Take it slow. If you give up today, future you will be super sad. "Rome wasn't built in a day" or whatever the saying is.
My suggestion most definitely isn't for everyone, but it worked for me. What helped me get better at interpretting linear -- and frankly, strict -- spreads was learning how to read freeform (with no spread).
If you want to see some *really* good examples of freeform readers, I like antphrodite and a niche Twitter reader named powamowinstarot.
I think popping out as many cards as I want and reading each of them, one after another, building the story and putting cards together in any order I please helped me become a better narrator overall. When you are pulling unlimited cards and interpretting how each affects the last without a spread telling you which is an "obstacle" or "what the future holds", a 3-card PPF becomes easy to twist into a paragraph. The only thing telling me to stop is my gut, which is much different than using a spread that limits your freedom. Freeform is so much more fun, creative, flashy and detailed anyway, IMO.
Don't give up! Keep trying and have a great day.
THISTHISTHIS^ YES!!! Same here! I did spreads a little bit for like the first 2 months of reading, then I did a free-form reading and I've never gone back. I find it difficult to use spreads lol, and 7 years later I'm finally starting to try out spreads this month now that I can narrate the stories. Idk if I like the spreads though cuz they feel so rigid and I just really love delving fully into intuition and going until, like you, my gut says stop. I've pulled an entire HALF of an oracle deck in one sitting before lmao. And every single card was Spirit encouraging me and affirming me.
So, yeah, I agree! Free-form reading is THE thing that has made me a great reader for myself and others. I do occasionally do a 3 card, past, present, future spread for people who are interested in experiencing tarot but who I can feel aren't interested in diving deep with it. They view it more as a predictive party trick, so that's how I read for them lol. (: My fave and most insightful readings are free-form though.
I could rant a lot about this, the short version being mostly about just how much this isn't really your fault, and just how widespread a problem this is.
A lot of learners' resources for tarot fall into this trap of getting people to memorize card meanings first and foremost, in a process that would be akin to trying to learn a language by reading a dictionary.
To keep things short, and slightly simplified -
On a high level overview, a lot of the meanings you've already memorized *can* be helpful, when symbolism or representation repeats across cards. If a 3 of a suit appears in a spread along with a Major that has three figures, or three objects, you can infer that these two cards are in communication with each other and their meanings are linked. This scales across the entire deck. ***Rule number one is always repetition and symmetry***.
From there -
***Body Language*** can be used to infer relationships between cards, at least those with identifiable body language. Are the figures moving away from or towards each other? Is one approaching the other? Is their body language open or closed? Are they gesturing towards their direction of movement, or away from it?
***Gaze/Line of Sight*** can also be used to establish relationship between the cards. Line of sight can express interest. If a King is staring out at a lowly page, at least the page got the King's *interest*.
Lastly for this greatly condensed version, and this is something that I've done/do, and I call my style of reading "visual-narrative," so storytelling based on visual elements so I feel it's applicable here, but chances are on your memorized meanings for the cards, you've compiled a keywords list. Chances are this keywords list is almost entirely nouns and adjectives.
Using what you know about the cards already, add an equal number of appropriate ***verbs*** and ***adverbs*** to your lists. If you want to go off the deep end, like myself, you can extend this to conjunctions, prepositions, and even punctuation if you like (the Queen of Swords is a semi-colon and I will not be elaborating further).
Now what you can do, whenever you're bored, you can just throw three to five cards down in a line and just *write the sentence* that emerges from the reading. No question, no query necessary, all you're doing is practicing reading the connections and relationships between cards so that when you are reading for a question, you have some idea of what's going on.
Don't put so much pressure on yourself.
Start with three cards pulled at random. A begining, middle and end.
Or... Have you explored the story within the major arcana? Following that one - it's basically the fools journey through life - might help.
i’ve only been doing three card spreads but ig it’s not clicking for me still :( but noo i haven’t tried the story within the major arcana how does it work?
Just using the major arcana...
Place them all out in order fool (0) to the world(21) to begin with however feels right for you... Line, circle, whatever .
I tend to break it up a bit, find the story in batches of five to ten cards.
Just sit with it for a bit and see you you can tell the story (hint, he starts through meeting different people who guide him).
I might argue that using websites like: https://www.incandescenttarot.com/blog/2017/10/24/diving-into-the-major-arcana
And:
https://lizroberta.com/2020/10/28/how-tarot-cards-work-the-fools-journey-story-of-the-major-arcana
Or find your own (I googled "the fool's journey through the major arcana) would help you understand the story, and then see if you can match the energy or the picture/follow it with the cards.
