5 Ways to Make the Cards Your Own

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Melissa Cynova, author of the new Kitchen Table Tarot.

I’ve been reading cards for nearly 30 years, and I’ve found over the years that tarot readers get into trouble when they decide that there is only one way to learn the cards. One way to study, or teach, or interpret the cards. Once you start knowing something for sure instead of wondering or gaining a new perspective, your capacity to bring in new ideas and new flavors to your readings stops cold. This can only limit you as you read for different people, engage with new communities, and read with new decks.

I’ve learned more about my cards by reading books, studying the imagery of the cards themselves, and stalking tarot folks on social media. When I teach, I’ve got a few techniques I’ve learned over the years that I share with my students. It’s one thing to learn the cards, but it’s another entirely to make them your own. Here are five ways you can do just that!

1. Make a playlist!I have a playlist with a song or two for each tarot card. I’ve got my songs on my website at http://littlefoxtarot.com/tarot-mixtape-playlist/. Choose songs that mean something to you from bands that you adore. To me, the song “Pendulum Swinger” defines the High Priestess. It might not work for you. Find one that does. Look up keywords for each card, and then find a song that helps the card sing to you.
2. Keep a journal.Two pages per card. I’ve had clients who have purchased a deck of cards, gluing them to the left, top side of the journal, and keeping notes around it. When you go to websites, read books, and talk with other readers, keep notes and keywords in your journal. You’ll end up writing your own tarot book!
3. Build a community.When I learned the cards, there was no Internet and there was no tarot community around me—not that I knew of. As I continued to read, it got very lonely! Now I use Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to find new readers to talk to and to learn from. In my hometown of St. Louis, I and some friends started a meet-up group on Meetup.com.
4. Read the cards.
   The more you use your cards, the more familiar you’ll become with them. Practice with a daily draw, read for yourself, and read for others. When I was first learning, I was only fourteen and practiced reading tarot for my Dad. Poor guy. He had a clear picture of what to expect every single day.
5. Read the cards.
   Read the actual cards. In the Emperor card in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, you can see a tiny trickle of water behind his throne. In tarot, water represents emotion. The Emperor is stern, yes, but that trace of emotion shows that there’s a heart in there. Somewhere.

These are a few of the tips I’ve picked up over the years. I’d love to hear yours below in the comments!

Xo Lis

Our thanks to Melissa for her guest post! For more from Melissa Cynova, read her article, “Twelve Ways Your Chakras Can Enhance Your Decisions.”