What book or books do you recommend for those of us who want to learn more about how to do an accurate tarot reading? I was giving readings to family a few weeks ago and I felt bad because I couldn't say much as I was relying on the tiny book that came with the deck. I would like to give better readings for others. Thanks for any guidance in this matter.
Mary Lynn
Susyn:
As a reader and teacher of the Tarot for over 20 years, I understand your frustration. There are many books on interpreting the Tarot, so you'll want to pick one that offers expanded interpretations. I have written a comprehensive book on the subject that you may find helpful. It's entitled Tarot Prediction and Divination, and it will be available for purchase in January.
It's essential to have a basic understanding of the cards, but for the most accurate readings, you have to learn how to coax the cards to speak to you. When you are able to use your intuition in this way, a single Tarot card can have any number of meanings depending on the question posed, the cards surrounding it, and the circumstances underlying the reading.
There are a number of Tarot books on the market that can help you learn to interpret the cards with skill. Along with Tarot Prediction and Divination, there are books that focus on expanded meanings, spiritual readings, symbolic interpretations or general guidelines for reading the Tarot. To determine if a book will be valuable to you, it's best to review the table of contents and page through it, reading a little bit here and there.
One of the trickiest things is figuring out how the cards you are looking at speak to the question being asked. This is one of the first things I address in my book. I then go on to explain the three ways Tarot can be used: for predictions, therapy, and spiritual growth. I also explore how to use the Tarot's visual cues to awaken your psychic gifts and unveil the hidden messages in the cards.
Beginning readers will find everything they need to get started with predictive readings, while experienced readers can use this guide to expand their abilities, refresh their thinking, and take their interpretive skills to the next level. From your letter, it seems you have been reading the cards for a while. As with any practice, the more you work with the Tarot, the easier it will be to get the results you desire.
My book includes 15 original layouts, 45 sample readings, and a series of helpful correspondence charts. It also includes special sections on how to choose the ideal Signifcator, which card combinations to watch for during a reading, predicting timing, and what each card means in relation to the topics of health, career, romance, relationships and spiritual matters.
Since it's a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the Tarot, I recommend you give Tarot Predictions and Divination a try. It's available in January, 2011, at Llewellyns.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and many local book stores.
*****
Mata:
You're asking this question at just the right time, for a great new book is about to hit the market by our very own Susyn Blair-Hunt. It's called Tarot Prediction and Divination and I believe it will become available any day now.
Another book that is great for beginners is Tarot Made Easy by Nancy Garen. What makes this book unique is how she divides each card's meanings into different categories.
If you are doing a reading on a love relationship, you have only to go to that card's page and look under that category to see a specific and easy to understand interpretation. She breaks each card down into many different categories, so regardless of the nature of your question, you're sure to find a relevant answer.
Since this is a great deal of information, memorizing these meanings is probably not practical. To do readings without a book, you'll have to have at least a general idea of each card's meaning. From there, you can use reason and intuition to ferret out what it may mean in light of the question being asked and its position in the spread you're using. You can get this general idea of the meaning of each card by studying classic interpretations or by reflecting on the images in the cards and journaling to develop your own interpretations.
There are people who give great tarot readings who do little to no memorizing at all. These folks are essentially doing a straight psychic reading with the cards as springboards or starting points. They kickstart their own inner voice/ intuition by looking at the pictures on the cards and allowing messages to begin to channel through them.
Though the cards seem to take on different meanings with every reading with this approach, that doesn't make it inferior to a classic reading method. In fact, I have seen psychics give amazing tarot readings without really using the cards at all. One of the best psychics I've ever had a reading from worked this way. She laid the cards out, glanced at them once, and then launched into the reading without ever looking at the cards again. My sense was that she was clairaudiently hearing the information she was relaying, not getting it from the cards.
Of course, to do this, you must develop your psychic senses to the point where you don't really need a divination tool anyway. Since it's preferable not to be dependent on tools, it seems to me that the time it would take to memorize meanings for the cards might be better spent on general psychic development. While you're working on this, you could use the cards and the book I recommend above to supplement what you get intuitively.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.