The_Only_Yong Posted May 27, 2018 Posted May 27, 2018 Hello people! im very new in this, recently my friend was telling me about tarot cards and it got me really really interested so i went to a book store, and i picked one deck that stood out more to me then the rest, although there were only like 7 decks to chose from so the deck i chose is "Dreams Of Gaia Tarot" consist of 81 cards i am NOT very sure if chose the correct deck as im super new at this so for now, i just wanna know how to do a simple Daily Reading Yes/No reading Love reading (like is he/she the one for me, compatibility, etc) i went online to see, there are so many methods BUT i decided to ask here again since this is a a Tarot Forum i thought to myself if i wanna learn, might as well learn from the best, which are the people here :) please advice and thanks for being patient!
Saturn Celeste Posted May 27, 2018 Posted May 27, 2018 The_Only_Yong[/member], welcome to TT&M! You've come to the right place for all things tarot. ^-^ If you're learning tarot, Dreams of Gaia is a beautiful but difficult deck to start with. It is not a typical tarot deck. The best advice I can give you about that deck in relation to starting out with tarot is to read the companion book cover to cover, twice. Use the accompanying spread that comes in the book and glean as much information from this forum as possible in intuitive reading. I also suggest you get a Rider Waite Smith deck to learn on. The RW method is the oldest and most common system to find information on how to read these types of decks. Some good beginner decks are: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/beginners-kit/ http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/essential-kit/ http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/llewellyns-classic-tarot/ http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/radiant-rider-waite/ **** http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-made-easy/ http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/universal-waite/ The Radiant RW tarot (link with 4 stars) is the one I recommend. The book that comes with it will also help you with other tarot decks, it's a great kit. Once you've learned the RW system, learning other systems like the Dreams of Gaia will be much easier for you.
Page of Ghosts Posted May 27, 2018 Posted May 27, 2018 Hi and welcome to the forum! The Dreams of Gaia is a deck I don't own myself as I prefer more traditional decks but it looks lovely from the pictures and as it comes with a guidebook you should be good to go :) I suggest giving it a shot and see how it works for you, different people vibe with different decks after all. Play with the cards, look at the images and read the book, that sort of thing. For the readings you're curious about I'm only familiar with doing daily readings so I can only say something about them. Personally I'm skeptical about yes/no readings since I believe tarot as a system is better to create a narrative or story and it often gets confusing when people try to get a yes/no answer out of tarot, but there are some who have methods they swear by. If one of them drops by I'm sure they can share how they do it. For now I think getting familiar with your deck could be enough and daily readings are great for that! As you've already seen there are many methods so I'll be boring and tell you to just try one that looks fun and see how you like it. There is a lot of trying out different things when you're a beginner and as long as you're honest with yourself about what works or doesn't I don't think you can do much wrong so don't sweat it. Personally I like to just ask the cards what message I need to hear today and pull one card, but sometimes I might pull as many as three. I'm not into big spreads so one card can be enough, but with three it's more of a story to tell. If I do it in the morning it's some guidance for the day and if I do it in the evening it's more a reflective excercise where I try to see how I can find a connection between the card and the events of that day ;)
DanielJUK Posted May 27, 2018 Posted May 27, 2018 Welcome to the forum and tarot The_Only_Yong :) I think a good tip is to choose a deck you like, if you like the style and theme of Dreams of Gaia, that is all good! Just pick decks on themes and artwork you like! Have a look through the deck and cards when you have it, play with the cards in your hands and shuffle them so they are no longer in numerical order. There might be spreads or ideas in the book that came with it specific to the deck that might inspire you. Tarot and Oracles work best if you don't ask a yes /no question. I mean you can ask that question, it's not a dictatorship where you are punished if you do but they don't give the best answer if you trap them in a 2 answer binary. They have so much they want to say to you, they don't to be restricted by that. You can get a yes / no answer by flipping a coin or rolling a dice. So instead of "will today be a bad day?" which ends in only