Newbie here, do I have to learn on Rider waite?

Herodotus

Hmm, I always found those TdM pips rather merciless . . . :) In my books, the Middle Pillar is the Pillar of Mildness, which seems to accommodate the RWS nicely between the other two.

Haha, I see where you're coming from there. My reasoning has more to do with the strictness of the systems of correspondences associated with the Thoth pips, compared to the "blank slate" of the Marseille.

And I knew there was a name for that Middle Pillar, but I could not remember it. I'm not really a Kabbalist, if you couldn't tell.
 

Fairchild

My study deck, if you will, is my St. Petersburg as it had an actual book to learn from. I don't read from it since I can't seem to bond with it, but it does help me to understand the meanings.
 

FLizarraga

What is great about this community is that there are no tarot police here šŸ˜„ All types of readers are welcomed.

You mean to tell me after all these years that there's no Tarot police????? :bugeyed:

On the subject of learning on this or that system, I do agree that it is up to you. The RWS is ubiquitous in the English-speaking world, but, say, for most of continental Europe and most Central and South America, Tarot is synonymous with the Marseille cards, if not with a particularly uniform way of interpreting them.

Most of the known Tarot schools, including the older ones like GĆ©belin or Etteilla, are a lot newer than Tarot itself, and some of them created their own decks, including Waite and of course Crowley. But those decks and the systems behind them are pretty recent developments, all things considering.

In short, do what thou wilt... ;)
 

Solgaleo

Think thats what I'm going to do, with my Celestial Tarot, it seems to be the one i'm having the most fun with and it seems chatty and light.

I'm just worried I'm not going to learn it 'properly' by not starting with RWS, and learning all the meanings? but just seems so boring. I'm learning well this way, just playing with my deck and looking up the meanings online. And playing on various apps and getting to know new decks. The Druid Craft one has really surprised me, lovely meanings and interpretations from what I've seen.

I started with RWS, but I started with it because it's how I felt, I should, not because it's how I thought I should. I will tell you, it's not easy no matter what you start with. This set is "the easy set" to learn; the one with all the physical references in the store I bought it from (charts, spreads, etc) and I almost feel like it makes it more difficult at times to learn because once I lay everything out, I immediately try to follow it on my chart, and I'll tell you now, that chart is a joke when the reading gets tough. The chart's helpful, don't get me wrong, but it can't tell you what the cards mean EXACTLY, because that just isn't how it works. I feel like trying to rely on it is like being that stereotypical tourist you see in cartoons: they pull out their translation book, speak the sentence, and find that they've butchered that sentence in some unimaginable way and now everyone is shaking their heads and thinking they've lost their mind.

And more often times than not, that's how I feel when I read while trying to use these charts in a nutshell (I'm a month old at readings, so it pretty much IS the case. :p) It's not the chart's fault, and it's not the cards' fault: I'm simply not experienced enough yet - haven't had the time and practice over years like some of these other people on this forum - to translate meanings to the degree I'd like.

There are no shortcuts, it's all about learning for yourself what the cards are telling you. So no, it doesn't matter which you start with, the road to understanding them will be just as long, just as tedious...and just as worth it.