Trouble Learning

[Sandtiger]

I've been interested in the tarot since I was pretty young, and bought my first deck - the Dragon Deck - when I was 15. It was not a good deck to learn with, by any means, but I tried. When I was 18 I bought another deck because I thought it was very pretty, and another deck a few months later.

I've never liked the Rider-Waite deck, and could never feel comfortable with the images. The two decks I bought at 18 closely followed in the Rider-Waite's shadow, the cards different but similar enough that it was easier for me.

Still though ... I am now 32, and I still have yet to become familiar enough to not have to look up each interpretation when I do a spread. I can recall some things - like that coins represent finances, the cups, emotional things. But as for the individual cards - no.

I've tried handling my cards every day, and even downloading programs that should 'help'. Granted, I don't have a lot of time during the day to learn but ...

Does anyone have any advice on an easy way to learn, memorize, and understand them?

Thank you~

[eye_of_tiger]

Why laboriously look up and remember somebody else's interpretation of the meaning of each card, when your reading will be about what the card means personally to you? Since your unconscious mind through which this works has its own language which is largely unique to you and to your personality, what a card means to your unconscious may be entirely different to what it means to another reader's unconscious.

Spend no more than 30 consecutive minutes per day (in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed) progressively working through the entire pack. Look at the images on the face of your chosen card. How does it make you feel? What story does it have to tell you? Immediately write it down in a blank exercise book which is big enough to have one card per page. Then when you draw the card in the future you can add any other feelings or thoughts which you did not originally have to the correct page.

Keep that exercise book in a safe place and especially at first do not be embarrassed to have to consult it to jog your memory. By doing this you are compiling your own personal dictionary of card meanings. Help your mind to remember those using this method, and forget trying to remember somebody else's meanings. They are not written in the language of your unconscious mind, through which the intuitive impressions come during your reading.

BTW there is more than mere superstition to the idea that you should never allow anyone else to touch your cards. By progressively working through each card and compiling your meaning dictionary, you are infusing your cards with your own energy signature. If someone else touches your cards then their energies will contaminate your own.

Then you will need to clean or cleanse the cards energy wise, before using them again for the next reading. Use your internet search engine to look for the following article.

"How to Clear and Cleanse Your Tarot Cards" by Brigit

What is the the most common reason why a tarot deck would need to be cleansed?

Other people have touched your cards

Hoping that this helps,

EoT  :smt100