Intuitive Tarot Reading

[Northwind]

There are many ways to read intuitively. There are degrees of reading intuitively. Some people use book meanings and add in some intuition, some do not use book meanings at all and use only their intuitions. I am one of the second group. I have tried a number of ways as I was learning and I find as soon as I use the book readings my readings go downhill and become less accurate. If I use just my intuition then things are at their most accurate, in fact they have often been called scary accurate by the querents.
Bar

Can I be gently challenging, not specifically to you Sun Chariot, but to everyone.

I think that people use the term "book meanings" without saying what they mean and it can be misleading. Do they mean the meanings given to the cards by the author of the particular deck or do they mean a mish-mash of symbolic meanings passed on in various versions until they virtually have diminished relevance?

The trouble is that people often don't say what they mean by "book meanings" and "intuition" and their comments come over as an implicit criticism of people who may read using ideas from books, and who sometimes may use the deck author's own written explanation of his or her symbolism and intent. It is always appropriate to take the latter into account.

Generally speaking, tarot cards incorporate universal archetypes or symbols which most us of integrate into learning through living and other kinds of education. People who say they read intuitively are often simply using the knowledge they have already obtained through life and various kinds of education. So they may not refer to the particular deck companion or LWB. They may be simply using the knowledge they had prior to getting the deck and the book.

I think this discussion is important because there is, in this forum, sometimes a kind of line between those who say they read intuitively and the "other". The "other" is most commonly implied to be those who use "book meanings". Sometimes this divide is implicit and sometimes really open, and it is a pity. It sometimes seems to me as if there a hierarchy, a kind of secret society of those who have the "special" knowledge and skill and those who do not .

Moreover, seeing the cards and knowing the symbology, however you know it, is not all there is to reading. Reading also means seeing the connections between cards at various levels, extending those connections to what they might mean in relation to the querent, and being able to weave those elements together in a way that is sensitive and meaningful to the querent. Sometimes people can do this in a snap because of their conscious and other-conscious knowledge and sometimes people think about it and take time.

People who use an intellectual approach based on their knowledge of symbolism and their counselling skills can do absolutely brilliant readings and there should be no debate about which is the better approach. In truth probably all of us use a variety of intuitive and intellectual approaches, depending on the context.

I think the intent of a reading, the care for the querent, the relationship ~ are often as or more important than the content, especially in face-to-face readings.

I don't think that intuition per se is a better skill than the capacity to think and use other intellectual skills and concrete facts. As science has often shown, the intellectual knowledge, the book learning, the concrete fact can be the runway for the intuitive leap.

 

[SunChariot]

Oh, I'm sorry if it sounded in anyway that there is something wrong in any way with using meanings from books in your readings, either from LWBs or other books. I would have meant by the term the meanings taken directly from a book either the LWB or other books.

I was only talking about my personal experience, not at all saying it is everyone's or that it would work for everyone. Personally when I add in the book meanings the quality of my readings diminishes. I have tried many times and it happens consistently. My readings work best when I find the answers inside the images and inside myself without referring to any preset concepts at all actually.

But that is just me. We are certainly all on our own individual paths. Something I know very deeply within myself. And I certainly did not mean for my stating my experiences to sound judgmental to anyone else on a different path.

And yes I agree totally that there is more than card meanings to reading, no matter how you arrive at their meanings. The cards need to be interrelated to each other, to the question, and yes there are definitely some councelling skills involved as people often, if not usually, want reading on things that upset them. There are many ways to word things and to give information. Knowing how to give information in a comforting way is very important, imho.

Bar

 

[euripides]

Northwind, a well reasoned and thoughful post! Well said indeed.

I've got a few thoughts triggered by your post, not arguing but more elaborating I think.

I think you're quite right about our general disparaging of 'book reading', and that there's a certain elitism there, and I'm glad to be reminded of that.

I feel that you need to begin with a -good- book, because there is a tradition and body of knowledge that exists behind the Tarot. Yes, the 'Tarot is the Book' as I think Fulgour said somewhere, and I shan't argue with that, for me it is true. However, like much great art and literature, we need help to understand and interpret it.

I think generally LWBs are pretty useless, because they condense meaning down so far that you lose any context, and it becomes a rote-learned meaning, though a good book that goes with a deck, and brings out the cultural or mythological associations that the deck creators had in mind, is also useful, especially if you don't already possess that knowledge.

I still look cards up. Even for the cards I know well, I still find additional layers and possibilities.

 

[Northwind]

Thanks for your response, Euripides.

I agree with almost everything you said. We are all evolving as readers and there is no 'better' way. Some where I think I read your comment, also, that our intuitive (and I would "intellectual") skills and powers can vary so much depending on how tired and preoccupied we are at any time.

I guess I'd like people to think about meaning when they write, especially in an international internet forum, where written word can mean so many different things.

If I am really tired or stressed I may not be able to immediately access my intuitive feelings or even my conscious knowledge of the meaning of a particular card or symbol. Cards usually hold many symbols, too

And I think a kind of elitism can be intentionally or unintentionally implied which can be disconcerting and discouraging to some. We need be mindful of that. Let's embrace the diversity in approaches and skills of people from all places and stages of living and learning.