yes or no, you could change it (this is just an example) to what do I need to know about today? it's open ended and neutral or positive and you will get a better response as an answer. Try to ask questions starting with what or how, not why or will? what do I need to know about..... works for so many situations and keeps it open ended! Infinite general questions like "will I ever find love? "will he marry me?" are so open ended and will give a crappy answer (believe me I have asked those, and it's unhelpful to your answer). Better would be, what do I need to know about our relationship getting deeper in the next 6 months? that is quite specific with a time frame. Most people think that a reading works for about 6 months but 12 months also works but no longer, life changes too much! When I do a daily card for the day I ask "what do I need to know about today?" and then draw a card! love readings are hard, there are so many spreads! Here is some from the old Aeclectic Tarot Forum spread index here. here is one spread idea here or a smaller cross spread here. You can make your own spread with your own positions to cover your question perfectly. Just made up by me = card one - what do I think of him? card two - what does he think of me? card three - potential of us together It's supposed to be fun as you learn, like page of ghosts said try out different things! find your own way! look at the cards that come up and use the book that came with it for help. You can also look at the images, does a symbol really jump out at you? can you make a story from the images? It's a process really, enjoy it :)
The_Only_Yong Posted May 28, 2018 Author Posted May 28, 2018 hello all! thanks for the replies! i have refunded my deck due to some picture is spoilt. so now the next question is, SHOULD i! continue to buy a deck that i feel good about? OR get a begginer deck OR get 2 deck! one begginner and one that i feel good about? (but do we even need 2 deck in the first place?)
Lantana Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 Hi The_Only_Yong! Welcome to the forum :D I tend to err on the side of getting a deck you feel connected to, due to personal experience. I had two "beginner" decks but didn't really start connecting to tarot until I got a deck that used to be labeled as not beginner friendly. That being said, most people on this forum would probably urge you to get two decks. We're a bit of an amassing lot. ;)
Page of Ghosts Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 Sorry about the ruined card! Some publishers will send you a replacement card if you ask them, should you get a deck with a faulty card another time, instead of having to replace the whole deck. From my own experience I wish I had stuck to one deck as a beginner, one that ticked the boxes as both something I liked and was beginner friendly. I got kind of lost on looking for the one perfect deck when my first deck wasn't as beginner friendly (Roots of Asia) and the second was too bland for me (Llewellyn Classic Tarot) and since we don't really have decks in regular book shops here, save from the odd Original Rider-Waite I've seen later, I went online and it eventually... went a little overboard, haha! Having several decks can be very overwhelming, especially as a beginner, so I suggest sticking to one untill you are familiar with it and feel more confident in you tarot skills. As long as it isn't a very obscure deck and it (preferable, in my opinion) comes with a decent guidebook, in case you should need it, I think you're safe as a beginner. Some people are book nerds like me while others toss them out and read purely by looking at the picures. Both are valid but I think it's good to cover your bases with a deck + guidebook set and then you can ignore the book should you find you get along better without it ;) The RWS, which SaturnCeleste mentioned as good for beginners, doesn't come with a guidebook per se since it's 100+ years old but it's the basis for many a tarot classic book still in sale, so researching basic beginner books should net you something good for that deck and any deck based on it! I like Joan Bunning's "Learning the Tarot" and Michelle Tea's "Modern Tarot" is very good so far (I'm reading it at the moment) and has gotten good reviews. Those are my personal suggestions should you choose to go the RWS route, since it was mentioned earlier. What sort of tarot deck that you get along it is very personal so I don't think you absolutely have to go with the RWS as a newbie. I wish I had gotten it earlier in my journey as I'm a big fan it turns out, but lots of people find it to be too old, ugly and uninspiring! To sum it up I think a deck that gets you excited, one that looks good to you and you're intrigued by is a good choice, and it's a big plus if it has a book that goes with it. If you have any candidates you're curious about you can ask here or set up a thread over in the Tarot Decks-subsection to hear what people think about them and what their experiences are. Good luck!
