Tarot Talk & Technique

It's called The Spread Machine and I'm gonna link it now in the hopes that that's not against the rules in this section. (If it is, can someone let me know so I can delete the link, please?) But anyhow, do I need it since I'm such a newbie tarot reader? Or am I being seduced by the pretty font and colors and I can find all that info on my own on the web so I should just save my money for more decks instead? 😉

Lately I've been chewing on the subject of "keyword overload" for tarot beginners. I wrote a couple of posts on it that take their inspiration from the more focused approach of Lenormand. I call it more "inductive" (start small and build) than "deductive" (try to swallow and digest the whole thing at once). Our romance with the synonym could be the culprit. The original post is linked to this one. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/07/14/down-with-the-synonym-variations-on-a-theme/

I just had me a curmudgeonly rant about some of the dearly-held myths of tarot. I'm sure I missed some (or many). Anyone care to weigh in on the subject? I'm not looking for defense, just identification. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/06/14/the-myths-of-tarot-sacred-cows-and-tin-gods/

Since people have been so kind and helpful with my first ever forum inquiry, I am gonna push my luck and post another, if I may? The Spirit Seeker's Tarot is OOP and going for a small fortune in the resale market. The creator says she won't be reprinting any year soon. An Etsy seller is collabing with Benebell to make tarot tiles. Is a set worth $350 USD? Anyone who has the SK deck wanna chime in and talk about how it reads? Anyone who owns tarot tiles wanna speak to how readings work with tiles over cards? Do you just put them all in a bag and draw like runes?

Hullo! I am brand new to this space so I hope I am posting in the proper area. If not, my apologies to the mods and I defer to them to move this wherever they see fit. But on to my dilemma: I was able to purchase a used copy of the Truth Seeker's deck - yes, the one with the gold foil - for a super reasonable price, but upon arrival, I discovered that the deck was missing the entire 22 cards of the Major Arcana! Sob! I have since emailed the seller in hopes that she just forgot to put the cards in the box, but in case she hadn't, what do you advise I do? The way I see it, here are my options: a. Use the deck without the Major Arcana (i…

I recently had an interesting conversation on another forum about personal reading style. I sat down and captured everything I could think of about my own approach to reading the cards, developed over nearly 50 years of doing it. Here is the short list, and a link to the full narrative. Note that the "curmudgeon quotient" may be a bit high in some of this and it will likely push a few buttons. Don't take it personally, it's only one man's opinion. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/06/30/favorite-things/ Use of Formal (and Usually “Positional”) Spreads “Subconscious Induction” (Client Shuffling and "How Tarot Works") “Gestalt” O…

Hi everyone! This is our discussion thread for this year's Sacred Days of Midsummer reading 🌞 Chat away here about decks you're considering for the reading, thoughts on how to approach a 12 day reading, anything you're hoping to get out of this years reading, anything that's come up for you since the Sacred Days of Yule, other sacred practices for this time of year...anything you're thinking about! Be sure to create your reading post over in the Lunar & Sabbat Group Readings subforum as well 💛Our reading begins June 14th!

Does anyone have any uncommon techniques for reading a nine-card-square spread without positional meanings? In my journey learning to read Tarot de Marseille, I've discovered that the most common method involves a line of three, five, or seven cards without positional meanings. The same is apparently true for a square of nine cards (i.e. three rows of three cards each). In his Playing Marseille set, Ryan Edward features one such reading of a square, but his advice (following his teacher Camelia Elias) is simply to attend to the rhythm and flow of the images overall. This approach is a bit too open for my taste. As a reader, I like a little bit more structure t…

Hi guys, curious to hear if/how you consider and involve the bottom of the deck when dealing a spread. Recently, after dealing my spreads I have taken to revealing the card at the bottom of the deck for supplementary underlying energy for the situation. Sometimes I will quickly pass through the bottom 3-5 cards and tell myself a quick little summarized narrative to gather additional insight to consider. Interested to hear other approaches to this, and why you guys think it's important.

I thought we could have a thread dedicated to round decks. What are your favorites? What round decks do you know of? How do you store them? How do you use them? I am experimenting with the directionalities that is described for the motherpeace tarot and I have found them very useful. I am sure most of you know about them but here is a quick one: If its upright then it is upright If it is reversed then the energy is blocked or felt unconsciously If the card is tilted to the right then the energy is being pushed harder than necessary And if the card is tilted to the left then the energy is being held back …

Hello, I am new to this website and tarot in general. I've been trying to learn tarot(mostly for personal reading) last couple months. I had a deck which was not mine previously(belonged to my mother as far as i know, which she barely used and the deck has been gathering dust in my room in the last 10 years.) and i thought it would be okay to start with this deck to learn basics. So i started reading tarot for myself and i didn't seem to have any issues with picking cards and reading them(even though i use internet and books for meanings most of the time :)). But today something odd happened, something i overlooked all these months. I found two copies of same card in my d…

Llewellyn is holding a free online conference with 4 workshops presentations each day, beginning today and going through next Friday. A number of the sessions are tarot focused! More info here: https://www.llewellyn.com/LlewellynCon2020/index.php.

