What do I need to know about beginning to study and use the tarot?
A very good question for a first reading!
I do agree that three-card readings are a good way to develop your "chops" and get familiar with the cards, but I don't think you need to dismiss the Celtic Cross either, even as a beginner. It will just take you longer to process a larger reading, that's all.
My gut response when I first read this post was, wow, that's a good reading, looks like she's got a good sense of this, here. I would suggest you keep working with this reading, studying the meanings of the cards and meditating on them -- and though I would first focus on grasping the primary, upright meaning, I would not totally disregard the reversals, just contemplate the upright meaning, absorb that, then consider the reversed meaning and how that might affect it. You are a novelist, after all, and used to handling complexity and nuance in a story, so I think that even though you're new to this form of discerning a "story," you have the tools within yourself to handle it, even as a "beginner."
Meanwhile, go on and do three-card readings, daily or weekly or whatever works for you, for the above-mentioned practice and chop-developing. A daily "card of the day" draw is also a good practice for a beginner, and a good way to study the cards. And if you keep drawing the same card, despite mighty shuffling... well, yes, that is significant. ;-)
BTW, you also were incredibly helpful in the interpretation of that reading I did for myself that night at the coffeehouse! Been meaning to tell you, but hadn't yet gotten around to discussing it. The most useful insight was the emphasis on confidence and overcoming any feelings of insecurity about myself as a writer; and having read your comments on your own reading, I guess you were speaking from experience. Confidence is 90% of the battle for us all, it appears.
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Date: 2007-06-11 02:08 am (UTC)A very good question for a first reading!
I do agree that three-card readings are a good way to develop your "chops" and get familiar with the cards, but I don't think you need to dismiss the Celtic Cross either, even as a beginner. It will just take you longer to process a larger reading, that's all.
My gut response when I first read this post was, wow, that's a good reading, looks like she's got a good sense of this, here. I would suggest you keep working with this reading, studying the meanings of the cards and meditating on them -- and though I would first focus on grasping the primary, upright meaning, I would not totally disregard the reversals, just contemplate the upright meaning, absorb that, then consider the reversed meaning and how that might affect it. You are a novelist, after all, and used to handling complexity and nuance in a story, so I think that even though you're new to this form of discerning a "story," you have the tools within yourself to handle it, even as a "beginner."
Meanwhile, go on and do three-card readings, daily or weekly or whatever works for you, for the above-mentioned practice and chop-developing. A daily "card of the day" draw is also a good practice for a beginner, and a good way to study the cards. And if you keep drawing the same card, despite mighty shuffling... well, yes, that is significant. ;-)
BTW, you also were incredibly helpful in the interpretation of that reading I did for myself that night at the coffeehouse! Been meaning to tell you, but hadn't yet gotten around to discussing it. The most useful insight was the emphasis on confidence and overcoming any feelings of insecurity about myself as a writer; and having read your comments on your own reading, I guess you were speaking from experience. Confidence is 90% of the battle for us all, it appears.