Five Ways We Use Intuition in a Tarot Reading
From the first shuffle to the final insight, intuition informs our divination process.
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From the first shuffle to the final insight, intuition informs our divination process.
Read MoreIf you have a question about tarot, please email me!
Today’s question come from Eric. It’s a deceptively simple one. Eric’s question is this:
“When reading tarot, should you always trust your intuition?”
The quick, short answer is obvious. Of course you should always trust your intuition.
But that begs a different, deeper question.
How can you be sure the voice you are calling your intuition really is?
Many people, from professional psychics to police officers to those who practice conscious living, make a habit of listening to their internal guidance. People call it by different names, but they all agree they have something that guides them, and never steers them wrong.
I think that is what we mean when we speak of intuition. It may be a hunch or a gut level feeling, it may be a sense of being guided by a spiritual entity. Intuition may simply be a strong sense of knowing.
The key is in learning to hear and recognize your intuition, and to distinguish it from all the other voices in your mind. Fear, desire, insecurity, judgment, opinion and logic are all voices that compete with the voice of intuition.
If you want to be able to trust your intuition in tarot reading, or in life in general, the first thing you need to do is identify the voices that commonly come up for you when you are trying to tune in to your intuition.
At the same time, you need to work on finding a personal sense of calm detachment. This is a spiritual state of grace that is hard for westerners to achieve since we tend to be overly concerned with “good” and “bad’ rather than simple “is.”
These steps will help you focus in on your intuition and hear your guidance.
As a tarot reader, I believe you will be the best reader possible if you never allow your ability to rely on intuition keep you from studying the cards. The better knowledge you have of the cards. The better your intuition will work.
Use your intuition to help you to put the story together. Use your intuition to decide which of the many possible card meanings are most appropriate. Use your intuition to know which questions to ask of the cards. Pay attention to random thoughts and memories that come into your mind while you are reading; they may pertain to the issue at hand.
I have seen many people be flat-out wrong when they said they were trusting their intuition. I would argue it’s because, most of the time, intuition works without us really realizing it. While we go about our merry way, our intuition is busy keeping us out of trouble, and doing it so well we don’t even notice it.
When we do psychic work, or try to live in a more conscious way, we try to notice our intuition. We ask it questions. Often we try to do this with no real thought, or no real training.
There are many ways to train yourself to be more intuitive, or to understand your intuition better, but it all starts with simple steps. Identify the other voices that compete with intuition, release your attachments and listen well.
Once you can do that, then, yes, you should always trust your intuition.
Thanks for a great question, Eric!
Video of Christiana Answers a Question about Intuition
"Spread your arms and hold your breath, and always trust your cape."
Sometimes in life we embark on a journey that involves a leap of faith. We jump into the unknown future we desire with no idea where we will land. We just know somehow we will grow our wings on the way down and we will be ok. I believe the learning is in the journey. It's been almost five years since Chris and I bought our boat, and like The Fool we stepped off into the unknown. It's been an awesome journey. It has had moments that take your breath away and moments that scare the breath right out of you. But we've made it safely to each destination - whether figuratively as in getting through a difficult decision; or realistically as in making it to the next safe, calm bay. Intuition was our cape, we trusted it, and we didn't let anyone talk us out of our dream. We didn't know we couldn't do it, but we knew we had to try.
If The Fool could give us any advice he would sing us the song, "Trust Your Cape" by Guy Clark:
Listen to the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4q-Q6LSfuI
Eight years old with a flour sack cape tied all around his neck
He climbed up on the garage, he's figurin what the heck
Screwed his courage up so tight, that the whole thing come unwound
He got a runnin start and bless his heart, he headed for the ground
Well he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape
Now he's all grown up with a flour sack cape tied all around his dreams
And he's full of piss and vinegar, and he's bustin' at the seams
So he licked his finger and checked the wind, it's gonna be do or die
He wasn't scared of nothin', boys, he was pretty sure he could fly
Well he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape
Now he's old and gray with a flour sack cape tied all around his head
And he's still jumpin off the garage and will be 'til he's dead
All these years the people said, "He's acting like a kid"
He did not know he could not fly, so he did
Well he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape
Yeah, he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape
Songwriters
Clark, Guy / Janosky, Jim / Clark, Susanna Wallis
*Linda and her fiance' Chris, have been traveling and living in the Caribbean on their sailboat, Troubadour. Read about their journey at http://sailingtroubadour.blogspot.com/
*Image of "The Fool" from Shadowscapes Tarot
Intuition and Interpretation: Eleven Rules for Putting it all Together
There can be a bit of friction between readers who believe that learning and using traditional card interpretations is an important aspect of tarot reading and those who tell us to throw the books away and just give the information that comes to mind when you look at the pictures.
Here’s my take.
If you have no concept of tarot traditions and have done no tarot study, you may be a very good psychic who uses tarot images, but you are not, by definition, a tarot reader.
If all you do is give rote memorized interpretations of cards and positions you may be a tarot reader, but not a very good one.
If you want to be a great tarot reader, you must be able to use both intuition and interpretation in your readings. Here are eleven rules to help you do that.
Cards have many possible traditional meanings. Cards also have the ability to communicate above and beyond their traditional meanings. Allow the cards to tell you what you need to know by being open to all possibilities in a reading.
A great tarot reader uses many skills. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that one skill is more important than another. Intelligence and humor, compassion and honesty, spirituality and practicality, interpretation and intuition all come together to make you the best reader you can be.