If you could start over

[Guest Night Shade]

https://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=87630

by brujablanca

 

I am wondering something.

 

If you could go back in time, and start reading Tarot again today, what would you do differently if anything at all. And for the sake of fun, lets say you knew what you know now about reading.

 

For me, it would be that I would choose a different deck to begin with. My first deck and I really didn't bond and it wasn't until I came across a different deck (Mythic Tarot) that things started to click.

 

I would love to hear what others in this forum would do or not do.

[Guest Night Shade]

If I could start over, I would save money but not buying certain decks, like the Gendron Tarot, and the Tarot of the Old Path.

 

I would also be more dedicated and focused from the start, instead of studying for awhile, then taking months at a time off. 

 

Even though I love the Hanson-Roberts tarot, which was my first deck, I think I would now start with the RWS, to get a basic understanding of traditional tarot symbolism before learning any other deck creator's way of looking at things. 

 

Finally (since this is going back in time)  I would join Aeclectic Tarot and be an active member!

[Guest libra]

I honestly have no regrets and wouldn't change a thing!

[Bluelagune]

1. Probably not to worry over "negative" cards :)

2. The "not etched in stone" so anything is possible if you chose so.

3. Listen to the sitter first! :)

 

[MysticMoonlight]

I would probably try to not feel like I had to learn everything instantly. Time is your friend when learning to read the cards, IMO.

 

Also, I'd definitely want to not start my Tarot journey feeling as though and believing that I HAD to be able to read a Celtic Cross spread or I just couldn't read Tarot. Wow, was I a noob! LOL  :rolleyes:

[stephanelli]

I don't think I would change anything actually.  I've enjoyed my tarot journey and despite some setbacks occasionally, I'm don't regret any of it as it was all a good learning experience.

[Starlight]

I think I would probably have thought more about how exactly I see the cards working, what they're tapping into.

I would have thought about small rituals to protect my energy while I'm reading for others, and remember not to read when I'm tired.

And I would have liked to spend more time thinking about how each card had a parallel in my life, identifying it, and remembering it during readings. :)

[PathWalker]

I wouldn't have sold on those decks!

[Nivian]

I would get to know one deck very well...like years...before buying a new one.

[Arabella]

If I could start over, I would have started way sooner. Like 30 years sooner! I would not have worried that tarot was going to tell the future and therefore be feared. I would have learnt that tarot is for opening my subconscious and for expanding my life. If I could turn back time I would have carried on from my dabbling in card reading in my early twenties when we asked the cards if the guy really liked me or if I would get the job I wanted. I would delve deeper and be more attuned with my intuition and more importantly trust it a lot sooner.

But time is the one thing we never get back, so here I am now making up for it in a big way and loving every minute of it.

A big part of that is you guys, thanks for being here and listening to me.

A  <3

[DevonCarter]

I think I would have started way earlier, and bought a RWS deck first instead of something similar. There are a couple decks I probably wouldn't purchase again. And I'd have stuck with it instead of taking a couple years break with it. Mostly I think things have gone well, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

[joy]

I think I would start much earlier and keep going and not starting and stopping and starting. And then.... well I think.... there must be a reason it is/was like that and I would not change anything....

[Jewel]

I would have started with 21 Ways to Read a Tarot card and journaled the way I do now.  But I have to say my Tarot Journey has been very rewarding so I have no regrets, just some lessons learned along the way as it should be  ;)

[Cobweb]

I was going to say "me too" to Arabella[/member] 's post about starting earlier - and then I realised that DevonCarter[/member] and joy[/member]  were already there!  Can I "me four"?  I've been interested in tarot since I was about twelve - dabbled briefly in my early twenties - but always let - oh, let's call it Catholic guilt! - scare me away!    Still, I'm so so glad I'm here now with my cards.

 

Otherwise, I wouldn't change very much about my tarot journey so far.  I still have so much to learn - but that's the way I like it.  :)

[Esk]

I, too, am tempted to say beginning studying tarot earlier  ;). But thinking about it, it was perhaps my path to discover tarot at a specific time and to live and experience my life without it. It is maybe wiser to not change too much things on my tarot journey.

