouble putting them all together in larger spreads. Now I would like to get better at this....so I was wondering if anyone has a tip as to how I could practice this. I have been trying to read with commonalities and differences, elements, astrological and planetary associations etc... I thought about perhaps expanding the daily draw to two cards so I could see how they interact together but was unsure how to phrase them. Would for example, what do I need to know? And why? surfice. I am apprehensive about going more than two or three for a daily draw as I don't think I would have the adequate time to devote to the reading and am reluctant to do that. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated :)

Chronata	29 Apr 2005
I was reminded of an old thread in the Games and Fun forum...called the Fortune Cookie game.... Three cards were chosen and each participant came up with a sentence that described an outcome or a fortune cookie type message...that incorporated meanings from all three cards. This exercise might help you Enchanted! :)

cybercat	29 Apr 2005
You might check the creating your own spreads board. There is a link to many spreads listed. You can find one in there that will help you out and it will decribe how to work it also. Cat

HOLMES	29 Apr 2005
my style is a postional reader where each postions builds on the other,, like a person putting the who, why, where, how, when ,and what pictures does this form?? you may want to look at tarot decoded as well another option is the book tarot combinianatns which looks at two cards next to each other,, then three cards next to each other you may want to try postional spreads like the old celtic. others will advocate understanding one card first more before trying to understand them together. take heart for when i started out i used the books for up to three years. i would read the description, the meaning of the card and based on the feeling i would have, and the question asked and the postions of the cards together you would pick the best meaning from the book which you then apply it a bit more pratical.

Enchanted	29 Apr 2005
Thanks for your posts, maybe I am trying to put the cart before the horse and should just let it develop over time, but patience has never been one of my virtues. Perhaps now is the time to learn! :D I like the fortune cookie idea, at least then it is a fun way to approach it. I will revisit the daily spreads section of the forum and see if I can find one to fit what I want to achieve both as a reader and personally. Two birds...one stone. Holmes, tarot combinations sounds like a book I could use. Thanks! :) I have one book that does this but I find I don't often agree with the books interpretation and scratch my head thinking "how did they get that from that". Then again I don't like the books particular view of the cards singularly either, but I am not sure if it is me or I bought a duff. But I've never seen it recommended anywhere, actually I've never seen it listed anywhere. :)

contradiction	29 Apr 2005
I know it seems difficult at first, but as you begain to do it, one day the light bulb in your head comes on, and you say "why didn't I see that before". After that it comes naturally. Don't try to force it, you will aquire the skill in time, forcing it will only make matters worse. Try this, (building upon what has already been said, as it was all good advice), lay out two or three cards, don't worry about positions just yet, read each card seperatly. That is it, don't try to put them together, just read them. After a few days, start trying to see how they could work together. When you are comfortable with that, add positions if you wish. I personally don't usually use positions at all, except in the reading circles here. When you do decide to read a large spread, do it in sections. Break it down into sections, that you can easily do, then do the next section, etc... finally put the sections together.

WalesWoman	30 Apr 2005
When I was first learning tarot, there were some exercises called story spreads. Draw three cards... and look at the cards themselves. If there are people in them, what are they doing... do they face each other or away and write a story with what you see and imagine. Then take the same cards and rearrange them... how does it change the way they seem to relate to each other? Move them around to different postitions... side by side, in a straight line or vertical or diagonal or in a pyramid... using the same cards as you do this Each way you will find that they have a different story to tell, you can use the book meanings or discover some of your own, write down what you think, what you think they may be thinking... anything that pops into your mind. Dont' think of it as a reading, but something fun... it's not something you can fail at... it's a learning experience and is a great way to discover your creative writing abilities too... so there's even more benifits. LOL Hope this helps you.

manuel ruiz	30 Apr 2005
when i was learning how to read the tarot, my teacher sugested me, to start doing stories, with 3 cards randomly chosen!!!

Enchanted	30 Apr 2005
Thanks this all makes good sense. I think that it is good advice for me to take a step back and not try to read the combinations in a specific reading, especially a personal one and just to randomly select cards and see what I get from that. I think I can do that, I like telling stories :D (secretly always wanted to be a writer, ssshhhh!! :laugh: )

