A Card a Day
Since it seems to be a matter of some difficulty for me to write here lately, I have decided to begin an exercise to not only require me to write on a daily basis, but also to refresh and renew my skills in reading the cards and reacquaint myself with some of my lesser-used decks. I’m hoping also to help to teach others how to learn to interpret the Tarot (and any other Cartomancy system) for themselves.
One of the most basic ways to learn to read Tarot is to pull a card a day, and then review how it relates to the events of that day. Starting today, I am going to pull a card every day from one of my decks, post it here, and then in the evening (or the next day if necessary) write about how it related to my day. Also I will include any insights discovered in a particular card and pretty much anything else that pops into my head. After all, isn’t that the way we learn to read intuitively?
So, today I pulled the Three of Bats (Three of Swords) from my Halloween Tarot. Later today I will post my comments on the day as it relates to this card. Those of you who are regular readers here will probably know that wrote about this card in my Dreaded Card series. There are certainly ways of finding a positive spin on any card, no matter how dire it may appear at first encounter. I may or may not apply those ideas here. It depends on what all happens today.
Whatever else you can say about it, it’s an interesting concept. See you later this evening with my thoughts on the Three of Bats.
Cleansing Negative Energy From Your Deck
If you read the Tarot for others, do you let the querent handle your deck? Many readers like to let the querent shuffle, cut or even draw the cards themselves. I know of one reader who hands the cards to the querent and does not touch them at all himself throughout the entire reading. He lets the client handle and draw the cards, which the reader and querent then interpret together.
I don’t usually have a problem letting others handle my decks. I often like to involve them in the shuffling process, usually by having them cut the cards any way they like, and then re-stacking them in a pile from which I draw the cards for the spread. One woman that I read for a few years ago, liked to hold the deck in her hands and slowly mix the cards using an overhand shuffle, while sitting quietly with her eyes closed. I always enjoyed reading for her, because the cards seemed especially responsive after that.
This was never a problem for me, until one particular afternoon in the New Age bookshop where I used to do readings. A new client had arrived and as I took him to the reading room I could sense his frustration. It ended up being the most difficult reading I’ve ever done for anyone, I felt as if I was struggling with the cards and him at every turn. He remained surly, refused to give me any feedback of any kind. I finally gave up in frustration, and did not charge him for the reading.
I felt so drained, both emotionally and mentally afterward, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. After I saw him to the door, I went back to pack up my things and leave. As I gathered my cards from the table, they felt very heavy and very dark to me. Almost as if they didn’t want me to handle them.
Now I know some people feel this is nonsense, that they are only bits of cardboard and ink, and there isn’t any way they could ‘feel’ dark and uncooperative. However, this was a very real feeling for me. I sensed that the cards had picked up his negativity.
Never having to deal with this before, I went online to see what others had done about this situation. I found various techniques for cleaning decks. Smudging was a favorite, as well as leaving them out in the light of the full moon, or in full sunlight for a day. Shuffling and re-ordering the deck was another suggestion. One person advised burying them in the ground for several days. I ended up setting them on the windowsill in the sunlight with a quartz crystal on top. Afterward, I placed a small piece of lapis in the bag and put them away for awhile. They were fine after that.
Since then I’ve heard one experienced reader suggest to simply hold them in your hand and say ‘this deck is cleansed’. I think that one is my favorite.
He also gave some advice about handling difficult querents. He said there is absolutely no reason one should ever feel obligated to continue in such a situation. He told me a story about a lady he knew who read tea leaves. One session a client was being particularly demanding and difficult and the reader simply slammed the cup down on the table and said “This reading is over!”.
Nowadays, if I get particularly strong negative vibes from someone, I won’t let them handle the deck at all. If they do happen to touch the cards, I will simply re-order the deck afterward just so that it feels ‘reset’ to me, hold it in my hand and declare it cleansed.
Seeking Clarification in a Spread
What do you do if a spread just doesn’t make sense, or seem to relate to the question you asked?
There are a few schools of thought in this matter. One is that you should never draw a second spread if the original doesn’t make sense. Some feel it is wrong to ask a second time.
Now if you choose to do this, you can make note of the cards you pulled, wait to see what happens in the matter you inquired about, and then check back to see if the cards relate to what happened. In this way you may gain some new insights into the cards you pulled. You would, of course, want to journal this and possibly add the new perspectives to your meanings for these cards.
