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Why Do People Learn the Tarot?
People learn the tarot for many different reasons. Most will pick up the tarot cards initially because they want to find out what is going to happen in the future. They are almost without exception not seeking knowledge on a global scale but on a more personal scale.
This may be anything from attempting to find out whether they will find a true love to whether they will get a job or not. I think, if we are honest, those of us who did learn the tarot started out because we wanted to find out what was happening with a relationship. Most of the readings we do at Tarot Time revolve around love or the lack of it.
Of course, there are many other reasons for learning the tarot but whatever reason is yours doesn’t matter. The tarot can help you make sense (at least most times!) of what is going on around you.
Learning the Tarot to Predict the Future
Although finding out whether love is coming your way does revolve around the future when you learn the tarot and become more familiar with it, you will understand that it can do so much more than just that. People can and do learn the tarot to get a better understanding of the future of course but where learning the tarot really comes into its own is getting a better understanding of the present.
Learn the tarot by all means to interrogate the future but do not neglect to use it to examine the present. Having a better understanding of what is around you will enable you to make choices that can shape your future. It can help you get to where you want to go.
Why Learning the Tarot and Getting Answers Is Not Like the Movies
If you watch a movie and the tarot is featured in some way you will almost certainly see cards like Death pulled or if not Death, a card or cards pulled that all predict an absolute future, an absolute outcome, an absolute date or time.
The tarot does not work that way. There are no absolutes like those shown in movies. Learning the tarot is definitely worthwhile but it is not going to answer every question you have with absolute precision with no room for error.
The reason is in some ways very simple. Life is not predestined. For the movie version of the tarot, it would have to be just that. Look at it this way: Everything you do or say can affect a particular outcome and/or timeline. Now add into the equation that anyone else involved in your particular situation an affect that outcome in exactly the same way and you can begin to see that even a simple question can be very complex.
So, Is It Worth My While to Learn the Tarot?
Absolutely! Knowledge, as they say, is power. The better informed you are about any given situation means that you can make better informed choices and decisions. Life is all about the choices and decisions we make.
Let me share one of my own favorite metaphors that I have used time and again with clients to help them to see what can be done if they make the decision to DO something. Proactive rather than reactive. This is my metaphor:
Think of life as a river and you are in a canoe on it. Some parts of the river will be fast flowing, some will be slow flowing, and some parts will be almost at a standstill. Some parts will have rocks, or rapids, and so on. If you just sit in the canoe and go with the flow and let the river dictate what speed you go at and what course you take, then you stand a good chance of ending up on the rocks or capsizing in the rapids.
However, in your canoe you have a paddle, and its name is “Choice.” If you use it you can choose to go faster than the current, or slower. You can steer left, or right, or stay central. You can choose the course you take and the speed you go at rather than letting the current take you where it wants to take you. Use that “paddle” in life and go somewhere YOU want to go. If you learn the tarot it can help you make better choices because you will be actively affecting your future.
Is It Easy or Hard to Learn the Tarot?
There are many people who dabble but there are many more who actually make the effort to learn the tarot. Learning the tarot is both harder and easier than most people think.
Learning the tarot is easier in some ways because there are so many websites and books that can help the complete beginner. Learning the tarot is harder, however, because most books and most websites just give a paragraph or, if you are very lucky, a page to each card that gives a broad overview of what it means. That is not always as helpful as it first seems, and it is the reason why we do it differently at Tarot Time.
Why Learning the Tarot with Tarot Time Is Different
One of the hardest aspects of learning the tarot when I first decided to do so was that no matter which book I consulted all I got was an overall definition. Sometimes that made sense but more times than not it did not, and I began to despair that my mission to learn the tarot and understand it was doomed.
Let’s take a look at a general definition (albeit contracted!) for the Chariot: “The Chariot is all about energy and movement. But this movement will almost certainly be under your own steam, as opposed to someone taking you along with wherever they are going.”
That is exactly what the Chariot (upright) is about but how do you apply that to love? Or work? Or finances? Do you see where I’m going with this? Learning the tarot starts to become more complicated when what you are seeing doesn’t make sense with the question or situation you have.
It was because of this that I decided to do our tarot meanings differently. Learning the tarot becomes a little simpler if meanings other than just an overall view are given. That is why we introduced meanings for each card for:
- Love and relationships
- Friends, friendships, and family
- Spiritual growth
- Work and career
- (Money and finances) Underway
- Messages(s) from Spirit
Splitting the meanings up this way make it much easier for anyone – both inexperienced and experienced – to learn the tarot. Right now, all 78 cards have got most of those meanings with money and finances being a very recent addition.
Initially, I only included upright definitions, but I have bowed to the requests to add reversed meanings too. I am slowly working my way through the cards adding those as well as adding money and finances to the existing upright definitions. Learning the tarot is not easy but it can be easier if you stick with Tarot Time.
- Major Arcana Definitions
- Minor Arcana Definition
“Learn the Secrets of the Tarot” Article by Paul
Image Attribution: Part of Feature Image Courtesy of Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay | Popcorn Image by Devon Breen from Pixabay | “RWS Tarot 07 Chariot” by Pamela Coleman Smith – a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley (http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/) for the public domain, and retrieved from http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot (see note on that page regarding source of images). Via Wikipedia.
