10 Tips on How to Learn Tarot

If you’re interested in learning tarot, congratulations!  The world of tarot is broad enough to keep you interested for decades, yet easy enough to allow you to gain a working understanding of the cards in a relatively short period of time.

While there are many ways to learn tarot, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and struggle if you follow the following suggestions.

10. Don’t fixate on Doing it right

As you get to know different tarot readers, you’ll discover that there are many effective ways to read the cards.  Some readers are intuitive, which means that they tend to use the card images to stimulate their imagination in a reading.  Others do cold readings using fixed, memorized meanings for each card.  Both methods can work extremely well.

If you decide to stick with tarot, in time you’ll soon discover your own style.  Give yourself permission to learn, grow, experiment and try different methods.  Be easy on yourself.  Before you know it, your confidence in your own personal technique will grow.

9. Throw away the Little White Book

The Little White Book (LWB) is the small pamphlet that comes with most tarot decks.  Some provide interesting background information. For learning tarot they are worse than useless.

Ignore the little white book completely if you want to learn to read the cards.

8. Choose one good tarot book

While many tarot books are not that good, and some are next to worthless, there are others that are pure gold.  Here are two examples:

             Step by Step Tarot by Terry Donaldson (to give you confidence)

             The Devil’s Picturebook by Paul Huson (to put you in the mind of the cards)

If you want an advanced book with current and historical meanings for each of the cards,Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson will serve you well in all stages of your tarot journey.

7. Don’t read a lot of different books (at first)

If you look online or at the bookstore, you’ll find a jubilee of tarot books.  Not only don’t you need these books, but purchasing them is a big mistake as you try to make sense of tarot.  Don’t give in to the temptation to buy a lot of books.  You’ll tend to get distracted, which will slow down your progress in learning the cards.  The seeming differences between authors may damage your trust in your own abilities.  Finally, too many of these books are marginal at best.  Reading a lot of books will waste your time.  See the next item.

6. Learn a keyword or key phrase for all 78 cards

As legendary tarot guru Le Fanu has said, memorization has fallen far out of favor.  While this may be true for others, you can choose to go against fashion.  Following this one tip will jump-start your ability to read effectively with the cards.

Keywords in and of themselves are only a small portion of the meaning of any particular card. When chosen well they act as seeds growing inside you.  Each one will become a tree of knowledge and associations linked with its particular card.  Keywords serve the same function as training wheels in learning to ride a bike.  When you learn to ride, the training wheels go away.  Same with the keywords.

Remember always that tarot is alive.  The meanings for cards change, develop and grow.

Related Post:
7 Tips For Getting A Better Tarot Reading

5. Keep a tarot journal

Start a journal used only for your tarot learning.  Some people use a 3-ring notebook with pages for each card.  Others use a simple spiral.  Whatever is easiest and works best for you will be just fine.  Include realizations, dreams related to the cards, quotations from your one tarot book, sketches and anything else that strikes your fancy.

4. Do a daily draw

More days than not you should pull a card out of your deck.  If you miss a day, let it go and start again when you remember.  Think about the card during the day.  Keep the card with you if possible.  Meditate on the image.  Write about it in your journal.

3. Engage the spirit of tarot

Whatever you may believe about how it works, there is an order and intelligence behind tarot.  While the cards themselves are paper, the life behind them is something more.  Befriend the tarot. Treat tarot with respect, and it will treat you with respect.

2. Carry your deck with you

Get used to glancing through your deck in spare moments.  Put them on the table next to you when your working at the computer.  Keep them in your bag.  Put them under your pillow when you sleep, or on the table next to your bed.

The time you leave your cards behind will be the time you regret not having them.

1. Learn from those who know

Aeclectic Tarot Forum is a friendly community of tarot people.  The Using Tarot Cards area can be a source of wonderful information for you as a new tarot reader.