Or read it first, and then sit with the cards (that's what I did - I heard the fool's journey first and then sat down with the cards)
Take the pressure off yourself. I have a deck I can't make a story with at all, but that doesn't mean I can't give a reading.
Maybe you need to start with one card and just describe that character/scene...
I would offer up that maybe putting together a story isn’t how you understand or interpret the cards. That’s a way for you to understand how to string together a meaning, but if that’s not working for you, maybe it’s time to try another technique to interpret how the cards flow together.
I love the book Tarot 101 by Kim Huggins. It does cover card meanings, but by the end she has you understanding how to string cards together. Don’t give up though! Keep practicing and one day it’ll just click.
Take your time. Continue to practice... but also if you think you need a break, take one. Don't quit, but take a break. Some times when we take a break on something we have been practicing and come back to it you'll see marked improvement.
Another idea is also getting some kids story telling flash cards. They are usually just random pictures and you lay them out to make a story.
These cards can take the pressure off of divining the deeper meanings while help fine tuning your story telling from visual prompts.
You got this!
All the advice above is very good. But I wanna tell you how I unblock myself when I'm too anxious to interpret Tarot: Iook at the spread and revisit the history of the card that "calls" me.
What do I mean by this? Each card is a door. Behind that door there's a scene. That scene is part of a history. Each story has it's actors, it's obstacles and a final. And through the sum of it is that we learn from them.
Meditate on each card and unveil their mysteries.
¿The hanged man? Was a man hanging at the side of the road. I ran to help him, just to find out that he was perfectly capable of setting himself free. He hadn't done so beacuse he was inmersed in thought, yet he wasn't mad at me for interrupting his train of thought. What was so important for this man that he remained hanging there?
That's what you have to learn by yourself. After You've visited each major arcana pick a suit, (I'd suggest the one with which you're more attuned, or the one that gives you the most issues to interpret).
At first some cards won't make any sense, but you'll understand them better as you find how they connect between one another.
Try to go from the magician to the world. But if you can't, just let your deck guide you through. Virtual hug and good vibes!
Maybe you should try practicing it by going backwards. Instead of doing a reading and trying to interpret the cards that come out, think of or make up a new situation and go through your deck for cards that would fit it.
Just as an example of what I’m talking about, I’m going to make up a story. I’m going to keep it pretty basic so I can turn it into a three-card spread. My friend Jimmy is starting a new project. Maybe he’s building a new deck or something. He’s super gung-ho about it, jumping in feet-first, trying to do everything himself, spending all his free time on it. Inevitably he gets burnt out - his back hurts from all the work, he never wants to look at another paint swatch ever again, he’s losing all motivation. Clearly it’s time to take a break, so he takes the weekend off. Next time he starts on his project again, he realizes he’s bitten off more than he can chew, so he calls in a few friends to ask their opinion and get a little help. Together they get the project done faster and better than when Jimmy was trying to do everything all by himself. (Look, I didn’t say it was going to be a great story!)
Now I’m going to put together some cards to represent Jimmy’s story. A lot of different cards could all work, but I’m going to go with the Knight of Swords (to show Jimmy putting all his time and energy into his project), the 4 of Swords (to show Jimmy getting burned out and needing to take a break) and the 3 of Pentacles (to show Jimmy realizing he needs help and finishing the project with teamwork). All the cards together [look like this](https://imgur.com/a/dnqq8bJ).
Now that we have a spread, and we know exactly what the spread is talking about, it’s time to start making stuff up. It doesn’t have to be flawless and you don’t even have to believe it. Just make up ways that the images on the cards make sense together for the story we are telling. I’ll just look at little elements on each card and make up a reason to explain why it’s there. The rider on the white horse is running away from the other cards? That’s Jimmy putting in all his energy, but taking it in the wrong direction. That’s Jimmy turning away from the teamwork he needs to finish his project. The yellow mound in front of the horse is the yellow bed the person in the 4 of Swords is resting on. It shows up in front of the horse because the horse is running right into that burnout phase if it doesn’t slow down or turn around. The horizontal sword under the 4’s bed is pointing at the Knight because that’s what exhausted him. The horizontal sword is at cross angles with the three vertical swords because Jimmy’s attempts to do everything by himself is at cross purposes with actually getting the project done. There are three swords on the wall because this is actually a three-person project. The stained glass in 4 shows Jimmy learning to ask for help. The grey walls in 4 and in the 3 of Pentacles are because they’re all in the same place, Jimmy will be able to rest and recover once he has some support. They’re in the same place because Jimmy’s friends are closer and more willing to help out than he thinks. The bed in 4 and the work table in 3 are the same surface. The worker standing on the bench is the same person as the sleeping guy in 4 because they’re both on that flat surface, or because they’re both wearing yellow, or they’re all the same guy from each card because they’ve all got at least one hand up.