Saturn Celeste Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 hello all! thanks for the replies! i have refunded my deck due to some picture is spoilt. so now the next question is, SHOULD i! continue to buy a deck that i feel good about? OR get a begginer deck OR get 2 deck! one begginner and one that i feel good about? (but do we even need 2 deck in the first place?) That's too bad about the picture, I've had some decks that are missing a card, or duplicate a card or they've been stuck together, it happens and it always sucks. If you can afford it, get 2! As Daniel and Page of Ghosts have suggested, you get a deck that appeals to you that you would like to work with but as you grow with the tarot you'll find that sometimes it helps to just know the meanings of the cards by memory. Along with purchasing a couple decks, you might want to look into getting a good tarot book also. The companion books are great but not all decks come with a nice book, some have only a pamphlet (LWB for little white book) that might not give you enough information. Here are a couple of suggestions for books: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738750778/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592336574/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like having many decks of cards. If you look at my profile page, you'll see the decks I own (I need to update it as I've made a few more purchases) and you'll find many people who get into tarot do have more than one deck. It's good when you're beginning to stay with a particular deck as you're learning the card meanings but you won't be learning forever! You can also switch over to another deck and see if anything you have learned can apply to that deck! So having more than one deck is quite useful and common, even for beginners. The most important thing is to have fun with your cards. Talk to them and just get to know them by looking carefully at the images, you'll pick up a lot just from doing that. ;)
DanielJUK Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 This forum came out of an old tarot site whose forum closed and they have a whole database of decks where you can look through and read reviews. That is here. My first ever deck and one of the most popular beginner decks is the RWS (page here). I love the artwork and it really helped me learn, there are also so many good beginner books for it. It's a classic but a minority of people don't like the deck. It's really hard to say "you must get this deck!" because we all have different artistic tastes. My go to for beginners is the RWS. I think you need to browse Aeclectic there and look at some pages. Look at the themes, what do you like? do you like fairies? do you like Celtic? do you like animals? think of the sort of art and themes you like and go for it! If you tell us the sort of things you like, I am sure we can come up with some deck suggestions for you because there are a lot of collectors / addicts here :) From Aeclectic, the best decks for beginners list here and their top 10 most popular here
aleatoryEpiphany Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 I was a LOT like you, The_Only_Young in that I saw a deck, fell in love, and bought it regardless of how hard it was going to be. I have never regretted my decision even though it took me longer to learn than a normal deck might have. But I do think it is a good idea to buy a "beginner" deck as well because that was a mistake I made, I never did because I really didn't like how the more common and cheaper ones looked. Therefore, I know how to read my deck, but not any other deck, especially as The Shapeshifter Tarot uses a very different system to most other decks, although when I briefly had the Celtic Dragon Tarot I moved to it easily enough because it is by the same author and illustrator, as well as using an incredibly similar system. I bought a new deck on Friday and should be getting it by the end of the week hopefully, but as eager as I am about it, it will likely be a steep learning curve which is pretty scary. So my advice is to definitely get a deck you connect with, but also a good, steady beginner deck to learn on so you have more versatility as a Reader.
The_Only_Yong Posted May 29, 2018 Author Posted May 29, 2018 alright guys! i went to a new and bigger shop after getting refund, for some reason i got back the same deck it really stood out to me the most i read online saying that i should spend more time with the deck like shuffling the cards sleep wit it ( i dont know how to do this ) is it a need?
CharlotteK Posted May 29, 2018 Posted May 29, 2018 alright guys! i went to a new and bigger shop after getting refund, for some reason i got back the same deck it really stood out to me the most i read online saying that i should spend more time with the deck like shuffling the cards sleep wit it ( i dont know how to do this ) is it a need? I dont know about sleeping with them (I've never done this) but spending time with your deck is hugely important. There are lots of things you can do with it to get to know it. There is a brilliant book by Lynda Cowles called the Tarot Playbook that has 78 different games and activities you can do with your deck to see the cards from different angles. Reading the deck companion book as you go through your cards one by one is a great starting point but the Tarot Playbook has some fantastically creative (and a few slightly silly but fun) ideas. I bought it last week and am really enjoying using it. Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
The_Only_Yong Posted May 29, 2018 Author Posted May 29, 2018 just curious! what do u guys do daily? besides doing the daily reading. hahaha im so keen to learn more!
