I wonder about these things (part 2)

rosesred said:

Don't get rid of the books! Just don't think they hold the whole truth and nothing but the truth either. I think books are kind of like support wheels on a bicycle. You need them in the beginning, but if you never remove them, you'll never learn how to ride a bike.

When you have a very heavy load to transport on your bicycle, you might want to add a small cart to it, which is also a kind of support. Because you learnt how to ride a bike without support, you're now able to do much more things with your bike, and you can always add the support when you get into a tricky situation.

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I just wanted to say that this was an awesome response as well.

When we hire musicians for our niche of the business, we need some who can play beautiful solos by ear, by "feel." But we also need some who we can throw a sheet of nearly illegible manuscript on their stands and say "OK, the boss is coming in and this is his favorite song. Read it - Now!" We need both the heart player and the head player to make a worthy unit. Those who are both are complete musicians.

I am a proponent of the THROW THE BOOK OUT school of reading (UNLESS I am reading for myself. In that case, I believe in following the book, so I don't fudge on the meanings.) HOWEVER, there are times when you need to think about the traditional meaning of the card, if nothing else, as a starting place to figure out what it means right now.


The trouble is, the cards LWB meaning is only (at Fulgour points out) the basics. There are endless possibilities of what the card means RIGHT NOW in THIS reading. To assume that it ALWAYS means the same, is to block out 99% of the usefulness of a card reading. I have had very weird card meaning arise. Meanings that are TOTALLY different from any tradition. They mean that only during that one reading. And maybe again someday, but maybe not either.
Ace

Lyric said:

I've seen people here advise "Forget the books. Get rid of them. Just read what you see." But then the same people will, at another time, give book meanings for each of the cards in discussing the meanings of spreads.

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HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LYRIC WINS !!!

< excuse me while I compose myself >

Yes, it's true. And we can all ponder the meaning of that. Once upon a time there was once a member who made a great point about never studying the meanings of the cards and from time to time she would make a devastating revelation such as " Death really means change " , etc.

The cards and their traditional meanings are not plotting against us. The symbols are there to communicate at an archetypal level . Pictures without words . A universal language. Some are a bit better than others with this language at first due to natural ability . Some don't need symbols . Some make up their own symbols in their own mind no matter what is in front of them . After that point, it might be tarot - it might not . It only matters what works.

Dark Inquisitor said:

Some don't need symbols . Some make up their own symbols in their own mind no matter what is in front of them . After that point, it might be tarot - it might not . It only matters what works.

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Exactly.
And what shows whether it worked is whether it fits the life of the person who was drawn for.
If I draw single cards and use written meanings for the rest of my life, and what is drawn fits my questions and is useful and true in my life- then I don't care if I'll "never be a reader".
If "a great reader" has some tremendous interpretive ability or skill which allows them to rest meaning from complex spreads which involves great subtlety and creativity of interpretation, more power to them.
If people mix their ways of doing it- set book meanings sometimes, something else other times, or start with book meanings and try something else later, or the other way around, that is also fine.
Does the meaning we which we derive fit the question we are asking, is really the only test.
To me it's not about the symbols or words or complexity or lack thereof at all, or about whether meanings are taken to be very fluid or more static. It is about the mysterious fact that useful meaning can be derived by drawing cards in response to asking a question.

The Dreamer said:

Does the meaning we which we derive fit the question we are asking, is really the only test.

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Now why didn't I think of that?

Brilliant Dreamer

mythos

For me the actual act of reading is such a fabulous schoolroom and the books helped me get there but they also kept me from doing real readings straight from my own inner knowing.

What happened in my experience was kind of like this:
If you want to learn to juggle you go out and get something to juggle. (The Deck)
Now if a friend recommended a really great juggling book why you maybe go get the book, but eventually, with juggleing, you really must put the book down and go out and do it.

Same with the Tarot.
Eventually you go out and you read for people, for strangers, and maybe you get paid...sometimes you get jewelry or other cool stuff (trades at expos and fairs), sometimes you get money and sometimes you just do the reading because you see that someone really needs the reading.

But you gotta put the book down and you have to be willing to be wrong, or at the least, not always right.
Read what you see, feel, smell, notice.

dfsdfsdfsd

Recently I've been exploring books that give ways of using tarot cards for things other than reading and that's been helping to expand my knowledge of the meanings a lot. I've always admired the way some of our readers here come up with such rich, complex meanings for spreads and that's been my goal----to learn how to get those deep, rich complex meanings myself rather than just to have the "book" meanings pop to mind. I think maybe I've just been afraid to think outside the box too much and it's inhibited my ability to just let go and read what's there.

All these answers have helped me a lot. I was confused, though, by some readers who have said they didn't use book meanings, but then have quoted book meanings. I guess the images on the cards may just conjure up meanings that are the same as the books? They didn't conjure them up for me, but I'm one of those who was always taught I'd go to hell for using the cards, so I had to start cold and overcome a lot of preconceived ideas and fears at first in even taking up tarot. I think that made it harder for me to loosen up and just let it flow.