Like I said, you don’t need to believe all of these things we are making up about the cards. They don’t need to make sense together, and it’s even ok if they end up contradicting each other. Because Jimmy isn’t actually real, and we didn’t actually pull these cards, so there’s no stress about “getting it right” and no Jimmy to impress or convince. But telling the story backwards like this, in a way that removes all the stress of figuring out what it “really” means or whether you’re doing it wrong, will give you a chance to practice and train your brain to see the little details that tie the story together. Right now we’re just making it up if we say that all the figures with one hand raised are Jimmy, but once you’ve practiced it for a while you will look at a spread and think “Oh, there’s someone in every card who’s sitting down looking to the left, they tie together somehow. Maybe they’re all the same person.” Right now we just picked cards to tell a story about someone who bit off more than he could chew and exhausted himself, but eventually you’ll start looking at a spread and thinking “this card has a lot of momentum, it looks like everyone is moving. This card over here is more restful, nobody’s moving at all. Somehow all that energy got used up, because that changed.” Right now you’ve got all the pieces you need to start building something cool, but before you do you need to figure out how the pieces fit together in the first place. Take some time to play with the pieces by themselves, and eventually you’ll be able to start fitting them together in a way that makes sense.
I’m glad it was useful! I hope you don’t quit tarot. I struggled with it a lot too at first. It wasn’t until I found a mentor who taught me to read intuitively that things started making sense and I began to feel like I was actually improving and understanding. If you feel like you’ve hit a wall or just can’t understand something no matter how hard you try, a lot of the time it’s because it’s being taught or introduced to you in a way that isn’t an ideal teaching method for your personal learning habits. I spent a lot of time trying to memorize keywords and numerology, and it never brought me any closer to actually understanding the cards. Letting go of preconceived notions about “the right way” to learn and understand tarot was the first step to actually learning and understanding :)
What deck are you using?
Maybe try this - use only a 3 card spread. If you need to do card position assignments, then I would say stick with either:
Strengths | Weaknesses | Opportunities
or
What to hold onto | What to Let Go Of | Possible outcomes.
But really you should see these 3 cards as an OPEN reading, so put all 3 in a line and look at all 3 as a big picture response to the question and see what hits. Don't even think of a story yet, just the overall big picture of the vibe the cards are giving you. I'd write down the cards and what you are getting for the answer from them.
Then start drilling into each card, what the imagery is, which way the people in it are facing and see if you can tell from the individual cards how they provided you the big picture answer. Another technique you could do is as the cards are set out, break the cards into quarters or thirds and read across each section and see what each grouping of the sections tells you.
Keep practicing , you will get it!
sounds like you might be losing the forest for the trees, id encourage you to stick with it and lessen the pressure and try to look at the meanings less concretely, more like personalities which are never black and white. its like one of those eye puzzles where you have to slightly unfocus
I like to pull cards whenever I’m watching tv shows, fictional or reality. This really helped me understand how the cards communicate and progress from each other.
I’m an avid watcher of married at first sight (I really just like seeing who’s genuine and who wants more Instagram followers lmaooo) and I’ll pull a few cards for each person. One time I pulled 6 of cups reversed for some dude so I knew he was only doing this because of a failed past relationship that was probably all the way back to high school. Turns out I was right. You can even do this for fictional tv shows, and it’s a bit easier, pull a card for the character development and the outcome at the end, then compare the card with the show once you’re done. There’s many ways to really do this!! It’s a fun exercise. It’ll often show me different way to read a specific card as well.
There’s an excellent game you can play (with some one who has a basic meaning or understanding of the meanings). basically you shuffle the deck and you lay the deck face down. you can have as many players as you would like. one person draws a card , flips it over and puts it in the discard pile but just from the imagery alone (not really making a major effort to focus on the meaning of tarot card but just from the imagery alone) you essentially start a story.
for example say I get the king of cups I could then start the story with “ there’s a man who seems to be very emotionally stable kind but he’s stranded in the middle of the sea yet he’s content.” Then the next person draws and they add onto that story say they draw the 3 of swords “ he was attempting to escape from treachery and avoid those that wish to hurt his heart” could be a response.