I was thinking about different kinds of readings one could do, and it occurred to me that when reading about a relationship, it might be helpful to have both (or all) members of that relationship present, if they are interested in all knowing more about what is going on or what might happen in future. For example, maybe two parents are thinking of moving their kid to another school, and want to know if that is a good idea. Or maybe a couple want to know what will happen if one of them takes a new job and they have to decide between relocating or having a long-distance relationship. Does anyone here have experience with this? How do you conduct these readings a…

I'm wanting to do more readings with my Hermetic Deck, but I'm finding the version of the Celtic Cross suggested in the LWB (version by Godfrey Dowson) to be a little long for my schedule at the moment. I know there must be a bazzillion spreads out there, but wondering if someone with experience with this deck (or similar) would recommend a spread 4-6 cards approx so I don't loose my mind while learning this system. I'm yet to buy any books on the subject, so I don't know if there are any 'Golden Dawn preferred' spreads, nor have I really experimented with 'free reading' yet - putting down cards till the story has been told. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

hey guys, hope you are all doing fine. i have a question. how can i explain how tarot works to my clients? 🤔 i don't do the "whats is my future" type readings, i do more like the guidance readings. but i don't know how to say it to them, because they seem to misinterpret and they dont get me... and they think the guidance type of readings dont work at all. so i plan on puting an introduction on my readings page so that people stop asking me about their future lol what can i write in that intro? thanks 🙈 Spoiler

I've been experimenting with a "psychometric" approach to card selection for my spreads. I came upon an old AT post that talked about an Enrique Enriquez practice exercise in which you hold your hand over a shuffled deck and concentrate on a particular number position in the stack, trying to "psychically intuit" its nature. I expanded on this approach by meditatively deriving a series of numbers to use in picking cards for a spread. I realize some people already use this method when pulling cards from a fan, but I'm suggesting something a little different. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/05/23/psychometric-card-selection/

I just ordered the Epic Tarot, released by Lo Scarabeo in 2017/2016, written by Riccardo Minetti and art by Paolo Martinello. I love the art, the themes and connections within the deck, and the fact that the wands are books. But I am shocked at the cardstock. It isn't so much that it is thin but that it is so unfinished that there are already noticeable nicks and chips. It is a brand new deck. I could tell as soon as I opened it that this would be a problem. I am not sure what to do. I ordered some sleeves but I don't know how those will work. Should I lightly laminate? I actually have a deck with thinner cards - the Nature-Speak Oracle - but the cards are finished so it …

HI EVERYONE! I'm new here :) I did a search for TAROT COMBINATIONS. I've been very fascinated and focused on this aspect of reading spreads lately. I didn't see anything in the search but I'm new to that! Any suggestions on how to search for this topic on the sight are very welcome. If nothing comes up, where would be the appropriate place to start such a discussion? I've found some useful info online but nothing that really resonates profoundly. I'll take any book suggestions gladly as well, if you can personally recommend them. ;) Thanks for reading and have a TeaRiffic Day! Iggi

In tarot books or videos online, I have yet to see a single person who uses the Hindu shuffle method. Although it takes a while to randomize the cards this way (similar to overhand, or slightly faster) it is very gentle on the cards, and you get a good feel for the cards this way (and i think it looks better than overhand). If you look it up on YouTube you can see it done better than I can explain it. I highly recommend it. I have big hands tough, maybe it is not so easy for people with small hands. What is your favorite method of shuffling?

What does the lovers reversed clarified by the lovers upright, the empress, and the 10 of cups mean for a persons feelings for you?

Hi, I’ve pulled the tower card for myself after asking when will I move house. Now my intuition has left me and distress has set in. Can you show me other ways to interpret this card. Thanks

I found this recently https://archive.org/ and thought I would share with all of you lovely people 😄 It has tons of books and all sorts on there that you can borrow (all in digital format) just like a real library. I thought I would see what tarot stuff it had on offer and whoa boy! There's a lot! ( https://archive.org/search.php?query=Tarot&and[]=subject%3A"tarot"&and[]=subject%3A"Tarot"&and[]=mediatype%3A"texts"&and[]=languageSorter%3A"English" ) Any suggestions on some good old tarot books to check out?

My favourite deck has gone on vacation. I did a 3 card yes/no spread with it the other day (centre card give the yes or no with an upright or reversed card, side cards give information on why). I forget what the question was but the answer was "no" followed by two cards that said something along the lines of "I'm going to sit back, relax, and put my feet up for a while"! Gah! I haven't even been using it that much! Anyone else had something like this happen to them?

Hi all! I hope everyone is well, in these uncertain times. Thank you for taking a look at my topic. As I explained in 'Introductions', I am a Tarot newbie. I just started learning and reading Tarot in November 2019. Ever since I started, I have been wondering about the different techniques of shuffling and drawing cards for a spread, and what is the 'best' way to do this. The way I shuffle my deck is by using the casino shuffle (or riffle shuffle) a few times. The number of times depends om my feeling, sometimes I will ruffle them only once, sometimes way more times. After that I will shuffle a few more times by using the overhand shuf…

or is it just my carpola connection? I'm trying to answer a PM. I've tried both my bookmark link and google search. Thanks, Sharyn/AJ