Tarot reading isn’t only about spirituality: It’s also Psychology. 塔罗牌阅读不仅仅是关于灵性: 这也是心理学。
“Why reading tarot requires you to be both spiritual and psychological” An insightful discussion in understanding behaviors with tarot.
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Tarot in itself is an experience. Known for its ability to predict events and read energy, it is a spiritual tool which many find intriguing. Often, these cards are related to witchcraft with a variety of cultures, practices and religious beliefs that of which are heavily associated with. Many view these tools as “Spiritual” and “Magic” while others view it as a “fortune teller”. However, what many fail to realize the structure behind Tarot and how is it almost always accurate? Why do we resonate? Or perhaps if you’re a beginner tarot reader; how can I let it resonate?
A Beginner’s Mistake 初学者的错误
One biggest mistake a beginner commits when they first get into learning tarot—which we are all guilty of—Is heavily relying on a guidebook. Tarot works by intuition. Its meanings will change depending on the query. A guidebook won’t be able to help you when a querent asks an ambiguous question which no tarot card holds the exact meaning or message for. When you are reliant on a card’s meanings or keywords or perhaps a guidebook, you risk yourself of weakening your intuition and shutting out your ability to connect with your deck.
In order to understand your cards better, you must first connect with it. It’s not alive–yet until you connect with it. When you do connect with it, the spiritual essence you give it with each reading you perform you give life to it.
“How do I spiritually connect with my decks?” First and foremost, shadow work of course. This is the basis of spiritual growth and healing. But for the basics, shuffling it from time to time and pulling one card. Another key aspect is to lessen the need for looking up each card’s meanings, instead, interpret the image that stands out to you.
For example,
I pulled out; Auspicious
Deck: Lóng Tarot 龙吟塔罗牌
First, what do you see? A dragon, right? Looking at this card alone you won’t have much to say of it. However, the key details are all around it. I want you to observe what else do you notice in this card. There are fireworks, clouds, and the background gradient’s ranging from dark to a bright.
Next, you assign the meaning you associate with the visuals. For example, I interpret this as; “A dragon looking forward for what’s to come next in the future” You might be wondering “How tf did you get to that conclusion?” The answer is simple. Notice how the Dragon is looking up at the sky? We don’t know what they’re looking at but we do know from their eyes they’re looking forward to something (or how I interpret it at least.). Another interpretation I’d like to add, especially with the visual elements of which I mentioned earlier; “A dragon has finally reached the sky, lifting itself up from darkness. Fireworks call to celebrate its arrival, however, the dragon’s focused on what’s to come in his future.” Ultimately with the imagery alone, it can also be interpreted as someone coming out of a dark place and wanting better for themselves or it could even mean someone who wants to know what’s going on with all the ruckus (especially if you interpret the dragon’s expression as confused or curious).
Notice how flexible tarot cards are? Its meaning changes each time and you must trust your intuition and your ability to analyze the imagery and the “feeling” it provides. If these cards’ meanings are flexible, you must also be flexible. This is the first step to connecting with your deck in a spiritual level.
Though of course, there is no fixed way of interpreting and identifying tarot cards. When you feel stuck and do not understand how to interpret a card, you can look up what it exactly means—Or better yet, what the elements you notice in the card could mean.
For example,
“What do dragons symbolize?” “Spiritual meaning of fireworks” “Cloud meanings” etc..
Remember, flexibility is key.
Applying Psychology 应用心理学
Tarot is not fully spiritual, it also psychological. It bends to the mind of its reader and it reveals one’s behavior. It relies on the reader’s experiences and wisdom gained through their own experiences. This is why a lot of people resonate with readings. It is because the readers themselves have already experienced a similar situation or knew of someone who was in this situation.
Another reason why it is advisable to stay away from tarot when you are in a state of anxiety, fear, depression, etc. Your cards will pick up your energy and will continue to send you towards a downward spiral. Though it is unintentional, this is why you must always be mindful and trust your discernment. As a reader, it is easier for your cards to absorb your energy than the querent’s. Hence why it is always necessary to cleanse your cards bimonthly (depends on how often you want) especially if you also read for others. Tarot is not portal, but a communication channel with one of its key aspects to communicate is revealing the psychological state of one’s being.
You do not need to have a background in psychology, just beginner friendly level knowledge or at least a basic understanding on human behavior—especially if you frequent love readings (or spy on people). And no, I do not mean pop psychology.
Growing up, I had always been intrigued and fascinated about psychology. Particularly, studying human behavior. Alongside my studies, I was also getting into tarot reading (I was just a child in elementary school during all of this, I’m turning 21 soon). And with this knowledge, It was easy to connect my psychological learnings onto my cards and my “person of interest” alone.
For example,
A querent asked me “Has my ex partner moved on?”
I pulled out; Knight of wands
Deck: Lóng Tarot 龙吟塔罗牌
An Amateur would scoff and say “Yes they have and are pursuing or chasing after xyz”. Especially with the characteristics of the Knight of Wands (and mostly those represented by the wands court cards). Court cards from the suit of wands, especially the Knight of wands, are considered to be very passionate individuals driven by the thrill and the chase. They are mostly shallow, seeking attention either sexually or perhaps validation.
Now this is where Psychology will come to play. My answer to their question is “No, they have not moved on. If anything, they’re too proud to admit it and could even be exploring their options head on (referring to the plenty of fish in the sea quote because of the numerous fish in the card).”. Especially if their ego took a hit from the break up, it is natural for someone to immediately feel the need to run and chase after thrills to fill the void and suit their ego. Mind you, the querent revealed their ex made a dating profile shortly after their break up.
We all know that Fire means passion but it is also dangerous. It burns the strongest and the most powerful flames, and it can either consume and destroy you or die out and leave you in the cold. This is why I may associate people represented by court wands as either egotistical, passionate, sexual, or perhaps avoidant.
Avoidant, how exactly? Well, they refuse to sit with their emotions and heal hence why they run off to seek short-term pleasures to distract themselves from feeling something. They view cheap thrills and infatuation as healing while also destroying others in the process. That is how fire works. The more you feed it, it consumes. And when it consumes, it becomes powerful. And when it becomes powerful, it destroys everything around it.
Conclusion 结论
In order to understand and master tarot, you must first get in touch with your spirituality by learning to become flexible in your interpretations. Other than that, you must also understand psychology of human behavior most especially if your readings are often based on love, romance, drama, etc. A card’s visuals alone is enough to explain the how and why behind a person’s behavior and feelings.
When you combine both spirituality and psychology, your approach to tarot will become insightful and “relatable”. Your accuracy as a reader will gradually improve when you understand the “How” of spirituality and “Why” behind the psychology revealed to you by tarot.
Thank you for taking your time to read, I hope my writing was helpful and opened your mind up to learning tarot and I hope I was able to help teach you a thing or two for your tarot reading journey!
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