A Couple General Questions for People More Experienced than I...

HudsonGray said:

...then do a meditation where I walk INTO the card and look around.

For instance, with the Fool I checked his pockets (nothing in them) then walked his backtrail around the hill and came to the village that he left, and stood there just taking it all in. It helped set the meaning for the Fool card for me.

The Death card was a real hoot! I was using the Robin Wood deck, had to walk through the woods to find him (he was smoking a short cigarette) and when the little dwarves ran past yelling FREEDOM like in the Braveheart movie, I cracked up. One even did the mooning at me.

My mind is a little weird sometimes but you don't forget the meanings when they imprint in ways like this.

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I LOVE this!!! Your stories are AWESOME here. I am excited to try this too. Sounds like fun, fun, fun and obviously memorable.

I just did a Reading Circle that was packed with mostly court cards. My exchange partner suggested stepping into each of the court cards to find out what I would say if I was them. Also, seeing what they would say if they were giving me advice on this reading. Both these options with the court cards remind me of you walked into your cards!

velvetina said:

And yes, take your cards to Scotland! take them everywhere! I love knowing my decks have had adventures too, even though I know they are inanimate pieces of card I like knowing my cards have been read on beaches, in forests, in old cities upon numerous tables, even at sea!

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My decks love to go on trips. It adds energy to them. I took my Sun and Moon to the Bahamas. It was really fun. And the bag is a shimmering blue silk with a hint of sea green, so that was cool too. (The deck did get a little warped with the change in humidity of the tropics, but it is no big deal since its mainstream.)

I think keeping some sort of journal in the beginning of one’s “apprenticeship” is a good idea. I copied down a lot of the basic card divinations and meanings, keeping them in their own files. I would then cut and paste the info to “Reading” files, which in turn will be updated and fed back to the “Card” file. I keep everything dated and can cross reference various readings.
Sounds like a lot of work, typing and all that. But remember what your teachers said about “taking notes”. Actually, I would rarely go back to the notes, the information “imprinted” in my mind. This repetitive typing out of divinations and meanings eventually becomes unnecessary and find yourself saying “I know this already”.
Of course, this is in the learning stage. No querent is going to sit there and watch you fidgit with your laptop. I do go back to my notes later and perhaps give the querent a more detailed account of the reading (and a printout).
I also keep a spreadsheet to tally up the cards as they come up. There is nothing scientific I can deduce from this but does show clusters and spikes. I expected this. If the cards were truly “random” I would see a certain degree of uniformity.
Calibrating? The design/engineer in me has a different definition of the word but I’m thinking that’s something attune to infusing one’s energy into the cards. I only have a small handful of decks but each one seemed to take a while before I got coherent readings from them. Some took a couple of weeks, one seemed to hit it immediately. Ultimately, I’m confident with all (7) of them.

karlwb said:

I think keeping some sort of journal in the beginning of one’s “apprenticeship” is a good idea. I copied down a lot of the basic card divinations and meanings, keeping them in their own files. I would then cut and paste the info to “Reading” files, which in turn will be updated and fed back to the “Card” file. I keep everything dated and can cross reference various readings.

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I'd love to do my journaling on a computer or something, I feel like that would be much easier than doing it in my terrible handwriting. I'm pretty good with technology, so when I get a computer for college I'm hoping to get something with a tablet attached (that seems like a good way to take notes to me, and easy to rifle through stuff).

karlwb said:

Calibrating? The design/engineer in me has a different definition of the word but I’m thinking that’s something attune to infusing one’s energy into the cards. I only have a small handful of decks but each one seemed to take a while before I got coherent readings from them. Some took a couple of weeks, one seemed to hit it immediately. Ultimately, I’m confident with all (7) of them.

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I'm pretty sure that's exactly the idea, infusing your energy into the cards. That makes sense then why being out in nature would be a good idea; I always feel a more "in tune" with my "energies" when I'm in a beautiful nature scene. Hopefully it'll help me get more confident with my deck! The journal is definitely helping too.

I spent some time in Scotland 7 years ago. Just by having them with you on your trip will make your connection to your cards complete. Scotland is a mystical place and you may feel a feeling of "ancient or oldness" while there, and you and your cards will absorb it.

Maybe I sound a little goofy, but what I experienced in Scotland changed my life.