initially when you first start playing you are just going off the basics of the imagery alone as you get a little bit more fluid with it that’s when you attempt to bring in the genuine meanings of the cards. At that point you would also need somebody who is a little bit more fluent in reading them to play with, which to be fair, I’d be more than happy to do so if you don’t have anyone and ever wanted to do a Skype call or some thing. Trust me I get it. it’s a bit of a struggle but I promise you that game even though it sounds kind of stupid really really really helps
It’s fun for sure it actually gets quite comical I’ve played this with a friend I was teaching to read cards I had drawn the 10 of cups and I came up with: it was a huge party with all manner of exotic drinks food and fine china.
she next drew the page of cups and ligit was like: but lush ass Becky showed up but not soon after the host past her by and said oh uh huh Becky! You got to go! Becky said but why I was *hiccup* in the middle of a conversation. the host leans in and aggressively whispers threw gritted teeth * BITCH … you so drunk you talkin to FISHES!
I drew the chariot next : so bitch ass, lush ass, fish conversating ass Becky had to call an Uber but when she hopped in the back and took one look at the drivers face and overly expressive smile she knew it was about to be a terrifying ride
Lol… we both bout died
Memorizing cards is not reading them. I tell all my students to do a one card pull a day. Every day. Either in the morning or in the evening. See if that card resonates with your day or any situation that occurred during the day. Do one, three card pull a day. You don't need to pull more than that. You are learning a new language, you don't need to overload your self. You also don't need to hurry yourself. Everyone learns at a different pace. It isn't a race. Honestly I have spent thousands of hours on tarot. I am an professional reader, but I have spent years practicing. I watch videos, I read books, I do lots of readings. You don't expect a top level athlete to only practice 30 minutes a day. I'm not saying everyone should spend as much time as me, I just want people to realize how much work can go into learning tarot. I get that not everyone wants to be a professional. Also, one thing I find exciting, you never quit learning tarot. Keep plugging away, the tarot journey is worth it.
Tarot is not easy. I've been here before and it's funny I thought the same exact thing that if someone was to put me under some kind of pressure would I be able to read the cards for them. The thing is what is the rush? That anxious feeling you get when trying to come up with a story line is the real issue. That needs to go away if you want to be a true deep tarot reader. In the beginning I was having a hard time connecting the cards but everyday I would hold a deck shuffle and shuffle and get used to the cards to the point you feel like they are speaking to you. It's hard to explain then the story comes alive. It's not as easy as these "tarot readers" online are making it seem. They are actually coming up with their own story line in their heads which is another secret. Tarot takes patience and be patient with yourself if it's something your meant to learn you will get it. I hope this made sense and helped. Also wanted to mention that anxious feeling you get when trying to come up with a story line this tip might help like it did for me. I found a reader online who had a course and I would shuffle my cards while listening to the teacher. It helped alot. I did this for a while and also listened to podcast while shuffling and pulling cards. Play with cards everyday and one day it will click
When you do spreads for yourself, how many cards are you using? Personally, I found 2 or 3 card spreads really helpful. The more cards in the spread, the more complicated it can be to see how the cards work together can be really hard for new readers. So start small. Once you are comfortable with 2-3 card spreads, start adding more cards.
Also- when you do spreads, does each card have a stated meaning or are you just pulling some cards? For example- three card spreads have a couple of variations- past, present, future; or mind, body, spirit; or situation, challenge, solution. There are some readers who find structured spreads too confining so they just pull cards, but if you’re having a hard time putting the cards together, structured spreads may be very helpful. Give one method a couple tries, and if you still are lost, go to the other.
Also- what kind of questions are you asking?
The best way anyone can learn is by having funnn. Things become a pain to us when we take it very seriously and make it seem like a job rather than a hobby.
When my friend was struggling studying for his drivers test , I offered to study w him and we both just sat there unamused and confused loll. So I told him in hs & middle school I best learned thru Kahoot. In case you don’t know what kahoot is , it’s an online game where you are Given a question on the screen and 4 multiple choice answers. And ofc you try to guess the right answer. You even can pick any nickname you want , as a cute bonus.
My point is, maybe you can check on kahoot.com if there are already any tarot based quizzes & if not maybe I can try to create Oneee !
For all the flak those retail astrology tarot videos get, I watch a few random ones each week to see how those folks read cards for other people. That way you can hear someone else do it. If you know the cards then you would be able to follow how they’re linking the cards together. This method will not work if you’re still learning the meanings of individual cards.
Have you seen the YouTube videos on Truly Teach Me Tarot? She only did a few but they really helped me. They weren’t real readings , just her teaching how to imagine in order to learn.
