By Ellen Zucker
Tarot cards, like other forms of divination, are simply ways to access and amplify the voice of your intuition.
Often it is difficult to hear that still, small voice and discern its message.
Intuition works best when you are relaxed and centered. If you are angry, upset, or feeling pressured it is likely that you will not be able to tune in.
Working with Tarot cards is an excellent way to crack through that barrier. That is because, like your intuition, Tarot cards speak with symbols and images.
The challenge is to discern the your cards' message.
Reading books about the Tarot is a starting point. There are many excellent books that can instruct you on the conventional interpretations of each card. But book meanings are not always relevant to the situation at-hand.
As a system of symbols, Tarot cards can convey multiple meanings on different levels. Many are not to be found in any guidebook. A deeper reason is, like your intuition, that Tarot symbols speak a language that is individual to you. In that way it is not unlike interpreting a dream.
That is why many Tarot instructors will encourage their students to keep a journal.
There are many ways a journal can help you work with Tarot.
Here you can record your interpretations for future reference. You can record the questions you ask along with the cards that you pick and your interpretations. This is particularly helpful if the meaning of a card is unclear to you. A card's significance may not become apparent until you receive further information or the situation has progressed. Your written record will be an invaluable reference.
My first Tarot teacher encouraged students to take a loose-leaf binder and devote a page to each card. I recorded his interpretation of the cards' meanings and added my own interpretations as I began reading cards individually and in spreads.
Another version of this exercise is to take time out during each day to focus and write about each card. On Day One, begin with the first card, The Fool, work through the Major and then the Minor Arcana until you have covered all 78.
Put away your guidebooks when you do this exercise. Then place the card in front of you and carefully observe it. What is your immediate emotional reaction? Why? Look at the colors in the image. How do they make you feel? What detail(s) grab your eye? Who or what is in the card? What are they saying? What are you thinking?
Write it all of this down for future reference.
Many people will make a ritual out of shuffling their Tarot deck, pulling a card, then meditate upon it. Like the prior exercise you will note your emotional and physical reactions and record them. You may find yourself asking questions of the figures of the card. You can direct questions to the people in the image, but you can also direct it to the animals, if any, the trees, the clouds, the mountains... you get the idea.
Over time you will start to see patterns. Some cards may repeat and others will not show up at all.
Then write about the events of the day and observe how your chosen card correlates with the day's events and your reactions to those events.
Not only is this a wonderful way to work out your feelings and explore your emotions, you will begin to understand the unique language that your cards use to speak to you.