How did you learn Tarot?

[chevalierduchangemen]

All the contradictory information was what I needed to open up to Tarot. It gave me what you could call a healthy disrespect for the "rules" or Tarot. It made me who I am now as a reader and I would not have it any other way.

I learnt to disbelieve that there are any rules or any specific way that you NEED to do anything in Tarot. It made me open to trying and inventing new methods as I went. Now many of the methods that work best for me are ones I invented myself.

I really agree with that idea. Before you can truly connect with Tarot, what you learn is that the so-called rules are the ones you decide, not someone else's rules. I also think you have to discover what are your beliefs regarding Tarot. You need to be open, but you are the one who is reading, so you also have to be comfortable in what you do.

Personally, I learned Tarot in a chaotic way, by purchasing a deck that a colleague showed me. I've been interested in Tarot for years, without really investing myself in it. That day, when this colleague used this deck (it was Lucy Cavendish's Oracle Tarot) with us, I realized it was something missing in my life. I began using that Tarot, following the cards meanings in the LWB. I've searched for new spreads on Google, chose what seems to feel right, tried things and been sometimes disappointed, sometimes impressed.

Being more and more interested in Tarot, I've started daily draws and it helped me to learn the significations for the cards. I read for some friends, we used it as a conversation starter. After purchasing another deck (Paulina Cassidy's Joie de Vivre Tarot), I've begun to check out the similarities and differences between decks, which helped me to understand more about each card. I've watched some Youtube videos and began to journal, to deepen my reflections.

Now I've just registered to AT and I hope to go even further!

 

[nisaba]

That right there is just beautiful nisaba. And SO SO true.

<warm smile>

 

[CornissMagorniss]

I read Joan Bunning's book, bought an RSW deck, and played with them a bit. later, I read Rachel Pollack's "78 Keys to Wisdom" and spent time looking carefully at each card.

I also got a great deal out of listening to Tarot podcasts, especially "Tarot Tribe". You can't get locked in on memorized meanings when you hear 5 or 6 experienced readers chatting about their viewpoints and perspectives. Their series on the different cards is especially useful--PDFs comparing cards from different decks, taking the minors by number and then breaking them down further into masculine and feminine made it easier to deal with all 78 cards. Their interviews with different card creators and authors broadened my perspectives on deck-making as an art, and beginning to collect decks added the fun of comparing them on my own (Thanks for the advice, Gregory!).

Finally, I just started to read the cards. For myself, for my kids, and for their friends. I was surprised by how much we all enjoyed it, and pretty impressed by how accurate and helpful the advice that presented itself turned out to be.

AT, of course, is a huge help and encouragement, and a great deal of fun.

 

[MaryQC]

I'm a child of the Internet era, so I started by reading a bunch of online articles outlining various ways to think about Tarot, and then I just melded a bunch of different approaches. When I got to the point where I wanted to start doing readings and not just thinking about how tarot works and what it means, writing out what I saw on the cards in each deck helped me to get familiar with the meanings of the cards.

I did (and still do) practice readings where I talked in a stream of consciousness until I worked round to what I thought the spread meant. The first few sentences are usually nonsense, and after that things get clearer. Actually, the way I do real readings is much the same, except that the first few sentences have to be kept in my head.

 

[Morwenna]

I started learning Tarot in the '80s, by books. I had books before I had decks. And because the books didn't always agree with each other, I went so far as to make a chart with each card and its main meanings according to each author. (I don't even know where that is anymore.) But after that it was just practice, mostly by myself until some friends who were readers of one type or another convinced me to set up a table alongside them at a small renfair. And I stuck with that for about a decade.

My main trouble, though, was trying to separate intuition from my own overactive imagination. I gather I'm far from being alone in that regard. I do find that practicing alone is a help though; I read analytically for myself as if for a client, semi-out-loud. It helps me to formulate answers, especially since another problem of mine has been trying to find the words when the answer is clear as a bell but refuses to come out as speech.

 

[chongjasmine]

I started by reading both the idiot's guide and dummies to tarot.
I practiced the celtic cross and three cards spreads by mainly reading for myself.
I made a breakthrough in my tarot card journey when I read for my colleagues.

 

[Freyja of V]

Note: All this refers to Rider Waite Smith decks only:

I am new too and new here. I have only been learning Tarot for a couple of years even though I bought by first deck, Mythic Tarot (original) around 1995. I bought my Universal Waite Tarot a couple of years ago, which I love and then collected tons more. Another great beginner deck is Llewellyn's Classic and/or Beginner Tarot (sharman-caselli). They are RWS clones. I didn't start with my Mythic deck because I didn't want to have to learn about Greek Mythology on top of learning Tarot. In the beginning, I would suggest staying away from Themed decks (pagan, celtic, etc), just for that reason.

