Tarot Talk & Technique

Do you write down what you interpret from the tarot? I don't journal. Not for tarot, anyway. Yet, it is recommended by most tarot books that a practitioner should journal. Am I at a disadvantage, since I don't journal?

So... I've been dabbling with tarot for a while (several years), but now (and for the last month) I'm really into it. I love it. It is my passion. But, heretofore, I have only read for myself. I think I am now at a point where I can -- and where I kind of *need* to -- start reading for others. But, I'm scared. Seems like such a big jump, and what if I screw it up? Or if nothing happens? I would really appreciate any advice about making the jump from reading and playing with cards in private, to actually reading for other people. Thanks gang!

The Wildwood Tarot...it refuses to work with me and has refused since day one. I've had the Wildwood Tarot for several years but it has never, ever been a reader for me. Ever. I've done everything I can think of to get it to warm to me. I've cleansed it with incense, moonlight, sunlight, the elements. I've carried it around with me. It's rested on my nightstand while I sleep. I've set crystals on it. I've tried meditating on and journaling my daily draws. I've shuffled it and shuffled it and shuffled it and still, nothing. I'll leave it alone for awhile and return to it months and months later to see if anything has changed and still no. I want to work with this de…

Recently, I’ve been seriously contemplating the elements and that Swords could be Fire and Wands could be Air. There are some very compelling arguments for both and of course, Wands being Fire and Swords being Air is pretty well established. I realize this is reader’s choice and that there are even other systems out there where cups are air 🤷🏻‍♀️. Is it just easier to stick with the standard? For those that do consider Swords Fire and Wands Air, do you find it fairly easy to make this switch when reading a deck that was created with Swords Air and Wands Fire?

Hi everyone X/ I have a question that I'd love some insight and/or tips to. Do you read tarot for your own personal questions? I've tried to read them for myself, but I'm afraid to somehow influence the energy of the reading. So I was just wondering if it's a common use to do self-readings, and if so...any tips so that the reading can be as non "judgemental" as possible? (Hope I'm making sense here LOL). Thank you!

Hello everyone I was looking at the Pictorial Key to the Tarot thread, and it got me wondering. Are the Tarot meanings we use today extremely watered down from those of the past, or is it more that the modern meanings have been updated and expanded for our times, making the older meanings obsolete? Many of the PKT meanings are extremely negative, (for example, both the Death card and the 9 of Swords can both represent actual death), and are rarely used in readings today. Other cards have meanings in the PKT that aren't so negative, but are still hardly ever used, such as messages in writing for the 2 of Pentacles, patrimony for the 5 of Cups, and mistress for the 5 …

I'm used to shuffling playing cards. Even with these I find the standard shuffle, moving cards to the front and back of the deck takes ages to get them random. I prefer to riffle shuffle. My RWS deck is slightly larger as well as having lots more cards and I can only just riffle, by splitting the pack into four and doing two riffles. I'm not using reverses at the moment so I have to riffle vertically to keep the card's orientation, which is harder than riffle shuffling horizontally. Now I'm thinking about buying the new Lo Scarabeo Visconti Modrone deck, which is larger still. One of the things holding me back is worry that I just won't be able to shuffle them prope…

This topic is a continuation of something that came up in the de-enable thread. We started talking about how so many of us seem to have one or more decks in our collection (or that used to be in our collection) that we simply can't get good readings from. I am talking about the decks that we find to be the opposite of 'work horses' and 'talkers'. It is the decks that seem to be very unwilling to cooperate or to spill the beans. So I thought it would be fun to ask even more people if they have had this experience. If you have, were you able to get past it? (If so, how?). Have you decided to keep or to re-home those silent decks, and why? Although this is not about any deck…

My wife gets after me for spending too much time writing up my observations for online clients and not charging enough for it, and she's probably right but I wouldn't feel honest doing any less. If I'm doing a Celtic Cross, I usually have around a page of standard introductory text that I cut-and-paste with minor tweaks from reading-to-reading, a "big-picture" summary of the most compelling features of the spread, a one-paragraph-per-card narrative, and a closing summary of anything I find particularly noteworthy in the way of advice for the sitter. Then I add a digital photo of the spread. By the time I'm done, the write-up typically ranges from 3,500 to 4,500 words and …

Doesn't it mean more work for you to work out whether the card is positive or negative or to figure out a narrative? Or do you just accept that the card's meaning is probably a combination of both negative and positive aspects? I'm new to tarot and I presently don't read reversals but that's more because I have a semi-heart attack whenever I see them (like when I see 'the tower' upright). Now i'm wondering whether it'd make my life a tad more easier to do so.

