A Tarot Exercise For Beginners by Rev. Carol A. Ingle (Raven)

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

A Tarot Exercise For Beginners

Learning to read tarot can be an intimidating prospect, especially for someone who is really new to the idea of tarot. 78 cards with deep meanings and many images and symbols on each card can seem like something that you might never get a handle on. It can be a lot easier than you may think, but it’s important to keep in mind from the very beginning that the truly great tarot readers spend their whole lives studying and working with the tarot. It’s not just a matter of memorizing upright and reversed meanings for 78 cards and then you’re done. It truly is a lifelong mystical path all on it’s own that can add a great deal to the path of a Wiccan or Pagan.

In a future blog we’ll talk more about the ins and outs and history of tarot but for today we’re going to look at a simple exercise for getting started with a deck. Many people pick up a deck and just want to start reading and working with the cards and this is a simple way to do it. When working with this exercise you can do this with any tarot deck, and it can also be used for oracle decks suck as angel cards and the like. It’s also something that you can start and keep working on and adding to for months or even years to come as you explore your deck more.

All you’ll need is a large notebook or journal, ideally with 2 pages for each card in your deck, and then of course your deck of cards. Begin by placing a title on each page, or every other page, for each card in your deck. So you’ll have a pages titled “0- The Fool”, “1 – The Magician” and then others like “Ace of Wands”, “2 of Wands”, all the way through your 78 cards. If you have pages left over at the back you can designate some of these pages for specific kinds of notes along the way by doing things like titling pages “Relationship Spreads” and writing down details on relationship related spreads that you enjoy using, or a section titled “Daily Cards” where you can track daily card pulls (which we’ll talk about in a moment). In the end you should have a book that almost serves as a tarot specific Book of Shadows almost. You can also opt to do this as a general, overall book, or you can do what I do and make a new one for each new deck that you start working with. Since different decks will give you different messages and impressions this is a great way to get to know each new deck you start working with and how to really keep track of what you’re doing with your cards. If you decide to work with books for multiple decks I highly recommend using a large three ring binder so that you can keep the notes for more than one deck in a single place, something that just makes finding your notes and information easier as time goes on and your practice grows.

What you’ll do next, and how you do it, is somewhat up to you and how you would like to work with your cards. I personally go through the deck in order and do a handful of cards a day. You might want to do them in a random order, do only one a day, or spend a few days working through the whole deck. What you want to do is take time to sit and really look at your card and observe it as though you’re inside the card. What does it feel like to you? How does it make you feel emotionally? What stands out? Are there colors or symbols, items or people that you find your eye and your mind automatically being interested in and looking at when this card is in front of you? If there are, what do they mean to you? Write down all your thoughts and feelings about the card on the page or pages in your book titled for that card. Do this without referring to any books or notes that came with the deck. This helps you to develop that key element to tarot reading that separates good readers from great readers; the ability to read intuitively with confidence.

After you take time to make your notes based on your intuitive feelings about the cards, go back and look at the information in the book. Often times different tarot authors and different tarot artists will have specific takes on things in their own deck that might differ from other decks. Sometimes these will be things that may make sense to you and other times they may not. Go with what you feel, intuitively, is right in your readings. If there are certain things in the book that really seem important to you that you want to incorporate in your card interpretation, make notes about it on the page. You will be surprised to see just how many things you might have picked up on before doing any formal research into your cards.

Different cards will also take on different meanings when they pop up next to different cards. You might want to make notes about this as you use the deck to help you just with getting to understand how the cards work together.

Meditating with your cards is another way to get more insight into the messages that they have for you. Each day set some time aside to sit down in a quite place where you can focus and meditate with your deck. Shuffle the cards and when you feel ready, pull one from anywhere in the deck (some people like pulling from the top others like to pull from somewhere at random, while yet others will fan the deck out in front of them and take one that just draws their attention; use which ever method feels best for you). When you get your card, turn to the page in your book for that card and then take some time to just consider the card. You might want to soften your eyes as you look at the card and just take a few deep breaths and relax, letting the information come to you. If there is anything you feel that you need to add from this to your notes on the card, add it now.

Then turn to a blank page at the back of your book and mark down the date and the card you pulled. Note any specific messages that you feel the card has for you for the day (or the next day if you’re doing this in the evening). For example if you pulled The Fool, it could be that today you need to approach things with a sense of adventure, optimism and maybe even with a sense of naive wonder. But do you feel you need to cautious as well? Maybe you need to also be aware of any warning signs that you could have your head in clouds today as well. Whatever you’re feeling, intuitively, that the card is saying to you for the day, write it down. At the end of the day come back and look at your comments and notes and see how it fits in your day. Make some affirming comments or maybe journal about how the day went and why the card didn’t fit for you. Sometimes, and quite often, you’ll find that in doing this other meanings for the card that you didn’t think of at the time suddenly reveal themselves to you through the events of the day.

Working with your cards shouldn’t be a chore; you should be excited to do it and each day should bring you a new experience with your tarot deck. By taking your time to work through the cards like this, getting to know them and building your own intuitive confidence with them, you’ll find that you’re not having to memorize, you’re simply listening to the cards and what they have to say to you.