"Memorization is a technique that has fallen out of favor"--Le Fanu

"How then do we do away with the facts? The first thing is to keep the memory weak and empty…That is because a developed memory is a wondrous and terrible storehouse of things seen, heard and done. The developed imagination remembers a strain from Bach, and smells spinach cooking in the kitchen, and these impressions are not separate but part of an unified whole, and are the essence of creative play….The Greek lad knew his poetry, which was for him also history and moral training, only by memory"--Anthony Esolen, "Ten Way to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child"

I like using a combnation of association, memorization and (when it comes) intuition. But memorization can be a good thing; I feel that something I have learned by rote is truly mine, and therefore I have an easier time playing with it.

On the other hand, if you use only memorization, you could do the same thing by computer--would it mean anything?

Any thoughts? Respondents may use intuition, association, or memorization in answering...

I like this post.

Anything learnt, anything at all from riding a bike to understanding the laws of thermodynamics to reading tarot cards involves memory. You can not learn a thing with out it, you could not dial a phone, make a sandwich, or enjoy a book as all involve a process and order that is learnt. Learning is done using memory. Memory is learning.

You lose you memory's and you lose yourself. They are fundamental to who we are and where we are.There is no such thing as knowledge in the absence of experience, and experience is a collection of past memories.

Computers are not self-aware from their memories. They do not learn, but rather are programed, you might say "brain washed" at this stage of technology

When you loose your memory, you loose your past and history and by that you do not have a future.

In many countries where learning by rote is the only way of learning ie the teacher says something and the student repeats, the people have a tendency towards conformity and passivity. They do not flex their sense of individuality or imagination and find it very difficult to "think outside the box". However, going the other way can be just as detrimental.

Memory is a good thing unless those memories are bad which is a bad thing

What does this have to do with Tarot?

It's work to memorize, perhaps that is why someone would advise against it. But even though I detested being made to memorize, I still have lines from Shakespeare that I memorized in high school, and today I'm happy to have them in my memory.

As I've gotten older it's more difficult to memorize, but I still find it of value. And yes, everything we learn requires memory.

Carl Jung would not have done anything great that he did in the field of psychology and his study of symbolism and the collective unconscious without his vast store of knowledge remembered from reading in mythology, archeology, and the classics.

Children would not remember their phone numbers, addresses, or how to get home from school without memorizing.

The greatest pianists would have to sit with the score in front of them during performances, and develop their fingering anew each time they played.

Home cooked food would be from a cookbook every single time.

Besides all that, imagination DEPENDS on memory in order to operate.

Nevada said:

Besides all that, imagination DEPENDS on memory in order to operate.

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Yes, and I'm reminded of that whenever I have had to memorise before an exam. It's really the first time that I am able to dance with the material, because in memorizing my brain makes new connections all on its own

As to what it has to do with Tarot, this is why I read so many books. The more I read and internalise, the more I'm able to have something to base my intuition on (I think).

When I say "memorise" I mean developing your understanding at the same time, not just parroting but also making sense of material. I like to do a mind map.

What I've learned/memorized is the diving board I use to jump into my intuition when reading tarot.

BodhiSeed said:

What I've learned/memorized is the diving board I use to jump into my intuition when reading tarot.

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Me too.

As so often with quotations I don't actually remember ever saying this but then I came across myself quoted on someone's blog so I must have said it.

Funny how quotations develop a life of their own!

When/if I said it, what I meant was that I remember when learning tarot how important it seemed to have lists of meanings for cards; long lists of adjectives and I always felt you were expected to learn them. I certainly think that what I think of as "gypsy" style readings depended on key card meanings which had at some point been learnt. A card could mean "a journey", another card "sharp-tongued woman" etc. I have an old playing card deck which has meanings like this written on them. Presumably they were written there for the reader not to forget and to act as prompts. I believe that, in the past, key meanings were learnt whereas now some readers turn a card over and do not resort to a previously learnt meanings. People talk more nowadays of "inutuitive meaning" and when I said that quote (if indeed I did!) I was thinking of card reading in the context of many people saying "I read intuitively/ I toss the LWB".

I have not found a book pre-1990s which says you should invent your own meanings as they are the ones which will stick with you. I think of that as a post-1990s thing to say. I also have never yet heard an explanation of exactly what "reading intuitively" is which I *get*. I mean reading entirely intuitively.

I believe that a certain amount of memorisation is inevitable although I have recently discovered the joys of what I call "snapshot" 3-card or 2-card readings which I think of as a snapshot of a situation and when I allow myself to try (try!) and forget the meanings I have learnt and look closely at rhythms in the composition and sweeping lines and where gazes peer, fingers point, a style of reading influenced by Enrique Enriquez. An act of unmemorisation. Or rather, an act of card reading when you just have to really, really look!

I don't know where I'd be if I haven't at least memorized the basic meanings of the cards. It's an important part of any study, is it not? Does one not have to study to excel at Tarot? At the end of the day, memorization is only part of it... if someone goes off memorization alone I don't think they'll get very far, but it's still important.

Honestly, when people advise against memorization I silently shake my head. How do they expect to learn? Yes, Tarot is very intuitive... but intuition can only get you so far. Yes, it requires a lot of work but nothing that's worth it is easy:

"The easy journeys are not the leather on the soles of our shoes. It's the journeys that test us to our very core - the journeys that strip the clothes from our back, mess with our minds, and shake our spirits - these are the journeys worth taking in life. They show us who we are." Cheng Li from the book 'Vampirates' by Justin Somper.

Memorization may not be as hard as the quote above implies... but just because it's hard doesn't mean one should throw it away. Take it as a challenge! Live up to that challenge! Yes, it's going to take a lot of time and it may be difficult, but I found it to be almost vital. It's like a paper to an artist, a cover to a book, a diving board when jumping into water (as mentioned)... sure you can get along without, but it's a lot easier if you have it.

But like I said, it's only part of it. If you jump into water without knowing how to swim you'll drown, if you try to draw without some practice you're not going to be very good, and there is so much to a book than just the cover.