cindygrogan14 The Tarot has been around for centuries; judging from the amount of info about it, no shocker there. For that reason, learning this ancient art can be off-putting to the newbie. So much to take in: meanings, reversals, context, spreads. It’s enough to send you running for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a Law and Order: SVU marathon.
I’ve put plenty of time in to the Tarot, and I do believe it’s worth it to learn the traditional meanings of each card. The study of Tarot packs its own enlightening punch. However, learning the card meanings is not a rule: there are some readers who just don’t bother. My friend Sandy never cracked a Tarot book or took a class, but the girl could throw a spread and be dead-on. What she did was let the cards “talk” to her. She paid attention to the images and impressions that flowed to her, and put them together in her own way.
My other friend, Janet, says she “falls into” the cards, not worrying so much about “book larnin'” and simply letting them tell their own story.
No matter how well-versed you are in Tarot language, the ability to let the cards do the talking is what every reader must master. Many times, I throw the traditional meaning of a card out the window and just go with what I’m seeing. And it’s this angle that works just as well for someone just starting out.
Below is a fun exercise that will help you start working with the cards, even if you just picked them up 20 minutes ago. It does a couple things: 1) helps you get familiar with each card itself while 2) honing your instincts. So its a two-fer.
Try this exercise every day for a week and see how much more ‘familiar’ your Tarot deck feels at the end of it. And how much more tuned in you are to your own intuitive style. Got questions? Leave them in the Comments.