Tarot Talk & Technique

Greetings, I'm new to the forums and figured I'd sign up to help me further gain understanding about tarot card meanings while I'm teaching myself. The book I'm using as a guide is... Title: A Complete Guide To The Tarot Author: Eden Gray ISBN: 978-0-553-27752-4 As I'm learning about Key 0 (The Fool.) I see that it says... My question is, What are these four magic symbols? I attempted a google search what these 4 magic symbols may be and came up with inconclusive results. the only thing that catches my eye for it potentially being the answer is the 4 elements, My reasoning for assuming this may be what the wallet of the Fool hold's is because Ke…

A few months ago the owner of the local book store asked if I would want to come in and do readings for people? I explained I am still learning but would love to work with more people as I usually read for those I know. And she asked about how much to charge or what not? I’m not sure how it all works, but if I’m still learning would I charge or how would I go about it? We talked about like an easy quick 3 card spread. She asked me about it again the last time I was in. I would love to do it and I have gotten pretty good feed back from the readings I’ve done in the past so i know I can I just don’t know about how it all works to do at a place and all that. Any …

Not sure where to ask this question, I hope it's okay here, but: have any other subscribers to the newsletter received any for April/May? I haven't gotten one since March, and I'm trying to work out if they've somehow disappeared into my junk folder or if Cathy hasn't written one for a few months.

I subscribe to Lisa Boswells newsletter as I am a fan of her site Divination & Fortunetelling. She has lots of free resources on tarot, lenormand and other divinatory systems. She has also held free internet workshops in the past, which I have always tried to attend. Now she is launching something completely new (as of today the 27th). She calls it the "Divination Maximiser" and its a course that is aimed at improving psychic abilities and divinatory skills. So it is not only useful for tarot readers but for any type of divinatory practices (and it will probably be beneficial to mediums as well). I don't know anything about prices just yet (she is launching th…

on the now defunct AT tarot forum there were pages and pages to the thread "something I never noticed before" Or similar? where the cards were blown up and fine combed. I remember the Death card someone pointed out there is an arrow on the foot that points to the cave on the bank. I think it is just part of a spur, but Waite put tons of symbology into his vision for the paintings and many times a cigar isn't just a cigar. A lot of the reworked from the original have kind of smoothed over and cleaned up the cards without realizing they are taking away from the thought. does anyone remember it, and can you help me find it? I know, needle in a haystack, but it was s…

Hey all! I'm fairly new to tarot, and I just got a really pretty deck. I did a six-card deck introduction spread, and for the first position, "What is your most important characteristic?" I got the 5oP. I'm honestly baffled. Is the deck wounded somehow? Does it need my charity? Is it offering me charity that I need? Or am I missing something? For context, spread is 5oP AoW NoC 5oC XXI QoC Any advice is appreciated!

So I’ve never tried asking a sex question but I’m totally new to it with tarot’s. I asked the question of how this guy feels having sex with me or something along those lines. I pulled these cards and in this order left to right : nine of Wands reversed. Two of Wands reversed. 10 of pentacles. So at first I was like dang does he find this boring or lame? But that wouldn’t make sense because we both seem so open minded to new things and I’ve had him try a lot of new things. It was the 10 of pentacles that I liked to see though as it represents a content couple, wisdom maybe showing intellectual connection, the baby maybe seen as more than just some random sex thing but mor…

I was just talking with someone about The Fool, and now I have in my head. Does anyone think about any songs in relation to a particular card? Another one for me is , for (of course) The Sun.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice on how to use Tarot to pinpoint the whereabouts of misplaced (I hope!) objects. I've never used tarot cards to do that, but I'd like to give it a go. I believe Lenormand is supposed to be a good system for this kind of thing, but I'm a newb when it comes to Lenormand and I'd like to find this misplaced ring sooner rather than later. :) Do we read the cards slightly differently when using it for a more mundane, practical purpose? As in looking at what's in the card - symbols, objects, the location - or do we read the cards with the more usual meanings? Thanks. :)

Hello I did a three card spread asking What kind of relationship we would have (we are not in one but have been talking a few months). I did it so the first card represented my feelings, second card represented his feelings and third was our overall outcome. So 1.the emperor(my feelings) 2. Sun reversed (him) and 3.king of cups(outcome).what I interpreted was: It seems for me I would definately would maybe want to progress in the relationship, maybe in some ways try to control the relationship? I mean he is very independent and I’m slightly codependent(not much) and also I know he was hurt long ago and I can tell he’s afraid of relationships so he says he’s not really rea…

This is an idea that I originally saw on Kelly-Ann Maddox's Youtube channel ( ). She has a basket where she places all the decks that she feels are a bit neglected and that she wants to work more with. I really liked the idea, but it wasn't exactly what I needed at the time. I have realized that I don't feel particularly guilty about the decks that gets less use, and that I want to rotate my decks in a more organic matter. I'm a Gemini and I rarely get stuck with one thing for long, so having to make sure that I rotate things is not an issue in my life. The thing that I DO need to work on, however, is to focus my energies and prevent myself from feeling scattered. I t…

Whenever you get a brand new deck, do you immediately unseal it or do you wait until you feel that the time is right? I'm more of the latter. I'd usually buy decks that I like but won't open them until weeks, months, or even years later. I feel like I must only unseal a deck when I can give it my undivided attention and lavish as much time as I can spare in studying it. It's weird since even tho I like my decks a lot especially at the time that I bought them, it's not often that I open a deck out of pure excitement. More than half of all the decks and sets in my collection are still pristine and sealed. It is good since unopened items retain their value more than t…

