Tarot Talk & Technique

I am! I'm flying across the country to meet up with fellow tarotists on October 6-9. Because I can! Will any of you be there? I'd love to see you! https://nwtarotsymposium.com/

I remember back in the 90s that I spent a lot of time on the alt.tarot usenet group and as I'm trying to piece together my broken history with the cards, I would love to be able to dig up my old posts and comments... However, I can find only 2 under my name on Google's archive. I'm sure I wrote many more and would love to get hold of them, especially a run-in with the infamous J Karlin... Can anyone suggest other ways to dig up my not-so-sordid past?

My loves, I know a lot of us here keep tarot journals (I'll be starting one myself soon), but does anyone else bullet journal? I keep one as a cross between a planner and a journal, though not much goes on in my life that requires much planning so it's more like a daily journal with a calendar spread at the beginning of each month. Since it's foremost a journal, I don't go hardcore with all the little task trackers that you see online, though I do like adding a small habit tracker to my weekly spreads. I used to utilize montly mood and sleep trackers which were fun to look at but became tedious to set up every month, and lately I like to keep things much more simple and f…

Has anyone here read Robert M. Place's book, the Tarot History, Symbolism & Divination? I got this a while ago after seeing it recommended by quite a few tarot readers. As I was reading it, I decided to look at some of his other books and was surprised to see "The tarot, magic, alchemy, hermeticism and neoplatonism" - especially since it sounded a lot like the "history, symbolism" book. It took a bit of digging on Robert's website to find out that the "alchemy, hermeticism etc" book is an updated version to correct errors in the "history, symbolism" book. I have to say I stopped reading because I was annoyed that the first part of the book I r…

How do you interpret a spread that contains mostly cards that are dark? Just for example: in a recent reading about the prospects of acquiring something, in a spread with a total of 7 cards, 5 were nocturnal: tower (black background), star, moon, (both at night), priestess and hermit (RWS). This caught my attention. Not in the context of this specific question, but in a general reading - what could it mean? Something inactive? at rest? hidden or obscure information? Have you ever come across something similar?

I have my eye on the Nordic Tarot. I loved the art on the major arcana and nearly pressed buy, but then I noticed the minor arcana aren't illustrated, they are pips. I'm still drawn to buying the deck but how do you read pip cards with no illustrations? Can you read these intuitively or is it just the book meanings? I do love the deck but I'm afraid I won't use them because of the above.

I've got a deck I like, but can't use—the White & Saunders Tarot—because the cards cling together when I try to shuffle them. The plastic coating acts too much like cling film. Is there anything I could 'dust' them with that might release them for shuffling? Anybody else experience this issue?

How often do we need to cleanse or clear our Tarot cards? I understand that it is better to cleanse the Tarot cards after doing a reading for another person. If we use the Tarot cards only for our personal reading, do we need to cleanse the cards before each reading (especially if you do daily guidance reading)? Thank you.

There are so many tarot people on YouTube, for example, showing off their massive collections, doing videos on clearing the clutter and/or getting rid of old decks to make way for new ones, etc. It's obvious many people out there don't just own one or two decks! And certainly a few whose collecting habit may have got out of hand a bit. I certainly have collector tendencies myself, so I've kept mine under control using a few tricks. To start with, my current stash is 23 tarot decks that I actually use. I also have 8 decks that I don't use but keep because they are interesting or out of print— like my two prized Walter Wegmüller decks that I got in the 1970s (…

I am a newbie in tarot reading. I am not sure how to select the card from the Tarot deck for personal reading. Should I keep shuffling the tarot cards until one card drops from the deck and use it for the reading? Or after shuffling the cards, should I keep them stacked up uniformly and select the first card (and 2nd etc. depending on the spread) from the tarot deck? (How do I determine when to stop shuffling for this method?) Is there a recommended way to select cards for Tarot reading? Thank you.

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, I couldn't figure out the best one for this question... I'm going to Kensington, London for a few days soon and wondered if anyone had any recommendations for little quirky shops, the sort that will sell tarot cards and crystals, etc please but not at ridiculous London prices?

Hi there... I am looking for an old deck and wondered if I can make a request for it on this forum? Or is that not allowed? Thanks!

