Questions/Advice needed from those EXPERIENCED readers

[enlightenme]

:wave: Hi,

My guides have been sending me on this "gotta know everything quickly" mission it seems. I WAS on the speed read list, which has stopped now. Just when I started wondering what I was supposed to do next, my student tarot reading comes up. Then the floodgates open from the other side to me, yet again. Then I think, hey, maybe I should actually try my tarot deck. I bought them over a year ago but never got to sit down and learn. I did like JE suggested and put each card on a page in a composition notebook with what I thought they meant. Never got to the Eden Grey books I have to see if I was right or wrong. I moved, life happened and then the speed reading course!!
ANNNYYYway, as I thought I should try it, I also thought, NAH, I haven't learned any meanings yet and I need to do that first. Well, my guides I feel thought otherwise. My Aunt, who I just found out is into this stuff, sends me an email out of the blue (she rarely emails, like only 1 time since I told her this and we NEVER get to talk directly - ussually through my mom). My Aunt sends me email asking ME about TAROT!! I send her back "Why?" and she sends me that she is basically precognitive and without using the term herself, it is synchronicity! :eek: So I take it to mean I got it WRONG.....give it a try anyway and use the books.

Of course, with protection and asking for guidance not answers, I have now done 4 questions for myself in celtic cross spread (because that is the only one in Eden Grey books that I can understand so far) in the last day and a half. Using my "feelings" or impressions of the cards and the book, it seemed to be correct and not just random. (as if anything is random!)

OK, so here's my questions to those here who have gone through this learning phase:

1) did you learn all the card meanings first? How did you tackle learning, learn then apply or just tried it?
2) do you find that "your" interpretation sometimes is not what the book indicates and "yours" makes more sense and "fits" better with the reading?
(and for the record I did center myself first and no, the part the "fit" better wasn't me wishing for a different outcome!)
3)How do you mean reversed? I thought it was whether card when layed down is upside down or not (bottom at the top, top at the bottom) but from what I have read here, for some it is physically backside(deck design) facing up? Just found that confusing.:confused:

I will get the book someone posted here and the websites posted are wonderful, so I'm already learning from all of you!

Additional advice or wisdom is ALWAYS welcome!

Thanks,
Pam

[PsyQuestor]

Hello Pam :wave:

I wouldn't call myself "experienced" per se, but I've been reading for just over three years.

I did my first readings for friends, some of who were quite knowledgeable readers themselves. I layed out the spread, and made an interpretation based on what I saw in the 'pictures.' Then I went to my books and made a more literal (by the book) interpretation. I found that the 'real story' was somewhere in between the two.

This may or may not work for you as it did for me. I know a lot of readers learn each individual card before they ever do their first spread.

Best Wishes,
Tammy

edited to add: My 'reversed' cards are not completely flipped, as I always sort them before putting them away. They are therefore just upside down.

[Jeannie]

:
OK, so here's my questions to those here who have gone through this learning phase:

1) did you learn all the card meanings first? How did you tackle learning, learn then apply or just tried it?

No - I don't think that you can. I made the notebook too and it helped,but for me, the best way was by using them. I turn them over and study them and write down what stands out to me. What I think, feel, "hear" etc. Then I look at the meaning suggested in the book. I learned with the Eden Gray book first, but I really like the complete Idiot's Guide much better - that is just my personal favorite.

2) do you find that "your" interpretation sometimes is not what the book indicates and "yours" makes more sense and "fits" better with the reading?
Yes - often
(and for the record I did center myself first and no, the part the "fit" better wasn't me wishing for a different outcome!)

3)How do you mean reversed? I thought it was whether card when layed down is upside down or not (bottom at the top, top at the bottom) but from what I have read here, for some it is physically backside(deck design) facing up? Just found that confusing.:confused:
like Tammy said - face up but turned upside down (picture facing up, but on its head)


Pam
Hang in there Pam. I have been at it for about 3 years also and I still consider myself a student too.

[Stephanie]

I've been reading off and on for about six years, but by no means would I calll myself experienced. I still argue with people and say that I'm a student. I just can't get myself to learn all the meanings for all the cards and not to mention, what different combinations mean.

I tried to learn the card meanings, but gave up after I kept confusing all the minor cards. Don't get me wrong though, I still rely on the books alot. But I found just working with them and trusting yourself you get alot of meanings. I also found the "creator" of my deck wrote a book about her tarot cards, so I use that book also for meanings. There was also another person who also wrote a book about my cards, so I tend to use those books when my own meanings fail me. I'm sure Eden Grey's works just as well, but if I'm not mistaken her book and Tarot for Dummies tend to be specifically for Universal Waite and the Rider Waite tarot decks.

As for your second question...yes all the time. And I'll use the 2 of Wands as an example. We've been talking about this particular card in the Reader's Circle. On my card a blonde haired male and red head woman stand opposite each other "facing off". Over the years, it has come to mean for me two people in my life. I'm sure deep down they love each other, but they constantly nickpick at each other and constantly pick fights. And no, there are no makeup sessions afterwards. The two people look almost exactly like the two people on the card. So, that card has come to mean what their relationship is like. The book definition kinda matches, but not really either. So, I'm content with using my own feelings and experiences for this card.

Third question..yep just like Tammy said. It is a bit confusing because some decks call it Reversed while other decks call it Negative Influence. At least in my experience I think it is the same thing.

Unfortunately, tarot is just something that can't be learned over night. I thought it could. I was a student in college, with alot of time on my hands and I thought it would be easy to learn all the card. There's only what? 78 cards in a deck...see I'm not even sure of that. ;) But, it's a journey...just like The Fool! We all set out in this journey and the tarot changes us and teaches us to trust in ourselves and our guides.

Happy Journey!!

[Dawn]

Hey Pam:wave:

When I first started learning, I didn't want to learn book meanings for the cards. My goal was to first come up with my own personal meanings for them, and THEN look them up in a book. I felt that if I learned the book meanings then I may as well be handing a book to someone and telling them to read themselves. Trouble was, with most of the cards, I needed somewhere to start from. This led to getting a few books, just to compare what they were all saying with what I was seeing. To this day I do not keep a "tarot journal", although I can see where it would be very helpful (I always did like to learn the hard way ;) ). I have really tried to just read from my gut for about the last 6 months and after working with the cards for a few years, you pick up the meanings and the analogy I am seeing is it's like learning your multiplication tables as a kid. You first look at them and are overwhelmed...then you learn the basics and before you know it you have 'em all memorized.

Anyway, you can look at the same card in 3 different spreads, for 3 different people and come up with varying meanings each time. Reading the tarot involves the intuition. I believe the deep symbolism in the cards give the reader the ability to "jog" certain things within their own frame of reference, so that they are able to relate what they are seeing to the querent.

Reversals? Some readers use them (I think we all do here), and some don't. It's not required, it's personal choice. I'm not sure I've ever heard of a card being completely upside down with the back facing you. When I shuffle my deck, the only thing as far as how the cards are facing that I worry about is whether they are all facedown. If they come up reversed, then I read them that way. Reversals for me mean different things, it just depends on a lot of factors.

Hope that was helpful...I guess the big message here is that there are no "rules" for learning, IMO. Do what works for you.:coffee: Oh, and you know that little white book that came with your deck? Throw it out...trust me on this.:D

Enjoy!

P/S...I really loved reading "The Two-Hour Tarot Tutor" by Wilma Carroll. She gives some sage advice there, with her "say what you see" attitude about learning the cards.