Some people never "leave the books behind" and that is perfectly all right. They can still do brilliant readings. It is how they use their knowledge, how they put it altogether, and they treat the querent that is the important thing.

I have had some awful readings from people who would say they are reading from purely intuitively. These readings floated into gob-smacking ethereal irrelevance.

I knew one woman who used the Haindl without ever having consulted a tarot book. She grew up close to an indigenous people and was trained in natural medicine. I believe she obtained much conscious and unconscious competence in her reading from that special background. She is quite a unique person.

 

[Northwind]

I don't think a reader should be looking up a book in a face to face-to-face reading. It would be well advised to be confident enough with your repertoire of knowledge to put together a reading for some one without having to laboriously consult a book for each card .

To put together a good face-to-face reading requires a mixture of knowledge, confidence, intuitive understanding and skill.

I suspect that many of us who have done email and on-line readings do look up the occasional book, edit heaps and take some time to reflect. All that is not so possible at the coffee shop table or bar . Some people would regard such face-to-face readings a purely intuitive reading. They could be, or they might be simply good knowledge, derived however, and quick thinking as well as intuition.

I guess what all this is about is the need to be really clear and thoughtful about what one means.

Intuition and intellect - really wonderful qualities, especially when used in balance.

 

[Rosanne]

I think what Northwind and Euripides said is of great value. It is a hoary old question "what is Intuition?"
I think you have to decide how your own particular brain works with images. Some people do not see pictures when they see something, they see words. Some people when they hear words see a whole busy picture of associated things.
Some people need to write things down, others need just a keyword to open up their inner eye. The ways are numberless.
Here is my suggestion Waggledance. Take the deck you like to use, draw one card. Put it on something- Table , stand whatever. Sit, lie, stand looking at it and say out loud in words what you see. Then ask a question out loud, for instance "How can I be nicer to my cat today?" Look at the image of the card again for a few minutes- then close your eyes and speak out what is happening in your thoughts. Some of what pops up will be things you have learned from books, some will be what you know instinctivly, some from what you have experienced; it might just be the word 'nicer' and what that means- it is all food for the action of what to do for your cat. One or two things will be louder in your head than the others- speak that out- that is intuition. That is what your intuition is telling you to do prompted by the card. ~Rosanne

 

[gregory]

I have been in private discussion and in forum discussions elsewhere with several people on this thread (in fact, I came here because someone reminded me of their post) - and I used to say I read exclusively intuitively, because I don't use things from books (LWBs or otherwise) on the whole, and because the cards change "meaning" every time I use them.

But I have repented.

I have decided that terminology is useless. No-one means the same thing by anything.

I read cards. End of. (I may in the end try toothpicks, or even my sugar packet collection; I do already know magazine images don't work for me !)

Mostly people have been positive about what I have said to them. That is all I need to know.
Until someone convinces me otherwise.

I have been made nervous by some "cliqueishness" about this that I am beginning to notice (I have in my time been as guilty of this as anyone !), and it helps no-one. I shall continue to take part in the "intuitive" circles here, as they are the "best fit" with what I do; I would feel uncomfortable exchanging with people who expected me to use a spread or anything. But whatever method works for whomever - that is what matters.

Signed: she who reads as she reads.

 

[Little Baron]

Signed: she who reads as she reads.

Good for you Gregory!!!

I am of this opinion. Do it how you want.

When my mum started driving, she used the bus routes to get around, lol. But they got her from A to B. And we didn't complain since we were getting the lifts. Now, she has her own personal short-cuts and drives how she likes. It still gets her from A to B.

It seems that however you do stuff, we can find some way of breaking it down and analysing it on this forum. If you know a system, why not try another. If you read intuitively, what exactly do you mean by intuitively?

It has taken me a long time to think and feel for myself, but I am glad that I have.

Signed: He who reads as he reads (and doesn't give a F**k, to boot )

edited to add: I have only read Gregory's post and no others, so I hope I have not offended. Going back to read the original poster and others

 

[gregory]

I have nothing against discussion and even analysis. But it begins to trouble me that people get hung up on the terminology for what they do - when almost by definition it is all undefinable.... (IMHO, she says carefully... )

Why does it matter what any particular reading method is called ? The ONLY reason I can see for naming things is so that people can - for instance - decide which reading circles they want to join in - I find the "intuitive" handle for that circle useful because it is the circle where I fit. But increasingly I can't say what I mean; I just do it. Whatever "it" is ! Rosanne's post here makes a huge amount of "sense" to me.... but I know just how much book knowledge she has behind her - and I don't...

 

[Little Baron]

I have nothing against discussion and even analysis. But it begins to trouble me that people get hung up on the terminology for what they do - when almost by definition it is all undefinable.... (IMHO, she says carefully... )

Why does it matter what any particular reading method is called ? The ONLY reason I can see for naming things is so that people can - for instance - decide which reading circles they want to join in - I find the "intuitive" handle for that circle useful because it is the circle where I fit. But increasingly I can't say what I mean; I just do it. Whatever "it" is ! Rosanne's post here makes a huge amount of "sense" to me.... but I know just how much book knowledge she has behind her - and I don't...

Yes, I understand. And things change. And things are often undefinable.

At this point, for me, the most important thing is to .. just trust and believe.

LB