Another idea is let the spread ‘steep’. You can leave it out for a time, and come back to it later. If you can’t leave the cards out, you can note the cards and their positions, sketch them or even take a snapshot. This way you can recreate the layout for future contemplation. Some will do this for a few days. But you may certainly benefit from ‘sleeping on it’ and find a new perspective in the morning. This may be an opportunity incorporate dream journaling in your interpretation, as often your dreams will access your unconscious for you and help you solve the puzzle of a tricky layout.
My belief is that there is nothing wrong with drawing more than one spread of cards for a given question. The only caveat I have is that you should not do so simply because you don’t like what you see in the spread, and you are trying to get a different answer. A good practice is to ‘reset’ the deck by putting all the cards in order. My usual order is Majors first – Fool to World – followed by Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles – Ace to King. But any way you are comfortable with ordering your deck is fine. There is no ‘right’ way to do it. If you are using an Oracle deck that does not lend itself to any particular order, you can simply begin making piles of your cards that relate to one another in meaning, color, symbolism or anything you choose. If nothing else, simply sitting quietly and shuffling them for a time, while keeping your thoughts clear and calm can reset the deck quite well.
You can always choose a different deck if you have one, especially one that you have not used in a while. This tactic can have amazing results for giving you a fresh perspective on any reading.
If all else fails, it may simply mean that the information is not available for you at this time. It may also mean that it is best for you not to know. If you are reading for someone else, it may be difficult for them to understand that, but sometimes that is the plain and simple truth. Acceptance is always a good path when all else fails. Meditation, prayer, hope and faith are recommended ways of following that path well.
Making Friends With a New Deck
A little more than a week ago, I posted about the experience of trimming my Druidcraft deck. It was this comment to that post that got me thinking. It is true that one of the reasons people like to trim their decks, is that it becomes part of the bonding process of familiarizing yourself with a new deck. However many readers don’t want to trim all their decks. Many only trim the ones that they feel can be improved by trimming, because of the cards being too large to use or having excessively large borders that ‘drown out’ the images.
There are many ways to make friends with a new deck. The simplest way is to spend time with the cards, just looking at them individually and listening to them tell their stories. Some people start a journal, or a new section of their existing journal, to record meditations done with individual cards. Some folk sleep with the deck under their pillow.
I usually sleep with the deck on my night-table for a while. Occasionally one or more cards will enter my dreams and talk to me. This practice started when I got my very first Tarot deck, the Robin Wood Tarot.
This was before I learned about Gate cards, and entering cards in meditation. I suppose that the dream visitations were spontaneous versions of these techniques. It doesn’t happen as often as it used to. But when it does, I always make a note of the dreams I have.
There are many other ways to bond with your deck. Aside from pulling a daily card and journaling, you can write stories, songs and poems. You can create art based on the colors and emotions that you feel from a particular card. You can carry a card with you as you go about your business for a day, and pull it out occasionally to see what it might have to tell you about the days events as they unfold.
But most importantly, don’t forget to journal whatever experiences, feelings, thoughts and idea you may have while bonding with a new deck. They will be helpful later when you are using your deck in your practice, whether reading for yourself or others.
How do you make friends with a new deck?
The Rules
Before reading the Tarot, you must always ground and center. Light a candle, and while gazing into the flame, ask your higher self to guide you in your reading. Envision a white light descending from above to surround you. When you are finished, gaze into the candle and give thanks for the gift of insight you were given. Blow out the candle, and then drink a glass of water to ground yourself again.
You may have heard instructions similar to these. They are a compilation of things I was told by someone I met in a bookstore and things I read on the web, when I first set out to learn to read the Tarot. Being a novice, I took them to heart as The Rules. I was very careful to ground and center, light a candle and ask for guidance (not sure who I was asking, but just asked anyway). The candle seemed really important to the person who told me I Must Light One, so I never read without a flame burning. There were also instructions involving a spread cloth, what sort of fabric it must consist of, how to shuffle and cut, and how to return the cards to their bag and box. You needed both, and they had to be silk and pine respectively.
