SaskMick - on the one hand you have arrived here wildly wanting to become an amazing Tarot reader.
But on the other - you don't want to use Tarot cards??? - Ehh? (having decided it's not "old enough" and that the imagery is too disturbing?)
...I don't quite compute...
(I'm sorry).
From history - the cards are quite old (not REALLY old). Using them for divinatory purposes is quite new (apparently).
And so what?
Plus one can use cards with new imagery - rather than the older versions...
"I feel that we should revere the force itself - not so much the cards" - so what are you trying to tell us? We're all doing it wrong by looking at the pictures?
Lol.
IMO - "the force" is there - doesn't matter what medium you use.
And here - our medium is the cards. Obviously. It's a Tarot Forum.
Why don't you contact your original Tarot reader (Ofcourse - that might have been yonks ago now and not be possible) - and ask them if they can teach you exactly how they do it??
Because really - I'm getting the feeling that no answer here - from any of us (who all LOVE our decks) will be satisfactory to you.
Or - As has been suggested - choose a system proffered here - and go off and study numerology around it.
Make your own numerology based reading style.