Your best Tarot advice....

DJP

Hi,

I thought it might prove to be an interesting/informative/helpful thread if people posted their best advice for those just starting out on their Tarot journey.

So, I suppose this could work a few ways: If you're a seasoned reader, you could tell us what your number one piece of advice for beginners would be, or what you wish you'd known when you started out? And if you're a beginner, maybe let us know what piece of advice you've found the most helpful so far?

I'll try and start things off. The best tip I got for learning basic card meanings was to look at the imagery first.... see if you can figure out a card's meaning through its visual symbolism, and only then look it up in a book/on the internet to see how close you came.

This had an unbelievably positive effect on my progress and is a really great way to familiarize yourself with a card's finer details.
 

AstroJade

Hey, DJP, that's a cool question.

I have a simple advice that I always keep in mind in my own readings:

- Get rid of the idea of good versus evil, easy versus difficult, beautiful versus ugly, right versus wrong, light versus dark.

There is no such a thing as a "bad card" or a "good card". See the context, the Devil can be the best card for one who needs empowerment but not the best card if one needs warmth and coziness, for example.

A little bit of darkness can be one's greatest source of light... keep that in mind ;-)
 

Trogon

The best single piece of advice I can think of to offer a person just starting in Tarot is to write things down. Writing things down is a great aid to learning (at least for me). I have a notebook I started writing card meanings in. Started with "book" meanings (mostly from one book by Eden Gray), and expanded on those by thinking how they'd apply to other situations. When I encountered a new interpretation, I'd add it to the entry for that card. The notebook also has a section for spreads.

I have now crammed so many notes into each card's entry, that I've started a second notebook where I'm dedicating an entire page to each card (in the original I was trying to put 2 cards on each page). The new notebook is one with dividers, one section for the Major Arcana, one for the Minor Arcana, and one for spreads.
 

Honeysun

My advice is "cliche" but it works - practice! Before I started reading for others, I wasn't very good and had trouble understanding the cards. But now I feel like they speak more to me. This is probably the most important piece of advice. It might be hard to start off (at first I'd think "oh god, how am I going to read for this question") but it gets easier very fast, before you even know it.
Don't learn off the card meanings, they'll come to you with practice.
Also, don't limit yourself to traditional meanings - what you feel is very important too. There are millions of tarot combinations, you can't learn them all off. That's where intuition comes into play.
 

littlethings

Spend more time with the cards than with the books.
 

Amsonia

If you're a beginner with several decks...lay out all the fools together, and compare the images, then the next card, etc. I really seemed to remember the meanings and really "get" the cards once I did this with four decks at the same time, about a handful a day, to compare images across all the decks (although I quickly added more and ended up comparing 8 decks)

I know beginners may not have 4 or 8 decks, but 2 or 3 would still work.
 

Nemia

1. Journal, journal, journal, in whatever form journaling comes most easily to you. Take pictures of your readings, take notes, write down what you learn and open questions and how you like decks and books. What you wrote down won't get lost.

2. Don't rely on lwbs and books and websites alone, rely on your intuition to make the stuff you learned meaningful for YOU.

3. Don't rely on your intuition alone, learn the basics of the tarot to set your intuition free.

4. Keep your deck close to you, handle it, look at it, get to know it until you feel comfortable with it. Play games with it, pick out cards that remind you of people you know, sort it, shuffle it and sort it again. You can't use a tool or instrument that you touched only once a month.

5. Keep in mind that tarot is like other life arts like art, prayer, education, music or sport. You're never done with it. It's not a five weeks course and then you HAVE it, KNOW it. You just do your best, have fun and the years fly by - and you still may feel like a beginner.
 

page of ghosts

Most of these if not all have been mentioned, heh. Thought I'd still post them.

Comparing cards you struggle with can be good. Like the Hierophant, my birthcard, who I have trouble understanding - I did some comparisons between several of my decks and I think the Wildwood captures an aspect of him I can appreciate very well. Some decks are very negative in their depiction and description, I guess since a lot of people deal with religious trauma, but I feel like there is more to him than that especially since I'm not an aspiring priest (I can be very strict with myself though!).

Try something new. It can be a little overwhelming in the beginning because there is so much info and so many opinions, but start in one end and if you don't like it, try something new. You can always go back later to the other thing when you're more proficient and see how it's like then if you want to.

Be consistent. You'll need time to build a relationship with the cards and a good way to go about it is to be somewhat consistent. You'll see more of the cards and start associating them with things that happen in your life. I'm not big on prediction but I still feel that there is a theme going on from a card when I do daily draws, or they can give you an idea on where to put your efforts that day - good for a scatterbrain like me.

Document your work. However works best for you. For me it's a regular tarot journal where I record my spreads, haven't come up with something for daily draws where I can write freely about the card. It's very neat so you can go back later and see how things played out, add things or just put your thoughts into words (something I can struggle with).

There's no shame in a break. With all I've said about consistency and all I also realise that everyone needs a smaller or longer break sometimes. Things happen in our lives and suddenly we feel the need to focus on something else, or maybe we're tired and just feel like putting the cards down for some time. Tarot cards probably won't disappear off the face of the earth all of a sudden so take that break if you need it and come back when you're ready, whether it's days, weeks, months, years.
 

rachelcat

When working on card meanings, think about how pairs of cards are different:
How is King of Wands different than King of Swords?
King of Wands than Knight of Wands?
Priestess than Empress?
Priestess than Queen of Cups?
2 of Wands than 3 of Wands?
etc. You get the idea.


I always say if many cards all mean the same thing, then they don't mean anything. Hope this helps!
 

willowy

Hey, DJP, that's a cool question.

I have a simple advice that I always keep in mind in my own readings:

- Get rid of the idea of good versus evil, easy versus difficult, beautiful versus ugly, right versus wrong, light versus dark.

There is no such a thing as a "bad card" or a "good card". See the context, the Devil can be the best card for one who needs empowerment but not the best card if one needs warmth and coziness, for example.

A little bit of darkness can be one's greatest source of light... keep that in mind ;-)

Fantastic advice :)