I don`t like "intuitive" readings.

Hellooooo people.
It seems to me, when I browse the net on Tarot related stuff, that there is this "current" that goes with the (when you are a beginner):
"Oh, you don`t have to memorize all the card menaings, just go with your intuition"
Right...just seems to me like an easy alternative to portrait Tarot as something "easy" and sell courses with that.
I mean, let`s suppose a complete stranger to Tarot goes with the "intuitive" approach...
"Oh yeah, The Chariot...as you can see, is a card related to games and gambling, the picture is quite clear"
You know what I mean? Is not like we should take the card meaning as set in stone, but there is a tradition behind those meanings, and there is a reason for it...
Just my thoughts.
What do tou think???

I think before you can bend the rules, you have to learn them. Getting a broad and strong base in traditional meanings allows you to then think outside the box (and bend the rules) a little more (and more accurately).

Hayyot said:

Is not like we should take the card meaning as set in stone, but there is a tradition behind those meanings, and there is a reason for it...
Just my thoughts.
What do tou think???

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Yes, very true.

Padma said:

I think before you can bend the rules, you have to learn them. Getting a broad and strong base in traditional meanings allows you to then think outside the box (and bend the rules) a little more (and more accurately).

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Right! I wholeheartedly agree.

Padma is absolutely correct. In practice, I use both analytical and intuitive impressions to create a meaningful interpretation. Of course, I've internalized the essence of that "book knowledge" after many years of using it, so it rises in support of the intuitive angle without even having to think about it. In that sense, blending or synthesizing the two strands becomes more of an organic "art" than simply a "technique." Kind of like a skilled story-teller, who has to memorize the anecdotes and punch-lines but puts life and spirit into the presentation with a compelling delivery. You should have facility with both to really get the most out of the reading experience.

I'll jump on the bandwagon, too. I know of no other area where people feel free to throw the books out. I don't understand the people that do that at all. I'm just glad they didn't decide to become surgeons instead of tarot readers.

Every tarot reader uses their intuition. If there were nothing but the stuff of books and what has been learned, anyone may as well just get the book out and look the cards up. In fact, that was what happened for the first reading I ever did, when i didn't want to and was forced into it by a happy go lucky friend. No no, she said, it's only fun, it'll be OK. We crawled around the rug with our Celtic Cross and a fat book - I forget which now, probably Eden Gray - saying OK this card is there, next to that one so that means.... and if you look at page 147, it says....

She went home in floods of tears because, she said, it was spot on, and I didn't read again for 30 years (I was a collector anyway, and hadn't wanted to in the first place.) So yeah - I guess that approach can work.

BUT - the symbols, on the cards are there for a reason. They are the triggers. If they didn't work as they do, it is strange that the readings I do so very often match - in meaning - those done for the same question by someone else here, who drew different cards for the same question. i wish I could FIND that experiment we did years ago now, where we did exactly that for a willing member. We all read differently, different spreads, different decks, different cards drawn, different approaches.

We all came in with much the same message. No idea how.

But no worries - I promise not to operate on any of your brains.... I get your message

More agreement from me.

I think there's a trend across a lot of spiritual practice, so much is just pure invention. That whole relativist 'what's right for me' thing. If that works for someone, that's fine, but personally, I think you'd be missing out. There's such an incredibly rich tradition of symbolism and metaphor in Tarot, that opens your mind to cultural and literary connections. It's so worth doing the work.

Padma said:

I think before you can bend the rules, you have to learn them. Getting a broad and strong base in traditional meanings allows you to then think outside the box (and bend the rules) a little more (and more accurately).

Click to expand...

This sums it up for me. I'm still learning, but I've found it impossible to use any semblance of intuition without learning about tarot first. I find, as I learn more, the intuition kicks in better, anyway.

What I have a problem with isn't the intuition, it's the wishful thinking. The readings where every card means "Yes I'm pregnant" or whatever. Why bother reading tarot for that - just throw a handful of pee sticks on the floor and read those.

If you don't like to read intuitively, without memorizing what other people tell you the symbols "should" mean, then don't. Simple.

However -- if you want to see a whole new, larger world of interpretations open up for you... if you see Western Judeo-Christian symbolism with a smattering of Eastern imagery inserted here and there as far from meaningful or significant to everyone, every culture, everywhere... if you know yourself well and can discern your routine inner thought patterns from intuitive hunches stimulated by something outside of yourself... then try closing the book or tossing it altogether. Why not? You have nothing to lose, as you can always pick up the book again and resume the rote memorization of "traditional" meanings if that's what you prefer. As they say, don't knock it until you've tried it.

As for me, I will always be grateful for the teachers who told me years ago to throw away the books. For me, there is nothing "spiritual" or supernatural about tarot. I like its basic structure but I do not owe any allegiance to those who wrote books and took it upon themselves to dictate what I should see in any given card. If you say this certain symbol or representation is supposed to be seen as standing for a particular something, and yet when I am looking at it, tuning in to my querent, and seeing/feeling something quite different, I'm supposed to speak your truth instead of my own??? It's a tool for stimulating my inner knowledge, aka intuition, just like many other things can be.