Im new

[mastertarot]

OK im new to this tarot buisness and have recently baught a deck and a very confusing little leaflet that i dont understand. Can someone please give me some guidlines on what to learn, i have been learning what each card means but im not sure you are meant to do this.

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[Knight of Wands]

Firstly, ditch the little booklet (LWB).

Read through all the card meanings by Thirteen, by clicking on the 'Learn' button at the top of the page. They will help enormously.

Use your intuition to guide, don't try to memorise all the meanings, although a guide will be very useful. Look at the picture and think what it means to you.

 

[SunChariot]

Try this to start:

http://www.learntarot.com/

It's not a bad place to start. I know I started there, but in the end you will develop your own style that best suits your personality, talents and who you are.

No, I don't find the little white books that come with the deck useful at all. There are many ways to read though, almost as many ways as there are readers. Reading a lot of books and talking to a lot of people will give you ideas. Then you can just try what intersts you, reject what doesn't, and keep the things that work well for you as part of your style.

I have read tons of Tarot books in my time, about 30-50 actually, but personally my readings don't work well from me when I pay attention to what the books say the cards means. For me, my readings are much much better when I find/feel the answers inside myself.

It's very inkblot test. I just write down all the symbols in the cards that come up, then look at them one at a time and write down the first thing that comes into my mind when I see them (not so much a word, but an impulse). No thinking allowed. Just "Circle=unity"...Of course your mind will see sometning different each time. After you have a list of all the symbols and your initial reaction to them, one card at a time, it's just a matter of connecting them all into a coherent story that answers your question.

I know it sounds very random, but it really really does give me accurate answers.

Hope some of this helps,

Babs

 

[mastertarot]

Ok so forst i have to learn what the cards mean to me and remember it?

 

[Knight of Wands]

Ok so forst i have to learn what the cards mean to me and remember it?

Basically yeah, but remember that sometimes in readings we will have a slightly different interpretation.

Don't be too rigid in your thinking, allow room to adapt.

 

[SunChariot]

There is no what you have to do.Tarot is a very individual path. For anything one person swears by, there are many others who never use that technique and do perfectly well.

So my answer to you is maybe. If you chose to learn the book meanings then that will be your path. I personally never did and find that when I use the book meanings the quality of my readings goes down. But that is just me and my path.

I do have a very general idea of what the majors mean, what the suits represent, how to use court cards, jumpers...... And that is all. My readings are about 1 to 1 1/2 pp typed long per card. And let's say one sentence is about the basic meanings of the Majors or the suits, if that. The rest is pure intuition. I honestly do not even know the book meanings of the minors at all and it has never slowed me down in the least.

Some people read using the book meanings, others reject them and read mainly by analsing the images in the cards. There are many many ways to read. No one can tell you what you have to do. It is a decision you need to make in your heart and soul about which way feels more right to you. There will be some trial and error along the way, we all have that. But you will find your path in time.

For me, for what it's worth, the card meanings of each card never mean the exact same thing twice. Reading intuitively means just that they mean what they feel like the mean each time, and each time is different. So there is really no learning of meanings to speak of.

Babs

 

[memries]

Welcome to the world of "what does that mean ?" I look forward to sharing with you...memries

 

[Grizabella]

Everyone learns differently. I suggest you do what helps you the most. You'll hear to ditch the little white booklet altogether, but I have trouble believing that most people actually did totally wing it without at least skimming through it unless they received that advice here and were afraid to read it. If reading information about meanings helps you, then do it. It did help me in the beginning. It gave me a basis to use as a springboard into learning what the cards mean to me personally through experience of reading for myself and others as I progressed.

What deck did you buy? I bought a bunch of them and got nowhere with learning tarot till I gave in and bought a Rider Waite to learn with. I intensely did NOT like the Rider Waite art work, but I should have started with that one to begin with. Now I can read with just about any other deck with illustrated pips that follows Rider Waite to some extent. That's how it was for me but you'll hear from others that any deck that appeals to you will do. Again, do what works best for you.

 

[Thirteen]

4 Ways to Learn Tarot (generally speaking)

Ok so forst i have to learn what the cards mean to me and remember it?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Tarot. As you seem to be seeking practical and pragmatic advise, here are four general ways to learn tarot that usually work for people. Choose one, or mix and match. Two things to remember: (1) You can't learn it all in one easy lesson. Most of us still feel we're learning to this day. That's the joy of Tarot, you never stop learning. So take as much time as you need. There's no rush. (2) The one refrain you'll hear is that there is no absolute right or absolute wrong. YES, each card does have a certain meaning. If they didn't, we could assign any card any meaning we like and what would be the point in that?--However, those generally agreed upon meanings are very broad and flexable. A picture is worth a thousand words, and most tarot decks are all about pictures.

The usual ways to learn tarot (for beginners) are:

1) Keyword. You assign a word to each card and memorize those words AND the cards. So, for example, you might assign to the Magician card the word "Create" and so when you get that card you think, "Something is going to be created...." This is a BEGINNER's stadegy. It works if you want to get to know the cards very quickly, but you will outgrow this method quickly. This is a good book if you want to go keyword:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/15...ef=sr_1_1/002-6551207-8926411?ie=UTF8&s=books

If you decide on this method, then the best way to start is by memorizing the Majors (those are the first 22 cards, 0-21, staring with The Fool and ending with The Universe). Once you've memorized them, move onto the minors (those with suits from Ace to 10) and then the Courts (pages, knight, queen, king).

2) Book or tutorial: this is where you find a good book or tutorial and just study as you would any other subject. You might, in fact, read many books and cross reference. It's a slow method because you'll have to keep checking the books when you lay down a card, but it does give you a very deep understanding of each card, it's history and symbolism.

3) Picture intuition: this is where you don't use the books at all. Instead, you study each card and get to know the image, the picture. You make up your own stories about the pictures. And y ou learn to read from your own intuitive feelings about the cards. The one problem with this method is it doesn't work so well with cards that don't have pictures for the minors, which some decks don't.

4) Journal: this is where you do a mix of picture and books. You examing the picture, see what you think, read a little on what the book says, and then write up your OWN interpetation in a journal. You, essentially, create your own tarot book from a mix of interpetation and book learning. The writing down of the meanings helps some people in getting to really know the cards.

I hope one of these resonates with you and works for you. The bottom line is, do whatever works best for you. Some people learn best by studying a card a day. Others learn best by memorizing the cards first, in order, then attatching meaning to them. And still others learn by reading as much as they can. It's all good.

 

[Little Baron]

You can not go wrong with Thirteen's advice or commentary. She has been a great help to many of us and is worth her weight in gold .

But it will depend on what deck you have to determine how useful her help or the l'earntarot' site is since they both deal with Rider Waite symbols and understanding.

If you have a Thoth, it will not be as relevant and there will be better-suited places to go, which we can help with.

If you have some kind of themed deck, such as The New Orleans Voodoo, it will mean nothing. Likewise, un-scenic minor decks like the ones by Tavaglione, the Marseille or Visconti's will equally confuse if you try to marry them to the information you find in those recommended sources.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I didn't see you post which deck it is that you have. Does it have Rider Waite symbolism? Forgive me if you did and I missed it. It does make a difference. When I started out, I was totally unaware that there were different traditions and suggested interpretations to suit each.

If it does have Rider Waite symbolism, then those places are a great beginner's springboard. Firstly, find a combination of what they mean traditionally and what they mean to you. Never lose sight of their importance to you on an intuitive level. That is what will make you a unique and good reader - finding layers that are personal to your life and experience.

Hope that helps. If you don't know what kind of tradition yours is from, post the title and we can tell you.

LB