Where to begin?

[Shadow Wolf]

I went out and got my tarot journal. Now the question is "where do I begin?"

I have the tarot awareness book should I get the meanings for the numbers first or the suits?

What do you suggest?

 

[Sheri]

Hi Shadow Wolf,

Check out Table of Contents - All About Reading in this forum. There is a wealth of information to get you started! Links to Journalling are on the last post of the thread - check them out!

Really, there is no right or wrong way. Just start and you will find what works best for you!

valeria

 

[Thirteen]

What do you suggest?

Valeria's right. We each find our own way to start. I think, however, that the most common way is to to start with the Majors, in order, from card 0 to card 21.

It's kinda "symbolic" to feel like you know nothing, that you're on a new journey...and, feeling this, to begin with "zero"...the Fool card.

After the majors, you go onto the suits and the minors, and finish up with the courts. That's the "usual" way. But, as said, do what works for you and feels right. Feeling "right" about how you're learning the cards is the only way to learn them.

 

[Yurikome]

I tried journalling "in order" a couple of times and got so fed up with it, you wouldn't believe. It was a bit better when I decided to journal on a randomly pulled card, defnitely. I love pen&paper, but I found that it's really hard, for me, to find the quiet time to write anything like that - there's always someone wanting something from me. So I keep mine on the computer, I'm much less likely to be interrupted sitting here. And it's faster, I can keep up with the speed of my thoughts. I use the TreeDB Notes program, and it really lets me be my inconsistent self. I have a separate section for different decks (different imagery - different meanings associated with it), each divided into the majors and minors, sections for interesting spreads, for readings, for daily draws should I wish to pull some, a small section on the suits in general and on the numbers. Oh, the entries in the decks section are also varied - there's the cut&paste of interesting observations others make around the forum and the internet generally, there are my own musings and notes from "entering the card" meditations, also interpretations of each card as a neutral, negative and positive.

So, as you see, you can do a lot of different things and not be bored. The best part is - just by writing, you're learning. You may look back into your notes later, if you're stuck for example, but I doubt you'll need to go over them to "learn", I know I don't. And I haven't managed to make notes on each and single card of at least one deck, but I'm managing pretty well, I think

Good luck to you with this project!

 

[Sophie]

Begin at the beginning,... and go on till you come to the end: then stop. (said by the White King to Alice).


The Beginning is wherever you are now. The first thing you do with your pack of cards. Look through them? Shuffle them? Deal them? Put them in little piles? Tell yourself a story with the first one you see?

The very first look you take through your cards. The first time you gaze into the High Priestess's face, when you wonder - what is behind? What is in front of me? What am I looking at?

That is where you begin. That's what you write down on page one of your first journal.


And when you reach the end of tarot - maybe you can let us know

 

[Nimbus]

Over the years my study of the tarot has waxed and waned, and so has the way I record my thoughts about what I learn. I draw a card each day and write a couple of paragraphs about it on a word.doc before I start my workday.

In addition to that, my latest system, inspired by all of the amazing posts here, is a spiral bound notebook (200 pages). I have labelled every other page or so to corrrespond to a card, beginning with 0-21, then the suits with their courts. This book is kept beside my computer so that as I read the many posts, if something about a card jumps out at me, I can note it in my notebook. Sometimes a post from someone just resonates, or someone offers a refereshing way to view a card.

The goal of this is to enrich my understanding of the cards and keep myself fresh so I am not getting in a rut with certain meanings.

Be sure to check out some of the study groups for particular cards. I jump around, depending on my mood. I have recently discovered the Reading Exchange. There is a ton of great information as the readings posted show you how the card 'behaves' in a spread in a particular position as it relates to the question.

For me, learning the meanings in only part of the journey- synthesizing the meanings into a coherent reading is truly an art!

I am finding learing the tarot in a non-linear way works as there is simply just so much to it, and I manage to learn something everyday. My moods change and some days I am serious, while on other days I am feeling silly.

Enjoy the journey!!

~Nimbus