It got to the point where I didn’t even want to get the cards out to read. Reading for someone else was out of the question. I cringed at the thought of trotting out all the paraphernalia I needed to do a simple reading. It became a chore, and I gave it up. I simply pulled a card from the deck to study, meditate and journal about. I felt like I was being sneaky, but the cards didn’t seem to mind, and nothing bad happened. Eventually I became bold enough to start reading with them without the ‘floor show’, as I came to think of it. One morning I got the bright idea to ask the cards if I really needed to do all that stuff. They assured me that none of it was actually necessary.
Now the only thing I really do is make a cup of tea and take a moment to quiet my thoughts. The tea has become almost essential and I find I can’t settle down to read without it. That is the extent of my ritual these days.
Please don’t think I’m criticizing those who do any or all of those things when they read the cards. I’m certainly not. Rituals are very important to those who observe them, and everyone needs different rituals for different activities. Mine has simply been reduced to applying boiling water to herbs in a mug, and perhaps adding milk or lemon. Personally I love having a reading done for me with all the pomp and circumstance. Perhaps that is why many readers have practiced and refined these rituals over the years. I think maybe they benefit a certain type of querent.
But truly, all you need to do is focus and shuffle and then open your mind. Everything else is ambiance. If you love using rituals, create your own. A ritual created by another may not necessarily work for you. So don’t ever feel you need to follow someone else’s instructions.
In the last place we lived, I was reading for people at a Wiccan shop in town. I employed a candle, and on one occasion incense (although that was more due a funky smell in the room than ritual), and usually had a moment of ‘silent meditation’ before the reading. That was mainly to give me a chance to clear my mind of the usual chatter, and focus on the person in front of me to feel whatever energies and vibrations they radiating. Most of the clients were quite happy with the sessions.
But the only really important thing for me during that time was the cup of tea on the table beside my chair.
Gummy Bear Tarot
I’ve been using this deck a lot lately. There are times when you need simplicity and clarity. I’m moving through one of those times right now.
Many Tarot decks are rich with symbolism featuring cards that are simply packed with images, lights and shadows, zillions of colors and shadows… and it can all become too much for my senses after a while. That’s when I need a very simple deck. That’s when I reach for the Gummy Bears.
The Gummy Bear Tarot features line drawings, primary colors and straightforward imagery. The symbolism is clear and simple, the voice of the deck comes through clearly to me with less static on the lines. Reading ‘between the lines’, or perhaps ‘in the spaces between the cards’ as I’ve thought of it, is much easier to do with this deck.
Another good deck for simplicity that I’ve seen recommended is the International Icon Tarot. Although the faceless figures on this deck leave me a bit cold. The little faces on the gummy bears supply a hint of personality that I seek in all my decks. For myself, personality is as important in a deck of Tarot cards as it is in a group of friends.
For single-card readings, such as a Daily Draw, I still use other decks when the spirit moves me. But for anything more than one card, I’m using the Gummy Bears these days.
Genius Loci
Atmosphere is always important. But it’s often an essential tool of the Tarot reader. What sort of small gods do you invite into you reading space? They can have an interesting influence on your readings.
This post in the Cabinet of Wonders offers some thoughtful insights into the general spirit of a place, how it can affect those in it, and how it can be encouraged to change for the better.
In any case, I think the current craze for small fountains and hidden benches in tiny urban gardens is an attempt, albeit unconscious, by the residents to invite, gently and hesitantly, some sprite or minor god to come and settle, to sit and stay awhile. … In the end, if you’re lucky, you’ll make the place comfortable enough and beautiful enough that one of those vanquished spirits might, with a little coaxing, consent to stay. They need us as much as we need them.
What sort of space do you routinely read in? Do you create an atmosphere? Sometimes it isn’t possible to control the ambiance of an impromptu reading. How do you manage that? What works for you?
Randomness
Yesterday afternoon I read the Tarot for a friend at work. While she was shuffling, cards literally began to fly out of the deck one at a time. When the first one leaped out I grabbed it and placed it on the table. I told her to keep shuffling and two more popped out the same way. I make it a practice to always make a note of cards that fly out of the deck while shuffling. Usually the cards are trying to get a message through to you when they do that. In this case, the young lady I was reading for has a very bright and intense energy of her own, so I was not surprised to see cards jumping from the deck. They did indeed speak to her inquiry, but their focus was on inward issues. Her question involved someone else, and the cards (as they often do) instead addressed issues that were occurring in her own psyche and her own reactions to that other person.
