Cult of Tarot Forum

Hello,

This is my first visit to this forum and first post. I have been reading with Rider for about a year now, relying on Google for the meanings, but it takes too long. That’s why instead of using a physical deck I’ve been using free computer generated online readings, but it lacks the physical connection that I need to get my energy into the cards, so the advice given can sometimes be off. I am stuck, I want to keep reading the tarot but find that it takes me 45 minutes to decipher a 10 card spread, even a simple past, present future takes 5 minutes, interpreting the cards, Googling, it’s tiring. The advice is great, but even with my knowledge, which I can’t exactly pinpoint how much I know about Tarot, whether I am still a beginner or intermediate but figuring out context is hard, what the cards are trying to tell me. To complicate things further I find that I no longer connect with my deck anymore. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot with Thoth now. So what should I do? Should I buy a book of some type with the meanings or buy a Thoth deck? Or should I get another deck that’s easier to read, but sacrificing on imagery which is very important for me?

Why start with a ten card spread? The good old Celtic Cross is everywhere but it's by no means the best thing to do with the tarot when you're a beginner.

Start with ONE daily card. You can add a second card and watch how the cards interact with each other - with you - with a question or the atmosphere of the day.

Buy a deck you like. There is no reason to stick to a deck because it's "tradition" and everybody tells you so. I find the RWS monoculture exhausting - everybody who says "buy RWS because it's everwyhere" contributes to it. There are many fantastic decks that you can work with, decks that have their own systems.

I'm a visual person and I like a deck that inspires me visually. Have a look around here and on other tarot sites and just look for a deck that intrigues you. A deck you find inspiring. A deck whose cards tell you stories.

Start with that, it's the most important part, really. You will find great explanations of card meanings in books (we recommend favourites in the book section of the boards) and also online but the most important message is the one you receive when your eye falls on the card.

Imagine you would have to visit a museum and rely on the audio guide alone, without looking at the art works themselves. Would you be able to appreciate Manet or Giacometti or Louise Bourgeois?

In my personal opinion, tarot, like art, makes sense visually before it makes sense intellectually.

If you continue to work with the cards over time, you'll pick up a lot of knowledge about symbols, astrology etc. I always feel the best and most enjoyable way is to have tarot as a guide to these bodies of knowledge.

I hope I make sense here! I'm glad you found your way to this forum, and I hope you'll have fun here!

ETA: book recommendations: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=305

Nemia's right. You're definitely a beginner. Start small, get a book. What's worked for me and some other people is doing two things a day.

Draw a single card and have that be your "study" card for the day. Read about the meanings, etc.
Draw a different card for your daily "reading". You may have to study that card too, but the point isn't to come up with a firm interpretation of the card. Rather, spend the day thinking about what you see that the card could be applicable to. Where in life is that card's symbolic energy relevant.


IMO, stay far away from the computer when using tarot as a beginner. That doesn't mean not looking something up, but it means do your reading in "reading space" and don't mix that with the digital world.

That being said, given what you've said about how hard it is for you to learn the cards so far, I would personally avoid the Thoth for right now. It's a very special and complicated system and, imo, one should really have a basic grasp of tarot before attempting to incorporate all of that. Of course, there's no reason you can't just take the deck and read it like a "normal" tarot, but if you want to read the Thoth system, I recommend waiting a couple of years.

emperor5455 wrote: ↑01 Nov 2020, 15:40 it takes me 45 minutes to decipher a 10 card spread, even a simple past, present future takes 5 minutes

seems perfectly reasonable to me........this is reality, not Hollywood or HBO.

computer generated readings?......pre-programmed algorithms designed to provide any number of pre-determined responses
based upon the type of question the program will recognize through key words and other criteria.

Nemia and Chas.Brown make extremely erudite observations...as always...however, I would add that it would be very helpful to get a good historical perspective on tarot.....the Mantegna and the Septenary structure of the tarot.....the Visconti decks, etc.

BTW....there's no such thing as an "easier" deck.....tarot is anything but "easy".......regardless of which deck you read with.

the Thoth......yes, you could attempt to read the Thoth cards as you would with an RWS deck....but IMHO.....good luck with that.....if you're going down that route, you'll have much better success with a standard Marseille style deck.

Hi emperor5455

I definitely think buying a paper deck even if you like working with computer generated readings is a really good way to do it.

The Thoth deck is one of the hardest to master for a lot of reasons and I agree with what others have said above. If the art itself is what draws you in though in ways nothing else does? You don't have give up on it. But get a copy for yourself and just spend time looking through it all and figuring out what it is about it that makes it "your deck" is a good idea. There's some gorgeous decks in all kinds of artistic styles these days and its pretty easy to order one online now in most countries.

Whatever deck you pick? Keeping a journal of your thoughts and readings is probably the best thing you can do. Its okay to come up with your own personalized meanings for the cards, its even encouraged. But you want to have a way of keeping track of what you think of so you can refer back and build on it from there.

Stepping back and doing smaller spreads is a really good idea. There are also many great tarot YouTubers who do videos in the 3-10 minute range. Some people like me learn better via audio and pictures than text. When I can not only listen and read closed-caption but take notes at the same time, I'm way more likely to retain information or keep track of my own thoughts/ideas as they spring up.

