Before You Throw Out Your Tarot Guidebook…
When learning tarot, it can feel like all tarot readers, teachers and mentors are telling you to put down your tarot guidebook and reading materials, that there are no right or wrong interpretations, and that the best way to learn tarot is to, quite simply, read tarot.
And I do agree with this sentiment.
There is no one ‘right’ way to read tarot. Your best readings won’t be done reciting meanings you’ve memorised from a textbook, and you’ll learn your most valuable lessons about the tarot in pulling cards and reading them.
But this can be a confusing message to receive as a tarot newbie.
I mean, if you’re supposed to be ripping up the metaphorical tarot rulebook and putting down your study tools, is there really any point in studying the tarot at all?
The short answer to this is, yes. There is a huge amount to be gained from studying the tarot, and I know that sounds totally counterintuitive to the earlier statements, but it’s true.
Tarot cards are rich with meaning and symbolism, and I am a firm believer that there will always be something new to learn about the cards, no matter how many readings you’ve done, how many books you’ve read or how long you’ve been reading tarot for.
So… what the hell does this actually look like in practice, and what do people actually mean when they tell you to put down the book?
You could do a reading without any knowledge of the meanings of the cards.
Now, before I incur the wrath of tarot purists everywhere, I’m not saying it would be the best reading anybody’s ever done. It’s not going to be a masterpiece, but by simply pulling the cards and ‘saying what you see’ in them, with zero knowledge of the tarot meanings, you’d probably still pull some insight out of the cards. The images on the cards are artwork, and just like art of any kind, the visuals will evoke feelings from us. Also, a lot of the symbols we see in the tarot have cultural, personal and societal meanings that we are already aware of.
So, if you were to look at a card, with no idea what it ‘really means’, you would still be able to find meaning of some kind, in the image you’re presented with.
Recalling memorised meanings can actually prevent you from tapping into your intuition.
Our logical brain is great at studying the tarot, but when we’re in the middle of a reading, it’s not so helpful. Our logical brain is kind of the opposite of our intuition, and when our logical brain is firing on all cylinders, it can overshadow our intuitive hits - especially when tapping into our intuition is a new practice for us.
So, when you’re doing a reading, and you pull the Ace of Wands, and your brain starts thinking, “What did I learn about the Ace of Wands? What did the book say? What were the keywords? What does it mean? What do the Wands represent? What element do they correspond to?” Your brain is trying to recall the meaning you read in the guidebook. With all that chatter in your brain, how the hell are you supposed to tap into your intuition? It’s like trying to meditate in the middle of Piccadilly Circus or Times Square - it just isn’t gonna happen.
And when we draw a blank, because our mind is in overdrive, what do we do? We reach for the guidebook! This perpetuates a lack of trust in our intuition, rather than helping to build it.
Tarot is an intuitive practice.
This means that, when we are pulling cards and doing a reading, whether for ourselves or others, the cards are serving as a way for us to tap into our intuition. Intuition is notoriously hard to quantify or explain. You could ask 100 tarot readers, or 100 people for that matter, and the term ‘intuition’ would have a different definition by everyone’s standards. Your intuition is unique to you, and so it stands to reason that your tarot practice would also be unique to you.
When we pull cards and immediately revert to one of our tarot books, reciting the meaning it gives us like a parrot, we are removing this very important piece of the puzzle from the equation. Reciting the meaning from a guidebook, you may as well be pulling cards via an online free reading generator. What makes a real tarot reading special is YOU and your intuition.
So, what’s the point of all these guidebooks and meanings? Does any of it matter?
Each tarot card is rich with symbolism, and these symbols will have personal, cultural and societal significance. They are also representative of archetypes. Archetypes serve as a kind of shorthand, because we all have some sort of an understanding of these core archetypes. In fact, Carl Jung suggested that these archetypes all exist within the collective unconscious. Essentially, we all have an understanding of what something is, or what it means, because there is a universal recognition of that archetype.
The more you learn about the tarot, about each individual card and the symbols that appear on it, you are gaining deeper and deeper understanding of what that archetype is, how it shows up in our lives, and how we experience it on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level.
