How to connect the cards 2gether

Yes, I would definitely stick to learning the upright meanings to start with. It can be so confusing when you get a generally positive card, reversed and in an obstacle type position or a generally negative card, reversed in a options/opportunties type position....if you see what I mean. Trying to get your head around that can cause a mental meltdown.

this is not exactly what you asked but hope it helps

I agree with what people have said, practice practice and find which way works for you

In the Fey Tarot accompanying book I found a very useful exercise at the back called the Fey Child - this could work for a 2 card reading with no positions or you could extend it

Take two cards and place them face to face

1 = the Mother - represents the female generative principle

2 = The Father - represents the male generative principle

Each card is a metaphor for universal concepts. Imagine the two concepts united, generate another and move in a joint direction. They add to each other, but the result is more than the sum of what they originally were

This is a meditative exercise but one which I would think really helps to practice in seeing what the blending of the two cards means and then with what results their interaction is likely to produce

eg King of Cups - 9 of cups
Emotional realm - the Kings wishes - could produce a King of Cups who is more imaginative, creative than the King would normally be - a man who has everything he wants could produce a happy man or a lazy man - a man who never gets on because his head is in the sky - a man who spends his time dreaming of what he could do instead of dealing with responsibilities - result could be a heavy drinker - the possibilities for interpretation can be endless

I know that little example was trite, and what your card images say to you should apply - I was just trying to show you how you would go about it and practice with brainstorming

Enjoy and good luck

thanks

thanks everyone for giving me advice. Ill keep everything in mind. I also found some info about reversed cards on the internet its called "The DYS-MIS SYS" its author is called Michael Star. http://www.astrologyzine.com/teach-tarot-4.shtml check this page for those of you that have trouble with reversed cards like me. It helped me a lot.

could it be that using too many books is confusing the matter and there is a need to keep it more simple. What about trying the cards intuitively one by one meditating with them and see what you get. The books are other people's ideas and everyone is different. Don't be afraid to rely on your own intuition you might be surprised and it's a great way of getting to know the decks. ia m not syaing throw them away but put them aside and use your gut instinct feel the cards. Think of what it feels like to make a good decision or a bad one and how you feel inside. does your jjaw tighten? or do you feel warmth or your heart fluttering?...
this is ameditation I was given a long time ago to help me examine the cards.

you could try a meditation exercise where you imagine yourself entering the card, you imagine yourself as small and the card as gigantic above you standing upright you walk into it like a mirror. You then feel and see what is around you shapes colours symbols smells atmosphere, the weather. you can do this for 15-20 minutes and build up each day. remember to come bakc to where you are and to gorund centre protect before and after meditating.

thanks again. I tried giving my dad a reading without the book and to tell you the truth I felt great. I looked at each card and just told my dad what the cards made me feel, even the reversed cards. My father said that it was a great reading and that I was 100% right. i did it better without the book! Its amazing....

Lyric said:

Many people never do go on to using reversed cards. I never have. I've been reading for several years and haven't found the need for reversals in all that time. The cards give me their message upright.

Click to expand...

How do you assign a meaning to the card from the full spectrum in that case? I started using reversals because well....I thought it would give me more specific information. Sometimes though..it just confuses me. For example, I asked how someone would react if I did X. I drew two cards (RWS)...using reversals. The two cards were,

Knight of Wands and Star, reversed

Now, both cards upright would have told me that the person would respond in a very positive way. The Star reversed made me wonder though. Would the response be positive? However, it's still the Star reversed...a very positive card. I guess what I'm trying to say is...that I'm finding...with reversals...that I tend to jump to the opposite meaning of the reversed card...when that is rarely the case. Would I have been better off...would I have understood the reading better had I not used reversals? I'm still trying to find out.

I agree with firefli, spend some time with your cards, without the books...especially when doing your readings. ie. Playing, reading, meditating, journaling, etc.

You can study the books later (away from the cards)...I feel that when we have that crutch (books)...it becomes WAY too easy to become dependent on them.

Trogon said:

bellaluna;

I had trouble with this aspect of reading the Tarot for quite a while as well. And I agree with tarotlady that practice is perhaps your best tool for learning how to put these together. However, having said that, I will tell you what finally really made it click for me; I posted a reading using the Celtic Cross spread in the "Your Readings" forum and several people gave their interpretations on it including how the cards related to one another......

Click to expand...

Whew, this is exacty what brought me here and my exact thoughts on how I was going to learn the Tarot - thanks for this posting, I hope to begin learning and comparing my meanings I get with those of the more experienced and see if I am off, bias, or spot on with my understanding of the spreads I do.

Practice with non-Tarot decks - Gypsy Witch is very cheap and easy if you don't want to put in a lot of study, but you may prefer Lenormand, Sibilla, or playing cards. The nature of these oracles gets you used to stringing cards together. When you just read Tarot it's very easy to get hung in the complexities of a single card, but cards along the lines of "DOG - TREE - HOUSE" require you to come up with combined meanings. Then it is very easy to carry the skill back to your Tarot readings.

Also, stay away from spreads like the Celtic Cross, with its little "island" positions.

You can talk yourself through the reading by speaking the meanings out loud - sometimes this will walk you right through the reading.
For example, page swords (Why?, How?) + 3 Pentacles (making something). If you put these two cards together and say aloud "How is something put together? How do I construct this thing? Could be a paper you want to write, or an outfit, or a recipe, or a model airplane.
I would practice trying it that way. Good luck.