Form the Most Productive Question

First you need a reasonable question. For example, this is not such a good question: \”Will I get a raise tomorrow at the meeting with my boss?\” However, asking the following questions, for the same situation, will get you much further in enlisting the help of your subconscious: \”What are my advantages? Shortcomings? What should I focus on? What are the obstacles?\”

Determine a Spread from the Question

Then, we open the cards in a spread. The Internet is full of different spreads, but each tries to point to different aspects of the situation you are interpreting. It\’s perfectly ok to ask specific questions and open one card for each. For example, one card tells you the pros and another the cons of the situation. Or two cards tell you the positive and negative sides of a decision you are considering. Or when you are considering two options, you can ask what you gain and what you lose for each. At the beginning, the easiest spread to learn is to open three cards for the past, the present and the future of a situation. And of course, nobody said you can\’t combine all of the above.

Read a Spread Like a Story

Then you come to making a story out of the position of each card in a spread and meanings of individual cards. After you open the cards, let your imagination loose. It\’s much more important what intuitively comes to your mind than the \”exact\” meaning of a card (because such doesn\’t exist).

Look at individual cards. Major Arcana cards point to big lessons in life. They represent something both important and lasting, and the need for maturing through a challenge. The whole reading needs to be considered in the light of the lesson a Major Arcana card is teaching.

On the other hand, Minor Arcana cards fill in the mundane details: They tell you about some specific everyday worries, events and emotions. Court cards can either point to other people influencing you or to aspects of yourself that you need either more of or less of in particular situation.

Cards Can Have Negative Connotations
Don\’t forget that each card can have both positive and negative \”meanings\”. A simple rule is this: If we either open the card and it\’s reversed, or we place it in a \”negative\” position in a spread (for example in position that answers the questions \”What are my shortcomings?\”) then you should focus of negative connotations of that card.

When You Get Stuck

When you are in trouble, it might help to pay Attention to \”Alternate\” meanings of tarot suits. Sometimes you simply forget there is another perspective. Just keep in mind the four suits are symbols with many possible meanings, as just about anything else in Tarot. When you find yourself in a problem, don\’t recall their basic meanings. Focus on what they represent instead, and let your intuition guide you.

Cups represent the Water element, which is a life source, the symbol of natural cycles, and rarely acts directly ― its actions are indirect but very powerful, and water always finds its way, like emotions.

Wands are made of wood, which easily turns to raging fire ― a powerful force but hard to control.

Swords have two sides of the blades and represent the mind (traditionally associated with the Air element), which solves complex problems but can also be source of conflict and destruction and is to be used carefully.

Pentacles (or Coins) represent the Earth element and symbolize material matters, not simply money, and also physical manifestations of stability, caution and effort. Now it\’s easy to make further connections; for example, Pentacles in particular situation can draw your attention to generosity or a lack of it, or to the need for good, old-fashioned effort, or even to being overly cautious or being involved with too much planning and too little action.

Author Bio: Ian Eshey runs the website with advice on learning Tarot. He is also the author of short e-book \”Six Short Stories to Learn Tarot in a Day\”. Read more of his stuff at: www.HowToLearnTarot.com

Category: Arts and Crafts
Keywords: cards, psychics, tarot, deck, reader, card, arcana