Thursday's Toolbox-Learning Tarot

            Getting to know your deck

            Tarot tends to be the go to tool in a witch’s toolbox. There are countless books, nearly limitless varieties, and just as many ways to read them. Most decks come with a cute little booklet that gives me a vague idea of what the cards mean and there are more advanced books that give in an in depth analysis of the symbolism and history of the cards.

            Ask three different readers how they learned their deck and you will get five different answers.  I’m not being sarcastic either I learned my decks using two different methods.

            Not everyone is going to read tarot. Sometimes it is just a skill set that you will never develop. I divine using tarot and pendulums, but don’t even ask me to try tea leaves.  It just looks like a clump of wet, sad vegetation at the bottom of a mug or saucer.  I have a friend of mine who reads them spectacularly and another who is developing that skill set very well. I think Runes are fascinating and they are a part of my heritage; I cannot read them for all the trying in the world!

            The moral is, don’t stress if you find yourself unable to decipher the meaning of the tarot, there are other forms of divination out there.

            Now for those of you who are interested and looking to improve your understanding of the system in general I am going to go over briefly one of the ways I learn a deck. If you are interested in learning tarot and want a deck, please get a real deck! Do not get an oracle deck; don’t get a deck with frilly kitties or unicorns.  Get a basic Rider-Waite deck and start with that. 

I will not lie, I’m a deck elitist. The deck that I use for private readings and for my coven mates is the Thoth Tarot. The daily card pulls on the Facebook page come from the Wizards tarot and I will use the Steampunk tarot for spell work.  One of these decks is heavy on alchemy, zodiac, and other various symbols and sigils; the other two are based on the Rider-Waite system and follow it fairly well.  All three decks are well researched and the artist and authors have a grasp of the symbolism that goes into each card. I will make a linked list of decks I recommend towards the end.

So you have your deck and you have the guide book.  Set the book down, place it in another room where you will not be tempted to pick it up and flip through it.

The first card of most decks is The Fool (0). Pick out this card and study it.  Really study this card from top to bottom.  What are the colors used? Is the figure male or female? Do they have a companion animal? What is going on in this card?

Now either in a notebook or with an opened word style document on your computer describes the card.  Write as if you are doing one of those description papers we all had to write in grade school. Start from the top or bottom; describe actions, colors, motion, symbols, everything you see.  Below is an example from my person tarot journal for when I was learning the Thoth Deck.

            He holds fire in his left hand and a diamond/chalice in his right.  A dove and a winged staff follow rainbow colored spirals around his body, making a large loop from his head to his feet.

The description goes on much longer than that, but I hope this helps give you a general idea of what I am trying to tell you.

Once you have the card described, now examine what all of these symbols mean to you. Explore the various emotions that these bring up. Below your description write out what you think this entire card means drawing from what you have learned through life and spiritual study.

            The red tiger is the world and fear trying to drag him down…

That is a sample of what I envisioned the red tiger hanging on the leg of the Fool meant. I was pleasantly pleased to learn that this IS what it means to several authors as well.

Set aside your journaling and walk away.  You may get more inspiration and write this down to be added later.  Only pick up the book that came with your deck after a day has past from doing the first couple of exercises. You want all of the information you are currently processing to come from yourself and your intuition.

The next day pick up your journal and book and read what it has to say. Are there similarities? Are their differences?  Does this information add something to what you wrote down yesterday?  Write in your journal about all of these questions that have been brought up. If you disagree with something, why do you?

Once you have completed these steps you can move on to another card.  I would usually do this for three cards a day but never more than five.  By card five my brain would start to feel fuzzy and I could no longer focus.

Just because you have written all of this down does not mean eventually you will not be inspired by more. There are some cards I pick up and I will see something in them that I never noticed before, and this is after owning my deck for nearly ten years now. Tarot is a journey. The cards are a story in and of themselves, as well as combined with each other.

Enjoy the learning process and have fun learning about yourself at the same time.

Recommended Decks

Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris
Wizard's Tarot by Corrine Kenner and painted by John J. Blumen
Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and painted by Aly Fell
Gilded Tarot by Barbara Moore and painted by Marchetti Ciro
Radiant Rider-Waite