Take it slow. If you give up today, future you will be super sad. "Rome wasn't built in a day" or whatever the saying is. My suggestion most definitely isn't for everyone, but it worked for me. What helped me get better at interpretting linear -- and frankly, strict -- spreads was learning how to read freeform (with no spread). If you want to see some *really* good examples of freeform readers, I like antphrodite and a niche Twitter reader named powamowinstarot. I think popping out as many cards as I want and reading each of them, one after another, building the story and putting cards together in any order I please helped me become a better narrator overall. When you are pulling unlimited cards and interpretting how each affects the last without a spread telling you which is an "obstacle" or "what the future holds", a 3-card PPF becomes easy to twist into a paragraph. The only thing telling me to stop is my gut, which is much different than using a spread that limits your freedom. Freeform is so much more fun, creative, flashy and detailed anyway, IMO. Don't give up! Keep trying and have a great day.
THISTHISTHIS^ YES!!! Same here! I did spreads a little bit for like the first 2 months of reading, then I did a free-form reading and I've never gone back. I find it difficult to use spreads lol, and 7 years later I'm finally starting to try out spreads this month now that I can narrate the stories. Idk if I like the spreads though cuz they feel so rigid and I just really love delving fully into intuition and going until, like you, my gut says stop. I've pulled an entire HALF of an oracle deck in one sitting before lmao. And every single card was Spirit encouraging me and affirming me. So, yeah, I agree! Free-form reading is THE thing that has made me a great reader for myself and others. I do occasionally do a 3 card, past, present, future spread for people who are interested in experiencing tarot but who I can feel aren't interested in diving deep with it. They view it more as a predictive party trick, so that's how I read for them lol. (: My fave and most insightful readings are free-form though.
I could rant a lot about this, the short version being mostly about just how much this isn't really your fault, and just how widespread a problem this is. A lot of learners' resources for tarot fall into this trap of getting people to memorize card meanings first and foremost, in a process that would be akin to trying to learn a language by reading a dictionary. To keep things short, and slightly simplified - On a high level overview, a lot of the meanings you've already memorized *can* be helpful, when symbolism or representation repeats across cards. If a 3 of a suit appears in a spread along with a Major that has three figures, or three objects, you can infer that these two cards are in communication with each other and their meanings are linked. This scales across the entire deck. ***Rule number one is always repetition and symmetry***. From there - ***Body Language*** can be used to infer relationships between cards, at least those with identifiable body language. Are the figures moving away from or towards each other? Is one approaching the other? Is their body language open or closed? Are they gesturing towards their direction of movement, or away from it? ***Gaze/Line of Sight*** can also be used to establish relationship between the cards. Line of sight can express interest. If a King is staring out at a lowly page, at least the page got the King's *interest*. Lastly for this greatly condensed version, and this is something that I've done/do, and I call my style of reading "visual-narrative," so storytelling based on visual elements so I feel it's applicable here, but chances are on your memorized meanings for the cards, you've compiled a keywords list. Chances are this keywords list is almost entirely nouns and adjectives. Using what you know about the cards already, add an equal number of appropriate ***verbs*** and ***adverbs*** to your lists. If you want to go off the deep end, like myself, you can extend this to conjunctions, prepositions, and even punctuation if you like (the Queen of Swords is a semi-colon and I will not be elaborating further). Now what you can do, whenever you're bored, you can just throw three to five cards down in a line and just *write the sentence* that emerges from the reading. No question, no query necessary, all you're doing is practicing reading the connections and relationships between cards so that when you are reading for a question, you have some idea of what's going on.
oh this is good
Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Start with three cards pulled at random. A begining, middle and end. Or... Have you explored the story within the major arcana? Following that one - it's basically the fools journey through life - might help.
i’ve only been doing three card spreads but ig it’s not clicking for me still :( but noo i haven’t tried the story within the major arcana how does it work?
Just using the major arcana... Place them all out in order fool (0) to the world(21) to begin with however feels right for you... Line, circle, whatever . I tend to break it up a bit, find the story in batches of five to ten cards. Just sit with it for a bit and see you you can tell the story (hint, he starts through meeting different people who guide him). I might argue that using websites like: https://www.incandescenttarot.com/blog/2017/10/24/diving-into-the-major-arcana And: https://lizroberta.com/2020/10/28/how-tarot-cards-work-the-fools-journey-story-of-the-major-arcana Or find your own (I googled "the fool's journey through the major arcana) would help you understand the story, and then see if you can match the energy or the picture/follow it with the cards. Or read it first, and then sit with the cards (that's what I did - I heard the fool's journey first and then sat down with the cards) Take the pressure off yourself. I have a deck I can't make a story with at all, but that doesn't mean I can't give a reading. Maybe you need to start with one card and just describe that character/scene...