Wisp Wings	01 May 2005
Reading this brought to mind a spread I had made. I found it very helpful in reading combinations and piecing together. You can read it at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=14406&highlight=Daily+Digest Here I've connected the two post as being one. Again this is really great for combinations. It is called "The Daily Digest". Think of it in terms as a newspaper for yourself. If you aren't one to do daily spreads due to time, use this as your Sunday paper. :-) In this spread you are using combinations for each position. The first card of each position is seen as the stronger one with the second card adding in the detail. .......3...4........ 7.....1...2......8 .......5...6........ Odd numbers are seen as stronger, whereas the even numbers are seen as being the details. Positions and the meanings of them: 1 and 2 -- Personal Daily. The cards directly for yourself, your need to know cards of the day. 3 and 4 -- Spouse's Daily. This is for SPOUSE or your MAIN PERSON within your life at the time. What is going on in their day. Use it in relation of how to best work with your this person you have in your life for the day. 5 and 6 -- Circle of Contact. Daily cards relating to those in your little corner of the world. People that are within your world directly - so this is family, friends, (even internet friends) and co-workers. More than anything else this is seen as OTHER MEMBERS WITHIN YOUR HOUSEHOLD AND ALMOST EQUALLY AS YOUR EXTENDED FAMILY, (family now outside of the walls of your home). 7 and 8 -- The Big World. Daily, the news or the pulse, just the feel of the people within your community, your state, the nation, and/or the world at large. POSITIONAL PLACEMENT....Why that I put the placement of positions in the way that I did........ Cards 1 and 2 ...being your own cards for yourself, they need to be your CENTER, to help center yourself and to help guide your inner person. Cards 3 and 4 ...being above your cards holds the position for that one person in your life that has your love and admiration, ... the WHO YOU LOOK UP TO, so you have this as being above. Cards 5 and 6 ...your Circle of Contact cards, they are below you as your anchors, your support system. These are the people that uplift you, that have been part of your FOUNDATION and your true blue friends. Cards 7 and 8 The Big World. As far as the east, as far as the west our world is all EMCOMPASSING. This position is very much the pulse of the people, whether it is your community, state, nation, or the whole world. (This if used daily, you will see it vary on if it's news near you or if like a major world news story. It's very interesting!) NOTE** Positions 3 and 4, this is most certainly for the one person or few people that are the most important in your life at the time. Refer back to the description of it. It can work with being a variety of individuals given the Querent's status in life at the moment. Examples...if you are a person that is a single parent and at the moment you aren't interested in anyone else, then this position is your child/children, it can at times be only one child or other times all of your children. If you are a young person still living at home with your parents, (even at times if you are dating), this position can be your parents.... and probably should be the one/s you look up to the most. The same if you are having to live with elderly parents and you haven't a significant other. I have no problem with 3 and 4, as it is always my husband. But what happens for me often in positions 5 and 6 would happen with 3 and 4, for the instances I gave. Very often you will draw and know immediately between the two card combination exactly who this position is talking about. Example of myself since I am in an empty nest situation, one day the positions of 5 and 6 will be about my children, or just one of them, another day it will be about my sister, and another time about my mother, next it is a friend of mine. Since this is a NEWS spread, it general tends to be centered around when someone is having an event happening or there is great concern for the person. If you do hit on a time where you can't say for sure exactly who it is telling you about, be sure to make a note of it and then sit back and see. I've had lots of fun on that part too. :-)

Fullmoonsinger	01 May 2005
Emily Peach had an exercise that I like and I suggest you try. Pick two cards and put them next to each other. Try to interpret them. Then swap them. Now try to interpret them. How does it change? I use reversals, so I used card A upright with card B upright. A upright and B reversed. A reversed and B upright. A reversed and B reversed. B upright and A upright. B upright and A reversed. B reversed and A upright. B reversed and A reversed. Good luck! MoonSinger

Pipistrelle	01 May 2005
A few months back I was in the same place as you. Someone (sorry forget who) recommend the book Tarot Tells the Tale by James Ricklef and I heartily re-recommend it ;) It's basically a series of 3 card readings for fictional/historical characters, but he explains how he got to his interpretations, which is incredibly helpful. Pip

Wisp Wings	01 May 2005
I was just rethinking on this and I thought I bet you are not speaking out your thoughts! You are most likely just looking at your cards drawn and thinking all in your head of the meanings you've known from the books read. As silly as this sounds and moreso, if other people are in the house, do talk it aloud. It truly does make a big difference if you pretend to step aside yourself and read the cards to yourself aloud. Just pretend you are reading them for practice, much as in school when having to prepare for speech. Literally just talk aloud, as if you had someone across the table from you that doesn't know one tarot card from the next. Talking, telling what this card means and when in this position, regarding this question ...it could mean this or that..."Let's see which way it seems to apply when we view this next card." :) Talking it, thinks it aloud gives flow to the inituitive process somehow. When you are trying to explain to a person who never having seen a tarot deck, what some of the cards mean, you gain from this. Two additional points to this line of logic... 1) If you've ever had to teach anything to a group of students, you know that no one learns the lesson better than the teacher. Preparation of teaching is learning it. In this you are doing this as well. 2) With the talking aloud, attempting to explain it to someone that hasn't ever seen a tarot deck is also something I have read and seen on TV of dream interpretation. You are told to explain the items in the dream as if you are telling it to someone from another planet. So if you are saying in your dream "I saw a red sports car in the drive beyond the door", you have to break down each thing,...What feelings is associate with red and sports? What is a car and it's purpose? What is a door and it's purpose? Even deeper, why is it that you are at a distance peering beyond the door seeing the car? I guess you get the idea, just talk it as if explaining to a child learning of things not yet known or to a person from another planet. Deep down this is opening your unconscious mind to self, to your symbols. If you are talking already aloud, do let us know. I just really bet you haven't done this yet and if ever, then not as the norm. :)

