"Intuition" versus "book learned"

Umbrae

MysticalMoose said:
...I was really intrigued to find them so different to how I see cards now, which I suppose illustrates the "learning journey" that we are all on with the Tarot...

Brilliantly stated.

Put down that book. it will stunt your growth.

Seriously. Look at a book. Does it breathe? Does it change with time? Does it grow?

YOU on the other hand do all these things. So you can read a book (oh how about a Zaine book) and LEARN the FACTS that EGYPTIANS invented tarot...or read from another that Moses stole it away from the Egyptians.

Bandy about any of those FACTs you learned from precious books...

Your precious authors simply read another 'book', and that author read from another 'book' and that author read from another 'book'.

Get real. You have brains, you have intellegence - If Tarot is what we think and say it is...then you should not need training wheels. Allow Tarot to be a part of the path, allow it to pull you along, allow it to teach you which questions to ask ("Uh...what's that square and triangle on Temperence's chest mean? I wonder"), allow the deck to lead you to research the symbols that are jumping out at you.

or you could read what the Pharoh Ramses the Second said about it...
 

Apocalipstick

mollymawk said:
I don't think it's supposed to be either intuition or learning. They're not mutually exclusive. And the more you learn, the more your intuition has to draw on :)

Hear, hear!
 

gregory

I don't think anything is "supposed" to be anything. What works for you works for you. And I have given up putting titles on these things too.... :D

I used to say I read............(that way) but I don't any more, I just say I read!
 

showponye

I am huge on intuition!! I studied and studied books but have always altered meaning to what came to me at the moment. I had a very hard time with it at first because I knew what I was told certain cards meant but what I felt was so overwhelming. Sometimes at the end of a reading I would explain to the person I was reading for what I was getting and they would in turn tell me that my intuitive thoughts were more accurate so I began going with intuition ever since!
 

andrew

After a long time of book interpretation, the intuitive approach finally grabbed me about 8 years ago. I still buy many Tarot books, but I don't really read much of their interpretations of the cards as much as the other stuff. It will come to you. It's just a matter of time with the cards and with yourself to develp your intuition. Good luck!
 

Nholdamek

All the meanings from the book are just a jumping off point. The same goes for the various associations, such as elemental, astrological, zodiacal, Qabalistic, etc. Sure, without these things you could use your intuition and probably be right. But having these associations gives us further potential insight and more ideas of how to extract more meaning from the card.

So, I think, instead of memorizing the description of each card, it should be a combination of the name, associations, and picture of the card. So for instance if a card is represented by mars, you can be pretty sure it has something to do with creation, or something of the fire element. What the exact description is doesn't really matter in that case.

It is like forming a story. They just start to make sense after you fit together the individual pieces in the proper way. If you just append the meanings to one another, they really don't form any sensible story. But if you grow and expand them to fit the situation and the context of the other cards, according to associations, elemental dignities, and intuition, then they fall right into place beautifully. This is when you know you are correct.
 

kisou

First of all, thanks so much everyone on your insight about all of this~


This quote by vision777 really sums up how I've felt about it for a while~

i guess because i think the book is right i will always asume " I'M wrong.

As soon as I would read the book, it's like "Oh. Oh, ok, well, it still makes sense, and that changes that..." Even in my tarot journal I would go ahead and strike out what I'd written about what I had original interpreted and scribbled in notes about the book meaning.

While I know this is kind of blocking out my own intuition, it still made me feel better, if that sort of makes sense! As if my intuition on a card wasn't DEEP ENOUGH to really grasp the meaning. Like, I can only see so much into it because I don't know what the "real" interpretation for suit, element, number, etc. and therefore I felt as if what I saw in the card wasn't deep or meaningful enough to give me more of an answer.



I have to say, I like Umbrae's tough love stance on this issue. I definetly all ready feel more confident about what I know and what I can decypher on my own without the aid of a book.
 

celticnoodle

kisou said:
As soon as I would read the book, it's like "Oh. Oh, ok, well, it still makes sense, and that changes that..." Even in my tarot journal I would go ahead and strike out what I'd written about what I had original interpreted and scribbled in notes about the book meaning.

While I know this is kind of blocking out my own intuition, it still made me feel better, if that sort of makes sense! As if my intuition on a card wasn't DEEP ENOUGH to really grasp the meaning. Like, I can only see so much into it because I don't know what the "real" interpretation for suit, element, number, etc. and therefore I felt as if what I saw in the card wasn't deep or meaningful enough to give me more of an answer.
kisou, i was & still am pretty much the same way. i still doubt myself. while i do believe reading tarot books are a great tool for helping you to learn, as is this site, and the experiences of other tarot readers, i'm learning that to trust your own intuition is the best way. there are times when i just do not know how to interpret the card though, and i may look at a book to get an idea. so i do think books and others ideas offer some help--especially at times like that. however, i'm becoming more and more intuitive, and more comfortable and sure of my abilities of intuition, especially with reading tarot---it will come to you also. don't give up. like the magician in tarot, there are tools out there for you to use, but the real knowledge is inside yourself and you only need to stay focused and have confidence in yourself.
 

gregory

What comes to you FIRST is usually the best thing to go with, whatever the book or a colleague says, or something you suddenly saw in the paper makes you think of afterwards !
Gut instinct coming from the cards is a wonderful thing !