Advice for a beginning reader

undomiel_perian · #1 12-09-2013, 08:01 PM

I'd like to get started reading tarot cards. I've always been fascinated by them. I just recently got a nag for them. I do online readings for myself but I don’t feel like they are quite reliable at times. I have yet to buy my own deck of cards but I have my eye on a special deck and just have to order them. I want to be connected to my deck. Anywho, I was just wondering if someone can give me some tips for somebody who is just starting. This may seem like a silly question but how do you learn to read the cards/spreads? Thanks!

Jenny Crow · #2 15-09-2013, 02:58 AM

There are some good books that will help you get familiar with the meanings of the cards. Mary K Greer is one author who's well respected in the Tarot world.

#3 15-09-2013, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by undomiel_perian

I'd like to get started reading tarot cards. I've always been fascinated by them. I just recently got a nag for them. I do online readings for myself but I don’t feel like they are quite reliable at times. I have yet to buy my own deck of cards but I have my eye on a special deck and just have to order them. I want to be connected to my deck. Anywho, I was just wondering if someone can give me some tips for somebody who is just starting. This may seem like a silly question but how do you learn to read the cards/spreads? Thanks!

Well, it definitely helps to buy a deck that speaks to you. So while looking, if one jumps out at you, it will likely work best. The symbolism is always different in each deck, but the 'standard' symbols can be found on the Rider Waite Tarot. That is the deck I started with and now I've graduated to the Brotherhood of Light Tarot. Mostly you should get acquainted with the meaning of the suits, the court cards, and the major arcana. Then the symbolism in colors, background images and the overall 'feel' or 'mood' of the card.

It helps to use your own interpretations, too. :) Decide whether you want to use reversals, or which kind of spread (I usually just do the past, present, future spread on myself everyday). When you read them for yourself every day, you begin to build a point of reference for each card, specifically what it means to you. Then, eventually you might notice that some cards turn up for your friends that you never saw yourself. It makes the cards more notable and you can classify them with that person. The more you use them, the easier it gets.

#4 17-09-2013, 03:20 AM

Other than the above mentioned advice, it also helps if you spread the major arcana into a figure eight, looping back onto itself in numerical order. Go through each card and tell a story using the images you see. After you've finished your story, draw a card each day to familiarize yourself with the typical meanings of each card until eventually, you begin to see things in the cards that weren't there before. You begin to feel different moods in different situations presented in the cards and eventually, you'll begin to go with your intuitive meanings moreso than what the card generally means.

Belle · #5 17-09-2013, 05:35 AM

When I got my first deck - I just shuffled and shuffled and turned them over and shuffled and shuffled and turned them over - looking at the cards and reading something about each card. I thought I was practising readings but most likeely I was learning the card and also I was pouring my energy into the card.

#6 17-09-2013, 05:42 AM

Yes, make sure you exchange your energies with the deck. Honor it, thank it, speak with it like an old friend. Blessing a deck can be one of the greatest things to do to enhance its potency. The more the deck feels loved, the more it will respect and respond to you. It is an entity, all its own.

Belle · #7 17-09-2013, 08:31 AM

I like the idea of a deck being an "Old friend" Indeed it is and should be treated as such.

undomiel_perian · #8 17-09-2013, 05:36 PM

Thanks everyone for the advice! I really appreciate it!

#9 18-09-2013, 05:50 PM

Has anyone ever read a regular poker set? I did it a few times as a joke when I was in high school and scared the **** out of more than one person with my accurate reads. Would Tarot cards work better (more precisely)?

#10 18-09-2013, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gypsy Star

Has anyone ever read a regular poker set? I did it a few times as a joke when I was in high school and scared the **** out of more than one person with my accurate reads. Would Tarot cards work better (more precisely)?

Hah! I've thought about this before. I think the regular card decks are actually just a continuation of tarot. So, I think they were originally developed from the tarot... makes sense. Although, which cards are missing? There's only 52.