That said if there's something I would have changed, it is probably about  books. There's few I don't use at all and don't like very much.

[Aspen Sage]

That said if there's something I would have changed, it is probably about  books. There's few I don't use at all and don't like very much.

 

That was your 444th post Esk[/member] !

I was wondering, what books do you not use and what are your go to books?

[Jewel]

That said if there's something I would have changed, it is probably about  books. There's few I don't use at all and don't like very much.

I agree with this so much!  That is perhaps the one thing I really would have changed.  I tried getting and reading everything I could get my hands on, and in retrospect there was a lot of waste of money I could have spent on decks  >:D

[Tanga]

If they were available at the time - I'd have done more courses (I'm on a very nice short Marseille Tarot workshop at the moment) and if I'd bumped into them sooner - I'd have joined more Tarot Moots to get more live practice and interaction.

[PleiadesHag]

If I could start over,  I would have paid more attention to what I felt the card was saying instead of trying to interpret it based upon other people's learning.  I found out later that reversed cards didn't have negative connotations or blocks,  but rather suggested (by look in the characters eyes,  or direction of energy) collaborations/conversations between two scenarios.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

 

[Esk]

That said if there's something I would have changed, it is probably about  books. There's few I don't use at all and don't like very much.

 

That was your 444th post Esk[/member] !

I was wondering, what books do you not use and what are your go to books?

 

I've noted the number too ;)

 

Actually I've only 5 books, that's not much at all. The one I've almost never used  is Tarot for Beginners by Barbara Moore. The texts are mostly the same as the Llewellyn's classic companion book that I already had. And I've bought it too late in my tarot journey. It didn't help me at all.

The other one I dont use is The Holistic tarot by Benebell Wen. It's not a bad book but I don't connect with it. I don't know why, everytime I read it, my brain doesn't want to record any information.It's frustrating as I was so sure I will like it.

I like Rachel Pollack books, and I feel I should try to read Mary Greer works, I've heard a lot of good stuff about her books.

[Bookworm]

I don't really have regrets except, as others have said, buying too many books, many of which said the same things. I have learned the most by sticking with one deck exclusively for a period of time. At this point, I am a confirmed serial monogamist.

 

I also regret getting rid of some decks. By now, I wait years before I feel confident that I am not clicking with a deck.

[Saturn Celeste]

Finally (since this is going back in time)  I would join Aeclectic Tarot and be an active member!

lol I would have joined Aeclectic sooner myself!!  Good one NS!

 

I wouldn't change what I did at all.  I began my journey with a purpose to go commercial from the very beginning and worked toward that goal.  But I have new goals to reach now!

[HermitWriter]

I also wouldn't change much. I'd like to say "start sooner," but tarot came at a time when I seriously needed it, so that was probably the right time for me :)

 

I do kind of resonate with the idea of being more discerning with the books I've bought and read. Ideally, my library would have way more books on tarot and witchcraft and other spiritual stuff, so I could try them out first and decide which ones were worth investing in. But maybe someday I'll be able to sell or trade the ones I didn't connect with. Maybe... (I can hear my wife saying "that'll be the day!"). I may have a problem with letting any books go...

[Ix Chel]

I would start right from the beginning with my Tarot Journal, and would be more active on the forum.

[Emily]

I think if I could start over, I would have persevered with the 1JJ Swiss, I was only 15 and was close to leaving school and the only book I had was the Stuart Kaplan one which was illustrated with the 1JJ Swiss.  The ladies at the shop where I bought both deck and book from offered me free lessons, which again I very much regretted not taking but when I returned to the shop they had been run out of the town and the shop vandalised.  It was an old fashioned occult shop, not new age.

 

So I tried with the only book I could get, no internet or other tarot resources then, and soon gave up.  It was many years before I bought my first Rider Waite Smith and then my tarot journey really began.