Tarot Journaling

Nailing The Cards

Image courtesy Google Images

The symbols of the tarot, had a “universal” meaning and meant that the everyday people - who - on the whole could not read or write - understood the messages. In this way, knowledge could be disseminated to a wider audience, but it could also be veiled in secrecy under the guise of a card game.

For the people who sought “Gnosis” (knowledge of spiritual mysteries), the cards offered an even better system to keep the practice of pagan and occult mysteries alive without drawing the suspicion or ire of the Church.

There are five things that you need in order to become proficient at reading tarot cards:

1. The will to learn

2. To develop intuition

3. To meditate

4. To be observant

5. To keep a tarot journal

These five things are your tools to become good at reading tarot cards.

The Will to Learn

You may have heard the phrase, “When the student is ready, the Teacher will appear.” And in my case, I’ve had a few mentors who have organically shown up on my path. Two mentors that taught me how to connect with the spiritual path, in order to able to access my spirit guides/psychic connections and one mentor who showed me the beauty of reading cards. I have been reading cards for about 27 years, most of those years being self-taught however, I possessed the will to learn more - go deeper and to expand and improve my craft.

Most “ordinary” people believe that card reading is of “the devil’s work’ OR it’s all fake - just a scam. Not true. People fear what they do not understand. The beauty of card reading is that it not only allows you to interpret messages for others, but it also allows for the teaching of yourself. I have never given a card reading in which there was not a lesson in it for me.

That is why keeping a tarot jounal is important. It allows you to build your own symbolic dictionary. What a symbol means for you maybe wholly different from what it means for me.

You may not understand what the impression means or why you saw it, heard it, felt it, but it will become clear to you as you as you continue to practice.

These impressions will be your intuition and whatever you see, hear, feel, smell, taste – will be your intuition helping you to build a symbol dictionary.

Building your symbol dictionary is where reading cards will become more personal to you and should ensure you that you are connecting with your deck, so having the journal will be a vital reference for you as you move forward with reading cards, whether you choose to do this only for yourself, family and friends or whether you decide to become a professional reader.

The journal will be your most important source of information and as you learn more and you should write what you learn in your journal.

Develop Intuition

TWO IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT PSYCHIC ABILITIES

*Experiencing psychic phenomenon is in no way an indication of being psychic.  Just because you think you have a twin flame psychic connection or you have been seeing repeating numbers does NOT make you psychic.  These types of happenings are psychic phenomenon and that is a completely different subject.

**A note about hearing voices. Not all, but some people with severe mental problems here voices.  These voices are most likely a chemical imbalance in the brain and a psychiatrist should be consulted, particularly if the voices are threatening. People who suffer from or are diagnosed with certain kinds of conditions – such as schizophrenia – should ABSOLUTELY avoid psychic work entirely.

Meditation

I can see the eye-rolls and hear the groans. Meditation - you say? Yes, meditation! Don’t skip this part because this how you will learn how to trust your intuition. Each and every one of us were born with some innate sense of intuition. But what kind and type of intuition do you have? Dose the hair stand up on your arms, do you get a feeling of butterflies in your tummy or do you hear a voice speak loudly to you - when your environment holds danger - fight or flight?

If you can identify this, these are known as the Clair-Senses: Clairaudience (clear hearing), Clairvoyance (clear vision), Clariempathy (clear emotion), Claircognizance (clear knowing), Clairgustance (clear taste) and Clairaulience (clear smell) - these last two are rare.

Meditation helps to ground the body, relax and focus on the process. It does not require long hours of practice but it does require decdication and consitency. Here is a short exercise to help you get started:

An Exercise: How To Effectively Meditate and Focus Your Thoughts.

First, pick a day and time where you won’t be disturbed - turn off all cell phones, shush the kids - you will need peace and quiet. Find a place to lie down (couch or bed) but try to keep from falling asleep.

(Here’s a trick to keep yourself from falling asleep - place a small glass of water filled half-way up - and place it next to your leg - believe me that you won’t knock it over or spill it because your subconcious mind will remember it’s there thus preventing spills or accidentally knocking it over).

Next, take 8 deep breaths and focus on saying this sentence to yourself:

“I wish to effectively meditate and focus my thoughts”.