Saturn Celeste Posted May 29, 2018 Posted May 29, 2018 There is a brilliant book by Lynda Cowles called the Tarot Playbook that has 78 different games and activities you can do with your deck to see the cards from different angles. Reading the deck companion book as you go through your cards one by one is a great starting point but the Tarot Playbook has some fantastically creative (and a few slightly silly but fun) ideas. I bought it last week and am really enjoying using it. Oh Charlotte, I have that book! I love it and also recommend it for doing fun things with your decks. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764339885/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Only Young, I don't sleep with my cards either but if you want to try it, just put them in a protective baggie and put them under your pillow. And sleep! ^-^ I did work with my cards everyday for hours when I was learning but life has gotten in the way and I don't spend time with them like I used to. It goes in spurts, I'll be back with them again with RL settles down. Journaling is a great way to spend time with them and you'll have fun looking back on your journal in a year or two after you've learned more than you know now! When I was learning, I did 'universal' readings. Instead of reading for myself, I threw my questions to the universe and it was a wonderful learning experience. I am one of the few members here that does not read for myself, I only read for others.
The_Only_Yong Posted May 29, 2018 Author Posted May 29, 2018 when we mention journal. does it mean we write down our daily readings? or just EVERYTHING we did for ourselves? and im just wondering, can i just ask any questions at all with my tarot deck? then just shuffle and take the top card?
Page of Ghosts Posted May 29, 2018 Posted May 29, 2018 alright guys! i went to a new and bigger shop after getting refund, for some reason i got back the same deck it really stood out to me the most i read online saying that i should spend more time with the deck like shuffling the cards sleep wit it ( i dont know how to do this ) is it a need? Sounds great, that IS a beautiful deck after all :)) My advice would be to do the things that makes sense to you. I don't know how much of it you've come across already but there are a lot of weird superstitions about tarot cards, like your first deck has to be gifted, you must sleep with it under your pillow, wrap it in silk or cleanse + charge the deck under the full moon before you use it. If any of that sounds like something you wanna do, go ahead. For me most of those things don't make any sense so I don't do them and tarot cards work very well for me ;) That workbook sounds like fun! I have something on my wishlist called the Tarot Activity Book by Andy Katzner(?) that has fun activities to get to know your deck more. I haven't gotten around to getting it myself, maybe others have it and could tell you more, but it sounds cool. For journaling it can just be as simple as jotting down any card(s) you pull that day without commentary. That's what I sometimes do when I'm super lazy, but writing down a few words of any impressions or ideas you get is probably a good idea as a newbie. You can write spreads in your journal you wanna try out, any info you think is useful. It's really up to you what you want to add into that journal! I think some people have 1 or 2 pages alotted for every card where you write a little for each time that card comes up, which I want to try as a sort of "library" some time. There are different ways of shuffling so yeah, if shuffling as much as you want to and taking the top card makes sense to you go ahead and do that. For questions, in theory you can ask anything but some kinds of questions are more useful than others, it can depend a lot on how you phrase it. Joan Bunning has this useful page about asking questions that I think is an interesting read, not too long, if you're up for it: http://www.learntarot.com/less7.htm
Saturn Celeste Posted May 30, 2018 Posted May 30, 2018 when we mention journal. does it mean we write down our daily readings? or just EVERYTHING we did for ourselves? and im just wondering, can i just ask any questions at all with my tarot deck? then just shuffle and take the top card? Journaling tarot is writing down anything tarot that is in your mind. Questions you might want to ask here or research, spreads you might want to try, readings you do, etc. As for the types of questions you ask, keep them simple until you get comfortable. Avoid yes/no questions until you learn how to do them. Because I read for others, I often ask, “What do they need to know?” I ask my question as I shuffle. If you are drawing a card for yourself, yes ask your question, shuffle, cut the deck then draw the top card. Some people fan the cards out and pick a card from anywhere in the deck. The biggest suggestion I can give you at this point is to get famiar with YouTube. There is a ton of tarot videos just for beginners, take some time and watch them. Subscribe to readers you like. Here’s one to get you started: This is a fun video about the history of the tarot:
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