Tarot for the 21st Century!
How reading cards is like playing a round of golf.
I have never played golf, but I've seen it on tv and have a general idea of what is involved.
Let's say the golf ball is 145 yards from the hole, and you know you can reach the green with one shot. The club you choose and how you swing it will depend on many small decisions - the ball may be lying on short grass or long; or on pine needles beneath a tree; or in a sand trap; there may be a strong cross-wind or no wind at all; humidity may be a factor to consider.
Someone asks: Will I marry?, and you turn the 6 of Coins. The card is a bit like the golf ball mentioned in the previous paragraph - you know what it is and generally what to do with it. Yes, you've seen the card before, but if we consider that each moment is unique, then you probably haven't played that card before for that questioner at that part of the reading, preceded by other particular cards.
So. Can you interpret the card, using your knowledge, as if you had never seen it before, yet you still know what to do?
The golfer never played that ball from that exact spot in the same weather conditions, yet can still play a great shot.
Can you take the symbolism of the card and interpret it in connection with, not just the question asked, but as well as the point you are at in the reading? It could be the first card, so you need to give some background information or emphasize certain parts of the picture. It could be part-way through the reading, so you don't need to say as much because you have already given a basis for understanding with earlier cards.
If you were to look at a card and resist the temptation to assume you already know what it "means" - from something you memorized in a book, or from past experience - what new insights would you have? A lot of them, I suspect. You will probably be closer to giving a personalized answer that makes more sense to the questioner - and have a new confidence in your ability to read cards.
http://www.thetarot.ca. For More.
Let's say the golf ball is 145 yards from the hole, and you know you can reach the green with one shot. The club you choose and how you swing it will depend on many small decisions - the ball may be lying on short grass or long; or on pine needles beneath a tree; or in a sand trap; there may be a strong cross-wind or no wind at all; humidity may be a factor to consider.
Someone asks: Will I marry?, and you turn the 6 of Coins. The card is a bit like the golf ball mentioned in the previous paragraph - you know what it is and generally what to do with it. Yes, you've seen the card before, but if we consider that each moment is unique, then you probably haven't played that card before for that questioner at that part of the reading, preceded by other particular cards.
So. Can you interpret the card, using your knowledge, as if you had never seen it before, yet you still know what to do?
The golfer never played that ball from that exact spot in the same weather conditions, yet can still play a great shot.
Can you take the symbolism of the card and interpret it in connection with, not just the question asked, but as well as the point you are at in the reading? It could be the first card, so you need to give some background information or emphasize certain parts of the picture. It could be part-way through the reading, so you don't need to say as much because you have already given a basis for understanding with earlier cards.
If you were to look at a card and resist the temptation to assume you already know what it "means" - from something you memorized in a book, or from past experience - what new insights would you have? A lot of them, I suspect. You will probably be closer to giving a personalized answer that makes more sense to the questioner - and have a new confidence in your ability to read cards.
http://www.thetarot.ca. For More.
Comment
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Comment by John Ballantrae on April 19, 2010 at 5:44pm -
Dear Anastasia:
Thanks for your kind words - and you have the greatest name of all time, by the way.
It certainly makes the reader less of the "all-knowing expert with all the answers" when you ask what the questioner's take on a card would be, and I think that's a good thing.
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Comment by Anastasia Haysler on April 18, 2010 at 6:10pm -
John - Terrific post! One of the things that keeps the card meanings fresh for me is that they usually have different cards surrounding them, which of course varies the interpretation (Although I did have one event where the same two cards kept coming up in three card readings, often in the same positions - that was interesting, to say the least.) And this is where involving the client really helps. Often the client asks, "What does that mean?' I reply, "Well, I know what it means to me - what does it mean to you?" More often than not. the client sees something that has never occurred to me, and which I wouldn't have learned if I hadn't asked them.
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