For a long time,I held off on actually laying the card in a spread and reading. I didn't feel like I was ready because I didn't know the meaning of each card. Huge mistake. I learned so much more and faster, being hands on. So please don't make the same mistake. Get in there, right away. You will have to refer to your books/sites to get the basic meanings for the card, but that is how it's going to sink in. Basic meaning are ok but you must come up with your own and you will do this by using your intuition.

Other advice: Before you get into the astrological correspondences, Kaballah, etc (but not before you learn the elemental dignities). I would really look at the cards and pick out all the symbolism within each image. It is amazing what you will find. I researched this symbolism and their traditional meaning and it blew me away! I promise, each time you look at the cards (at least initially speaking) you will find something new. About 5 months after I started, I noticed the quilt in the 9 of Swords. I never noticed the zodiac/planetary signs embroidered in the blue squares. Crazy.

Great Beginner Books:

These 2 have exercises throughout:
21 Ways to Read the Tarot - Mary Greer (one of the best books to learn the cards)

Tarot 101- Mastering the Art of Reading the Cards - Kim Huggens
(this has the card meanings and includes common symbols)

The Secret Language of Tarot - Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone (if you want to dive deeper in the symbolism, this book is great)

The Ultimate Guide to Tarot - Liz Dean (I love this book)
Taking the Tarot to Heart - Mark McElroy (although it only refers to readings on love, it's a great book of in depth reading examples)


More Advanced:

78 Degrees of Wisdom - Rachel Pollack


Best Sites:

www.learntarot.com

https://teachmetarot.wordpress.com (site with an enormous about of information)

http://benebellwen.com (She also wrote an 800+ page book on Tarot with Asian influence and she is very generous; she offers free study guides to use with her book and free study material for yourself).

www.biddytarot.com

http://www.learn-tarot-cards.com/tarot-card-meanings--combinations.html (Josephine 'Easy Tarot' Ellershaw's site)

And a little tip: Fool's Dog apps offers many Tarot deck app, some(not all) of which include their companion books. So for 4.99 you're getting a good book on line along with the card images. Classic Tarot (Llewellyn's) does include the book by Barbara Moore and it's really good. I think. Precise and to the point. Beside the book, It's a great way to compare decks (which help when you're first starting) without having to commit and spend 3-4xs the amount.

And like others said, definitely start a journal. If you want to do a digital journal, that's fine. But if you are going to hand write in a journal I would get a 3 ring binder and index marker. This way everything can be organized well and it wil be easy to find what you're looking for. Also, writing/typing helps for meaning to sink in. But, again, like other said, don't memorise, they should be your own meaning and there is no right or wrong in Tarot.

Hope this helps. Welcome to AT and Tarot. Good Luck with it all.
Freyja

 

[HallowedNight]

I had a really hard time learning card meanings as well when I first started. Of course, practice is the best way to learn basic meanings. Also staying consistent; choose a book or LWB with some basic meanings that work well for you and learn them from that, focusing on the main idea of the card along with it's symbolism.

Another HUGE thing I've learned is that deck choice matters. I had an awful time learning with my first deck, the Fantasical Creatures; it's beauuuuutiful and I love it to death and it's absolutely rife with symbolism, but it was very hard for me to learn with. When I got the Wild Unknown, however, I could go through the deck and throw out a few key words for each card within two days (I kid you not!). Getting a deck with symbolism that truly resonates with you is absolutely essential, and the first deck you fall in love with may not be the best for learning! (Mine certainly wasn't, even with previous knowledge of the creatures represented.)

 

[devilkitty]

Well, I bought a deck in 1983. It was (and is!) a large Crowley-Harris.

The LWB didn't make a great deal of sense at the time, so I bought Uncle Al's Book of Thoth to go with it. Pounded my head against that book until it all "clicked", though it did help that I had a reasonable handle on comparative mythology.

So I suppose one might say I did it the "hard way"...

 

[Citrin]

Just like someone else said, I'm a child of the Internet era. I bought my first deck (Goddess Tarot by Waldherr) in August 2004 and I also purchased the only book on tarot in Swedish. The book was based on Thoth (the one by Ziegler) which I quickly noticed looked nothing like my deck. So I went online, found AT and started to learn. I did use the crappy LWB for a little while, but a lot of people on here told me to just relax, put it away and trust my instincts/intuition. After a while I bought better books (Tarot for Yourself, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, etc) but I always remembered to not forget about MY thoughts/feelings when it came to doing readings.

So I'm very much a mix of self taught and book/study taught. And I really feel grateful for finding AT because the discussions here are truly helpful! Seeing how plenty of different people can view a card in hundreds of different ways is what makes my mind going and makes me think about things I would've never noticed otherwise. I mean, AT is free and here you get much more than just one author's view, right? (Do not miss Thirteen's amazing posts in the "Using Tarot Cards" section, aaaaamazing stuff! I always learn so much from her.)