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.