POSTED UNDER Tarot
Psychic Tarot
There are lots of ways to find meaning in tarot cards. There are all the esoteric and symbolic meanings that we can study. These engage the left side of the brain.
Tapping into the psychic or intuitive messages engages the right side of the brain. While there is a wide selection of books that teach the esoteric meanings, teaching intuitive and psychic skills is more challenging. Nancy and Melanie do an excellent job helping us employ our less rational gifts.
Do you see yourself as more of an intuitive/psychic reader or as an interpreter of symbols? Have you ever thought of exploring the other side of yourself to balance your readings? If so, what was the result?
The tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore’s personal and professional lives for over a decade. In college, the tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, and history. Later, she served as the tarot specialist for Llewellyn Publications. Over the years, she has ...
Although I always go for symbols first, being an art historian by training, but I follow my ‘gut’ to zero in on which are important in the reading. Every card in most decks are laden with layers and facets of symbols, colors, numerology, mythology, etc, and I believe using your intuition to hone in is the best way to sort thru to get to what is germaine to the reading.
Great question! I use the cards as a vehicle for my intuition, so my intuition is paramount. I read a card however it hits me intuitively, whether that jibes with the traditional meaning or not. Like a dream image, or a poem, each card can have many meanings, so usually my intuition picks one of the traditional meanings of a card. However, sometimes, the picture on the card will give me a quick intuitive hit and I’ll read that, even though it is a non-traditional interpretation. This usually happens when I’m seeing a spread as a whole and seeing cards in context and relationship to each other (more intuitively). Because I read on political topics, I tend to keep things really separate: left brain complex political analysis on the one hand, and right brain simple, pure intuitive tarot on the other.
At first I thought I was not an intuitive reader at all… I’m learning that I am. The symbols that pop out at me when looking at The High Priestess card will not be the same symbols when I look at the same card on a different day or time for a different person. There are always the traditional meanings at the back of my mind as a nice stabilizing foundation, but truly, I say what I see when I’m seeing it.
I’ve been breaking down my reading process (so I can teach it better). I find that I use the analysis part to create a framework, then the intuitive responses add depth and detail. Of course, there are always exceptions…sometimes the intuitive response is so strong that analysis put on the back burner or not even incorporated.
Ty, I think we approach our readings in a similar fashion (see my comment to Tarot Politico). I think this is one reason I love tarot…it is a complex dance that never gets boring.
I read more as an intuitive reader. Yet, interpreting symbols also plays a good part when I read the cards.