Plus this is a wonderful place to ask specific questions.

TheLoracular wrote: ↑02 Nov 2020, 15:10 Hi emperor5455

I definitely think buying a paper deck even if you like working with computer generated readings is a really good way to do it.

The Thoth deck is one of the hardest to master for a lot of reasons and I agree with what others have said above. If the art itself is what draws you in though in ways nothing else does? You don't have give up on it. But get a copy for yourself and just spend time looking through it all and figuring out what it is about it that makes it "your deck" is a good idea. There's some gorgeous decks in all kinds of artistic styles these days and its pretty easy to order one online now in most countries.

Whatever deck you pick? Keeping a journal of your thoughts and readings is probably the best thing you can do. Its okay to come up with your own personalized meanings for the cards, its even encouraged. But you want to have a way of keeping track of what you think of so you can refer back and build on it from there.

Stepping back and doing smaller spreads is a really good idea. There are also many great tarot YouTubers who do videos in the 3-10 minute range. Some people like me learn better via audio and pictures than text. When I can not only listen and read closed-caption but take notes at the same time, I'm way more likely to retain information or keep track of my own thoughts/ideas as they spring up.

Plus this is a wonderful place to ask specific questions.

I have two decks of the traditional Rider Waite Smith, one cheap copy from china in standard size, and one genuine small sized cards. The colours are a bit off on the copy but it does the job. As someone said, who I agree with the amount of time it takes me is reasonable, I’m not a beginner by any means. What I was looking for was a more efficient way to decipher the cards. I know what the meanings of every card are, but what I’m saying is I’m trying to look into the deeper meaning, not just for example Death can mean transformation, a change, no, beyond what’s on the surface. Thoth seems easier in that regard as there’s a lot of symbolism.

But tarot cards aside runes attract me more. I did some free online readings with tarot that’s what I meant by computer generated, as well as with runes. There’s a website on the Internet called eyeofthepsychic where I’ve done some yes/no, 3 rune and 10 rune readings. I find that runes are much more to the point, getting to the truth of the matter immediately. They have a completely different vibe to them. Tarot and runes can predict in a way the future but they can’t tell it, but I’m looking for divination method that emphasises accuracy of information. Tarot is wishy–washy, it might be true, it might not be, maybe it’s incorrect entirely, maybe it’s completely right, but that depends on the subjective interpretation, it might be true from a certain point of view, or late provided information after which a bad event has already happened.

Some of the tarot designs are really cool, I like the occult style like the Hermetic tarot. RWS is inspired by Golden Dawn symbolism, but aside from insiders (are they still alive?) does anyone really understand the Golden Dawn symbolism, I hear that the cards can be used for magick? How would you do magick with RWS tarot cards?

emperor5455 wrote: ↑03 Nov 2020, 18:19

But tarot cards aside runes attract me more. I did some free online readings with tarot that’s what I meant by computer generated, as well as with runes. There’s a website on the Internet called eyeofthepsychic where I’ve done some yes/no, 3 rune and 10 rune readings. I find that runes are much more to the point, getting to the truth of the matter immediately. They have a completely different vibe to them. Tarot and runes can predict in a way the future but they can’t tell it, but I’m looking for divination method that emphasises accuracy of information. Tarot is wishy–washy, it might be true, it might not be, maybe it’s incorrect entirely, maybe it’s completely right, but that depends on the subjective interpretation, it might be true from a certain point of view, or late provided information after which a bad event has already happened.

Some of the tarot designs are really cool, I like the occult style like the Hermetic tarot. RWS is inspired by Golden Dawn symbolism, but aside from insiders (are they still alive?) does anyone really understand the Golden Dawn symbolism, I hear that the cards can be used for magick? How would you do magick with RWS tarot cards?

Have you ever seen the Haindl deck? It is one of those I plan to teach a class on eventually and it assigns runes to certain cards and presents them in the picture. The Haindl is as deep as the Thoth deck but does not have an entire school of magick/mysticism to explore the way Thoth has Thelema/A.A. To get deep into the symbiology of the Thoth deck, you need to delve into Crowley's writings and people writing about Crowley's writings There are however YouTube videos about all that too.

Divination, with both runes and cards is just one aspect of what they are all about. Magick, real magick (not fictional) is the art and science using tools, rituals, beliefs, and passion/desires to bring about transformative change. The "How do you do it with tarot cards" is as vast and personalized. But one of the things I tell people over and over is that there's a lot of overlap between hermetic magick and modern psychology.

Classis esoteric decks (Waites, Crowleys, Hermetic Tarot, etc.,) were designed with divination as a low priority and delving into one's own psyche and becoming a practicing magician as the focus according to everything I've read on the topic and why they are categorized differently than the pre-Golden Dawn era deck and also modern art/divination decks.

The Golden Dawn was not the first western occult order of practicing magicians, but they had a lot of "celebrities" and they were basically operating in a circle of social influencers in their era. Their popularity before and after had a lot to do with that. They were sort of part of the "Hollywood" of their time.