Essay:Tarot Reading

How to do readings, divination, and analysis using Tarot cards.

Getting Started

Buying a Deck

There are a lot of different decks out there. If in doubt, the Rider Waite Deck is a better choice than many. It is popular for a reason. The cards appear simple but have lots of interesting things going on. If you don't like the feel of a deck, don't use it.

There is a tradition about not buying your own deck. This might be something to do with the idea that you are given your first deck by a teacher, but that is rare.

Learning the Cards

Pick a card every day. Keep it in mind for that day.

Obviously it never works out like that, but just fiddling with the deck and picking a card now and then to study can work wonders.

There is no hurry.

Find one or two people who you can chat with about the cards. It's much easier to learn something if someone else is interested.

If you find some cards harder to rememher than others, consider why this might be. Are the concepts/images of those cards less important to you, or similar to other cards etc.?

A good knowledge of the whole deck will help your instincts and ideas flow more smoothly without having to grab a book (log into the wiki) to remember some detail or other.

Another good way to learn some cards might be to flesh out their wiki nodes (hint, hint). Remember, for copyright reasons you can't just copy stuff into the wiki from a book.

Ambiguity

Often two different books will give entirely different meanings for a card. Usually one will feel more "right". Go with that one.

Spreads

Follow the link for instructions on how to actually do the spread.

http://TarotCanada.tripod.com/OriginalTarotLayouts.html

Celtic Cross Spread

This is a very common spread using 10 cards.

One Card Readings

The most simple possible reading, using a single card, can often be more useful than more complex systems.

Tips

Tarot Do's

• DO: Find someone who you can discuss it with in real life, ideally someone who neither considers themselves or you an expert. Just chat about cards, ask them what they see in a card's imagery and see how it differs. Doing this via email/forum's just ain't the same.

Tarot Don'ts

• DON'T: Offer to do reading for other people until you have some grasp of your tools, and when you do keep it simple. A first year medical student should not think they can do open heart surgery just because they read some books and own a scalpel. At the very least tarot will plant seeds of doubt and hope into the client's mind, which can cause significant harm. Just what do you say when you're doing a "what will happen when I marry him" reading, and get the Three of Swords. Can you make sure you didn't just sow a horrid, pointless seed of doubt?

Suggested Reading

• learntarot.com has an excellent web-based course which is very straight forward and gentle without being "hippy".

"Tarot Universe" by Nancy Shavick, Santa Monica Press "Invitation to Wonder" by Jeanne Fiorini