Tarot Courses: How closely do you follow them?

How closely do you follow a self-guided course?

I am trying to plod my way through a book-based Tarot course: "Tarot 101" by Kim Huggens. It looks like a terrific book. However, some of the exercises I don't want to do because I just don't feel or see how they could help me as a Tarot reader or, they would be so time consuming to do that they'd hold up my progress through the course for a significant length of time.

My question is, when you are working your way through a self-guided course such as this one, do you follow it to the letter? Or, as my flute teacher says 'take what you want and leave the rest'?

I agree with your flute teacher.

I'm using the same book as you, and sometimes I do the exercises and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I do a previous exercise for a different card. I like the book a lot, though.

One thing you might want to consider is looking up the topic you're studying on learntarot.com. The exercises there are very different than the ones in Tarot 101. Not better, but it's a different learning style all together.

learntarot.com

learntarot.com - I'll have a look at it. Is it a self-guided course?

Update: I just had a look at it. I remember browsing through this site and it looks great. I'll try this one out too. Thanks for the advice on the course - now I don't feel so guilty about not doing all of the exercises!

Nope, nothing to feel guilty about. We all learn in different ways so there's nothing wrong with customizing the experience when we can.

Curious Dragon said:

We all learn in different ways so there's nothing wrong with customizing the experience when we can.

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I wholeheartedly agree with that statement (coming from the man with multiple Tarot books!). Someone once said to me something along the lines of 'The reader is not necessarily 'learning' to read Tarot as much as they are learning to 'read Tarot the way YOU read Tarot.' In other words - the author is giving you some insights into their 'system' of reading and although you may find a lot of it helpful, not everything will carry the same weight for you as it might have for the author.

I would say that you should give the author half a chance, but if they want you to do things are super-involved or super boring .... grab your flute and move on. You can always come back later.

Labhraín said:

How closely do you follow a self-guided course?

I am trying to plod my way through a book-based Tarot course: "Tarot 101" by Kim Huggens. It looks like a terrific book. However, some of the exercises I don't want to do because I just don't feel or see how they could help me as a Tarot reader or, they would be so time consuming to do that they'd hold up my progress through the course for a significant length of time.

My question is, when you are working your way through a self-guided course such as this one, do you follow it to the letter? Or, as my flute teacher says 'take what you want and leave the rest'?

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Hi Labhrain
I'm working with this book at the moment and I admit I am not doing all the exercises, however I have loads of page markers for the ones I will go back to at some point as they do seem interesting (e.g the journaling prompts).

I think once I have developed a bit more understanding and depth of the the cards the exercises I have so far skipped will give me a chance to further explore the cards with some structure.

That's just my 2 pennies worth as a relative newbie.

If I remember correctly I did Joan Bunning's course start to finish over three or four months.

When I did 21 Ways to learn Tarot I used a different major for each chapter. If I remember correctly we were supposed to use the same card through? Don't remember, but it was a good source of study, and now there is even a companion along here.

Almost everything since I've taken what I wanted and left the rest. Sometimes as I've gained knowledge I've come back for the rest We have to be ready to learn sometimes.

One of the simplest/deepest lessons that I think of often when I see questions here about cards was in one of the old Llewellyn Readers. I think the article was by Valerie Sims? She was trying to deal with the death of her mother, and as an exercise she went through her deck and associated each card with death. It isn't that difficult to do. With other words too...it shows an amazing versatility in the cards that is so often missed completely.

Tarot is a life long class which should be fun and joyful and powerful. It isn't a race, because there is no end until death.

RedwingRaven said:

Hi Labhrain
I'm working with this book at the moment and I admit I am not doing all the exercises, however I have loads of page markers for the ones I will go back to at some point as they do seem interesting (e.g the journaling prompts).

I think once I have developed a bit more understanding and depth of the the cards the exercises I have so far skipped will give me a chance to further explore the cards with some structure.

That's just my 2 pennies worth as a relative newbie.

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This is exactly what I did when I worked through this book. As I recall, I did a casual read-through in about a day, then went through again and did the exercises that looked the most interesting to me. Only on my third read-through did I really sit down and do the end-of-chapter assignments intensively.

The purpose of the book and the exercises is for you to learn, so do what you feel you need to accomplish that goal. I don't think Kim Huggens will be banging on your door to know why you didn't finish every assignment in the book.

Labhraín said:

...Or, as my flute teacher says 'take what you want and leave the rest'?

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I too agree with your flute teacher to ...
'take what you want and leave the rest'

I say this is valuable in many different areas of life with the hobbies that we have, and skills we choose to learn. Follow your heart. Follow your intuitive guidance to keep your passions kindled.

If you burn yourself out by muscling thru Tarot exercises you don't enjoy, you could most likely lose interest, and miss out on the wonders that it offers...

A big key to learning Tarot is to ENJOY your adventure.

tarotbear said:

I would say that you should give the author half a chance, but if they want you to do things are super-involved or super boring .... grab your flute and move on. You can always come back later.

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I agree. I've often found that the exercises I have the most resistance to can be the ones that open up a whole new perspective for me or a major breakthrough. Sometimes, though, I'll get bored or turned-off if the exercise is too boring or alien to my way of thinking (this can be helpful to know, too). So, it is a dance. Sometimes early exercises are essential to getting the most out of later ones.

I'd say skip the exercises for now if they are likely to curb your enthusiasm for an otherwise helpful book. But, try and go back to those exercises later, like tarotbear mentioned.

In my books I've tried to indicate the exercises/processes that I think are core and which ones can be tried if they appeal to you, so look for indicators about this.