I’ve found that there is no one ‘right’ way to read the Tarot. I don’t have any set of rules or formulas that I rigidy follow. I have things that I usually do, but I’ve discovered it’s best to be adaptable. I stay open to the quick flash of an idea to do something a bit differently. The universe is always in flux, and if you are rigid you will not be able to access that which flowing around and through you.
The most important thing when learning to use Tarot is to “play”. There are tons of books and websites that lay out a system of rules for using the Tarot and detailed instructions for laying out and interpreting a spread. But once you begin to structure a system of rules for the Tarot you begin to take away it’s power. Tarot works by accessing the random patterns that are in constant flux around and through us. In this way we can divine how the past affects the present and the future. We can divine what is going on ‘behind the scenes’ by peering at these random patterns and making sense of them. Once you begin to structure rigid formulas for using the Tarot you eliminate some of that randomness. This defeats the whole purpose of this form of divination.
So when you are going to read for yourself or others, by all means have a ritual if you choose. Light a candle, face the East, and say a prayer. Whatever helps you to achieve the mental and emotional state you need. But don’t ever discount a flash of insight, a misspoken word or a flying card. Anything and everything that happens during a Tarot reading might just be part of the reading. It also may not be, but if you immediately discount it you’ll never know. You may be passing up an opportunity to gain real insight into whatever you are reading about.
Difficult Times
There are times when it is difficult to read the Tarot. Usually this is when I am feeling depressed or stressed-out. This can be frustrating because those are usually the times when I most need the advice and clarity that the Tarot can bring. It’s ironic that these times are also when my inner guide is most reluctant to cooperate.
The danger with going ahead and reading the cards when I am in this state of mind is that the results can be very unfocused and confusing. Sometimes the cards simply reflect back to me what I most fear, or what it is that is bothering me. It doesn’t help that a depressed or stressed mental state makes it difficult to look for subtleties or listen to the my intuitive inner voice.
The best thing to do in times like these is leave the cards in their box and meditate. Prayers are good, if you pray. And certainly asking God, or whatever higher power you feel is in your life, for strength and comfort can result in immediate relief. That is if you sincerely believe this will help. Give your worries and your stress to Another, and then let it go. There are many things in life over which we have no control and it is best to not try to control them. They will run their course, regardless of whether or not we approve, and the best thing to do is let it go.
Meditate… pray… take a walk… read something light… make yourself a favorite snack… have a glass of wine or a cup of herb tea. But leave the cards for when you are at peace and feeling positive. They work best when you are in a good state of mind.
Daily Card
A good way to begin to learn to read the Tarot is with a one-card daily reading.
Perform whatever ritual you use to begin a reading, or simply shuffle and draw one card. Before you draw the card, ask your question. You could ask “What area of my life needs my focus right now?” or “What is my strongest energy today?”. If you are contemplating something specific in your life you can ask “What do I need to focus on to reach my primary goal?” Instead of primary goal speak specifically about what it is you are working on or trying to accomplish.
You can do this in the morning, or in the evening. An evening draw might be asked “What was the most important thing I learned today?” or “What happened today that I can best use to achieve my primary goal?”
When you see the image on the card you have drawn, take time to look at it as a whole and as a series of images. Note the colors, and the number of the card (unless it’s a court card). What is the weather, what time of day is it, what is happening? Does it tell a story, or part of a story? What is you gut feeling when seeing this image? Note how you feel, and what images or impressions popped into your mind when you first saw it.
If this is done in the morning, keep in mind (write it down and carry it with you for the day if you like) the impressions and ideas that entered your mind during your reading. If this is done in the evening, compare your impressions from the card with the events of your day. See what connections you can make and note them in your journal if you are keeping one.
If you continue this practice every day, you will find the cards have meanings for you that may be either the same or different from the “traditional” meanings for them you may find in books. It is good to learn the “traditional” meanings, but it is far more important to learn what the cards mean to you personally. This is how you begin to understand how the cards may “speak” to you, and how their symbolism relates to daily events in your life. This is an invaluable step in learning to interpret the cards for yourself, and is good practice in learning to read the cards for others.
