Hi You all :)

Just few words to introduce myself.

I started to work with tarot few years ago as a not-so-young newbie, so as to say

Born in 1968 (💾), I didn't even think that Forums still exist... and I'm glad to have found that this one do.

I came here by chance, a sort of serendipity, but I hope to be able to give my contribution.

Welcome to the community @Muir , I'm glad you found us here

There are still some forums around the net, but it's a rare thing now, competing with social media and video streaming sites 😄

Hi @Muir ! Welcome to our community, and I hope you like it here!

Personally, I am glad forums still exist! I don't like social media (been there, done that and got sick of it lol), so spaces like TT&M feel like a little digital haven, where wholesome conversations can still happen!

Hello @Muir welcome to the TT&M Family

Welcome and take heart, you're not the eldest!

Hi @Muir - you spring chicken! You're younger than my little brother, so take heart, there are people of all ages around here. Welcome to this wonderful place!

Yeah ...1968 ...I graduated from high school the year before that! Welcome to the forum! Interesting to hear a 'newbie's' take on tarot. What have you been discovering? Do you read just for yourself thus far, or have you done readings for others?

Good to have ya join in Muir. I think you'll enjoy the group.

Awww <3 Thank you all for this warm welcome :)

Delighted to see you here, as you know. And - I MAY be the oldest here, at 81...

26 minutes ago, gregory said:

Delighted to see you here, as you know. And - I MAY be the oldest here, at 81...

Oh! Here you are :) I am delighted too!

Welcome!

I am not that young, either....

We all are young, so :)

Welcome, youngster!

:D

Welcome! Everyone here is very friendly and helpful so I think you'll enjoy joining right in.

I think Gregory is a little ahead of me getting to 81 already, but in November, I'll be 81, too, so I'm close on her heels.

On 9/18/2026 at 4:35 PM, Chariot said:

Yeah ...1968 ...I graduated from high school the year before that! Welcome to the forum! Interesting to hear a 'newbie's' take on tarot. What have you been discovering? Do you read just for yourself thus far, or have you done readings for others?

Hi Chariot :) Thank you for the question :)

Being not intuitive, clairvoyant, gifted or talented, but being rational, I started as many do, with a traditional RWS and studying it card by card. I prepared my own file of corrispondences, meanings and so on, and I started to read attaining to it. Also, I joined few nice facebook groups to practice with others. I'm not a deck collector, but quite soon I started to buy some decks that I felt nearer to my taste and inclinations than the RWS. I still have some on my list to get, but not as many. More important to me is that after a year or so I found out that the cards in a spread tell the tale by their own, if only I take the time to look at the images and don't try to make them match with the usual meanings. I also found that every deck has a different language and/or a different way to say the things that have to be said.

Meanwhile, I don't do rituals, nor feel the need to cleanse the decks. I don't think that decks have their own negative/positive energy or negative/positive power. Personally I think that the only energy involved is the reader's one while they are using the cards, meaning with it that cards - through the images - help the reader to make associations and to connect with some inner sense that I am not able to define, if the reader is able to focus solely on the question that is asked for.

I have both "pip" decks and not pips, and I'm quite picky about the ones to buy :D

In general, I don't use the booklet coming with decks to read with them, except for the Chesca Potter's Greenwood tarot deck, that I consider a completely different thing than the others.

... and I read only for others, feeling always to be too involved and not ojective enough to do that for myself. I do an exception for the daily card, when I do that, and in general I do that if I want to work with a specific deck.

Thanks for that detailed and informative reply, @Muir

I find I'm in agreement with lots of your methods and attitudes. I think it's important (although probably not necessary) to ground yourself at the start by 'learning' how cards work, and what their potential might be. But then yes. Go with what works for you. I'm a firm believer that tarot is a language ...it speaks to the reader in terms ...even words ...that allow a conversation between the cards and the reader to take place. We don't all speak the same language!

As far as cleansing my cards, my method (call it ritual?) is that at the end of every reading I re-order the cards into their original positions in the deck. It's not so much spiritual cleansing for me, but simply ensures that the last reading I did won't influence the next because of the positions the cards were left in. I like the idea of starting each reading from scratch. I have got very quick at doing this sorting, although if I were reading for a bunch of people at some event, I would have several decks with me, so this wouldn't be necessary between each client. I also find that handling and looking at the cards each time is beneficial as well. Instant recognition is good, when it comes to cards, I reckon.

I read for myself a lot, but do have to be careful about 'slanting' readings. The payoff is the accuracy of the readings, most of the time. I would like to read for other people more often, though. I had a group of friends who lived here, in the same town as me, for a while, and that was great. But, unfortunately, they have ALL moved away! So I'm expanding my circle online these days, and it works pretty well.

You might totally enjoy participating in some of the reading circles. Here's a link to what's on offer. Some are monthly, some are weekly, some are for tarot, others for oracles, etc. My favourite is the ISG reading, which teaches us how to intuitively read a card based on its design and imagery, rather than what's in the accompanying 'little white book' (LWB) or other books the author has written about the deck. This has been an eye-opener, at least for me.

Anyway: the link: https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/forum/31-tarot-reading-circles/

I look forward to seeing more of you on the forum!

@Chariot thank you for the link! I'm looking at it :) and think that I'll probably love ISG reading circle.

Your practice to "put in order" the deck after the reading is interesting. I may give it a try! I usually shuffle it as it is, until it seems enough to me.

For me it has been the contrary: I started reading for others online, and only recently it happened to me to do some readings in presence.