Enchanted	01 May 2005
You are quite right I do only speak in my head. My living situation kind of makes that necessary at the moment. Now you mention it I have noticed that my readings are better when I am alone and talk to myself out loud just never made that connection before, just thought it was a personal space thing. So thanks for making me think about that! Maybe I'll try speaking quietly to myself in readings and see if that helps. :) Thanks for all the advice and suggestions, now I've got a whole lot to work with.

mike gorth	06 May 2005
Actually I just thought of this and I think I'll do it too. Just lay out 3 or 4 cards and then make up a situation or question and then try to find how the cards will interact with each other. Like the 8 of wands and the 3 of wands would read an expedient business transaction.

Free Flight	06 May 2005
I have trouble forming a story out of two cards so I in my daily draws I draw three cards to see if that helps. Does it? Well umm no! So why have I posted? Um...well...err Coz I have to put my two cents in and I cannot help it :D :D There are some great ideas suggested here and I am going to try them as well I really like the fortune cookie game. I will play with you if you want to :D PS - Am not stalking you. :D :D

Marina	06 May 2005
Tarot is tarot dear. You don't need astrology, kaballah and all this to read larger spreads - specially because they'll probably confuse you instead of help. Study the tarot - leave the rest to when you decide to dive deeper inthe cards meaning. For me the secret was to start slow. I mean, not everyone has the courage to start with a Celtic Cross. Start with three cards - past, present and future. Make up a situation in your mind and choose three cards. Try to relate them. Like 'ah, this person is getting cardA because in the past, without realizing, she did cardB. In the present, however, she believes all is cardC but that's just an illusion'. When you get a bit more confident, increase the number of cards, Try a five-cards spread such as the Peladan (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=40875). Thats how i did it and i think i'm pretty good at seeing the overall picture with larger spreads. It's all matter of practice - soon, you will see, the Tarot will tell you stories :) Good luck! Love, Yuko

rainwolf	06 May 2005
Two books that come to mind about card associations are Tarot Card Combinations and 1 2 3 Tarot. They each have a different system and are worth checking out, buying even--check ebay or the used book part of Barnes and Noble online. Elizabeth Hazel's Tarot Decoded is a good book for associations you are talking about and it discusses methods you can use. Glad you are trying to open up to some methods of analyzing the cards in depth!

Julien	06 May 2005
Yo Enchanted -- how's tricks? Hey, PM coming to you... Julien

light2000	01 Jun 2005
I know that someone give a litle similar advice wgith this that i´m write now,but is a litle diferent so... When i started to read tarot, i put all cards on the table and make a storie. So you must use all the cards and give a situation or a person to it. And you can choose if is from work, or love... Imagine: Page of cups(1), tower(2), 9 of swords(3), 6 of cups(4), 3 of swords(5), sun(6), moon(7).... An example: there was a baby (1)that cry a lot(2) because he cant sleep (3)at night he remembers (4)at one pain (5) that he had but then the day arrived (6)and he saw that was only a dream(7). A bad (2) notice come(1) i stay in shok (3) never tought(6) this could hapen to (5) but better days will come (6) and it will be only a dream ( 7) I´m really depress (2) never thought (6) that this men (1) could do such things (5) if the repentande could kill(3) i will forget i know(6) and better days will come (6) but i´m depressed (7) I lost(2) a baby(1) i´m worry (3) and if i could have a baby? i dream so much about it(4) maybe i have a problem (5) of fertility (6) a women problem(7). I had a boyfriend(1) that was really sweet but a litle immature, he shit on me (2) he hurts me (3) i thougt that he were nice(4) but he stinks (5) i will never will be (6) wrong again(7) You are a romantic person(1) you dream a lot but it seems that you are a litke dissaponted (2) you dreams doent come true ( 3) but you dont gave up of the dream (4) and it seems that you will suffer a lot (5) but your dreams will come true(6) but i think that will not be exaclty like you thought (18) You can do a lot of stories like this i had done it all my life and i said that i learn a lot whith this. You will start to see that at the same question the same cards will apear next to other.