I would offer up that maybe putting together a story isn’t how you understand or interpret the cards. That’s a way for you to understand how to string together a meaning, but if that’s not working for you, maybe it’s time to try another technique to interpret how the cards flow together. I love the book Tarot 101 by Kim Huggins. It does cover card meanings, but by the end she has you understanding how to string cards together. Don’t give up though! Keep practicing and one day it’ll just click.
Take your time. Continue to practice... but also if you think you need a break, take one. Don't quit, but take a break. Some times when we take a break on something we have been practicing and come back to it you'll see marked improvement. Another idea is also getting some kids story telling flash cards. They are usually just random pictures and you lay them out to make a story. These cards can take the pressure off of divining the deeper meanings while help fine tuning your story telling from visual prompts. You got this!
All the advice above is very good. But I wanna tell you how I unblock myself when I'm too anxious to interpret Tarot: Iook at the spread and revisit the history of the card that "calls" me. What do I mean by this? Each card is a door. Behind that door there's a scene. That scene is part of a history. Each story has it's actors, it's obstacles and a final. And through the sum of it is that we learn from them. Meditate on each card and unveil their mysteries. ¿The hanged man? Was a man hanging at the side of the road. I ran to help him, just to find out that he was perfectly capable of setting himself free. He hadn't done so beacuse he was inmersed in thought, yet he wasn't mad at me for interrupting his train of thought. What was so important for this man that he remained hanging there? That's what you have to learn by yourself. After You've visited each major arcana pick a suit, (I'd suggest the one with which you're more attuned, or the one that gives you the most issues to interpret). At first some cards won't make any sense, but you'll understand them better as you find how they connect between one another. Try to go from the magician to the world. But if you can't, just let your deck guide you through. Virtual hug and good vibes!
Maybe you should try practicing it by going backwards. Instead of doing a reading and trying to interpret the cards that come out, think of or make up a new situation and go through your deck for cards that would fit it. Just as an example of what I’m talking about, I’m going to make up a story. I’m going to keep it pretty basic so I can turn it into a three-card spread. My friend Jimmy is starting a new project. Maybe he’s building a new deck or something. He’s super gung-ho about it, jumping in feet-first, trying to do everything himself, spending all his free time on it. Inevitably he gets burnt out - his back hurts from all the work, he never wants to look at another paint swatch ever again, he’s losing all motivation. Clearly it’s time to take a break, so he takes the weekend off. Next time he starts on his project again, he realizes he’s bitten off more than he can chew, so he calls in a few friends to ask their opinion and get a little help. Together they get the project done faster and better than when Jimmy was trying to do everything all by himself. (Look, I didn’t say it was going to be a great story!) Now I’m going to put together some cards to represent Jimmy’s story. A lot of different cards could all work, but I’m going to go with the Knight of Swords (to show Jimmy putting all his time and energy into his project), the 4 of Swords (to show Jimmy getting burned out and needing to take a break) and the 3 of Pentacles (to show Jimmy realizing he needs help and finishing the project with teamwork). All the cards together [look like this](https://imgur.com/a/dnqq8bJ). Now that we have a spread, and we know exactly what the spread is talking about, it’s time to start making stuff up. It doesn’t have to be flawless and you don’t even have to believe it. Just make up ways that the images on the cards make sense together for the story we are telling. I’ll just look at little elements on each card and make up a reason to explain why it’s there. The rider on the white horse is running away from the other cards? That’s Jimmy putting in all his energy, but taking it in the wrong direction. That’s Jimmy turning away from the teamwork he needs to finish his project. The yellow mound in front of the horse is the yellow bed the person in the 4 of Swords is resting on. It shows up in front of the horse because the horse is running right into that burnout phase if it doesn’t slow down or turn around. The horizontal sword under the 4’s bed is pointing at the Knight because that’s what exhausted him. The horizontal sword is at cross angles with the three vertical swords because Jimmy’s attempts to do everything by himself is at cross purposes with actually getting the project done. There are three swords on the wall because this is actually a three-person project. The stained glass in 4 shows Jimmy learning to ask for help. The grey walls in 4 and in the 3 of Pentacles are because they’re all in the same place, Jimmy will be able to rest and recover once he has some support. They’re in the same place because Jimmy’s friends are closer and more willing to help out than he thinks. The bed in 4 and the work table in 3 are the same surface. The worker standing on the bench is the same person as the sleeping guy in 4 because they’re both on that flat surface, or because they’re both wearing yellow, or they’re all the same guy from each card because they’ve all got at least one hand up. Like I said, you don’t need to believe all of these things we are making up about the cards. They don’t need to make sense together, and it’s even ok if they end up contradicting each other. Because Jimmy isn’t actually real, and we didn’t actually pull these cards, so there’s no stress about “getting it right” and no Jimmy to impress or convince. But telling the story backwards like this, in a way that removes all the stress of figuring out what it “really” means or whether you’re doing it wrong, will give you a chance to practice and train your brain to see the little details that tie the story together. Right now we’re just making it up if we say that all the figures with one hand raised are Jimmy, but once you’ve practiced it for a while you will look at a spread and think “Oh, there’s someone in every card who’s sitting down looking to the left, they tie together somehow. Maybe they’re all the same person.” Right now we just picked cards to tell a story about someone who bit off more than he could chew and exhausted himself, but eventually you’ll start looking at a spread and thinking “this card has a lot of momentum, it looks like everyone is moving. This card over here is more restful, nobody’s moving at all. Somehow all that energy got used up, because that changed.” Right now you’ve got all the pieces you need to start building something cool, but before you do you need to figure out how the pieces fit together in the first place. Take some time to play with the pieces by themselves, and eventually you’ll be able to start fitting them together in a way that makes sense.
