learning methods

Thanks for asking this Nan - I have been pondering the same myself!! I've got the 21 ways book so I'm off to find that study group

Good topic Nan I think the books are great to look through and are very interesting. They do help, but you don't have to have them. When I first ever started reading, I used to look up the meaning of every card in the companion book because that's the way I thought you were supposed to do it, and then when I got a new deck I found that I had became too dependent on the book before as a habit and not even realized it. I never actually LOOKED into the picture there for a little while, I had just went straight to the book meaning.
After I realized this, and started looking and studying the pictures it was like a whole new hidden world opened up (hope that doesn't sound crazy). Intuition kicked in and it was wonderful, didn't even realize what I was missing. Just don't become TOO dependent on the books and you will be fine. Don't worry about something being wrong, you could question that about EVERYTHING. The things you see in the cards come to you for a reason so just trust that and everything will be okay
Hope that helped some.

~SharonS

starrystarrynight]Perhaps learning one keyword for each card and then expanding upon that when you read by bringing in your intuition, etc.

Or, for learning the minors, how about learning basic numerology from one to ten, and then adding those keywords to the basic meaning of the suit of that number. i.e.:

Five + Swords = Change/Struggle in Communication/Thought processes
Five + Pentacles = Change/Struggle in Finances or Stability
Five + Cups = Change/Struggle in Emotional energies
Five + Wands = Change/Struggle in Energy Levels or Career situations


Now this really clicks with me, I think I will go with this approach. I have been learning lots and do have some cards I really seem to know I just have felt I was not getting there, of course the last 3 months have been empty with surgery and healing and I am not recognizing that I have to get back up to speed again.

Also as I said, I am starting to read intuitively and was worried that I should learn 'facts' first.
I will relax and go with what feels right.
Thanks all

dadsnook2000 said:

And then you could participate in the "21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card" Study Group, using Mary Greer's wonderful book. While the initial group of participants has already completed the Apprentice Level steps, several are currently starting that level. All of us who have moved on to the Adept Level are still monitoring, encouraging and helping those who are just starting out.

This approach does indeed give you many tools to read any card in any deck, and the exercises are very practical. If you seriously want to learn then you should review this Study Group and consider joining. Dave

Click to expand...

Dave you beat me to the punch line *LOL*. This book really is an excellent way to gain confidence in reading intuitively and help you learn to see the details and emotions within the cards. If you want to study, this is a great book and a fun one. I cannot recommend this book or study group strongly enough!

I like the technique of equating the minors with the corresponsing majors.

Ace represents aspects of the Fool and whatever element it represents
Two, Magician
Three, High Priestess
and so on

That helps to clue me in on the general meaning of the card if I'm having problems getting a vibe from it, without having to look it up directly.

To be honest, I get vibes from cards in a reading that are sometimes quite different than what's in the book. The key to understanding the meaning of it for me is that each reading is unique and context for each card involved is provided by the question being asked and the vibes other cards that are appearing bring to it. Because of that I tend to trust the vibes, rather than text in that situation.

Hope this helps.

dajeeps said:

I like the technique of equating the minors with the corresponsing majors.

Ace represents aspects of the Fool and whatever element it represents
Two, Magician
Three, High Priestess
and so on

That helps to clue me in on the general meaning of the card if I'm having problems getting a vibe from it, without having to look it up directly.

To be honest, I get vibes from cards in a reading that are sometimes quite different than what's in the book. The key to understanding the meaning of it for me is that each reading is unique and context for each card involved is provided by the question being asked and the vibes other cards that are appearing bring to it. Because of that I tend to trust the vibes, rather than text in that situation.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I link the Majors to the Minors but you seem to have your numbers mixed up.
The Fool's number is 0
The Magician is 1 and so relates to the aces,
The High Priestess is number 2
The Empress is number 3
etc, etc....