If you care about calculating your birth and/or year card, do you place any specific significance on it if it shows up in a reading? This year (I go birthday to birthday with the year cards) is all about the Hanged Man for me and he showed up yesterday when I was having a not very good day. I'm thinking it could mean that I gotta look to my year card and the greater lessons that I'm learning and trust that it will work itself out if I hang in there (letting go and things sorting out without me being obsessive about it is something I struggle with but the Hanged Man is helping me see it's a good thing), but I'm really curious to what other people think. Hoping I'm…

Without exception, we are all searching and looking for something, or we wouldn't be playing with tarot cards. But where? This isn't a question to ignite long stories of how you found the tarot, we all have those. This is a question to ask you to look at the very beginning of that story you have, at that very moment it began, were you looking in or out? Over the time since that moment have you found it more fitting to look the other way?

I am brand new to this forum and fairly new in regard to reading Tarot and would appreciate any feedback as I am really trying to learn. Someone that I know that reads professionally pulled a card as to if I would hear from a friend that I have not spoken to in over two months...There was an abrupt ending to this friendship and she pulled one card...The Ace of Swords. She said that meant No, but I thought that Ace of Swords meant the beginning of a new pattern of thought or communication so I interpreted that card to mean a Yes in this context. Would anyone be able to share their thoughts on this with me? Thanks in advance.

The Tarosophists Tarot Association is currently holding a survey on the best Tarot, Lenormand, Oracle, Book, etc that were published in the previous year. You can check it out in their site HERE. It's open to all - meaning even non-members would be able to vote. I can verify this since I just cast my vote. Once you have placed yours, you won't be allowed to change your choices so choose wisely. :D You're also allowed to skip items if you don't find any of the options worthy. Indeed, many of the categories allow you to endorse another deck/book/etc if you feel that it's better than the available selections. The survey was easy-peasy, and I answered everything quite quic…

If I may take your great idea into the realm of the Majors, EK... Which Major(s) are you? Which archetype(s) fit(s) you the best? You can choose more than one. Imagine this is your "calling card" and that, through your choice, you are introducing yourself at a social gathering... I'm really curious to meet you all. <3

So, I was doing my usual daily reading on my eating problems (daily struggle with over-eating). Granted, it is only a 3-card reading (Issue - Blockage - Contemplate), so statistically, having all 3 of the cards come up Majors shouldn't be all that unusual. But, it really doesn't happen very often. Going back through my notes on self-readings; I started picking up my Tarot decks this past May and have done readings about this topic on most days. Counting today, there have been only 3 readings in which all 3 cards were Majors. Two of them have had The Star and two had The Chariot. Just for the sake of the discussion, the 3 today were (Thoth Tarot); XI Lust, XVII The Star…

I don't know how to insert images here but the judgement card (in the RW deck) shows an scene from the bible where the holy are taken to heaven. I recently did a reading for a client who didn't like the reference and struggled to connect with the meaning of the card because they had such a strong negative association with organised religion. Have you ever faced a similar issue? It's a new one to me!

I'm curious if the judgement card represents karma? I was doing a reading for myself about a very painful event that happened to me when I was younger that will be with me for life. I asked 'why did I have to experience this event in my life?' So the first thing I thought about when seeing this card was karma. Do you agree with this? I mean I know the description says rebirth but that doesn't really make sense to me.

How do you know the meaning of a card? Did you memorize the first LWB you came across? Read stacks of books? Practice magick? just believe what people told you? Learn the basic components of the card itself and discern the meaning for your self? Just look at the pictures and go with that? What gives you the certainty that you aren't just guessing, or grabbing ideas out of the air?

Can someone please give me insight on the queen of swords? Some places say it mean loss, but I don't see her that way. I mean she's a queen! She's still ruling, but she's cold. I did a tarot reading asking if i will win a battle in court with a rival. And i got the Queen of Swords. So i think yes, i will win. Can anyone confirm this?

Do you find yourself compelled to include the additional cards that can be found in some decks in your readings? Sometimes, I include the Unicursal Hexagram card found in the Thoth Tarot. I've heard that some readers include the extra four cards featuring PCS's non-Tarot artwork in the Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot.

I've seen a few different ways on how people use the bottom card and thought to ask if you knew of any more suggestions? The two that stood out for me are: 1. Beth over at Little Red Tarot had a blog once (will search for it later) on how, especially if you pull cards from the top I think, the bottom card would be that which is most removed from the reading. A suggestion for what the reading really isn't about. I had the Tower at the bottom of the deck for my Year Ahead reading I did on my birthday with the Death card as the focus, so I took that to mean that while this year will be all about change and letting things go, it probably won't shake things up in any sudd…

Do you let other people touch your decks? Like do you let your curious friends go through the cards or do you only limit contact to querents? Or do you forbid absolutely everyone any kind of tactile access to your cards? I've read some beliefs on this, that a deck's bond with its owner diminishes when others touch it so that a few are unduly vigilant regarding this. If you do allow anyone, do you impose any limits? Like some people can be quite careless or heavy-handed when they shuffle, so some readers only allow them to cut and/or stack their deck. Others feel that querents can only truly imbue the cards with their energy if they shuffle them too, so they don't mind.