good gravy..who knew? (rambling)

[hottierockstar]

i had NO idea that studying tarot was so intensive. I am a "must understand/remember forwards/backwards" personality...at this rate I *might* be able to do a reading without consulting a book in like...10 years. LOL
at least i have the suits/elements/modes down...
keywords of numbers/suits, totally different story and forming them into a statement? right! there are just sooo many keywords! LOL

If my head doesn't explode i am going to get back to studying


just wanted to ramble

 

[rwcarter]

Think of the keywords as guides, not mandates, for interpretation. That may help.

Rodney

 

[Sinduction]

I was like that too when I first started. You will never feel like you know enough, have read enough, or are ready to read.

The most important lesson I learned was that it doesn't matter what anyone else says the cards mean. All that matters is what comes to me when I relax and actually look at the images. The cards want to talk to you, they will teach you the language, you won't find it in someone else's book. Tarot isn't a logical thing. There is no formula to reading.

But maybe that's just me.

 

[cflame]

I agree, why be mechanical about it? All the fun of tarot is seeing what you see in the cards, not what a book tells you to see!

I am new to tarot, but I spent very little time learning meanings, I just have a little story I remember for each card and make it up from there. My friends are amazaed at how they can relate to my readings. Yesterday I was doing a reading for an aquaintance and began to "see" people connected to this person in a reading. I was very excited when questions like "is there a ... man at work who you have a ... connection with" and so on and I started to freak myself out... all my questions ended up being right!

Let your intuition talk my darling, thats my view

Well thats my ramble lol

 

[Grizabella]

It does help to have a basis of knowledge of "standard" card meanings and other things. Some people prefer to go entirely by intuition and that works for them, but Tarot does have a tradition behind it as well that's important to relate to as you read. That's what works for me, anyway.

There's no such thing as a 100% accuracy rate, no matter what you may hear. You're bound to get it wrong sometimes. It's just human nature. Besides, the Universe doesn't mean for you to get every single answer every single time. Life is much more mysterious than that because it's meant to be.

I started about 10 years ago myself and I know there will always be things to learn. I'm never going to feel done with learning.

 

[BeyondtheVeil]

I was like that as well. Be careful about reading books because all the meanings can stay in your head when you start doing readings. {So that it sounds like you are writing directly from the book}. I started reading books over and over and actual memorized the meanings. It was crazy! I definitely wasn't using any intuition doing it that way. It seemed hard and stressful. I thought I would never remember or learn all the stuff around.

I then bought the DruidCraft Deck and didn't even open the book. I started a thread in Reading Exchanges to give readings for feedback. I just looked at the picture and amazingly the readings were pretty good. I think the best way to learn is to just jump right in. I think knowing some of the basics is helpful also, but trusting yourself/thoughts is also important. What do you feel, think, etc when you look at a certain card? The same card can mean different things for different people and even for you. I got the same card for two people in a row and got two very different feels/reads for them. I find that the more detail and things on a card helps to do that kind of reading. I just can't do that with my Rider-Waite or Radiant Rider-Waite decks. I can do it with other RW clones if they have 'busy" cards. lol I am about to start some practice with the new deck I received in a trade.. Pearls of Wisdom. They seem to be very well suited for intuitive readings.

Check out the Reading Exchange board and the Reading Circle board. Those are definitely two great ways to learn Tarot and get feedback. This is a learning environment, so don't be too scared. There is even a Newbie Reading Circle to help get you started.


BeyondtheVeil

 

[Carla]

i had NO idea that studying tarot was so intensive. I am a "must understand/remember forwards/backwards" personality...at this rate I *might* be able to do a reading without consulting a book in like...10 years. LOL
at least i have the suits/elements/modes down...
keywords of numbers/suits, totally different story and forming them into a statement? right! there are just sooo many keywords! LOL

If my head doesn't explode i am going to get back to studying


just wanted to ramble

Give it time. You will start to internalise all those alternate meanings that various books give. While you're learning, do some readings as well. Go to the Reading Exchange and swap readings for feedback with people. When you do a reading, don't look at your books. Try doing readings for fictional characters, or even imaginary querants, for practice. And when you practice, try doing it all out loud. That really helps.

A little game that really, really helped me (and that I still do sometimes) is to sit with a deck and turn over the cards one by one, saying key words or quick one sentence meanings for each as soon as you turn it over. If you get the meaning right away and are confident in what you've said, put the card in one pile. If you hesitate, put those cards in another pile. When done with the whole deck, go back to the 'not sure' pile and try them again. If you need to, look up meanings for those. It's like flashcards.

 

[Wendywu]

It does help to have a basis of knowledge of "standard" card meanings and other things. Some people prefer to go entirely by intuition and that works for them, but Tarot does have a tradition behind it as well that's important to relate to as you read. That's what works for me, anyway.

There's no such thing as a 100% accuracy rate, no matter what you may hear. You're bound to get it wrong sometimes. It's just human nature. Besides, the Universe doesn't mean for you to get every single answer every single time. Life is much more mysterious than that because it's meant to be.

I started about 10 years ago myself and I know there will always be things to learn. I'm never going to feel done with learning.

For me, Griz is right here. I learned the standard meanings, and I learned a bit about qabala (which I know a lot don't like or use), numerology, the elements etc. and I mix it all into hotch-potch held together with what my intuition tells me. What a card means for me is also dependent on what position it is in relative to its neighbours and - if I am using a spread - what position it is in that spread.

There is so much to learn - I too feel I'm never going to be able to say "There, I know it now" because of course, I never will - and that's part of the great joy of it (for me, anyway)

 

[NikkiB]

lol I felt like that, deck in one hand book in the other! I read and studied everything I could get my hands on and .... retained little! I was trying to cram it in!

So I have relaxed and started to enjoy my cards, the best way I have found to learn them is to use them, certain cards have certain meanings for me that dominate (not the same always of course) but often they have my special message so its also about developing a relationship with your deck and getting to feel comfortable with it. I agree with throwing yourself into the reading exchange, its a great learning enviorement, and the feedback is so helpful for instance I found that sometimes i put in a bit of extra info because it was something i knew about the card but actually if i had listend to my gut i knew deep down that that aspect of the meaning didnt apply!

so I am using a combination of things, the book meanigs, what I see in the card, the developing relationship with the card and gradually i will look into other aspects such as kabala and numerogy etc but i am doing this for me so I am going to enjoy the journey and do it for pleasure and at my own pace

 

[Wendywu]

so I am using a combination of things, the book meanigs, what I see in the card, the developing relationship with the card and gradually i will look into other aspects such as kabala and numerogy etc but i am doing this for me so I am going to enjoy the journey and do it for pleasure and at my own pace

That's a great way to do it - it's the journey that's the joy (for me)