The better you understand the archetype of The Emperor, for example, with all his strengths, all his flaws, the good, the bad, the ugly, the better you can interpret his presence in your tarot reading.
Think of your tarot study like building a tarot database or toolkit.
The more you learn about the cards and their possible meanings, the better you understand the archetypes, the more ‘entry points’ you have for your intuition to enter through and the easier it is to make connections between the cards themselves, but also between the cards and the questions or topics you’re reading on.
Tarot card meanings are expansive, not specific.
No tarot card has one meaning. All 78 cards contain nuance, with light and shadow. There’s a reason why there are so many tarot books, different decks, resources and courses. If the tarot could be neatly summarised into one book, why would there be so much content out there about it? In that sense, how could any memorised meanings that you are reciting from a guidebook possibly encapsulate all the possible ways in which you could interpret that card in a reading?
Studying tarot and reading tarot are separate practices.
By all means, if you’re drawing a blank on a card and you need to refer to your guidebook, go for it! But the important thing is not to take the guidebook meaning as the only possible meaning that card can have. If you saw a card as meaning one thing in your reading, and then you read the guidebook and it says something different, it doesn’t mean you are wrong. It also doesn’t mean the guidebook is wrong. What if you’re both right?
Tarot study combined with intuition is going to provide you with the most effective readings.
You can memorise that the Four of Pentacles means holding onto your money, but without understanding the archetype, how can you apply that card to a relationship situation? It can’t always be about money.
To provide an example, if you intuitively read a relationship reading with the Four of Pentacles as a message encouraging someone to ‘let go' in the relationship, you could wonder if you were wrong when you check the guidebook and it tells you that the Four of Pentacles is about ‘holding on’. However, when we hold on to something too tightly, we can prevent growth and evolution. We can stifle it. Perhaps the querent is being too ‘clingy’, and needs to loosen their grip on the other person. Notice how both the intuitive impression of the Four of Pentacles and the guidebook provided insight, and combining both together could actually provide more valuable insight than just our first impression or the guidebook alone?
Next time you get out your guidebook in the middle of a reading and you’re questioning whether your intuition is ‘right or wrong’, think about a few things:
Is there a connection between your initial impression of the card and the guidebook meaning? How would you link the two? Is there something you can learn about the card, from drawing this connection, a deeper understanding of the card you have never considered previously?
What led you to your initial impression of the card? Is there a particular symbol or visual element that led you to it? For example, did the person on the card look sad to you, and then you read a positive interpretation in the guidebook? The fact that you have read the card differently, with specific reasoning, means you are building a personal connection the cards. Is there a way you can link what you saw in the card and what you read in the guidebook?
Does the guidebook meaning ‘speak’ to you? Perhaps there is an opportunity to do some wider reading around this card to come to a better understanding of the archetype. We all have cards that are harder for us to ‘get’ than others. For example, the court cards can be a particular sticking point for a lot of readers, as can cards like The Hierophant.
Have you previously read the card differently to the way you’re seeing it in the present reading? Again, this can be a big sign you are tapping into your intuition. Perhaps you are learning something new about the card and its meaning, or perhaps you are getting a very specific intuitive hit for this reading, and you will never read the card the same way again!
Ultimately, when tarot readers, teachers and mentors tell you to put down the guidebook, they are encouraging you to trust your intuition in the moment and to dispel the notion that your first impression must be ‘wrong’ if it does not align with what you read in the guidebook. Over time, you will develop a personal understanding of and relationship with the tarot cards. It isn’t built overnight, and it isn’t a case of memorising meanings, it’s about understanding the archetype of each of the 78 cards on a deep level.
The deeper you understand these cards, the more they will teach you about yourself and the world, so not only will you be able to help others, and yourself, through the practice of actually doing readings, but you’ll learn a hell of a lot that will help you, even when you’re not pulling cards.
Isn’t that reason enough to keep reading? …in both senses of the word!
N x
P.S. Was this post helpful to you? Let me know in the comments, so that I can continue to create posts that provide you with the most value!