Has anyone ever experienced being in a. Negative space and just having lots of doubts and every reading you do reflecting that? Your worst fear being the outcome of every reading ? I’m starting to wonder if the outcomes or truly negative or if the readings are just a reflection of my thoughts

Hello, I'm learning tarot and just started my YouTube channel and other and among the decks I'm studying is this, but trying to find more info on how to read them. Like 4 o and 5 of swords, 8 of wands etc... any help on where to find more info on these fascinating cards? thank you TheTarotApprentice

Does anyone else have a card in the deck that always seems to make it's way into your readings? Or does the energy of this card follow you (if that makes sense..)? I find that the Death card and the Fool are always making an appearance for me. I'm quite fond of them. For me it means that I'm getting away from the monotony of my current situation (whether that is a good or bad thing.. depends!) Is there a card you feel a certain love for or comradery with?

Just out of interest, because I like to see how others do things... how do you prefer to study the cards? - Use one deck (maybe a new one) and study each card one, read the white book, research correspondences etc. - Choose one specific card, then pull out the same card in each deck you have, comparing and making notes with intuition and correspondences - Something else?

Hi! (Newbie warning) I did a reading for myself a few days ago, and now I did another reading on a similar question with a different spread. I was wondering - are you refining your reading on previous session based on a session done later on? Do you take the new information to reinforce or contradict previous reading? Would you give more weight to interpretations that are common for both readings over ones that include change, for example in decision spreads, that the preferable option is different than in the initial reading? Lorem.

Hi guys, not sure if this has been discussed before, so bear with me. I struggle with anxiety. I am getting medicated but it is not helping. I have noticed, that in every reading about my daily life, all of the cards point to me being anxious and worrying rather than telling me what will actually happen. For example, I asked my cards about an interview yesterday and I got 'negative' cards pointing to sadness and anxiety and burdens. And well, I was stressed, but the interview went very well and I was offered a place! But I did not see this in the cards. All they focused on was stress. Same issue about whether I will get housing or not - cards are pointing to m…

Hi everyone! I'm an absolute beginner in Tarot reading and due to lack of confidence in my ability to choose the "right" cards, I like the idea of jumpers. So under the assumption that you do include jumpers in the reading, how would you read them if you get a bunch of 3-5 packed together and another single card jump in the same shuffle and land themselves in the 3rd and "4th" position of a 3 card spread? 🙏 Lorem

Can anyone point me to a resource that includes the sigils on this card? I've had a bit of an internet search, and while I've found various planetary and alchemical symbols that seem somewhat similar, nothing that has these specifically. Thanks! (it's the one on the light green door I'm particularly interested in, though I assume they're all from the same source). I wonder if the artist has invented their own variations? The guidebook doesn't provide any interpretation to them. (The deck has a very general fairytale theme and seems to draw freely on a range of traditions). Mods, wasn't sure where to ask this, apologies if it's the wrong subforum.

Hi all... I have been thinking of getting a thoth deck lately and was wondering about what you all have to say, people who are using it and used it. I also have heard that this deck may not be of good energy, is that true? I have also heard that this deck is less about divination and more about spiritual ascension. I really like the deck and some of the ideas behind it, the ones i heard and understood. Just want to understand more before i take the plunge... what to expect, dos and don't and stuff like that. I would be very grateful if anyone could respond to this. Thank you 🙏

Greetings. I've encountered some gems recently. Thought I'd start a thread for everyone to contribute to if cool with the admin team.

Hello all! I have spent a lot of time looking for easy, beginner's tarot books. My head is spinning and I still do not have a book. Can you guys recommend a good one? Since I am a beginner, I do not need, as a first book, anything more than the basics and what each card means. I have experience with divination decks so I understand how a spread works but the tarot is completely new to me. Thank you for any help you can provide. Quinn

Dear members, I was casually browsing through a store and one corner had several tarot decks. One particular deck caught my attention, and surprising part is when I ran my hands over that deck I felt very gentle cool breeze coming from it. I tried runnin my hand over other cards too but that deck was kind of radiating that cool breeze - very very gentle breeze. What does it mean? ps: it was untouched I mean the boxed was closed and wrapped in plastic Regards

'm lucky - I own a copy of her seminal work, The tarot cards painted by Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti-Sforza family But it isn't easily available except in potentially dicey sites. It's upward of $400 to buy. I have asked for it to be added to the Open Library - which is a wonderful, totally legit, and free place. They just answered: One way is by logging into openlibrary.org (after creating an Internet Archive account) and adding the book to your "Want To Read" list. We try to consider books that are highly requested by our patrons when making decisions about which books to digitize. This does not guarantee a book will be added. You can …