Amethyst Rose
January 5th, 2005, 01:38 PM
I'm going to post exercises in this thread for beginners to do to familiarize themselves with their cards. Some students, I know, have already done some similar things, and intermediate or advanced students may not find them necessary. I'm not requiring that you do these exercises, they are just a suggestion, so you know your cards a bit more once we get into reading.
Exercise #1
Pull a certain number of cards every day (as many or few as you feel comfortable with), and in a notebook write down what you see in the card. Study the card. (It can be handy to do this with a magnifying glass). Write down it's colors and images and any story that you percieve. Then, without looking at the LWB, write down what you think that the card might represent. Finally, write down what the LWB says the card represents and notice any similarities in your answer.
The purpose of this exercise is NOT to match your answer to the LWB!! I can't express that enough! This is simply an exercise in getting to know your cards and your reactions to them.
The following is an example:
Gendron Tarot:
Card: Prince of Wands
Description: A middle aged man, with a dark beard and dark hair and medium colored skin stands holding a staff by his left hand. On the staff are two red tassels with gold clasps. The staff seems to glow, with a subtle light. The man wears a gold and pinkish colored hat with a yellow.... feather? And a pink tunic with gold puffy sleaves, and golden belt. There is another tassel on his sleeve. He also wears a golden necklace. He stands in a field with a forest of trees behind him. The sun sits behind his head, so that sunrays seem to come out of his head. In the sky are stars and a darkened moon.
Percieved Meaning: Knowledge, growth, pride, power, strength,
LWB Meaning (note, I no longer have the LWB for this deck, the meaning I'm using comes from http://www.learntarot.com/wkn.htm and is for the RW deck, I believe): Charming, superficial, self-confident, cocky, daring, foolhardy, adventurous, restless, passionate, hot-tempered
Exercise #2
Once you have gone through all of your cards as in the first exercise, and are now familiar with them, you can do an exercise for your intuition.
Shuffle your cards, and divide your deck into 3, 2 or keep it whole, depending on how much you think you can handle at once.
Then, pull the top card and state, out loud if you have to, it's meaning in a few words. Only take a few seconds to do this. You're working with your intution, not the symbolism or book meanings. Pull the card, see the card name and the picture and give it at least one word.
Example..... pull: lovers - Love
pull: 3 of swords - betrayal
pull: 7 of swords - travel
Those were three cards that I pulled. It took a maximum of 5 seconds to see the card and name an attribute that my intuition told me about. If it takes you more than 30 seconds on a card, skip it. Put it aside and go back to it later. If all cards are taking you that long, then save this exercise for another day.
The purpose of this exercise is speed to build your intuition. Once you get the hang of it, try to go through the deck as fast as you can.
Exercise #3 - learning the minor arcana
Try the lessons on this page http://www.learntarot.com/exer3.htm I'd post them, but that'd be plagarizing.
Exercise #4
Shuffle the cards your usual way. Hold the deck face down in one hand. Turn over the first three cards, and lay them in a row. Now, create a story around the cards. Don't try to come up with a clever scenario. Just allow any tale to unfold.
When you are through, set the first three cards aside, and deal three more for a new story. Or, if you like, keep the first three cards and lay out a fourth. Incorporate this card into the original tale. Continue developing the story by laying out new cards one at a time. The spirit of this exercise is spontaneous play. Stop if you feel any pressure or strain.
Write down your stories in a notebook, as well as the cards that influenced it, in order to remember it or meditate on it at a later time.
Exercise #1
Pull a certain number of cards every day (as many or few as you feel comfortable with), and in a notebook write down what you see in the card. Study the card. (It can be handy to do this with a magnifying glass). Write down it's colors and images and any story that you percieve. Then, without looking at the LWB, write down what you think that the card might represent. Finally, write down what the LWB says the card represents and notice any similarities in your answer.
The purpose of this exercise is NOT to match your answer to the LWB!! I can't express that enough! This is simply an exercise in getting to know your cards and your reactions to them.
The following is an example:
Gendron Tarot:
Card: Prince of Wands
Description: A middle aged man, with a dark beard and dark hair and medium colored skin stands holding a staff by his left hand. On the staff are two red tassels with gold clasps. The staff seems to glow, with a subtle light. The man wears a gold and pinkish colored hat with a yellow.... feather? And a pink tunic with gold puffy sleaves, and golden belt. There is another tassel on his sleeve. He also wears a golden necklace. He stands in a field with a forest of trees behind him. The sun sits behind his head, so that sunrays seem to come out of his head. In the sky are stars and a darkened moon.
Percieved Meaning: Knowledge, growth, pride, power, strength,
LWB Meaning (note, I no longer have the LWB for this deck, the meaning I'm using comes from http://www.learntarot.com/wkn.htm and is for the RW deck, I believe): Charming, superficial, self-confident, cocky, daring, foolhardy, adventurous, restless, passionate, hot-tempered
Exercise #2
Once you have gone through all of your cards as in the first exercise, and are now familiar with them, you can do an exercise for your intuition.
Shuffle your cards, and divide your deck into 3, 2 or keep it whole, depending on how much you think you can handle at once.
Then, pull the top card and state, out loud if you have to, it's meaning in a few words. Only take a few seconds to do this. You're working with your intution, not the symbolism or book meanings. Pull the card, see the card name and the picture and give it at least one word.
Example..... pull: lovers - Love
pull: 3 of swords - betrayal
pull: 7 of swords - travel
Those were three cards that I pulled. It took a maximum of 5 seconds to see the card and name an attribute that my intuition told me about. If it takes you more than 30 seconds on a card, skip it. Put it aside and go back to it later. If all cards are taking you that long, then save this exercise for another day.
The purpose of this exercise is speed to build your intuition. Once you get the hang of it, try to go through the deck as fast as you can.
Exercise #3 - learning the minor arcana
Try the lessons on this page http://www.learntarot.com/exer3.htm I'd post them, but that'd be plagarizing.
Exercise #4
Shuffle the cards your usual way. Hold the deck face down in one hand. Turn over the first three cards, and lay them in a row. Now, create a story around the cards. Don't try to come up with a clever scenario. Just allow any tale to unfold.
When you are through, set the first three cards aside, and deal three more for a new story. Or, if you like, keep the first three cards and lay out a fourth. Incorporate this card into the original tale. Continue developing the story by laying out new cards one at a time. The spirit of this exercise is spontaneous play. Stop if you feel any pressure or strain.
Write down your stories in a notebook, as well as the cards that influenced it, in order to remember it or meditate on it at a later time.