Try to do this for three minutes without any obtrusive thoughts entering -set a timer, if you need. TICK TOCK TIK TOCK….Time’s Up! Once the 3 minutes have elapsed ask youself were you able to focus without any obtrusive thoughts entering your mind? If yes, great! But most people cannot do this with out interruptions. Meditation can be difficult when first beginning. The brain is CONSTANTLY working - it processes input continously so don’t feel bad - as though you’ve failed - it’s normal for your brain not to cooperate at first, but if you practive the technique daily, with dedication, you should soon develop the ability to reach a rapid state of mind stillness. This will help you to trust your intuition.

Be Observant

If you’re new to tarot cards - you should be observant to the images and symbols and you do this by interacting with your deck.

Reading the cards is not just about looking at the symbols on the cards or knowing the interpretations of them. The interpretations are a jumping off point – they can prompt your intuition. The symbols themselves add another layer (so it’s good to do research on what they may represent).

You must first look at the entire spread and all the cards as a whole picture. How many Majors? How many minors? Are there court cards – if so – how many? The suits – is it more weighted with swords or cups? Which direction are figures facing or things going? What colors are predominant?

And all of this information must be taken in at one time.

More importantly than the above listed things – it will be your ability to research, study, meditate and learn all that you can. This is where keeping journals to help develop your own symbol dictionary. And you will need to practice.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

A few of my own personal practices and beliefs

I have a very high regard and reverence for the cards, and do not approach them in a haphazard fashion. If respected, treated properly and approached from a position of openness and humbleness, the Cards can indeed provide great insight, wisdom, sometimes a little humor and truth. It is best to purchase your deck ahead of time and find a black cloth in which to wrap your cards when not in use. I have used black socks to accomplish this, so the idea of using a piece of black silk is not really necessary. You will need to “imprint” with your deck. This is achieved by sleeping with the deck, wrapped in its black cloth, under your pillow and by carrying the deck with you everywhere you go. Carry it in your purse - make sure to just reach into your bag and touch the deck several times a day. Carry them EVERYWHERE on your person. You will only have to do this for approximately one week, but it is well worth it.

After a week, pick a suit -major or minor (wands/cups/swords/coins) and choose 3 cards from whichever suit. Take out these cards, hold them, look at them. You should notice that they will start to “speak to you”. This is where the tarot journal becomes absolutely vital - write down what you see, hear, feel, think.

Personal Story

When I purchased my first deck and opened it, it started to speak to me immediately…. many voices all whispering at once. It was rather overwhelming. By day 5, the deck quieted down and I was able to start my journal of notes. Please keep in mind that as you become more proficient in the language of the deck, those meanings that you start off with will slowly evolve and change, but you must first establish contact with the deck in the “language” it speaks.

Every deck has a language specific unto itself and no two decks speck the same language. For instance, the Waite Colman-Smith deck speaks quite plainly and openly, as do the La Vera Sibilla deck. However, the Lenormands, Kippers I find difficult to understand their languge. This statement is based on my own experience and it should not deter you from picking or utilizing these decks - if they “speak” to you. By all means try to learn their language. Once you have successfully established contact, you can then move on to learning how to prepare to engage with them on a more serious, deeper level.

Tarot Journal

I have spent many years (28) studying the tarot and I have kept a tarot journal. I am also member of BOTA (a secret society of Tarot) and where I learned to channel the messages of the cards. Good thing I did, too! Because after having my stroke, I sometimes forget some of the messages of the cards - so that book I am always pulling out - is my tarot journal and everything that I read from it came from channeling messages.

But the point is: you should start keeping a tarot journal because as time goes along, you will start to notice how the messages will develop differently over time or notice a particular pattern that repeats itself with certain cards. How certain symbols will become to mean particular things all the time or at different times. Having a symbol dictionary is vital because you can build on it. Being observant to the changing meanings and symbols aids and helps you.

You need not join a secret society to read cards - in fact, I don’t recommend it because the philosophical and occultive ideas may make you not want to learn. I will suggest instead, that if you wish to hone your craft, if you feel that the tarot can offer solace, widsom, peace of mind - even allow one to view life events with humor, empathy and grace, then you must practice what it takes to become really proficient in interpreting the cards.

Practice. Practice. Practice.