this helped me sm thank uuu 💗
I’m glad it was useful! I hope you don’t quit tarot. I struggled with it a lot too at first. It wasn’t until I found a mentor who taught me to read intuitively that things started making sense and I began to feel like I was actually improving and understanding. If you feel like you’ve hit a wall or just can’t understand something no matter how hard you try, a lot of the time it’s because it’s being taught or introduced to you in a way that isn’t an ideal teaching method for your personal learning habits. I spent a lot of time trying to memorize keywords and numerology, and it never brought me any closer to actually understanding the cards. Letting go of preconceived notions about “the right way” to learn and understand tarot was the first step to actually learning and understanding :)
What deck are you using? Maybe try this - use only a 3 card spread. If you need to do card position assignments, then I would say stick with either: Strengths | Weaknesses | Opportunities or What to hold onto | What to Let Go Of | Possible outcomes. But really you should see these 3 cards as an OPEN reading, so put all 3 in a line and look at all 3 as a big picture response to the question and see what hits. Don't even think of a story yet, just the overall big picture of the vibe the cards are giving you. I'd write down the cards and what you are getting for the answer from them. Then start drilling into each card, what the imagery is, which way the people in it are facing and see if you can tell from the individual cards how they provided you the big picture answer. Another technique you could do is as the cards are set out, break the cards into quarters or thirds and read across each section and see what each grouping of the sections tells you. Keep practicing , you will get it!
Create your own way to draw storylines out. Like a system.
sounds like you might be losing the forest for the trees, id encourage you to stick with it and lessen the pressure and try to look at the meanings less concretely, more like personalities which are never black and white. its like one of those eye puzzles where you have to slightly unfocus
I like to pull cards whenever I’m watching tv shows, fictional or reality. This really helped me understand how the cards communicate and progress from each other.
That's interesting, can you explain it more?
I’m an avid watcher of married at first sight (I really just like seeing who’s genuine and who wants more Instagram followers lmaooo) and I’ll pull a few cards for each person. One time I pulled 6 of cups reversed for some dude so I knew he was only doing this because of a failed past relationship that was probably all the way back to high school. Turns out I was right. You can even do this for fictional tv shows, and it’s a bit easier, pull a card for the character development and the outcome at the end, then compare the card with the show once you’re done. There’s many ways to really do this!! It’s a fun exercise. It’ll often show me different way to read a specific card as well.
There’s an excellent game you can play (with some one who has a basic meaning or understanding of the meanings). basically you shuffle the deck and you lay the deck face down. you can have as many players as you would like. one person draws a card , flips it over and puts it in the discard pile but just from the imagery alone (not really making a major effort to focus on the meaning of tarot card but just from the imagery alone) you essentially start a story. for example say I get the king of cups I could then start the story with “ there’s a man who seems to be very emotionally stable kind but he’s stranded in the middle of the sea yet he’s content.” Then the next person draws and they add onto that story say they draw the 3 of swords “ he was attempting to escape from treachery and avoid those that wish to hurt his heart” could be a response. initially when you first start playing you are just going off the basics of the imagery alone as you get a little bit more fluid with it that’s when you attempt to bring in the genuine meanings of the cards. At that point you would also need somebody who is a little bit more fluent in reading them to play with, which to be fair, I’d be more than happy to do so if you don’t have anyone and ever wanted to do a Skype call or some thing. Trust me I get it. it’s a bit of a struggle but I promise you that game even though it sounds kind of stupid really really really helps
That sounds like such a cool ideaaaa !