Emeraldgirl	02 Jun 2005
There are books that have meanings of cards when they appear with other cards. Tarot for the Green Witch has this. I found though that making up a story through the spread as already suggested helped a bit more.

firemaiden	02 Jun 2005
In order to improve reading the cards together, I recommend looking for the coincidences between the cards.

Ace	02 Jun 2005
Enchanted wrote: I have one book that does this but I find I don't often agree with the books interpretation and scratch my head thinking "how did they get that from that". Then again I don't like the books particular view of the cards singularly either, but I am not sure if it is me or I bought a duff. If you don't agree with an interp (I assume of a card, not a position) then follow your own thoughts! The book will only give you want the card means in general or at the time the person was doing a reading, not what they mean all the time. On the other hand, if you have a different meaning than it usually means, that means you are getting a message, take it. Ace

SunChariot	04 Jun 2005
Enchanted wrote: Hi all I began 'really' reading the tarot about a year ago and while I have found the single daily card really useful in learning and appreciating individual card meanings, because a lot of the time you live them. I still have a lot of trouble putting them all together in larger spreads. Now I would like to get better at this....so I was wondering if anyone has a tip as to how I could practice this. I have been trying to read with commonalities and differences, elements, astrological and planetary associations etc... I thought about perhaps expanding the daily draw to two cards so I could see how they interact together but was unsure how to phrase them. Would for example, what do I need to know? And why? surfice. I am apprehensive about going more than two or three for a daily draw as I don't think I would have the adequate time to devote to the reading and am reluctant to do that. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated :) One thing I do is to check which direction the figures on the cards are facing. See who is facing whom, who is avoiding whom... It has given me some valuable info. Maybe one card tells you to do something, but the outcome card is looking away, it could show a reluctance to take the advice....Or I once did a three card spread where it later became evident that the cards were showing me the past, present and future, even though I had not specifically asked that. The first card in the row was facing left, the next one forward, and the 3rd card was facing right. In the context of the reading it became a past/present and future outlook and made perfect sense. Even though I had not asked the cards to show me that, they did. Bar

wizzle	05 Jun 2005
This is a real upside down reply. When it comes to divination systems, I think we tend to study the system and then try to force life experiences into our readings. Instead, try recording your throws and then review after a month or so of "real life." What did or did not work out? With this approach you are NOT allowed to believe that somehow real life didn't do the job. You will be forced to re-assess your beliefs about the divination. This is an anti-GOO approach.

SunChariot	05 Jun 2005
wizzle wrote: This is a real upside down reply. When it comes to divination systems, I think we tend to study the system and then try to force life experiences into our readings. Instead, try recording your throws and then review after a month or so of "real life." What did or did not work out? With this approach you are NOT allowed to believe that somehow real life didn't do the job. You will be forced to re-assess your beliefs about the divination. This is an anti-GOO approach. I don't find that upside down. :-) I think that is great advice. You can learn a lot that way. :-) Bar

Enchanted	06 Jun 2005
Wow! Thanks so much for the further advice, it is all great advice from everyone and something that all new readers can benefit from I think. Firemaiden I really like your point about coincidences. I have been trying to look for commonalities between the cards and have found this to be most insightful and has really enriched my readings. SunChariot I can relate to your advice too. Something that has only struck me recently is the way the people on the cards are facing. Do they look to the left (the past), straight ahead (the present) or the future (the right). It first struck me with the court cards but I then realised that it can be extended to virtually all of the cards. I like the point about who is looking at or looking away from who and will certainly look at this now too. Thanks again, this is all great advice! :)

bleuivy	06 Jun 2005
The advice on this thread is excellent. Wisp Wings, thank you for posting your spread. I'm going to give it a try later today or tomorrow. I love the idea of a daily reading as a newspaper reading for yourself. As for myself, when I read the cards, I tend to think of the spread as a conversation between the different cards, which I am then paraphrasing. "Card A is saying this, but card B seems to be contradicting that by saying this..." And so forth. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me. And to deffinately say my readings out loud. It makes the entire process sound more organic. :)

SunChariot	06 Jun 2005
You're very welcome. Always glad to help whenever I can. :-) Bar

Ace	07 Jun 2005
bleuivy wrote: As for myself, when I read the cards, I tend to think of the spread as a conversation between the different cards, which I am then paraphrasing. "Card A is saying this, but card B seems to be contradicting that by saying this..." And so forth. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me. And to deffinately say my readings out loud. It makes the entire process sound more organic. :) I like that idea! I have always gone with the idea of a story. Once upon a time card A, then card b happened, etc. not that obvious but you get the idea. Ace

The How to improve reading the cards together??? thread was originally posted on 29 Apr 2005 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.