May Your Day Be Blessed,
Sassenach

Sassenach said:

I spent some time in Scotland 7 years ago. Just by having them with you on your trip will make your connection to your cards complete. Scotland is a mystical place and you may feel a feeling of "ancient or oldness" while there, and you and your cards will absorb it.

Maybe I sound a little goofy, but what I experienced in Scotland changed my life.

May Your Day Be Blessed,
Sassenach

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I'm really glad to hear this. I've always wanted to go to Scotland since I was little; even in pictures it just seemed so rich and mystical. This just solidifies what I've been thinking, it's great to hear of someone else with experience in Scotland (and with tarot too!).
Thank you very much for telling of your experiences! (And I don't think you sound goofy. )

I have a bunch of journals on different topics, so I know where to look later for specific info:
- Tarot Journal
- separate Spread Journal
(so I can always find a spread, without having to flip through my numerous completed Tarot Journals)
- Scrying Journal
- Dream Journal
- Diary
- small Moleskine notebook that is always in my bag or purse, for everyday stuff from lists to songs I hear on the radio
- Writing journals, etc.

When traveling, I like to bring 1-2 decks, and often do a retrospective "what should I take away from this place/trip" before setting out on the return voyage home.

I'm an avid diarist so a tarot journal was for me an obvious thing to do. I write down spreads that I do, with little diagrams, and my insights and interpretations. After a while, it becomes really interesting - I can look up when the Hermit showed up for me and what it meant then and what it means now. I keep my old tarot journals with my tarot books and cards.

In the last year, I discontinued my pencil on paper journal and switched to Evernote instead. I take a picture of the spread and write my thoughts down. Easily searchable and tagable. Very useful for me. I can also double check readings I gave to others - and when I read for them next time, I can look up continuities etc. (Well, there are only two friends I ever read for so it's not a big deal....)

Sometimes I have tarot dreams or hear tarot voices, and then I write it down, too. Evernote is great for sorting Internet material, pdf files etc. I'm sure other note taking applications are just as great and useful.

PrincessPaulina said:

When traveling, I like to bring 1-2 decks, and often do a retrospective "what should I take away from this place/trip" before setting out on the return voyage home.

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That sounds like a good idea. I'll probably do a few spreads before I leave home and Scotland to see what would be good to take away and what to look for while I'm there.

Nemia said:

In the last year, I discontinued my pencil on paper journal and switched to Evernote instead. I take a picture of the spread and write my thoughts down. Easily searchable and tagable. Very useful for me. I can also double check readings I gave to others - and when I read for them next time, I can look up continuities etc. (Well, there are only two friends I ever read for so it's not a big deal....)

Sometimes I have tarot dreams or hear tarot voices, and then I write it down, too. Evernote is great for sorting Internet material, pdf files etc. I'm sure other note taking applications are just as great and useful.

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I just downloaded Evernote, and I love it! It's so convinient, thank you for mentioning it! I love being organized, and Evernote makes that really easy (Wow, we sound like a commercial. XD) I think it'll help a lot in the long run to be able to sort all my thoughts out.

I guess I never thought about a particular area “infusing energy” into one’s cards but certainly can align myself to that thought.
I live on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula (the thumb) which many consider a spiritually mystical place. Musicians and artists are attracted to this area as well. I live about five miles from the 45th parallel. Whether this place is an influence on my cards, I don’t know, but I do have a collection of stones that I’ve gathered from the beaches through the decades, long before my knowledge of Runes. I am in the process of completing that collection to create my own Rune Stones to use as a second oracle to tarot readings. Merely buying them in this case just won’t do.

karlwb said:

I guess I never thought about a particular area “infusing energy” into one’s cards but certainly can align myself to that thought.
I live on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula (the thumb) which many consider a spiritually mystical place. Musicians and artists are attracted to this area as well. I live about five miles from the 45th parallel. Whether this place is an influence on my cards, I don’t know, but I do have a collection of stones that I’ve gathered from the beaches through the decades, long before my knowledge of Runes. I am in the process of completing that collection to create my own Rune Stones to use as a second oracle to tarot readings. Merely buying them in this case just won’t do.

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Rune stones are intriguing to me; just by what I understand of their nature, they do seem like the kind of objects that would be infused with energy. I'm hoping that my cards will experience the same kind of infusion when I go to Scotland, especially since it's such a charged place for me. (I might do some more research of rune stones before I get there, I think they're really interesting.)