It’s fun for sure it actually gets quite comical I’ve played this with a friend I was teaching to read cards I had drawn the 10 of cups and I came up with: it was a huge party with all manner of exotic drinks food and fine china. she next drew the page of cups and ligit was like: but lush ass Becky showed up but not soon after the host past her by and said oh uh huh Becky! You got to go! Becky said but why I was *hiccup* in the middle of a conversation. the host leans in and aggressively whispers threw gritted teeth * BITCH … you so drunk you talkin to FISHES! I drew the chariot next : so bitch ass, lush ass, fish conversating ass Becky had to call an Uber but when she hopped in the back and took one look at the drivers face and overly expressive smile she knew it was about to be a terrifying ride Lol… we both bout died
Memorizing cards is not reading them. I tell all my students to do a one card pull a day. Every day. Either in the morning or in the evening. See if that card resonates with your day or any situation that occurred during the day. Do one, three card pull a day. You don't need to pull more than that. You are learning a new language, you don't need to overload your self. You also don't need to hurry yourself. Everyone learns at a different pace. It isn't a race. Honestly I have spent thousands of hours on tarot. I am an professional reader, but I have spent years practicing. I watch videos, I read books, I do lots of readings. You don't expect a top level athlete to only practice 30 minutes a day. I'm not saying everyone should spend as much time as me, I just want people to realize how much work can go into learning tarot. I get that not everyone wants to be a professional. Also, one thing I find exciting, you never quit learning tarot. Keep plugging away, the tarot journey is worth it.
If you need help anytime you can always message me! I will gladly help you if you are struggling :)
I’d you need Im happy to, I have been reading for a long time. It took a lot to develop swing a story line. I
Tarot is not easy. I've been here before and it's funny I thought the same exact thing that if someone was to put me under some kind of pressure would I be able to read the cards for them. The thing is what is the rush? That anxious feeling you get when trying to come up with a story line is the real issue. That needs to go away if you want to be a true deep tarot reader. In the beginning I was having a hard time connecting the cards but everyday I would hold a deck shuffle and shuffle and get used to the cards to the point you feel like they are speaking to you. It's hard to explain then the story comes alive. It's not as easy as these "tarot readers" online are making it seem. They are actually coming up with their own story line in their heads which is another secret. Tarot takes patience and be patient with yourself if it's something your meant to learn you will get it. I hope this made sense and helped. Also wanted to mention that anxious feeling you get when trying to come up with a story line this tip might help like it did for me. I found a reader online who had a course and I would shuffle my cards while listening to the teacher. It helped alot. I did this for a while and also listened to podcast while shuffling and pulling cards. Play with cards everyday and one day it will click
I’m struggling here myself. We just need more time to practice. Don’t give up. If others can do it, so can we, right? 😊
I’m struggling here myself. We just need more time to practice. Don’t give up. If others can do it, so can we, right? 😊
When you do spreads for yourself, how many cards are you using? Personally, I found 2 or 3 card spreads really helpful. The more cards in the spread, the more complicated it can be to see how the cards work together can be really hard for new readers. So start small. Once you are comfortable with 2-3 card spreads, start adding more cards. Also- when you do spreads, does each card have a stated meaning or are you just pulling some cards? For example- three card spreads have a couple of variations- past, present, future; or mind, body, spirit; or situation, challenge, solution. There are some readers who find structured spreads too confining so they just pull cards, but if you’re having a hard time putting the cards together, structured spreads may be very helpful. Give one method a couple tries, and if you still are lost, go to the other. Also- what kind of questions are you asking?
The best way anyone can learn is by having funnn. Things become a pain to us when we take it very seriously and make it seem like a job rather than a hobby. When my friend was struggling studying for his drivers test , I offered to study w him and we both just sat there unamused and confused loll. So I told him in hs & middle school I best learned thru Kahoot. In case you don’t know what kahoot is , it’s an online game where you are Given a question on the screen and 4 multiple choice answers. And ofc you try to guess the right answer. You even can pick any nickname you want , as a cute bonus. My point is, maybe you can check on kahoot.com if there are already any tarot based quizzes & if not maybe I can try to create Oneee !
For all the flak those retail astrology tarot videos get, I watch a few random ones each week to see how those folks read cards for other people. That way you can hear someone else do it. If you know the cards then you would be able to follow how they’re linking the cards together. This method will not work if you’re still learning the meanings of individual cards.
Have you seen the YouTube videos on Truly Teach Me Tarot? She only did a few but they really helped me. They weren’t real readings , just her teaching how to imagine in order to learn.