Hi there! I am interested to know if there is a system of "cross referencing" pip cards, so that the suits mean general things/topics, and then the numbers and face cards also have general meaning. Let's say coins are associated with resources/money and aces are associated with luck or things turning for the better - then the meaning of ace of coins gives itself. 🙂

Actually not sure which section this would fit in so please feel free to correct and move the post if needed. I was wondering how people draw their cards and why. Since I asked I’ll start - I tend to shuffle and stop when called to, then draw from the top. If I ask a second question or want clarifiers I will shuffle again and then again draw from the top, but unless it’s a new unrelated question I will use the same deck minus the already drawn cards. If I get cards that fly out during shuffling I look at them and note them but will put them back in the deck. I will only read them if they reappear as part of my deliberately drawn cards later i…

see posts #4 and #5 for up to date lists Rather than carry a big box of a dozen or more decks when we travel for months, I'm creating a Rogue Deck. To carry one deck with cards from 78 different decks. Printed out so they are all the same size, cohesive and easy to shuffle. Except I have 46 decks, leaving me short 32 cards. This is what a printed out sheet looks like I have a system for cutting so they all come out the same size.

I'm a relative newbie, and I don't quite understand why a deck would be majors only, or how one would use such a deck. Nonetheless, I now own one, because I couldn't resist the art! Any thoughts, musings, answers welcome!

Hi all, I was recently invited to give a talk on tarot to a group of beginners and it got me thinking about my own journey with the cards and the challenges/obstacles I faced when I was starting out (I remember a big one being 'HOW am I supposed to memorise ALL these meanings?!'). But I'm curious - how was it for you? What were the difficult parts of learning tarot? Where did you struggle? What's the one piece of information you have now that you wish you had back then? I'd love to hear your thoughts. A x

Trevisan Crystal Tarot Lo Scarabeo 2004 my scanner and my eyes and the two narrow lines are all fighting. So I trimmed bottom border and bottom narrow image off. Now scanner/eyes/card are all getting along. Life is good :) Click on the image to enlarge it Edited to add: as sometimes happens with trimming the deck becomes a brick to shuffle. Not sorry I did it though.

Where do you draw the line on your readings? Who do you refuse? Is it a vibe or an aura off someone or a premonition that something is "off"? Do you abstain from alcohol or other drugs before a reading, ie., keep it sober? Or do you partake to loosen up the wheels, so to speak? Or do you just whip out the cards and let her rip? I'm just curious as to what everyone does to prepare themselves for reading if anything at all.

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

Hi everyone. :) I am just wondering, how do you keep your cards, store them safely? Usually, I keep the decks in a wooden box individually. I purchase the boxes from an art market vendor. The boxes are plain with a small mechanical lock. Then I carve the name of the deck on the box (so I know which deck is being stored and I don't have to open each box to get the deck that I search for). How about you?

Hi, I have a question, does carrying specific cards with you help at all. I read somewhere, that if you carry a card you wish to draw energy from, they help you with it. For eg: carry Ace of wands, if you wish to communicate your thoughts well in a meeting. Any body with such experiences? please share Regards Ashwsh

Hope I’ve posted this in the right section. Basically my first tarot deck (Anne Stokes: Legends) has no images on the minor arcana cards. It just has say 5 swords for the Five of Swords. Is it possible to read these? If not could I take the major arcana cards and court cards and use the deck with only them as they have images?

Does anyone else remember the first tarot book they ever owned? Mine was "The tarot speaks" by Richard Gardener which I bought as a teenager in the 1970s. I still have a copy (not sure if it's the same one) today. I would add an image of the cover but I am unsure how to.

So ykno we all pull those “bad” cards or what we subjectively might think are bad/negative cards. Yea actually, negative might be a better word! Anywho, I did a reading once and for the position of “positive aspects of this union” got the eight of swords. And I was like huuuuh? And so I had to do some searching around to see it in a positive light. I found “feeling/being there for someone during emotionally traumatizing times” and in my cosmic tarot deck there are two people surround by swords and connected by the puddle of water they are both in so it actually made sense! So it got me curious. What are some positive meanings to cards that you usually would consider “nega…

I’ve been having such fun with my cards, reading, playing, and shuffling etc, and they’ve been giving me such energy recently! So without thinking it through, just as a sort of “checking in” thing, I asked them how they felt about me. I got an overwhelmingly wonderful response, but thinking about it afterwards, that could have backfired horribly X-D From there I began to wonder whether this was a “done” or “not done” thing in the Tarot community, so... Do you consider it a Tarot-no-no to ask your cards their opinion of you? Or do you check in with your cards? I’m super curious to find out if other readers have strong opinions about this!

What are some personal Tarot practices that are uniquely yours, or which other readers may find odd or strange? I discussed this with a few of my reader friends just the other day, and suffice it to say that we were thoroughly entertained by how creative and out of this world some of our peculiarities are. I even thought of incorporating some of their quirks in my practice. ;D