Learning Tarot Is Like Learning Anything

What does it take to learn to read Tarot cards? Psychic powers, angel guides, gypsy lineage, a bulging third eye?

Though they might come in handy, you don’t really need any of those extras. To learn to read Tarot cards it takes pretty well the same thing it takes to learn anything – curiosity, discipline and practice, all messages of the Page of Disks.

Curiosity is perhaps the most important element in any learning process, the Tarot being no exception. If you’re not truly interested in something (or being paid), you’re probably not going to spend a lot of time learning it. To be especially good at reading Tarot cards, you have to be fascinated by them. What else is going to get you through the dull part of learning? And surprising as it might seem, even with something as fun as Tarot, there’s dull stuff, memorization included.

Learning the traditional meanings of the cards is not necessary to using them for divination, or even self- exploration. But to really understand Tarot, it is important to know what each card represents within the grander 78 card structure. Not to mention, it takes some thinking to understand the grander structure itself. Tarot is a gorgeously elegant system, offering a unique perspective on how the world works and our part in it. But it’s not a simple pattern and it takes time, years really, and serious study to get the most out of it.

And of course that’s where discipline and practice come in. It takes both to learn about and stick with anything. To learn to read the Tarot well, you have to have the discipline to seek out all the information you can about it and practice what you learn as often as possible, for a long time. It’s not a particularly mystical process. It’s just your everyday 8 of Disks energy getting things done. And as with everything, what you put into it is what you’ll get out.

For those that end up being ‘superstar’ readers, special gifts (and perhaps a chunk of good luck) might come into play, but that’s true for people that are particularly amazing in any field. Everyone can’t be Tiger Woods, but we can all go out and enjoy a game of golf (or mini-putt at least). And if we do it a lot, we might even become decent players, only making the game that much more fun. But for superstars and common-folk alike, we all need to put in the effort to get good at anything.

Having said all this, I don’t want to dissuade anyone from learning Tarot because it’s too much dull work. I’m only trying to express the idea that learning the cards is not that different from learning other things. It is work, but if you’ve been bitten by the Tarot bug, it’ll be work you really enjoy. And despite all my practical talk, I think there is something a little magical with Tarot. When you do take the time to learn, before you know it, the cards themselves start teaching you. That's when it really gets fun.

Tarot Talk - Thank You!

Today was the last episode of Tarot Talk, a weekly radio show I’ve been co-hosting with Raven Mardirosian since January. We closed the show with a particularly interesting interview with Paul Quinn, author of Tarot for Life. It was a most excellent end to a wonderful experience.

Through the last nine months, we’ve had so many great guests – psychics of every type, angel, fairy and animal communicators, a healing singer, astrologers, and of course lots of tarot readers. It’s been amazing! And I’ve learnt so much! Each guest taught me something new and helped bring me to a deeper understanding of my own tarot work.

I pulled some cards on the whole experience, asking them to encapsulate my feelings about the show. The first I drew was the 2 of Disks. There’s a certain ambivalence in this card, and weirdly enough, I get it.

On the one hand, the show was quite a bit of work, and I got stage fright for half the day before each episode, and it was hard putting off Sunday afternoons almost every week all year (especially in the summer).

But it was the disk spinning on the other hand that made it all worthwhile. I learnt so much, met so many amazing people and gained so much confidence as a reader, speaker, interviewer and probably as a person.


Which brings us to the second card I pulled – the 6 of Wands. Victory. This card speaks of the joy in getting that much closer to what you truly love. It’s about celebrating the Lovers call to be yourself, inside and out. And on a personal level, that’s exactly how I feel about my time on Tarot Talk. It’s helped get me closer to my soul.

So to all the guests, callers, listeners, chatters, and of course to my fabulous co-host Raven - Thank You! It’s been a real pleasure.

Keep in touch all!! I can’t wait to see what’s next!!

and p.s. you can download all the episodes free from iTunes (just type ‘Tarot Talk’ into the podcast search) or listen to archives of past shows at our show page